What have I been up to?

It's been a good 8 months since I last wrote. Just an update on my current career situation. I'm no longer a tunnel engineer on the Circleline project. I joined Maunsell Consultants (Singapore) in March 07. Less field engineering and desk-bound now.

Took a painful pay cut and still feeling the pinch. Why may you ask? Part of my career development plan I would say. Join a consultant, get some design portfolio under my belt and finally get my Professional Engineer accreditation.

5 years ago, I would never have imagined I could be so close to being a Professional Engineer considering how I struggled during my undergraduate years. Still, the end is near I pray.

This career transition was tough during the first 3 months. Having to pick up the pieces of engineering design after so long wasn't easy. Especially when my supervisor/ mentor wasn't too helpful, I struggled badly and was on the verge of giving up several times. Having a different array of colleagues didn't help much as well. Everyone is so prim, proper and clever in a consultant office, totally different from the tough-talking people I used to deal with on site. But all is well, managed to make some good friends and is very much settled in now.

Right now, I'm working on the Common Services Tunnel, a myriad of tunnel housing utilities pipes and cables for the new downtown development at Marina. Seems like I will be dogged by underground work for the rest of my career if I remain in civil engineering. When will I see "sunlight" again?

Brazil subway collapse

The walls of a working shaft for a new subway station in Brazil's city of Sao Paulo collapsed, creating an enormous crater. Reminiscent of Nicoll Highway Collapse? I pray for safe tunneling for the rest of my project. The workers have wives, kids and families to go home to.

My work

I love digging! I didn't care about the see-saw or swing during playtime when I was still <5 yrs old. I always had my little spade and pail and I just dug and dug and dug...as far as I could remember .

At NUS, I often told everyone how much I'd love to be a sewer engineer, constructing sewer pipes that will carry everybody's shit. I think that's the point when I started to get so much shit in me (or was it earlier???) A twist of fate (I'll elaborate on this in the future, maybe) got me into the Civil Engineering Department and that was the point of no return.

I started off with L&M Geotechnic working on this underpass project in downtown. It goes underneath Pickering Street connecting to the Great Eastern Building. I don't think nobody uses it anyway. White elephant.

Highlights of this job:
1. Fucking tunnel collapsed! Caving in 2 lanes that serve traffic into the CBD from Chinatown. Not forgetting the massive bundles of fibre optic cables coming out of the Singtel building right next to the site. I was scared shit-less. I could have been buried if I had stayed in the shaft longer that day, I swear.
2. Company was going down and my pay was delayed for a month. So I left.

Next on to Tiong Seng Contractors. Here's where people started calling me Engineer Ah Lee. Here's also where i fulfilled my prophecy of constructing shit pipes.

Highlights of this job:
1. Working on the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System for Seletar Link Sewer Contract 1 & Kim Chuan Link Sewer Contract 1. Managed to get into the bad book of PUB for polluting their drains and sinking houses along along Katong Rd and Fort Rd. Just kidding!
2. Seconded to Kajima to work on the prestigious St. Regis Hotel & Residence. If only I can own a piece of that property too. The hotel has part of me in it. I concreted a bag of my shit in one of the foundation structure. Just kidding again! ;P

In 2006, Parsons Brinckerhoff dangled a big carrot and I was naive then. It wasn't a big carrot after all. So now I am, seconded to Land Transport Authority, working on the Circleline Stage 4&5 project as a Tunnel Engineer. Woohoo! My destiny calling...

Now I get to dig tunnels with
a. big ass equipment like the TBM
b. good old way of mining employing this technique known as NATM

Next time when you take MRT to NUH for checkups due to any of the following reasons:
a. Unfilial kids
b. No $$ to take cab etc.

Think of me and may your heart be filled with gratitude (towards me). I am (was) part of the team who brought Circleline to you! :)