Developing One’s International and Global Perspectives.

One of the key challenges of my new role (but also living in London in general) is the UK and global/international markets. The amount of details involved, the rate of change in terms of economies and technology, the prevailing attitudes dating back to historical events would make one fainthearted at the task.

Continue reading Developing One’s International and Global Perspectives.

Dealing with the distance with your professional sphere…in another country.

I was in the middle of locking in two contracts when I moved to London. I was so optimistic about retaining and being able to work to and from Australia that the cashflow from those two contracts were considered as part of my overall budget of being here. Meaning that in terms of risk, I was able to have maintain a certain degree of financial independence (ie being able to pay my rent in central London instead of couchsurfing which tended to be the common ‘thing’ to do when Aussies move here) and that I have the luxury of choice of who I want to work with and for what.

Continue reading Dealing with the distance with your professional sphere…in another country.

London Calling! Part 2 out of 3: Lessons learnt after moving to London

Lesson #4
Be open to objective criticism, but filter out the unnecessary

I don’t know how, but within 1.5 weeks of moving I found myself in a private meeting at a business club and restaurant on top of London landmark, The Gherkin. I haven’t even heard of the name of that unusual structure (I felt The Bullet would have been more appropriate..) until the call to set up the meeting. Originally it was going to be at West End and I would probably have fared worse as I have really only walked through it. Where and what the meeting was about was unimportant, what was important was the takeaways from it.

Continue reading London Calling! Part 2 out of 3: Lessons learnt after moving to London

London Calling! Lessons I’ve learnt moving to London to live and work – Part 1 of 3

In the midst of a double dip recession in the United Kingdom and the Eurozone crisis, I still answered the call.  I moved to London from a comfortable and promising profile rooted back in Australia.

Continue reading London Calling! Lessons I’ve learnt moving to London to live and work – Part 1 of 3

Not a disappearing act – personal reflections, the move to London.

Ever since high school, I’ve dreamt of taking off and heading overseas to work.  Work on a cool video concept and design for a band in northern Europe.  Work on a hot new startup with some guys I met in a sports bar in California.  Do some location independent work somewhere in South East Asia.   I knew that this was bound to happen one day when I was “ready”.

Then the global financial crisis hit.  I’m Aussie and we’ve just scraped it but I remember the anxiety in 2009 not knowing as to whether or not I would be graduating to the recession.  Luckily, I didn’t.  Other youths in countries such as Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland didn’t fare well with the economic crisis still hitting many in the EU – Nearly 25 million unemployed (in general, not just Generation Y) as of April 2011 and numbers for young people ages 15 to 25 not looking up at all.  11 million 15 to 24 year olds unemployed across the OECD with Greece and Spain facing 50% youth unemployment rates out of the youth labour forces.

My decision to move to London from Australia involved ignoring the news.  News about the riots, Eurozone crisis, potential of double dip recession in the United Kingdom, and more.  I deliberately did not read news articles, tweets, comments and more about the situation.  Whenever I mentioned my move prior to leaving the first question asked was “Why”.  It wasn’t just what was happening here, but also because it involved leaving a lot back home – of which many was the fruits of my endeavours and hard work since I first moved out of a regional area to Brisbane to study.  I wasn’t running away from anyone or anything.  I knew that I was ready to leave and that whatever it was that I was facing – I was more than ready for it.  I was prepared to fail spectacularly – for people to say “I told you so”.  I was ready to lose money, lose potential opportunities back in Australia, hopefully I haven’t lost friends

My work visa was in the mail a week before I fly off.  As soon as I recieved it, I confirmed a global agency regarding my status and they later confirmed a few interviews and meetings with various recruitments agencies in London.  Even though I purchased my tickets in October, I was still unsure of leaving and was also doing some traveling which required my passport so I had a six week window to sort out my Tier 5 Youth Mobility Visa.    My work announced my old job position online when I came back to Australia from traveling in the United States – possibly keeping it there in case I changed my mind and decided not to leave.

My first day in London was chaotic.  I couldn’t find the hostel that I was meant to stay in, another hostel that I approached was booked out so I decided to stay in a hotel.  On my first week, I went to three recruitment meetings.  I failed spectacularly when it came to not only having a CV actually readable (it was too long, too complicated, not in the right format, and so on) but also having myself being interview ready.  I had one recruiter state that I need to practice with her before she introduces me to her clients.  I had another one who was fierce and asked me why exactly was I doing in London and was I even aware of the unemployment rates?  I told her that I deliberately ignored “the news”

I attended a number of events and ended up coming up with a strategy in regards to job seeking.  I’ll share it here eventually, but after ten days was given an internship offer with a startup.  I declined – I wasn’t here to do free work for anyone.  But it was also difficult working out of a hostel and on my final night or two before I found a place to move in, I was sitting on the stairs outside my room at 3 am, unable to sleep because of the noise and the uncomfortable bed, and checking spare room listings.

In my first month living in a flat inner east of London, I was either sharing with interns, those looking for internships or jobs, or those about to graduate and not knowing what post-college world would be like.  I was also sharing with those who not only had management skills but also international and multiple Masters under their belt.  One of the tenants worked for free rent at the place.  More than a few from Spain who moved to London to seek work and improve their English.  I was borrowing a computer from a lab at the downstairs business to teach myself Javascript and look for work.  The rental manager would constantly ask me whether or not I found work – at first, I saw it as a sign of concern but it actually wasn’t seeing as the business he was involved  was fraudulent.  As in, the business was renting out their property to tenants illegally.  Like myself.

I decided to go to Ireland and then to Dublin to visit my relatives.  My cousin, younger than me, has just given birth to the most beautiful little person I have ever seen.  I met family that I haven’t seen for years, or I was too little to remember and we literally went all around Ireland.  It was a break.  And it helped solidified what I really value as well.  I could have stayed in London and slugged it out looking for work.  But I made similar mistakes in the past – of constantly putting work ahead of family or life or myself.  It was another reason why I left Australia.  I had to learn what it was like to lose so much.  I lost a lot and that feeling of loss still reverberated even in London when I had some promising opportunities fall through the cracks because of the move.  But it was more like a silver lining in the cloud.  I can now start to unattach myself now, away from my established lifelines back home and see where I will end up… Someone commented that people move to London to disappear.  Originally I wanted to disappear but it was the opposite.  I disappeared and I wanted to find myself

Gen Y: Make yourself recession proof

I have most recently learned that this is my 2nd or 3rd recession and I am Gen Y.  The first involved migration (cross-country, cross-continent) by my parents when I was really young and it came at a good time – just mere months after leaving the country, the company both of my parents worked for over a decade went bankrupt.  Second being by myself, most willingly but for another reason – professional development.

Continue reading Gen Y: Make yourself recession proof

London Calling! Lessons I’ve learnt moving to London to live and work – Part 1 of 3

In the midst of a double dip recession in the United Kingdom and the Eurozone crisis, I still answered the call.  I moved to London from a comfortable and promising profile rooted back in Australia.

Continue reading London Calling! Lessons I’ve learnt moving to London to live and work – Part 1 of 3

Not a disappearing act – personal reflections, the move to London.

Ever since high school, I’ve dreamt of taking off and heading overseas to work.  Work on a cool video concept and design for a band in northern Europe.  Work on a hot new startup with some guys I met in a sports bar in California.  Do some location independent work somewhere in South East Asia.   I knew that this was bound to happen one day when I was “ready”.

Then the global financial crisis hit.  I’m Aussie and we’ve just scraped it but I remember the anxiety in 2009 not knowing as to whether or not I would be graduating to the recession.  Luckily, I didn’t.  Other youths in countries such as Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland didn’t fare well with the economic crisis still hitting many in the EU – Nearly 25 million unemployed (in general, not just Generation Y) as of April 2011 and numbers for young people ages 15 to 25 not looking up at all.  11 million 15 to 24 year olds unemployed across the OECD with Greece and Spain facing 50% youth unemployment rates out of the youth labour forces.

My decision to move to London from Australia involved ignoring the news.  News about the riots, Eurozone crisis, potential of double dip recession in the United Kingdom, and more.  I deliberately did not read news articles, tweets, comments and more about the situation.  Whenever I mentioned my move prior to leaving the first question asked was “Why”.  It wasn’t just what was happening here, but also because it involved leaving a lot back home – of which many was the fruits of my endeavours and hard work since I first moved out of a regional area to Brisbane to study.  I wasn’t running away from anyone or anything.  I knew that I was ready to leave and that whatever it was that I was facing – I was more than ready for it.  I was prepared to fail spectacularly – for people to say “I told you so”.  I was ready to lose money, lose potential opportunities back in Australia, hopefully I haven’t lost friends

My work visa was in the mail a week before I fly off.  As soon as I recieved it, I confirmed a global agency regarding my status and they later confirmed a few interviews and meetings with various recruitments agencies in London.  Even though I purchased my tickets in October, I was still unsure of leaving and was also doing some traveling which required my passport so I had a six week window to sort out my Tier 5 Youth Mobility Visa.    My work announced my old job position online when I came back to Australia from traveling in the United States – possibly keeping it there in case I changed my mind and decided not to leave.

My first day in London was chaotic.  I couldn’t find the hostel that I was meant to stay in, another hostel that I approached was booked out so I decided to stay in a hotel.  On my first week, I went to three recruitment meetings.  I failed spectacularly when it came to not only having a CV actually readable (it was too long, too complicated, not in the right format, and so on) but also having myself being interview ready.  I had one recruiter state that I need to practice with her before she introduces me to her clients.  I had another one who was fierce and asked me why exactly was I doing in London and was I even aware of the unemployment rates?  I told her that I deliberately ignored “the news”

I attended a number of events and ended up coming up with a strategy in regards to job seeking.  I’ll share it here eventually, but after ten days was given an internship offer with a startup.  I declined – I wasn’t here to do free work for anyone.  But it was also difficult working out of a hostel and on my final night or two before I found a place to move in, I was sitting on the stairs outside my room at 3 am, unable to sleep because of the noise and the uncomfortable bed, and checking spare room listings.

In my first month living in a flat inner east of London, I was either sharing with interns, those looking for internships or jobs, or those about to graduate and not knowing what post-college world would be like.  I was also sharing with those who not only had management skills but also international and multiple Masters under their belt.  One of the tenants worked for free rent at the place.  More than a few from Spain who moved to London to seek work and improve their English.  I was borrowing a computer from a lab at the downstairs business to teach myself Javascript and look for work.  The rental manager would constantly ask me whether or not I found work – at first, I saw it as a sign of concern but it actually wasn’t seeing as the business he was involved  was fraudulent.  As in, the business was renting out their property to tenants illegally.  Like myself.

I decided to go to Ireland and then to Dublin to visit my relatives.  My cousin, younger than me, has just given birth to the most beautiful little person I have ever seen.  I met family that I haven’t seen for years, or I was too little to remember and we literally went all around Ireland.  It was a break.  And it helped solidified what I really value as well.  I could have stayed in London and slugged it out looking for work.  But I made similar mistakes in the past – of constantly putting work ahead of family or life or myself.  It was another reason why I left Australia.  I had to learn what it was like to lose so much.  I lost a lot and that feeling of loss still reverberated even in London when I had some promising opportunities fall through the cracks because of the move.  But it was more like a silver lining in the cloud.  I can now start to unattach myself now, away from my established lifelines back home and see where I will end up… Someone commented that people move to London to disappear.  Originally I wanted to disappear but it was the opposite.  I disappeared and I wanted to find myself

The Shard, keeping focus

The Shard taken near London Bridge station. Photo by Generation Y Expat.

 

Today was sunny with blue skies – a nice and welcome change after two to three weeks of constant rain.  I decided to go for a walk after meeting up with Clare Lancaster at the Department of Coffee and Social Affairs and make the most of the great weather.  I am slowly making my way around the surroundings (well, just central London) and have started using landmarks, buildings, and Tube stations as my ‘map’ rather than relying so much on Google Maps or even checking TFL.

The Shard is everywhere when one walks around central London.  It doesn’t matter if I just came out of a sidestrack, from under a bridge or around the corner.  It can be framed by an old 18th century church, stand above a brick wall or peep through an industrial lot. I always get a nice surprise when I see this unique building in view in the most unfamiliar of places and surroundings.

This observation today brings me back to my current situation now.  I don’t have directions and I don’t have a ‘Point A’ to go to a ‘Point B’.  I had a good conversation with someone who remarked that I was a very focused person – even if I didn’t have a list or a detailed plan of where or what I will do in terms of the absolute minute detail.  I have my own Shard – this one thing that will always remain or find its way into my focus regardless of where I am, my surroundings or the state of the environment.

The London Book Fair: Personal Reflection

I spent the last few days at The London Book Fair as part of the press (possibly only one based in Australia?) – blogging for my own website and live tweeting under @briscreative. It was an amazing event to be a part of and definitely was not something that I expect.  I was actually thinking that it may be something like Macworld in San Francisco but with more of a focus on books and the publishing industry, but LBF went beyond and above that.  While Macworld had some repetition in their programme (apps, accessories), a deep US focused and lack of an international trade focus despite that fact that this was a tech event delving more into the lifestyle (rather than trade and industry) brand for global consumers.  From Russia to Romania, from the emerging markets of Abu Dhabi to Hong Kong, from high tech China m-publishing on smartphones to the large global publishing houses, The London Book Fair was a deep dive into the publishing, literary cultures and overall creative industries world-wide.  This year, the trade market focus was on China and I had an opportunity to properly look through what was on offer, talk to the representatives and even picked up a copy (which is, believe it or not, all about LED design manufacturing and packaging – something that I’ve been interesting in reading about due to my festival days).

There was something really personal to this event for me as well, something that was unexpected.  While I came in specifically to seek out digital solutions, innovative ways in the publishing industry and also seek out what the level of Australian involvement is, I have never realised until this event the major role that the publishing world has in my life.

There was a huge children’s section and it was amusing seeing the juxtaposition of men and women in suits discussing deals, rights and content distribution amidst the backdrop of colourful, even sparkly, children’s books titles.  I remember as part of a primary school project, having to make a children’s book which my mum has still kept and so I was having memories of the time when I did that project.

It seems as if the publishing world has played a major role in many stages of my life – from early to mid high school (Random House Publishing for their young adult series), university (McGraw Hill, Oxford University Press) and today (the App Zone run in partnership with Nook and the Wireless Industry Partnership, and all the digital and tech companies involved).

Another realisation that I had from LBF was that when it comes to content (such as published literary works or print to digital conversions), access is still a major player.  Access could be in the form of digital devices such as eReaders and smartphones vying for my attention, it could be the presence of other languages (for example, the Romanian Cultural Institute books in their native language), and other regions that are still yet to enter the mainstream such as those from the Arab world.

It wasn’t just the geographic reach, exhibitor companies as well.  It was the very presence of all these printed works.  Very obvious I know, but I remember moments late in high school and first year of university while I was doing designs set for print – seeing not just books but also seeing the presence of companies representing prepress, typography, speciality printing and more reminds me of the ‘time’ before I went all completely digital and social and when I spent quiet a bit of time fawning over art and design books.

Personally it was a great event to go to and I highly recommend attending this

Macworld | iWorld 2012 Highlights

In January 2012, I attended the first year of Macworld | iWorld although the conference series has a long history dating back to the early days of Apple’s involvement.  You can read about the highlights here.

On top of the day long trade show, talks and performances, there were also the night events and after-parties (see image above) including a mixer at the Intercontinental Hotel, TUAW and Hewlett Packard party at this sports bar called Jillians and then nightly events at Mezzanine.

Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and the creative industries

Toronto

The walk after we arrived at the Toronto Central Station was possibly the best that I’ve ever had.  It’s a bit surreal having spent the last few days in the Prairies in a train carriage and the following morning walking in the busy financial district in Canada’s largest city.  The bagel and cream cheese that I had was heaven as well… Continue reading Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and the creative industries

BF10 Day 9: Shutter Speed, Jazz On Sunday, Symphony At Sunset and Old Man River

I knew that the Festival Conversations series with Douglas Kirkland, Shutter Speed, was going to be really fascinating knowing his celebrity subjects.  To read my thoughts on this talk, please check out the entry on Brisbane Creative Industries. Continue reading BF10 Day 9: Shutter Speed, Jazz On Sunday, Symphony At Sunset and Old Man River