Finding My Way Back to Printing
After completing my National Service, I began my working life with a brief stint at Rollei, the German camera company then located along Chai Chee Road. The site where the factory once stood is now occupied by the well-known Decathlon building. I worked there for about two months as an inventory storekeeper.
My time at Rollei was short because an army friend later recommended me for a position at Tan Chong Motor as a Clerk in it's Pre-Delivery Inspection (PDI) department. Tan Chong Motor pre-delivery department (with a major workshop and vehicle storage yard) was located at 14 Upper Aljunied Road. Tan Chong bought this large piece of land in 1972 after the Singapore Traction Company (STC), which had used the land as a main bus depot, ceased operations. I went for an interview and was asked by the General Manager how much salary I expected.
I honestly did not know what I was worth at that time. I told him, quite simply, that I did not know how much I should ask for. About two weeks after I started work, the General Manager came quietly to my desk. He told me that the company had decided to offer me a starting salary of $350 a month. He explained that this was among the highest salaries the company gave to a beginner, as most new employees were paid between $280 and $300. What surprised me even more was the reason he gave. He said he was happy with my work and had received good feedback about me from my colleagues. It was an encouraging experience for me, especially at that early stage of my working life. It gave me a sense that perhaps I was capable of more than I had initially thought.
I enjoyed working at Tan Chong Motor, but deep down I was not completely settled. I had received technical training in printing, and I still wanted to build my career in the field for which I had trained.
In 1981, an opportunity came that was difficult to turn down. I received an offer from a company where I had previously worked part-time during my training days. It was Medidata Pte Ltd, a company that compiled and published comprehensive reference directories covering pharmaceuticals, their indications and dosages for doctors and pharmacists in Singapore and the region. I was offered the position of Printing Coordinator. The salary was more than double what I was earning at Tan Chong Motor, and naturally, the offer was very attractive. More importantly, it gave me the opportunity to return to the printing industry.
My responsibilities were quite varied. I supervised a group of data-entry workers and coordinated the completed work through data processing before sending it to an external company that produced the offset printing plates. Once the plates were ready, I would use them for the printing work in-house. After printing, I would collate the completed pages into folders, which were then prepared for presentation to clients by my boss, Dr Ng Chu Teck, the founder of Medidata.
The printing of the reports was particularly demanding because the publication schedule was tight. The reports were produced quarterly, and whenever the deadline was approaching, I sometimes had to work through the night to complete the printing. The completed reports had to be ready on time because Dr Ng needed them for his presentations to clients, including those outside Singapore.
Although the work could be tiring, I enjoyed it. It gave me valuable experience and allowed me to put my printing training into practice. I remained with Medidata for about two years. Then, in the third quarter of 1982, I was invited by the Vocational and Industrial Training Board (VITB) to apply for a position as a Training Instructor in its Printing Department. This was particularly meaningful to me because it brought me back to the institution where I had received my printing training.
The former School of Printing, where I underwent my training in 1976, had by then been dissolved, and its Printing Department had been incorporated into Baharuddin Vocational Institute (BVI). The Industrial Training Board had also earlier been renamed the Vocational and Industrial Training Board (VITB) in April 1979.
My former classmates and I were invited to submit our applications for positions as Training Instructors in the refurbished Printing Department at BVI. I decided to apply, and to my delight, I was accepted. On 3 January 1983, I reported for duty at Baharuddin Vocational Institute and began a new chapter of my working life—as a Printing Instructor.
Looking back, my journey after National Service had taken several turns. I started as an inventory storekeeper at Rollei, moved to Tan Chong Motor, returned to the printing industry with Medidata, and finally found my way back to the training institution where my own journey in printing had begun. This time, however, I was no longer a trainee. I had returned as an instructor, ready to pass on the knowledge and skills I had acquired through my own training and working experience to the next generation of printing students.