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19 Jan 2015, 22:00
| FROM uwengdori: First time snowboarding |
    One of the main accomplishments that I recently made is that I finally snowboarded for the first time in my life, or first winter sports ever. The last time I remember was in grade 8 when we were going on a ski trip and I had to back out the last minute because I suddenly got sick. I fell so many times, but it was at the same time very exciting and something which I hope to try longer hopefully later on.  
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24 Jan 2015, 22:01
| FROM uwengdori: Job Interview Season |
 It’s here. Internship season. The key is on searching and applying for the jobs that you feel confident working on, not doing something out of pressure. Rotman has been offering various prep sessions and resources for me to prepare. All that remains is to secure interviews and share your passion for it.  
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07 Feb 2015, 23:00
| FROM uwengdori: What Silicon Valley taught me |
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It’s been awhile! Sorry about the late post. I have been very busy and been working on a variety of things. Term 2 is a particularly busy season for many reasons: 1. Interviews, interviews, interviews Your summer internship is at stake. 2. Rearrangement of thoughts It’s a new year. Term 1 burned me out a bit. I needed time to recharge myself. But I have some interesting news to share. I was at Silicon Valley last week as a part of the school technology career trek, thanks to Rotman. Now about SF, I actually lived in Palo Alto for 3 months, and did get to go to Golden Gate Bridge, but never had a chance to properly look around SF. In many ways, this was an exciting opportunity and rearrange all the personal thoughts and about my career. Day 1    After arriving in SF, we Rotmanites gathered up and got on a bus tour of SF. As I never had a chance to try these kinds of buses before, it was awesome. Kinda chilly, but definitely worth it as well as the interesting audio guide, which was followed by meeting with alumnis for advices and networking. Day 2 Our official day of the trek began with a tour of the famous Google. Great campus although it might have been better if we visited during lunch time to see its liveliness.      Google is one thing, but of course there is Mozilla Firefox. Greeted by such kind people, we had a great Q/A session. What really got me was the top floor with a great view. It was a feeling hard to describe. So wide, so clean, so…well I am not sure how to describe it. as if it opened my mind up literally. Day 3          Twitter, and various companies. It was all about meeting great new and old friends. Day 4    After ending the tour with EA, I visited my old friend at Apple and had dinner together. As you probably might have noticed, my blogs are more about photos with descriptive feelings and facts than a lot of implications or in-depth thoughts. It is because I enjoy capturing moments and not everything needs to have a meaning and purpose. You just accept it as is. I was confused and worried in many ways before the trip. School is one thing, but it’s ok it’s all about the effort. But there is also personal relationships, situations, careers, and motivation to worry about. Ever since joining Rotman, I haven’t regretted a single moment of it as it already has provided me with so many opportunities so far that I could not attain before, but even with effort, some things are just difficult to work out and personal relationships are such things. What visiting SF taught me was not just about new startups, or tech bubbles, or great tech companies I could be a part of and be rich. It made me realize that while I am meddled with such small details and think negatively about my small problems, there are people on the other side who are all also equally and working harder to achieve their goals and survive in their own ways. World is wide and there are tons of opportunities. It brought me out of comfort zone once more and now I am more than certain that the thoughts and emotions that I feel are just temporary, a milestone in order to improve and grow more. While I don’t want to bore you out reading all these cliche about self-enlightenment, I do want to leave you with one takeaway. When in doubt, travel.  
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07 Feb 2015, 23:01
| FROM uwengdori: Food of SF |
          FOODS ARE AWESOME  
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08 Feb 2015, 09:01
| FROM uwengdori: Rotman Problem Solving Challenge 2015 |
 EDIT: Deadline for submission for this year’s RPSC2015 has been passed. Good luck all the participants! This year’s RPSC2015 is back! It’s an event hosted by Rotman MBA to encourage both prospective and admitted students to be engaged, have fun, and also get to know more about Rotman. Especially if you are aiming to apply in later rounds, perhaps competing in this challenge can also help improve your applications (just my personal thoughts as I was a late applicant). I personally also competed, and it was an interesting experience. https://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/Degrees/MastersPrograms/MBAPrograms/FullTimeMBA/GettingIn/AdmissionsEvents/ProblemSolvingChallenge.aspx  
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11 Feb 2015, 00:01
| FROM uwengdori: Lego Workshop |
  LEGO workshop in LPO class. It was a good exercise to learn and feel about process improvement (aka lean six sigma) and how to communicate better. Experiences, experiences, experiences.  
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08 Mar 2015, 20:01
| FROM uwengdori: Days pass by |
 Winter is perhaps one of the most brutal or discouraging season for many including myself. Distance from the school makes commuting more difficult and makes me feel lazier with commute, but things have been alright. There are strikes going on and final exams are coming.    I do have to talk about the beer game which I had a chance to play recently. Created by a group of professors from MIT, the game is meant to demonstrate importance of communication, reaction to variability in inventory and decisions are important in bringing costs down. It was pretty interesting how what started simple starts to become more complicated as backorder kicks in.  
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27 Mar 2015, 18:01
| FROM uwengdori: Life these days |
   Almost half of MBA is finally coming to an end. I still have the intensive Capstone remaining which started this week, but things have been ok so far. I also recently found my engineering ring again (lucky). Must not forget where I started. I noticed that Rotman Problem Solving Challenge was taking place today. I noticed it’s already been a year since I attended RPSC2014. Interesting memories. Time passes.  
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01 Apr 2015, 17:01
| FROM uwengdori: More reasons to join Rotman |
 We strive to achieve the best technology for students. (check date)  
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15 Apr 2015, 23:01
| FROM uwengdori: Do not forget Sewol Ferry tragedy |
 Today marks the first anniversary of South Korea’s MV Sewol tragedy, the worst ferry disaster in South Korean history. 294 deaths. 10 missing. Innocent young lives gone. Since 2008, all my volunteering was about making kids happy. They teach you something you never realize when your lives become more dull and systematic, robotic adults. While I do not want to make any pretentious comments, I was in mixed feelings when I heard this news last year. We are usually too busy with work, schools, and many other things that we often take what surrounds us too much for granted. Our eyes, arms, legs, families, everything. what we always thought to exist obviously suddenly disappears out of thin air. Ultimately, as a business student, how can we improve everyone’s lives? healthcare, IT, business, consulting, anything. In the end, we need to focus on who ultimately smiles and if your time spent on it was worth your time and those that you love. Appreciate. Give. Stay humble. *The music was a tribute which Jae-suk Yoo personally selected to be played on radio broadcast in memory of various people who left.  
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24 Apr 2015, 22:01
| FROM uwengdori: Passion for running |
   I started running as a cross country team member since highshcool and what’s really awesome about running is that…you never get bored of it! I participated in 10k runs numerous times in New York, but it was first time in Canada. Great experience definitely except I didn’t realize how I lost all my running thing. I used to do it under 48 minutes and now it took me 52 minutes. guess what I’m doing half marathon next week but I also have a final exam as well as capstone projects. It will be tough…but fun.  
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05 May 2015, 19:01
| FROM uwengdori: Goodlife half-marathon completed |
  I started running back in 2005. I finally conquered what seemed impossible. Not sure when I would be able to do full marathon, but this will do for now.  
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05 May 2015, 19:01
| FROM uwengdori: Rotman |
  I have been practicing Adobe Illustrator these days. Hopefully it looks similiar enough  
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25 May 2015, 13:01
| FROM uwengdori: First Summer of MBA |
     The following pictures perfectly describe what I’ve been up to these days. MBA is an extremely valuable tool in your career, no doubt, just that it is also a difficult process that requires devotion, time, and thoughts. Past weeks have been about designing my fulltime job application plan, searching for internship leads, studying for certifications, and resting. To those coming into Rotman this September, enjoy your summer, like really enjoy it before coming. You will miss it. To my friends, enjoy to the fullest.  
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13 Jul 2015, 22:01
| FROM uwengdori: more than half of summer passed |
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I just realized that I actually didn’t write anything in my blog for past 2 months at least. So why not a quick update before I forget again lol. Is summer as a MBA student any different from when you were in undergrad? mmmm to be honest, it doesn’t really matter to me as I am from engineering co-op undergrad major with no concept of summer vacation, but it is definitely time when you can readjust your pacing and think about what you want to do. This could be my first and the last official long break in my twenties probably. What have you been doing? A picture it worth thousand words. here it goes.  summer intensive course (2 wks of intensive lectures and hw entire day). that’s one less course for me in 2015-2016.  concert.  chill w my favorite buddies  lift without much cardio (recently started that as well)  old school gaming out of nowhere  broken chair  eat  broken tablet which got worse after A/S.  summer internship at a startup  let me just mention eat one more time  visit different school  organizing youth science class  ok more concert   preparing to go to China for school research  all of this in Toronto Phew I do think maybe I’m doing too much stuff, but at least it’s keeping me busy. I honestly can’t believe that there are less than two months before I get to go back to school…and of course the fulltime job. lot of thoughts, lot of thoughts.  at least let me forget all about this today and think again tomorrow.  
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02 Aug 2015, 09:01
| FROM uwengdori: 10 Things I wish I Knew Before Starting MBA |
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We signed up for MBA for many reasons and no matter what our goals are, we obviously want to spend great two years (or three) during MBA (it is a lot of investment after all!). After one year of MBA, I’ve experienced success, but also numerous failures. Certainly, I said to myself many times that I would be more diligent and successful than undergrad days, but things didn’t work out smoothly all the time whether it’s because of me or many external factors. While I do not regret…(ok I do regret a bit here and there)…mostly how I made choices in my 1st year MBA, below are top 10 things which I wish I knew before starting my 1st year that would have made my life perhaps easier or me a better person. The list is intended for prospective MBAs of any schools (especially if you’re coming from gmatclub.com), but some could be Rotman MBA-specific, which I indicated separately. It’s totally a personal opinion of course and some might disagree, but oh well. I WISH… 1. I spent more time travelling and meeting friends and families. A lot of homework. group work. case competitions. drinking. networking. resume building. Sometimes I’m not even sure how my 1st year passed by. Preparing for MBA studies is important, but do make sure you spend some quality time with your buddies and families. Suggestion: Visit a different country. Get drunk (you will be anyway, but like more relaxed I guess). Go to a cottage with a family. You will have less time to do these especially if you will be moving to a new place for MBA. 2. I practiced how to use an Excel, especially pivot tables, and creating charts. I never knew how important to be able to play around with data efficiently. Regardless of your educational or professional background, knowing basic excel will help you a lot with homework and most especially for hunting internships. Suggestion: Take a basic excel course online, or borrow excel books from libraries. Learn how to create basic pivot tables and be familiarized with manipulating data. There are prep courses on excel too by school too. 3. I knew that I’m not the best. I was #1 in my highschool calculus class, but as soon as I started undergrad engineering, I was in bottom 10 of the class (uh…would be a lie if I did study a lot). The point is, wherever new places you go, there are people better than you, or I should say people who are more knowledgeable and wiser in certain areas. World is wide and there are always people who come from different experiences which you can’t comprehend or understand. Suggestion: Share what you’re best at, and learn what you’re missing. Most importantly, don’t try to become that person. Be who you are and let geniuses pass. You are not that genius and you can be a genius of your own. 4. Do not undermine your classmates’ opinions because your major/professional experience is more related to a certain task. Related to #3. Besides various technical and soft skills, what I am learning the most, is humility. Just because I come from IT industries does not 100% mean my ideas are accurate in that area and in fact, I was surprised to see that often my classmates and buddies are a lot more thoughtful, and knowledgeable in my areas and brought great insights during group work and competitions. As Chinese president Xi Jinping said, you have to really become a blank, whitepaper to be able to see things from a new perspective and appreciate others’ opinions. Suggestion: Don’t kill your classmates/teams’ ideas just because you think it might seem outdated or ‘out of context to the situation’. Try to see if there are ways to incorporate them into the situation and if not, sincerely appreciate and see a workaround, not just pretending to listen while your eyes are onto something else. 5. I had found my own ways to relieve stress sooner. First term MBA (Fall 2014) was extremely tough for me that I completely neglected exercising and mostly lived off poutines (Canadian) and hot dogs every night. As a result, I quickly gained back at least 8-10kg by December. Eventually, I started hitting a gym again in January, but I wish I realized sooner and continued to do so since starting MBA and then I would’ve been in a top shape right now. 6. I joined a lot of clubs (Rotman MBA-specific possibly). Of course, club signup fees aren’t cheap and your time should be spent on things that you’re only interested in. However, you don’t get that club’s specific info sessions/workshops/interviews if you are not in the clubs. In fact, I sometimes heard about a certain event or workshops from my classmates, but I wasn’t a part of that club, so I signed up for it and it was worth it for sure. Suggestion: If you have a doubt during clubs fair going ‘hmmm should I sign up for this…?’, just do it anyway. More information is better in my personal opinion. 7. I started looking for off-campus internship opportunities starting September. While MBA does have career centres to help support with your internship opportunities, most likely you will be one of hundreds of students fighting for that one position and in the end, you might even be out of hands to play and applying to positions that you might not be interested in. That is of course not to say I don’t like my current internship as I am where I want to be fortunately, but I could’ve been way more efficient with my time allocation and don’t go to every single job session which some of them I just felt peer pressured because others are going. Suggestion: Start researching for off-campus opportunities right away. Try to go to event sessions and see when that company’s internship season starts and if they do hire interns. School is there to help, but won’t spoonfeed you 8. I took basic statistics course from MOOC or pre-program I assure you, statistics will play a role in various aspects of your MBA. Suggestion: Take basic stats course from the internet or pre-program. 9. I took some global programs/language learnings in consideration. MBA is a great place to consider global opportunities and you will soon find out that Canada or North America is not the only region you can work in. There are also so many international students that you can also start doing language exchanges even. Of course when things become easy, who cares about language exchanges and stuff, I know. However, use all the possible chances to learn something new when they are there for you. Suggestion: Consider how your MBA can also give you a different aspect/opportunity with your life in terms of your location. 10. I attended more events in Toronto, both Rotman and outside Rotman. Honestly, there is so much to do to visit everything all the time and you just want to go to bed. However, looking back my 1st year, which one would’ve given me a more long term memorable experience, going to a cultural event/festivals in Toronto downtown, or studying until 3-4am to solve that one more question which might be on the exam, or not. Of course I’m not discouraging perfection and effort of studying. It’s just that after 9 years of undergrad electrical engineering + 6 years of work, I’m hitting 30 in less than 2 years and I start to think more often how I will best have fun and make that time meaningful. If what you are doing right now might be the last thing in your life (owkay now I’m getting too serious, bear with me for a sentence or two lol), you might want to think if that is indeed a valuable way to spend your time: with books or with friends/families. There is no right answer. I’ll leave this to you. Suggestion: yep open ended answer  I’m happy to answer any questions. -Josh  
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15 Sep 2015, 15:01
| FROM uwengdori: Officially a 2nd year student! |
 Before realizing, 2nd year at Rotman is finally here. It’s only a first week, but here’s what’s different so far.
2. Fulltime job search pressure is on…! Finally, it’s your first moment to shine and make a career transition or go for that great jobs that you want for a better future! (or to pay off the tuitions…). There are currently many jobs being posted on a career website, but it is also very important to do a personal search based on the LAMP list if you know what I mean. 3. More free time It really depends on students. I intentially took two summer courses in summer and am planning to take two intensives during upcoming Winter, which means I’m taking…3…three fun courses this semester. But, that doesn’t mean that I can chill all I want (while I’m writing this blog post after a relaxing nap). I still have certifications to study for to qualify for jobs I want, take extra courses from MOOC and prepare for upcoming full marathon this October. That’s about it so far. I took one class yesterday and it was very engaging and fun. I’m hoping that rest of the classes are as engaging and interactive. I will end this post with a photo of a grilled pork chop I recently had to remind me to eat something nice when I’m stressed during school.   
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18 Sep 2015, 08:01
| FROM uwengdori: relax |
  take a break from all the computers, work, and get some sunshine and green.  
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24 Sep 2015, 21:01
| FROM uwengdori: Clubs Fair…once again from last year…except that I’m on the other side of a table |
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It was just about a year ago when I posted my excitement about attending the Rotman clubs fair and how I had no idea what each club was. View my last year’s post here and before realizing, I am now already a 2nd year and I am now where they were on the other side of the table!   2nd years had a welcome-back brunch and had chances to catch up.    There was a feeling of nostalgia when I was quietly walking inside the empty Desautels Hall. Sometimes there is so much excitement here and sometimes it’s quiet. So much time had been put into this by all the 2nd year students.  and all of a sudden, the hall is jam packed.  Some snacks we gave out as Rotman Health and Wellness club.  At least in the present, you might be thinking what the value of clubs is, but perhaps after a few years, maybe 5 or 10, or even 20, when you recollect your memories from MBA, it is my hope that you have something to take away from and can say that you were very busy, but learned a lot through clubs. Join the club.  
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17 Oct 2015, 19:01
| FROM uwengdori: The day my creativity died |
 I think it was December 2006. Two years since I finished highschool, I was on my second Co-op (basically an internship except your work performance is graded by school) as a web developer. One day, we had a nice Christmas tree set up in the office. Excited, one of my senior coworkers said to me, “hey josh, we need to start decorating. can you start putting these glass balls on the tree?” Sure, it was an easy task. I grabbed one of the balls and stood in front of the tree, preparing to hang one. Except, that’s when my longest struggle started and I still remember how it felt like an eternity. Where should I hang it? For some reason, I just couldn’t move my muscle and put that glass ornament ball. The Christmas tree was right there with nothing, but a shining, yellow star on top of the tree. I recall that feeling, what I remember still, as ‘fear.’ I feared that wherever I put that ball on the tree would be a wrong location and I might be blamed for doing it wrong. It was as if, you have this pure, very plain, white blank paper waiting for me to be drawn on. Yet, I had no idea where to put my pen and start moving. In the end, I had to turn my head towards that senior and ask, “so, where do you want me to hang it?” I still am not sure what exactly caused that pause, but at least I thought I was one of the most creative people back then (while the word ‘creative’ and ‘innovative’ are used so much these days without context), winning highschool design competitions and this and that. Higher education taught me how to think logistically and bring functional values to everyday problems in the efficient way as possible and I was trained to become how to apply solutions as fast as possible. My work was considered an ‘improvement’ as I was playing with existing resources.  Eventually as I progressed through undergrad engineering, I often felt lack of motivation. I started to look for tangible, visible proofs over values and experiences. Maxwell’s equation didn’t feel any more than bunch of symbols I need to memorize to get my degree. You start looking for practical applications and what they will do, but perhaps recollecting senses and identify the core of surroundings could be as important. The day I tried to put that glass ball was the day when my creativity died, or perhaps when I started to become more obsessed with mediums over meanings. Long story short, I want you to struggle and I want you to feel pain (owkay not physically but like agony and suffering from trying to overcome your current existential limit) as that is when your capacity and potential to bring subconscious value that couldn’t be found will be revealed at a higher chance.  
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