James Koh

It been four years since i graduated from university. Below are the different job changes that revolves around me.

Year 1 - Project Engineer (Entry level)
Involved in Hardware Design

Year 2 - Research Engineer
Involved in Hardware and Software Design

Year 3- Senior Research Engineer
Hardware design
Software programmer

Year 4- Consultant
Conference and seminar speaker
Consultancy work
Hardware and software design


Year 5 - ???

Well i do climb slowly along the technical line, from a junior engineer to a senior engineer with much hard work. I learnt things and skills the hard way. Since my company is not big, i basically do everything myself ("Bao Kau Liao"). It is from here that i learnt diversified skills in different areas. It tough but i can really learn a lot.

Soon after my post graduate studies, i was given more like a consultancy post that is being an professional consultant giving advises and technical knowledge to the public.

I give seminars and international conferences to professional and clients both locally and overseas. I remember vividly the first time when i give a speech, many people are looking at me and i was very scared and in the end give a very poor speech. Imagine giving speech to 300 audiences ( all professionals, Ang Mo and PE) are no joke. I was disheartened and tell myself i need to upgrade both in terms of public speaking and technical expertise.

From that incidence, i went for further studies, read a lot of international publications to brush up my technical skills. Today i am now able to give professional advises to client and implement innovative methods. I am now involved in several consultancy projects with Astar, NTU, NUS and Ngee Ann. Being a chief investigator is not easy, i need to upgrade and continue learning to further improve myself.

Lastly, I also wish to do some management to futher move up the corporate ladder.

HDB Ruling


Just heard from my friend that is such a rule (HDB) stating that couples earning a combined income of 8k and above are not eligible to buy a new 4 room or 5 room HDB flat. I think this rule is a bit unfair as many ppl will be earning these amount after a few years esp graduates. Like that, it seems that the only choice is to buy an EC (Executive condominium) if HDB flats are out of the picture. Note: the above rules only apply for New Flat purchase and do not apply for buying flats in the open market.

Currently, both dear (yq)and my income are reaching the threshold of 8k monthly soon, it will well exceed once the wage increase kicks in. These does not include monthly allowances, bonuses and profit sharing payouts, shareholder dividends etc.

Is the threshold of 8K refers to monthly basic salary or yearly taxable income divided over the years? This is something quite abstract and will need to find out further from HDB once we start looking for flats. If it basic monthly salary then we may still be able to purchase a new flat provided HDB allows a buffer of (8k +10 %) and not restricting on a single figure of 8k. Well if it yearly taxable income divided throughout the years, i think there is no way for us to buy new flats. The reasons are as shown below.

yq (payout scheme) = basic +allowances +production bonus + year end bonus.
my (payout scheme) = basic + sales commission + shareholder dividends + year end bonus.

If economy is well this year and assuming i get good sales commision, shareholder dividends and bonus, our monthly will be well exceed 8K and into the 5 figure mark.

Guess i may have to get a resale flat or a new EC if that the case.

I and dear went searching for our wedding band since quite long time ago but still couldnt find suitable ones. We went shopping for quite some time at jurong point on Friday and thinking that since it is jewellery season now we may get some good purchase. We came across Citigem Roadshow and dear choose a pendant shape like a cherry (Rosella). She quite like it and the saleman is quite persistent and wanted us to buy immediately. I told dear why dont we shop around first in other shops as there maybe more designs there. She agreed and we manage to shake off the salesman with some effort.

We moved on to Soo kee Jewellery to search for our wedding band and pendant and finally decided to get something more conventional and nice to look at. Thinking that we will wear it for a long time, we have omitted those designs that are catered more for very young people. Finally, we have chosen a pair of wedding band which we both liked and comfy to wear. We intend to engrave some wordings on the inner side of both rings to make it more meaningful. It will take about 2 weeks for the ring making to be completed. We have also bought a Pendant which is quite unique and eye catching with a few small diamonds on it.

Finally, We enjoyed our shopping spree at Soo Kee and the salegal that served us is very patient and unlike other sales person, she does not force us to buy anything. She is always with a smile and in fact she has attended to us before and when we stepped in, she still can remember us.

Note: It is advisable to buy jewellery one at a time and not all at one time unless you are those rich guys. In fact, there are quite a number of jewellery to buy like Si Dian Zuan (Jin).

Been to taiwan for about a week with my dear. Spend a wonderful vacation there and lot of sweet memories. We have covered Taipei and Sun Moon Lake this time, will plan to cover the other part of taiwan next time.

After the vacation, i was called up for 3 weeks of national service. I think i was called up at the right time as it is rainy season and less work for me to do. Well this one month is definitely a good break from work.

Still in my idle mode yet, cant really concentrate in my work after the long break...

Sony's PSP slim hitting stores... today?

Yes the lastest slim and Lite PSP has entered the Singapore market just a week ago. Many accessories are still not available yet but I just cant resist the temptation of buying it. Together with my dear, we went shopping and I finally bought one together with one game. The shop owner has recommended me to choose a white colour rather than a black one PSP. The reason it that with a glossy surface, black may seem quite blurry with all the fingerprints on it after some handling. It seems a good choice as I don’t see any fingerprint on my white PSP. Below is the new Slim and Lite PSP.





Slim and Lite PSP VS Old PSP

The "new" PSP doesn't look that slim, but it certainly feels a whole lot lighter. The Slim & Lite is at least half the weight of the original PSP.The new PSP doesn't feel as thrown together as the original - its components don't shake in horror every time you insert a UMD and this time it doesn't feel like it'd explode into a hundred pieces if you were to drop it on the floor.

The biggest physical change is the shape and feel of the PSP's portly rear. The original matte texture has been replaced with the infamous shiny chrome of the front, providing a smoother, kinder feel on the hands and a second side for you to polish after every game. The twin "humps" on the back have also been removed, which is probably the source of the extra millimetres the original PSP has over the Slim.

The most significant change to the handheld's feel and appearance is the new, manually-opened UMD tray - which we suppose is now more like a flap than a tray. A notch on the top of the console allows you to pull the UMD slot open, while metal latches keep it feeling strong rather than a loose piece of plastic.


The inside's what counts

Easily the best reason to buy a Slim & Lite is for the tinkering Sony's done on the inside of the machine. First of all battery life - the big Achilles' heel of the original PSP - has been improved significantly. We calculate that you'll get more than five hours out of the new model, which is roughly double that of the last PSP.


Will update again once i got my new game!

My newly updated skin