Oh well, we didn’t win but it was a fantastic night all round. It was a great experience for us all and we’re very proud to have been a finalist in among a great group of businesses. It was a great night with good food, media running around doing interviews, and some dancing to end off the night. Obviously the judges didn’t find our print monitor software as “sexy” as the Wild Action Roaming Zoo for children! Here are some photos of the night.

When I first thought of writing a blog article I wasn’t able to decide the topic for it. Then I thought writing about transition from university to work would be a good idea as every person has to go through this transition and experience the difference.

My University life was full of excitement and fun because of the friends I had. I am a people person and I absolutely loved surrounded by my friends. We used to have lunch and also do all our assignments together. Working as a group definitely increased my productivity and I graduated from The University of Melbourne with Honours. There was no time to sit idle which was the best part of being at university. I loved every bit of it….. However, I detested going to the lectures, working on projects on weekends and I absolutely disliked the swat vac period which was full of pressure and anxiety. 

My life changed significantly since I started working at PaperCut. I definitely live a more structured/balanced life. Moreover, it has made me a more organized, responsible and confident person. One of the requirements for the job was to start work at 6 am..I thought it would be impossible for me to wake up at 5 am. Now, I have finally managed to get it into the routine. I believe nothing is impossible in this world if you have the will to do it. (Impossible = I M POSSIBLE.  ). Now I have actually understood the meaning of the saying by Benjamin Franklin “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”  

When I started working at PaperCut I realized what you do at university is completely different to what you do at work. Real computing experience comes when you start working. Now, I implement features that are used all over the world by millions of customers. I really enjoy implementing them and learning from more experienced programmers – Chris, Matt and Tom who are very encouraging and inspiring people. Working on a printer counter software which has a cross-platform support has surely increased my knowledge on different kinds of networks and operating systems, data bases. I have been working on various technologies such as Java, Tapestry, CSS, HTML, HQL, Jasper Reports, Hibernate, DocBook and many others. I have even started drinking coffee in the hope of becoming a better programmer. (According to Chris, coffee is a performance enhancing drug for a programmer.)

Now I can spend more time cultivating my hobbies such as dancing, cooking and playing basketball and badminton.  Working full time has also given me the freedom to buy whatever I like unlike before when I had to think twice before spending my money. Furthermore, it’s such a relief to think that I don’t have to give exams ever again in my life.

One thing which really upsets me is that I don’t get to see all my university friends as often as I had thought.  Everyone seems to have gotten busy in their work and personal lives. In addition, I miss my family much more than before and now really can’t wait to meet them in December.