Pengalaman Viva PhD

Seperti yang saya ceritakan di entri sebelum ini di sini, saya akan coretkan some of my experience regarding my PhD viva. Ada yang kata this is the examination of our PhD. Ada juga yang kata this is the final showcase of the PhD. To tell you the truth, honestly there's no right or wrong about the statement. But for me, every single thing in my PhD is the exam it self. Every single process. I remember one of my senior member of the faculty told me once, PhD is about going through all the process.

Okay, back to the experience. Pengalaman menghabiskan penulisan tesis dan runnning it dalam turnitin for plagiarism check pun actually is the starting point of my Viva experience. Bermula seawal almost 6 months before my actual Viva date. Then the process of my supervisor selecting examiner. Dua kali juga permohonan examiner melalui mesyuarat sebelum di approve. One external examiner from outside Malaysia, one external examiner from inside Malaysia and one internal examiner within the Faculty itself.

When I finally submit my thesis, it's time to update a bit my readings regarding topic PhD saya as there may be some current development which the answer is always a YES. If you ask me whether you should do this or not, I will say a big yes. Basically because as the PhD topic is our interest, so kita kena la selalu membaca topic of interest kita tu. Lagipun knowledge selalu berkembang. It does not mean that we must read something academic. Current news regarding our PhD topic pun dah cukup bagus.

Then, I was told by the Postgraduate department staff about my Viva date. Actually I was expecting an earlier date but due to some unforseen circumstances, expected date tu tak dapat dilangsungkan. Because you must remember that in setting up the date, the availability of various person involved must be considered. Those person are the chairman (must be a Prof or Assoc Prof, preferably a Prof), at least two examiners (both external and internal) and our supervisor. 

Masa dapat date, saya dah book the week before untuk ke holiday. Almost one whole week. Memang saya ada bawa things untuk di buat berkenaan Viva ni but as my wife told me, you will never have any time to do. The kids memang perah tenaga saya betul-betul bila holiday ni. From dusk till dawn diorang beraktiviti. 

A day before Viva.

This is very crucial as I need to remain calm. Tak mau panic attack or anxiety. Surprisingly I did not have any of these padahal my Viva preparation biasa biasa je. So many things to cover and I do not have the ability to do it all. Another thing is as my PhD is longer than the usual time frame (senang cerita, not graduating on time), so banyak juga perkara saya kena refresh memory. 

Luckily for me, bila saya selongkar my computer data, so many things saya dah simplify in one or two pages every year. It seems like my strategy to prepare for Viva from the very beginning of my PhD paid off. Just need to selongkar back my computer data. 

So for my readers yang belum or tengah buat PhD, make sure every single thing you do, you document it in a MSWord file so that when it finally comes to Viva, you can retrieve and use it back. Kinda diary. Kalau buat on time okay lagi sebab masih belum lupa, tapi kalau dah terkeluar dari standard time frame, better buat macam saya suggest sebab nanti lupa.

A day before Viva, my parents call wishing me luck. That weekend saya balik kampung jumpa diorang. Ayah suruh baca Rabbi Yassir berulang kali supaya dipermudahkan. The night before my morning Viva, saya di ofis dan terjumpa pula rakan-rakan. Dan mereka terkejut bila saya kata esok pagi saya Viva. Diorang tanya tak balik rumah ke prepare or tidor or nervous ke apa. Saya jawab tak, so far dah siap semua yang termampu. So there's not much I can do more. Baik tenang-tenang. Lagipun Tenang is Good. And I did not update anything on SocMed because I am really calm. Selalu yang update dalam socmed tenang is good beserta gambar dia lepak somewhere tu sebenarnya dia tengah tak tenang tapi cuba berpura-pura tenang. Kita kalau tengah tenang tak perlu nak upload kat SocMed. Saya ada seorang kenalan yang bila dia tengah tak tenang dia akan upload kat SocMed yang dia tengah tenang sedangkan bila jumpa dia, dia tak bertenang. Tujuan dia upload tu sebab nak tunjuk pada orang yang buat dia tak tenang yang dia sedang bertenang. Very funny this guy.

Viva Day

I woke up as usual, kejutkan anak perempuan saya suruh bangun pergi sekolah. Masa tengah kejut tu saya suruh dia doakan saya sekali supaya saya tenang dalam Viva. Saya tak sebut Viva, saya sebut 'Kakak doakan Daddy ye, Daddy exam PhD pagi ni'. Nanti sebut Viva dia tak faham pulak.

Nak ke ofis, wife wishes me Good Luck, and there I was off with my motorbike to my faculty where my Viva will be held. Sampai ofis at 0745hrs. Dokumen-dokumen telah saya prepare a day before and telah saya check for errors. Sampai ofis, do all the necessary things, doa pada Allah and berjalan slowly to the place where my Viva will take place.

Rupanya my Viva starts at 1000hrs. I am here now at 0815hrs. Too early. So to cut it short, ada minum-minum dan jamuan ringan pada jam 0945hrs. Everything for me was calm and usual. So at around 1015 hrs (lepas ambil gambar), the Chairman for today's session which is Prof Adnan began the session. After introducing me with all the people inside, including my Dep Dean Academic Affairs who was present as an observer, all of us need to go out except the minute taker, chairman and examiners.

Then we were allowed to go back inside again. I started the presentation. The maximum limit is 25 minutes. When I was doing my rehearsal, it was all over in just 10 minutes. But during the real Viva, I still had 3 more slides to explain even after the 25 minutes bell rang. Luckily the chairman allowed me to proceed at faster pace. One of the examiners told me that I presented like a politician. Tiba-tiba masa present tu, semangat naik. 

Then came the Q&A, Alhamdulillah managed to answer all the questions and most are suggestions. Tak banyak sangat kena betulkan. My external examiner from Turkey wrote in his report that I need to put some things which I actually had but I put it in the wrong section. Most of my corrections are like that. 

In the end, the result was conveyed to me by the Chairman during the Viva at 1130 hrs, 1127 hrs to be exact. And I called my wife and my dad to convey the good news.

Post Viva

At 1220 hrs saya collect every single thing from the Postgraduate Office such as my letter of result,copies of my thesis returned by my examiners (for easier reference in correction), then terus rasa lapar. So me and both my supervisors were off to Mozers to celebrate and discuss further on my Viva and corrections. Lepas makan, balik ofis to finalize some things. Balik rumah awal hari ni sebab suddenly felt very tired. After years of this PhD thing, hampir half of it or 3/4 or beban dah hilang. Balik rumah terus tidur.

So, what I've learnt and wish to share with you all is, Viva ni tempat kita cerita apa kita dah buat masa PhD, pengalaman kita ketika PhD. During my session, examiners tanya tentang kenapa pilih method kajian, no wrong or right answer. Yang penting kita justify. Macam saya, saya justify kenapa saya pilih method sekian sekian sebab the research topic is sensitive in nature and would like to explore more on the research problem.

Examiners pun ada bagi suggestions tentang apa yang perlu saya buat untuk menambahbaik tesis saya. Which is something that is good sebab sepanjang buat PhD ni, hanya saya dan supervisor yang dok baca dan faham. Kalau ada present di konferen pun, bukan yang final product. Dengan adanya examiner baca tesis kita, we can have a different view on other reader's perspective.

So now, I need to do my correction. Hope to finish my correction A.S.A.P

Viva Done Alhamdulillah

Just a short note to mention that I have done my PhD Viva Voce and pass with minor correction. Saya telah meneliti laporan examiner tentang apa yang perlu ditukar. Mostly sebab saya careless and did not explicitly mention things. My Viva was on Thursday, 22nd August 2019. It started at around 1015 and the result was delivered at 1130 hrs. According to my friend, it was kinda quick for a PhD Viva. Saya tak tau sebab this is my first ever Viva. 

Will tell my Viva story in the next entry.

 

Viva Around The Corner

Hi All, currently busy preparing power point slides for my Viva presentation. This is where I will present my PhD thesis. Basically, thesis saya telah pun dibaca oleh examiner which is dua orang dari Malaysia dan seorang dari luar negara. Jujur cakap, debaran di dada memang ada bila dah tahu tarikh Viva. 

So sekarang tengah busy siapkan power point, banyak sangat nak di cover sampai tak tahu mana nak mula dahulu. Setelah mendengar nasihat dari pelbagai pihak termasuk lah supervisor, dapat lah juga sedikit sebanyak idea agar tidak terlalu sedikit presentation saya dan tidak pula terlalu berlebihan. 

Kebetulan pula baru balik dari seminggu bercuti bersama keluarga. Percutian yang sememangnya telah lama dirancang sebelum keluarnya tarikh viva. Pada mulanya memang saya bercadang untuk menangguhkan percutian tetapi setelah dinasihati oleh rakan-rakan yang lebih tua, saya teruskan juga. Lagipun kata mereka, kenapa nak babitkan keluarga dengan masalah kita. Bila melihat muka anak-anak ketika mereka tidur, sayu pula rasanya. So I decided to carry on my vacation. 

Alhamdulillah balik vacation terasa lapang sedikit. Moga-moga ada sinar di sebalik pengorbanan ini. Will post again after finishing my Viva. Still have correction and formatting to do after the Viva. Good Luck to me.

Ikut Trend

Jika kita lihat di negara kita Malaysia, manusia sentiasa bergerak ikut trend. Maksud saya, akan ada musim dimana semua orang sebegini. Ada yang kata viral. Saya berada pada zaman awal-awal viral iaitu Facebook. Sekarang ada instagram.

Kita lihat makanan. Dulu viral kuih keria, sekarang merata dah ada. Ada satu masa tu kecoh pasal nasik kak wok dan nasi berlauk. Sampai nasi tu naik flight dari Kelantan ke Lembah Klang. Sekarang mungkin masih ada cuma dah tak hype macam dulu. Ada juga time gerai-gerai kopi ice blended bertaburan di mana-mana. Sekarang dah tak berapa nampak. 

Suatu ketika heboh zaman vape. Kedengaran istilah Vape On. Kedai vape tumbuh merata. Macam-macam flavour keluar. Kawan-kawan saya pun ada yang meniaga vape. Yang hisap vape pun ramai. Sekarang dah tak banyak kedai vape. Masih ada lagi cuma bilangan kedai dah kurang.

Zaman kayuh basikal pun ada. Saya pun beli satu MTB, kayuh. Sekarang pun masih ada cuma jumlah dah tak macam dulu. Dulu macam-macam jamboree ada. Now saya tengok trend masuk acara lari. Acara ni dah lama, cuma lately ni orang yang tak pernah masuk pun dah mula join lari 5 km lepas tu upload dalam socmed. Macam-macam acara ada. Yang ni kita tengok berapa lama tahan. Acara larian memang akan sentiasa ada, cuma kekerapan dia tu kita tengok adakah akan sustain for the next 5 years, berkurangan atau bertambah.

Another trend is riding kapcai yang suku-suku. Contoh adalah Y Suku. Memang sangat trending ini barang. Yang ni saya pun terjebak. Haritu cari Y Suku tapi kena tunggu 2 minggu paling cepat. Last-last ambil Honda RS150. Kapasiti sama dengan Y Suku. Power malas nak compare sebab saya beli bukan untuk lumba.

Zaman-zaman muda memang saya main moto. Stop agak lama lepas tu dan sekarang naik moto balik. Dah kawan-kawan ajak ride. Trending pula ride kapcai ni jauh-jauh semata-mata nak makan. Before this superbike tapi tak semua mampu beli. So disebabkan kapcai standard 150cc pun boleh cecah atas 130kmh, ramai la yang beli.

Ini trend sekarang, untuk lelaki. Kalau for food/drinks, air ala-ala tealive. Dah mula macam-macam brand keluar. Kita tengok sejauh mana benda alah ni. Cuma untuk moto ni agak sukar menurun sebab ianya adalah keperluan juga. Kalau nak menurun pun, orang maybe beralih pada transportation lain. Maybe one day diorang ni semua jual moto dan naik MRT ramai-ramai. Sebab before zaman kapcai 150 ni, orang layan ex5 atau 125z. RXZ tu zaman saya muda. And then ada satu masa tu ramai pulak orang layan skuter. Kalau budak muda layan skuter yang kecik sikit, orang tua pula layan skuter 150-250cc yang besar. Masa tu banyak rumah saya nampak ada skuter. 

Sekarang kita tunggu trend untuk 2020 ni apa pula. So far saya tengok kapcai 150 tengah hot item. Kedai moto performance muncul merata. Tenggelam kejap kedai moto yang biasa kita datang tukar minyak hitam. Saya sendiri sanggup naik moto jauh sikit nak servis di kedai moto yang canggih, ada mesin boleh angkat moto. Dah macam service center kereta. Siap ada aircond di tempat menunggu. Bayar pun pakai kad. 

Cool Office

Saya sudah hampir 20 tahun menjadi ahli akademik atau bahasa mudahnya pensyarah di salah satu IPTA. Sepanjang berkhidmat, saya telah 3 kali bertukar lokasi pejabat. Maknanya, fakulti saya berpindah sebanyak 3 kali dan sekarang pun masih belum settle down kerana masih sentiasa ada ura-ura untuk dipindahkan. Kita tolak tepi isu itu dahulu.

Creating a comfortable environment in my workplace merupakan sesuatu yang penting kerana kami ini banyak berfikir untuk melaksanakan dan menyelesaikan tugas kami. Jarang kami guna kekuatan fizikal. Bukan sahaja bilik kami perlu selesa, kelas juga perlu selesa agar pelajar pun dapat menyerap segala yang kami syarahkan dengan lebih berkesan.

Malaysian climate is hot and humid. Ada masa hujan, banyak masa pula panas. Hujan atau panas, cuaca paling sejuk pun cuma boleh cecah 24 celsius. Itupun ia berlaku di luar waktu kami di ofis. Bukan untuk merungut dengan cuaca yang saya telah hadapi sejak lahir, tetapi cuaca yang sedikit sejuk boleh menjadikan bilik di ofis saya comfortable, selesa. Tidak mahu sesejuk winter, cukup ianya menyegarkan seperti musim Spring. 

Di tempat saya bekerja memang ada penghawa dingin. Cuma permasalahannya ialah apabila ia rosak, proses repair memakan masa. Sempat lah merasa iklim di gurun. Tukang repair tak salah, mereka tunggu duit dan peruntukan baru buat kerja. Di tempat saya pula, duit masuk, tukang repair ada. Malangnya sparepart pula seksa nak cari. Sistem penghawa dingin yang lama, sparepart pun dah susah nak dapat.

So, pihak pengurusan kami ambil inisiatif untuk tukar the whole sistem. Sekarang proses pemasangan aircond VRV. Satu kompressor boleh tampung banyak indoor unit. Bilik saya telah dipasang, sekarang menunggu bilik-bilik lain dipasang barulah mereka running semua aircond. Saya telah kaji sistem ini dan ianya bagus. Indoor unit yang dipasang pun besar.

Cuma saya sedikit gusar, ditakuti bila semua dah siap, tiba masa untuk test aircond dan ada pula error. Ini menyebabkan bilik saya tidak sejuk. Masa yang diperlukan untuk pasang aircond ini juga agak lama kerana orang yang pasang pun tak ramai. Kesian juga kadang-kadang tengok mereka bertungkus lumus. 

Hopefully everything's fine. Banyak nak menulis di ruang yang selesa. Menulis di rumah kena tunggu semua tidur. Masa semua dah tidur, kita pun dah layu. Umur dah meningkat ni dah sukar nak stay up lewat. Kepala boleh berdesing.

Kadang-kadang kesian tengok kawan-kawan yang tak tahan panas. Saya sendiri pernah nak demam dan selsema akibat duduk dalam bilik ofis. Dah la panas, kipas yang saya bawa sendiri dari rumah pun keluar angin panas sebab bilik kami tidak mempunyai ventilation yang bagus. Tingkap pun tak boleh buka. Kalau boleh buka pun tak berguna sebab ianya menghadap ke dalam bangunan.

Sekarang apa yang boleh dibuat adalah tunggu. Hopefully barang yang dibekalkan ada spare sebab nanti kalau sistem dah di on kan, ada suis atau indoor yang rosak, boleh terus ganti one to one. Kalau nak tunggu return pada supplier memang lambat.

Pengurusan dah keluarkan bajet, kontraktor dah hantar unit-unit aircond, pekerja tengah dalam proses pasang aircond. Apa lagi yang saya boleh buat kecuali menunggu. Seperti saya katakan, janganlah ada error sebab tiada testing dibuat phase by phase. Tunggu semua siap baru nak run. 

Whatever it is, thanks to the management for allocating a big budget for replacing our aircond with a new one. Luckily my work colleagues semua ceria. They are my motivation.

Update Windows 10 - PC Lag

Actually dah beberapa kali saya perhatikan setiap kali ada update dari Windows 10, PC saya akan jadi slow dan lag. Contohnya nak type words, dia akan slowly appear those alphabets one by one, seconds at time. One of my PC lab technician suggests that I use SSD for my Windows OS but I may have to sacrifice my CD ROM drive. Which make me think twice because sometimes I do use my CD ROM drive. 

And sometimes, after I managed to download the so called forced updates, tiba-tiba dia pending sebab ada issue. This latest update berlaku ketika saya sedang dalam proses nak siapkan something critical. Tiba-tiba PC jadi lembab sangat. I was suspicious as I know my PC does not lag when doing my work which just involves mostly Microsoft Words and sometimes excel.

So I enter the windows update center and saw that it was attempting to install its update but unfortunately could not do so. The reason is that I need to manually update something called Intel RST.

So basically I never knew what it was until I manually update at the advice of Mr Windows 10. Then selepas manually update that RST thing, need to restart my PC and now need to install the Windows update again. It took an enormous time juga nak install benda alah ni. Dari segi download tiada masalah as my office has a fast connection.

Last 2 night, I downloaded Mac OS Mojave and installed it on my MBA. Smooths as butter, download speed was superb, less than 3 minutes I think as I was using my home Unifi connection. Installing it took less than 20 minutes although it says it may took more than 20 minutes. And that was on my mid 2013 MBA, mind you. An almost obselete machine.

Today, saya sedang cuba untuk update Windows 10 saya on my 2018 HP PC, which has an i5 processor. Kalau dikira dari segi performance, should be without any issue. Yet, they found the Intel RST thing.

Comparing MAC and Windows is like comparing an Apple (?) with an Orange. Not to say that Windows 10 is a failure. I admit that it has faster startup process than my previous Windows. I’ve used windows since Windows 3.1 . Vista was the most annoying. 7 was good but could not compete with the startup process of my Mac. Then when 10 came, I was delighful because eventhough Mac was much more faster but 10 startup speed did not dissapoint me. Then came forced update thing. For me it was good as it kept my PC secured but than came the errors plus various issues in the update process.

Lama-lama jadi takut pula setiap kali forced update ni muncul. Paling menyampah bila dia muncul waktu saya nak siapkan kerja penting. Memanglah secara teorinya sepatut update ini tak menganggu tapi that is not the case for me and my pc. Some minor updates memang tak menganggu but major update were all disturbing.

Saya difahamkan selepas ini Windows akan memberi option whether we want to install the update or not. I don’t see the option in my PC yet. In the meantime my Mac tadi benar-benar memberi kelegaan untuk menyiapkan kerja-kerja saya. And this new Mac OS Mojave memang nampak laju dari my previous Mac OS. Boot time pun pantas, almost identical to my Samsung Tab.

So now it was almost 35 minutes since I started installing my Windows and it shows only 73% installing. Slow compared to Mac. 

If all my officemates are using Mac, I may have abandon Windows.