Charles writing his life story, RESTly (4)

During the 2-year training period with HKTel, I got the opportunity of visiting and studying the operations of different departments of the company, of taking the 28-days Outward Bound Course, and of gaining ‘responsible experiences’ for the application to become a Chartered Engineer. As young as at the age of 27, I achieved such status.

I was smoothly promoted from Trainee Engineer to Engineer. However, I did not manage the change well. As a supervisor and leader, I was just an average one. Moreover, with a satisfactory and steady income, a light workload (HKTC was a monopoly!), and an apparently predictable career path, I started to socialize with friends who were fond of enjoying life. Therefore, although I was motivated to climb up the corporate ladder in the subsequent years of being an Engineer, I could not do so at a reasonable pace, partly due to my own weaknesses in private life and partly due to the problems of the company.  

For about ten years, I had fallen into the trap of taking unhealthy habits including smoking and gambling, resulting many temptation and dilemma experiences . If I had a mentor or life coach to guide me at that time, I would have done much better in my career planning and self management! The period from being an Engineer to my Christian conversion can be called my ‘prodigal son’ period