JYSim for jobless-yokel Sim

As Chuah Soi Leik and JPA kept giving out warning signals discouraging students to take medicine, Jun Yi was brought into believe that a medical career would be very difficult and too challenging for him. Coincidentally, he saw ‘penilaian harta’ or PCVS (property consultancy and valuation surveying) offered by JPA as well. Being a national champion PCVS last year under the ISM YAA competition (ahem! waves hand), the idea of switching from medicine to PCVS sparked off in his idle mind.
For all ‘muggles’ out there, PCVS or property appraiser is one of the 4 surveying divisions in the world (building surveying, quantity surveying, land surveying and PCVS). A PCVS evaluates properties and / or land to derive the market rental / selling value for commercial / rental purposes. For example, Mr. A passed away leaving behind him a bungalow in Jesselton and a dusun durian in Teluk Bahang. His will stated that the bungalow will be divided into 4 parts for his 4 sons and his durian plantation in Teluk Bahang will be given to his 3 wives (including 2 concubines). So, unlike a cake (or marzipan) which can be cut and equally divided into 4 parts, the house in Jesselton would definitely have to be sold for cash so that the money can be equally divided. How much should the bungalow be sold? What if the bungalow has sentimental purposes (or secret hiding places for Osama b. Laden) and it cannot be sold? Thus, a PCVS will be hired and the value of the property will be determined. If it is sold, the money will be equally divided; if it is not, 3 other brothers will receive money from the 1 brother who wants to keep the house. Another easier way would be just to change the owner of the house to the 4 sons. Same thing applies for the dusun durian.
Comparison of medicine and PCVS:
1. Duration of course: Medicine - 6 years for MBBS, 4 years for specialist, and endless years bond to the government; PCVS - 3 to 4 years for B.Sc (Hons) PCVS, 4 to 5 years being MRICS (member of the royal institution of charted surveyors). Preferred: PCVS
2. Workload: Medicine - needless to say, mountanious patients. You’ll need time to study for your specialist too. PCVS - economically depending, but no 24/7 for sure. Preferred: Medicine, as work shapes a man, and a high workload doesn’t mean you have no time of your own. Jun Yi won’t want to have his house auctioned during economy recession.
3. Income: Medicine - initial salary RM2000, increases as experience tops up. Stable. Won’t get rich. PCVS - initial salary RM1500, slow increase, economically dependable, profit sharing for each successful client deal. Won’t get rich either. Preferred: Medicine
4. Job characteristics: Medicine - extremely dynamic, from meeting mentally-ill patients to tai yee longs who think they’re ‘fook dai mang dai’ and won’t die that easily. Very people oriented (i like!) but very demanding, both physically and mentally. PCVS - 4/10 dynamic. People-oriented too, but limited to clients, bankers, lawyers and your boss. Less demanding, and probably less commitments. Preferred: Medicine
5. Job satisfaction: Medicine - high job satisfaction, but depends on which patients you treat. As mentioned, dai yee longs will think it’s because ang kong walked through, it’s not the doc.’s skills, mothers will thank you so much as if she wants to give her child to you as a present. She might probably ask you to become her child’s ayah angkat, too. PCVS - not as I see it. You do all the research and reports, but your boss gets the name. You open a company, you won’t get famous (frankly, who among us have ever heard of PCVS before Jun Yi introduced it?). Preferred: Medicine
6. Time: Medicine - high chances of missing lunch, dinner, 6 o’clock drama, 10 o’clock movie and maybe you’d forget you asked Soon Khen out for a movie, too. However, I personally think it’s up to your management. You play hard while you can and work hard when it’s time to do so. PCVS - typical 9 to 5 workshift. Some travelling perhaps (favourable), but you won’t miss ‘desperate housewives’ or ‘the x-files’ if you don’t keep everything until last minute. Preferred: PCVS
7. Advancement: Medicine - high chances of advancement (specialist, consultant, surgeon etc). Might branch out to research and lecturing if you find patients nowadays ask more than they can understand. PCVS - few chances of advancement, the most would be to set up your own PCVS firm and lose money when economy is down. Preferred: Medicine
8. Responsibility: Medicine - astronomical. You get sued nowadays for everything, not giving injection, giving injection, admit to ICU, no admission to ICU, cut a baby’s leg, not cutting a baby’s leg and causing the Mum to die from suffocation (don’t seem related), removing someone’s shirt without asking permission (frankly, he’s unconscious, how can i ask?). PCVS - you write the report according to real market value, double-check for spelling mistakes, and that’s all. Preferred: PCVS
So after lots of agony weighing the pros and cons, Jun Yi is now happy to announce that he will still stick to medicine. Frankly, if you do it like this, things will come out easier and you can spot what you like and what you don’t very quickly. For those aspects that you like, stick to it, for those that you don’t, try enduring it when you start work, and maybe slowly fixing it by specialising in certain fields that requires less of what you dislike. Quote from Brokeback Mountain - if you can’t fix it you gotta stand it.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 19th, 2006 at 7:45 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.