Does NETAPP Suck?

Good question. They have been top 10 on the list of "Best Places to Work" by Forbes Magazine for the last 6 years. That was my train of thought when I joined them in Dec. You would think that Forbes Magazine would have certain criteria to fulfill before a company gets on that list. You would think!! I was shocked to find out that they do not provide exit interviews to all those who have left. Their exit interviews are with a 3rd party company (ExitCheck) that contact you, if HR provides your name to them. Tricky isn't it? I have friends who are still waiting for HR or the ExitCheck to contact them for an exit interview. I think you and I know why HR does not provided ExitCheck details of everyone that leaves. I had to email the HR department and ensured that I was contacted to give feedback but colleagues who are still there say nothing has changed. HR basically talks to you, nods their heads, takes down notes and files it away in case there is a law suit. As for correcting executive behaviour that amounts to harassment, they do nothing.

I am not afraid of putting this down on my blog because you will find similar complaints when I left. I specifically spoke to HR and mentioned this to them, although I learnt that they did something about it but it's more of a "Cover my ass" sort of thing, if you know what I mean.

To think that they are No.1 this year was a shock in itself. Once I got news of NetApp getting the top place, I knew for a fact that you never refer to the "Forbes List" at all. I wonder who actually refers to this list. If only I could publish what I went through and send that to Forbes, it would be sweet but why waste time on something that cannot be fixed!!

4 Hole-In-One!

Call it a fluke or call it 'skills', but I scored 4 Hole-In-Ones, albeit it was only at mini golf. But, golf is golf, so I'm glad.

We played mini golf at Golfland at Milpitas on Saturday with Katelyn and Sarah, Shaayla's friends from her preschool. The girls certainly had fun.

Shaayla's Swimming Class

Shaayla had started her swimming lessons with Fremont Swim School about 6 weeks ago. She had really enjoyed her first lesson. But at the second lesson, she got her first underwater experience and was a little apprehensive after that. But we're glad she came round to it and has been enjoying every lesson since.


She completed level 1 of her preschool program and received her first purple ribbon last week. We were very proud of her achievement. Now she's really enthusiastic at each lesson.

A Relaxing 4th of July Weekend

We had a good 4th of July weekend, spent with good friends and good food. Maye and John invited us to their 'country' home up in Sonoma. It was an easy 1.5hr drive up north on the morning of 4th July. Guess everyone was either away or staying indoors, taking respite from the heat.

John's little 'cottage' was tucked away in a quiet neighbourhood, and we had a great time just chilling out in his backyard.

Nicole with Shayman

On Saturday, we had a picnic at Vasona Park, Los Gatos, with Shaayla's good friends, Ryan and Alya. It was too hot for pedal-boating at Vasona Lake, so everyone just relaxed at the park instead. Of course, for the kids, it was the carousel and the steam train ride that was the highlight of their afternoon.

Shaayla and her pals, Ryan and Alya

Goodbye NetApp and Heloo AMCC

It has only been 6 months since I wrote in last my blog where I said goodbye to EY and moved on to NetApp. Now I writing again after having resigned from NetApp to join AMCC (Applied Micro Circuits Corporation) as their Revenue Manager. There were several factors that made the decision to leave easier (e.g. politics, back stabbing and favourtisim).

I am a strong believer of the work environment being the most important factor is how someone performs his/her job. No matter how glamorous the company, if the work environment is bad, then you're not gonna enjoy your work and that ultimately translates to bad business for the company. The company ends up hiring, training, rehiring and retraining. Look at it this way, work will always be there if you're dead or alive. It will not go away, so if youre gonna be dealing with it, might as well do it in a good environment.

From day 1, I had a nagging feeling that I was being set up for failure. That is the worst feeling any new employee can ever have at any job. I had endless amounts of one-on-one sessions with Senior manager and seniors who would pull me to the room and tell me how bad the next employee was. I had never heard or worked at a company that had so many dissatisfied employees who would keep "bitching" about the next guy and say a sweet hi thereafter. Then there was the boss who depended so much on his Senior Manager that he would believe anything she said no matter how obviously it is to everyone else. You felt like you were constantly fighting a loosing battle within your own group. Instead of having problems with various other departments in the organization (which was a normal thing) you were fighting with the people in your own group. How sad is that.

The final straw was when I realized that email communication to me were being "blind carbon copies" or bcc or "better cover kacheng". I was shocked to see that email communications to me were being sent on a bcc to the senior manager. What was worse was that the person sending the emails was from another group (she was previously in my position) and sending email communication to me with a bcc to the senior manager. From that day on I lost respect for both of them. And what was worse was that when I told my boss about it, he did not do anything.

Now tell me if it was worth staying in such a utterly bad environment worth the 1 year. I certainly would not no matter what the price.

Only time will tell how the environment at AMCC would be but since leaving EY things have not been good for me.

A busy month of June

It has been 1.5 months since our little bundle Shayman arrived. Things were definitely hectic and frenzied the first 2 weeks, but we're all much more settled down now. Shaayla is every bit the big sister - hugging and kissing her little brother, and helping with the diaper changes, even trying to give him his bottle.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, we went cherry picking at Brentwood. It was our first time there and I was amazed at the crowd. Cars were parked all over and people all over the place. Suresh offered to babysit Shayman at home while I took my Mum and Shaayla. She had a good time with her friends at the cherry orchard, where we got peaches and apricots too. It were all over the streets. We then had lunch at Singapore Old Town Cafe at Dublin. The Char Kway Teow was yummy, but can't say the same for the Mee Siam and the Sambal Kang Kong which our friend, Sam, ordered.
In June, Shaayla also started her swimming lessons with Fremont Swim School. It's now the beginning of summer, so it's an excellent time to start learning. She enjoyed her first 2 lessons, but just this week, at her third lesson, she said she didn't like it so as the coach made her go underwater. Well, hopefully she'll get over her fears for it. We can see she really enjoys playing in the water.

June also marked another 'milestone' for Shaayla. She 'graduated' from her preschool on June 4 and will be starting Junior K the following week. There was a little graduation party in school to mark this mini effort. She really enjoyed her teacher, Ms Priti, and her friends in her Intermediate class, hopefully she'll cope just as well in Junior K.