huawei

Someone asked a question and i thought it would beneficial to share it here.

Question:
Hi there… Just wanna to ask you some opinion regarding Huawei. Im a fresh graduate got offered with project management engineer position in HW, been reading alot of the comments on the Huawei’s thread, and most of the comments are quite scary, is it really that “bad” though?
The contract position is kinda risky as well… actually i got offered with another permanant position in other company, but for the jobscope i prefer huawei as i intended to debut my career in project management. i heard the politics are very “legendary”. Just wanted to hear your thoughts on it

Answer:
Firstly, congratulations on getting both jobs.

Malaysia’s 5 main industries are banking, ecommerce, OnG, construction, electronics/manufacturing and IT. IMO, everyone has a dream career but in Malaysia, we cant just blindly follow our dream. As an example, I want to become automotive engineer, unfortunately Msia doesn’t have a good automotive company to grow my career to become a true automotive engineer. We used to have a good auto company (Proton) but now not anymore. Even working in Perodua is a waste of time because there is no r&d opportunity since they just copy all the design from Toyota/Daihatsu. End up become Copy Engineer. Somemore, they pay peanut salary but we work 8 hours per day just like everybody else. Why waste our time working like this? Get my point?

What I’m trying to say is to look for a job in an industry where money is abundant or work in Fortune 500 companies where they have cash to pay a good salary. DONT find a job that you like but FIND a job that you like AND it pays a GOOD MONEY.

Maybe my comments about Huawei are a bit exaggerated but its better to be ready for the corporate world. Companies are not doing charity work. They are trying to make money and the fresh grad is an easy target for them to gain more for what they paid for. Huawei or any companies, in front of u, they will say all the nice words such as “Employees are our precious assets”, but in reality is, they will question whether your salary is justified with the work that u delivered. No hard feelings. Its just business. It’s a cruel world. But I don’t deny that there are some companies who truly value their employees such as companies listed in Fortune 500 such Microsoft, Apply, Google, Cisco etc.

despite the negative aspect of this company, Huawei is a very good place to grow but it is definitely not a good place to stay for a long term basis. And it is still much better than to work in most of the local companies. working in an MNC, u get the chance to hang around with great ppl with great mindset and with vast experience which enables u to grow, not just for your career but to broaden your way of thinking, the way u see things, let u see things differently as compared to other typical ppl. that’s why there is a saying “Your Circle of Friends Influence Who You Become”. so, if u hang with ppl who always play politics, talk c*ck, day dreaming, you will definitely become just like them.

Career in project management is not bad actually. you have the opportunity to grow as Project Mgr, then become Director, after that C-Level etc. I assume you have an idea about your career goals, what u expect to become in 5 years time, 10 years time, etc. Huawei is one of the biggest company in the world, definitely u have the opportunity to gain experience. It is much better if this role have the opportunity to work abroad or collaborate with international peers globally. By looking at the JD, u will handle the project mgmt system, but I am not sure the detail of this role. But normally in Huawei, most of their Project Managers come from a technical background, where they have worked as Engineer doing technical stuff. So, for u to start your career directly in Project Mgmt might give u an extra challenge to equip urself in technical area for career growth. But I might be wrong, but u can give it a try and see what this role has to offer. Learn as much as u can, don’t learn some basic stuff, but gain some unique knowledge where u can use it to boost your career. For example, getting involved in a big project, where time is critical, and so on. Honestly I don’t know much about Project Mgmt team because I joined them as Technical Engineer where in my field of work, there is a huge potential for career growth since it involved working with the latest tech such as 5G and this knowledge is highly in demand in many countries but not in msia because telco have limited opportunity eventhough it is a lucrative business.

why worry about office politics? firstly, what is your goal when joining huawei or any other company? if your aim is to gain bonus, promotion, increment, i guess by playing politics will help u achieve these goals. if your aim is to gather unique knowledge and skills as much as possible so that u can jump to a better company with a better pay, office politics are irrelevant to u. yes, salary is super low for fresh grad, but looking at the bright side, there is an opportunity to gain priceless knowledge which will leverage the money issue. therefore its a win-win situation, the company hired u cheaply and in return, u get to learn something priceless. remember, “DO NOT work hard, but work SMART!” “DO NOT be loyal to the company, BUT be loyal to your CAREER!”

and I suggest u to keep on applying for other jobs at a good company. You are still young. If u haven’t figured out your passion, keep on working in different company until u find the right one. Because passion will drive your career, which in return will reward u with money, promotion, bonus, etc.