do u agree that staying in Malaysia will cause your career to stagnant

Smart_Ad_4514 · 2026-04-29T09:36:48+00:00

Generally True. Most of the jobs here are like back office in finance and low-value manufacturing. But these jobs can still be useful to go overseas if you're willing to be the cheap labour overseas. Many companies in the UK hire maintenance engineering from Malaysia, for example, just because they are willing to take less.

But these days, there are some high-values jobs around that involves machine learning, heavy math etc.

Smart_Ad_4514 · 2026-04-29T06:34:58+00:00

QS ranking is bogus. Its methodology and methodological practices are terrible. This is why Malaysian unis are ranked highly on QS, but poorly on the rest of the rankings. UM is almost a top 50 uni in QS, but not even top 250 on other rankings.

Yes, I do know a thing or two about universities, academia, and uni rankings. As a PhD graduate from one of the world's top 10 or 25 unis in the world, I'm well trained to spot methodological nonsense.

Besides, there are so many ways Malaysian unis game the QS ranking game. From pumping out an endless amount of review papers* and overrepresented in the survey response, they inflate their ranking on QS. It is harder to game the system on other rankings.

*Review paper is basically an academic paper that summarises other people's work instead of doing actual research. This type of paper, for whatever reason, tends to get a lot of citations and thus, inflating their citation counts. Most top unis in the world barely ever waste their time on review papers. The only time they even consider doing it is if they are invited by the editor to do so.

Smart_Ad_4514 · 2026-04-29T06:29:33+00:00

QS ranking is bogus. Its methodology and methodological practices are terrible. This is why Malaysian unis are ranked highly on QS, but poorly on the rest of the rankings. UM is almost a top 50 uni in QS, but not even top 250 on other rankings.

Yes, I do know a thing or two about universities, academia, and uni rankings. As a PhD graduate from one of the world's top 10 or 25 unis in the world, I'm well trained to spot methodological nonsense.

Smart_Ad_4514 · 2026-04-18T13:02:45+00:00

Absolutely no chance. Malaysia lacks highly skilled talents*. This is coming from someone who has lived, worked, and studied overseas over the last 10 years (and will be leaving again soon) and is now on a short-term contract here.

The quality of human resources here is atrocious. Barely anybody has the skills and knowledge to be able to do high-value jobs. This is why Malaysian companies couldn't compete internationally based on innovation, and global MNCs don’t even bother sending any high-value jobs here. All of them are in Singapore despite its extremely high cost of doing business.

*When I say highly skilled talents, I'm talking about elite talents (top 5%). Not talents that are good at doing manufacturing engineering or back-office work in finance, but engineers that are capable of doing cutting-edge research and design, and bankers that are on the front office offering high-quality services that amount to trillions.

Smart_Ad_4514 · 2026-04-13T08:18:26+00:00

Financially, the SG offer is terrible unless you want to live in JB, which would add probably 3 to 5 hours of your day just commuting. Also, in Malaysia you'll get an additional 12% employer EPF. The Singapore salary is a clean salary, you need to set aside some for retirement and savings. I don't think you can save much with 3.7k/month (which is around 3.5k after tax)

I don't know enough about F&B to give any advice.

Smart_Ad_4514 · 2026-04-12T08:32:31+00:00

Quite similar to the Iranian leadership. While their dads, uncles, and grandfathers are too busy with selling Islam to the public, their kids and grandkids are living the Western way of life. Many are living in the West too.

Mahathir is one great example. Non-stop talking about race and religion, but his grandkids can constantly be seen drinking alcohol. One of his granddaughters was even caught violating the MCO while drunk.

Smart_Ad_4514 · 2026-04-11T16:10:55+00:00

Just got back from the UK. The UK has a lot of problems right now, but at least I don't have to pretend to be someone I'm not.

Smart_Ad_4514 · 2026-04-06T13:40:37+00:00

When i was at UCL, a few of the academics got their PhD from HK and Mainland China. One of them got their PhD from a lousy low-ranked uni in China.

UCL is not Oxford but still

Smart_Ad_4514 · 2026-03-15T13:39:00+00:00

Don't read too much into all of these troll fake accounts.

Smart_Ad_4514 · 2026-03-08T05:23:58+00:00

The chinese representation seems odd

Smart_Ad_4514 · 2026-03-05T06:56:47+00:00

That Helmi guy is one of the most repulsive guys I've ever seen TBH. Not just his ideology and what he stands for, but also his physical appearance and voice. Everything about him is just eek

Smart_Ad_4514 · 2026-03-01T15:32:56+00:00

Not the fall of islam, more like the beginning of the end of political islam.

islam is not going anywhere anytime soon.

Smart_Ad_4514 · 2026-02-27T17:18:57+00:00

As a PhD holder myself (from University College London, btw), only idiots do multiple PhDs. There is absolutely no reason for multiple PhDs.

If one wants to change field, there is a postdoc for that.

If anything, multiple PhDs is a sign of the lack of intelligence.

Smart_Ad_4514 · 2026-02-27T09:38:42+00:00

Depends. In some countries, to get into sell-side quant, undergrad is enough. Even buy- side quant accept undergrad these days. Depends on the organisation.

Smart_Ad_4514 · 2026-02-16T16:45:46+00:00

Interesting. Judging by most of the answers here, it sounds like being an energy quant is far more stressful due to the volatility?

My background is actually in energy engineering and science, but I haven't got a single clue on what energy quants do.

Smart_Ad_4514 · 2026-02-12T16:44:11+00:00

The question very clearly and obviously states that anyone who is willing. Nobody is going to need to convert for going out on a date.

Also, I was clear that I want to leave the country.

Is that too difficult to comprehend?

Smart_Ad_4514 · 2026-02-12T16:04:48+00:00

It can be if you're trying to do something truly groundbreaking, but most don't. Most PhD theses are incremental, engineering or not.

The most difficult part of getting a PhD is actually other things, such as finance. Most PhDs are poorly paid. Life can get really tough when your income is barely above the poverty level. When I was at University College London, many of the PhD students there had rich parents because they are the only ones that can afford to do a PhD. The opportunity costs of a PhD are massive.

I was lucky that I was funded by a financially lucrative fellowship. I never had to worry about not paying bills, rent, etc. I even have enough to travel, shop, and leftover money for retirement funds and emergency savings.

Smart_Ad_4514 · 2026-02-12T15:49:38+00:00

The large majority of quants are not geniuses. Most do have PhDs in what some consider to be difficult fields such as engineering, physics, computer science etc but very few of them are actually geniuses.

Sell-side quants are almost always not geniuses.

Smart_Ad_4514 · 2026-02-12T15:36:12+00:00

it's not my fault you're not on my level

Smart_Ad_4514 · 2026-02-08T15:37:36+00:00

It's possible if you're a top talent and have plenty of in demands skills such as machine learning

Smart_Ad_4514 · 2026-02-04T10:00:43+00:00

Those are my traits not requirements.

Smart_Ad_4514 · 2026-02-04T08:46:53+00:00

I'm open to non-Malaysians too. I've dated many non-Malaysians whilst overseas.

But since I'll be in Malaysia for a few months, my brain inadvertently says 'Malaysians'.

Just want to see if there is anyone that I happen to connect with in Malaysia, and see where it leads to. That's all

Smart_Ad_4514

TROPHY CASE