Cover Mountain, Cover Sea

Have you ever heard of the famous phrase – ‘cover mountain, cover sea’? In Chinese it would sound like ‘bao shan bao hai’ (I want to write it in Chinese, but I can’t remember which ‘bao’ to use!) Anyway… that’s how it feels like to work as a warranty engineer towards the end of a project. Basically, I have to cover the mountain and the sea as well! I’ll have to tackle all problems – electrical, mechanical, C&I and even civil! Gosh… what an engineer! And probably the most challenging part of it is I have to do it blindly! Yup, with limited information, limited resources, limited time and basically a one-man-show and I have to somehow survive! Do the field work, do the planning, do the talking, do the paper works, handle the client, take care of admin stuff…. Everything under the sun! My only backups are a manager 400km away in Dubai (who’s also a cover mountain cover sea operative there who’s at his wit’s end) and my back-office thousands of miles away in Germany (who are only interested to drop by at the end for the last beer!).

At times, I feel really burnt out and tired. But when I look at it, well… this assignment has indeed given me a new perspective in work. It has taught me to be more resourceful, more thick-skinned, more innovative and maybe more cunning too! For years, I’ve been on the ‘client’ side. But now I’m in the shoes of an EPC contractor and learnt to see things differently. There’s a work to do, someone has to do it and I just have to manage it somehow. Okay, maybe I’m not that burnt out since I can still find time to write nonsense on my blog! My point is… there’s always a reason for whatever is happening and there’s a blessing in disguise. Work seems tough but through it I learn a whole new set of experience which may be useful later in life. So persevere I will and despite all the challenges, I have to admit somehow I’m enjoying it too. That’s after all the life of an engineer – always after new puzzles & challenges!

Weather Update: Again touched 41degC today – bloody hot! After that there was a mild sandstorm where the wind direction changed from southerly to northerly and the temperature is now much better!