25 March 2007

First Day, First Show.


Friday 23rd March, I am not talking about release of a movie but my First Day at Samsung Office, Gumi. Morning 9 am Kim Seo Nuk came to IGH to take us to office. Before leaving to office he gave some introduction on topics ranging from geographical location of Korea to people in Samsung with whom we will be working.



We entered the campus through ‘main gate’, but entry for visitors is not simple, there are a lot of procedures. First we had to fill visitor form in which majority of entry is in Korean, fortunately Seo was with us. Then one more rule, non Samsung phones are not allowed inside, therefore we had to deposit our moto phones at security. Further we should show our passport for security purpose. Then we have to make an entry about laptops serial number in a yellow form. Whooooosh … so many procedure … this place is like a fortress, so much security is not there even at airports.

Then we proceeded towards mobile communication division block. There we met Mr. Jung at 10.30 am as per schedule. He started with overview of the project and explained who will be doing what etc. After sometime at 11.40 am they left for lunch and surprisingly everyone in the block left at the same time. As we scratched our heads for the reason we later go to know that it was so because of the small cafeteria and the employees have lunch in a time sharing basis. Each block has a specific time slot for lunch.

Before entering cafeteria I was mentally prepared for distinct foul smell, about which I was warned enough by my colleagues who previously had been to Korea. It was not bad as described by my colleagues who previously had been to Korea. There we took coupons for lunch from the vending machine. The cost for one coupon is 3300 Won.
They had specially ordered vegetarian lunch made for us. It had fruits, Korean rice, milk, bread and butter.

After Lunch we roamed around Samsung campus with Mr.Jung and Mr.SeoNuK. They showed us the dormitory, soccer ground, and other recreational facilities. Then they took us to library cum pantry to have some coffee. There we tried to have a look at some books, but unfortunately for us there was only one English book - “Bill Clinton’s My Life”.

After coming back to workplace all types of questions related to work were shot on us. Why this … Why that .. why so ???. Also they told us that we are expected to work form 10 am to 10 pm. We replied by telling that we have our dinner at IGH, and hence we can’t stay for such a long time.

Finally at 7.30 pm we decided to leave for the day. We underwent the same security check, returned the visitor badge and collected our mobiles. It was end of our first day at Samsung office.

8 comments:

  1. When I was reading your blog, one thing puzzles me... How do the Koreans, Japanese, Chinese are so advanced in technology inspite of having/using very little or no English ??

    Did you ask your Seo about this ?

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  2. Anonymous2:52 PM

    hey Shande....i have to appreciate u for taking out the time to write...nice..u dont have to repeat ur experiences once u come back ...:))

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  3. I too want to go korea :-(

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  4. Anonymous9:22 AM

    Hey Shande...keep posting all the minute details as well. I was not well for a couple of days and when I came back, you were already in Gumi. Njoy ur stay there!!!
    - Prashant (cab buddy)

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  5. thanks to all for comments. i will try to post all experiences.

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  6. Anonymous6:06 PM

    Hmm!! I agree with you.. This is the toughest one can undergo in a security check.

    Filling forms, submitting business cards, taking 2 badges, registering the serial number of laptop, getting stickers for other electronic item, calling Sea Park for getting inside the Wireless Building #2... daily we are spending 30 minutes in this...

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  7. Anonymous11:14 PM

    Interesting blog. They expected you to work from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm?? WOW!! Is it how long typical koreans work?

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  8. hi vittal,
    thanks for dropping here. Regarding timings I am also not sure. generally I have observed them working from 8 am to 10 pm. The office hours include sleeping, brushing teeth and many other activities.

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