Hanif Jamil: IT Master, Mister Wizard
We sat down with Hanif Jamil, our Onsite Technical Support from ASW Malaysia, and talked about his experience being part of the company for the past six years.
Hi, Hanif! Could you tell us about yourself?
I’m Hanif and I’m a gadget freak – I love tech and knowing about the engineering that goes behind things that make our lives easier. I have that same interest in my line of work and that’s why I love my current job so much. I have been with ASW for nearly six years, growing my career steadily over time. What and where I am now is what I would consider the best role that aligns with my passion.
Apart from tech, I am also into anything related to automotives, electronics, anime, cartoons, superheroes, robots, gaming, fitness and nature, and my active lifestyle has been all about balancing all of that.
What do you do at your job as ASW?
Well, in general, I help the business keep on running and growing by helping my colleagues with their IT needs. Whenever they’re experiencing any IT troubles, I come to the rescue. As their tech support, it makes me happy when I make them sort of happy too. It’s like I’m a genie in a bottle granting happiness to everyone!
Some of them call me Mister Wizard and always love to see me work my magic to turn their IT miseries around. But then again, sometimes the spells aren’t that powerful enough – it depends on the incident, it’s a case-to-case basis. This wizard is a human being, after all.
Tell us more about your background prior to joining ASW.
I came from a different branch of IT before joining ASW. In my college days, I majored in media interactive engineering because my ambition was to be part of the entertainment industry. Time went by and I worked in some of the popular studios and post-production companies in Malaysia. However, I realised that the industry’s way of life did not align with my inner Zen – I could not find balance during those years. I finally realised that the glamorous world of entertainment wasn’t meant for me.
I switched to a new career in the telecommunication and banking industry, which was still within my field of study, and this is where a new chapter began. There I learnt a lot of things especially on networking, hardware, software, service desk and management until I became an internal trainer for the technological department within the company after a few years.
What is your day-to-day like?
Every day is challenge – there is always a new problem that arises and needs a different solution each time. It takes not just the brains, but also the body to endure the stress and pressure while finding solutions. I believe my role as technical support also requires stress management skills. Sometimes troubled users experience a lot of negative motions such as frustration, confusion and anger when they have IT problems. So my role is not just to find technical solutions for my colleagues but to manage their emotions and expectations as well. I listen, comfort them and try to diminish their confusion by guiding them.
But of course, that does not include the daily routines and business as usual activities that need to be done. Whilst a lot of them may be routine after all these years, to me there is still a lot to learn in my job.
What are some of the important things you have learnt about onboarding staff?
So, onboarding is when we get new employees acquainted with their roles, their teams and the organisation. I’ve learnt that proper onboarding helps employees become part of the community, and make an active shift towards contributing to organisational goals. It influences the process of integrating newcomers to the company, turning them into inspired and productive employees.
Successful onboarding also has a positive effect on employer branding. As an organisation, we want to make a good impression. With proper onboarding, new employees will immediately share within their direct network a positive impression of the company.
What are the usual challenges of being ASW Malaysia’s Tech Support?
Being ASW Malaysia’s Tech Support does not mean that we only support the Malaysia’s branch users. We extend our help to other regions’ teams and even to the client’ teams as well. And as always, we help them with our best efforts.
How was it adapting your skills to meet Australian business standards, or Australian client requirements?
It wasn’t that hard since the policies and standards are the same globally and with the experiences I’ve had with previous companies, I could say I’ve adapted well. I also have had experience working with Australians when I did my further studies in Melbourne.
What is the funniest thing you have encountered so far in your work?
There was a time in the Mid Valley office when people randomly experienced a power disruption, and they were panicking. One of the supervisors called me with a restless tone and said, “Hi sir, could you please help us? Suddenly our monitors turned off and the VoIP phones stopped working as well. But all the workstations are good, I don’t understand what is going on! We’ve been told that this side of the office currently doesn’t have electricity, we are so stressed with the situation!”
I answered, “Of course the workstations are good because you’re using laptops with charged batteries, and phones and external monitors aren’t working because there’s no electricity, right? Are you okay over there?” After hearing my quick explanation, she then shouted “OMG! I’m so sorry, I’ve been an idiot!” and kept apologising while crying. Afterwards, I told her to calm down and wait for the building technician to fix the issue. That was probably the funniest thing I’ve encountered so far here.
You have been with ASW since 2014. What is your favourite memory in ASW so far?
There are quite a few great memories, but one of them would have to be my visit to the ASW Philippines office in Manila. We stayed there for about a week, and since then there’s been a lot of knowledge exchange between the IT teams between the two regions.
It is always a good thing to learn about other cultures – their daily routines and practices at work, the food, their way of living, and so much more. The Manila team was so hospitable and I felt that I fit in with the group right away. I had so many good memories there thanks to them.
How do you make sure to improve in your job after all these years?
The key to success is communication, so I never stop learning how to communicate better and upgrade the skills needed to address the continually growing business needs. The means getting things done by exhausting all available resources at hand, finding similar cases, and engaging in research and development with whatever tools that we have. Following the same processes, each time is not an option in our line of work because tech is always changing. We don’t want to get stagnant in our roles – we always need to adapt to the changes.
What would you like to do be doing five years from now?
I hope to be managing more people in the team and building a great home. As I mentioned, I love my job right now, and doing what you love for a living is the most awesome feeling. I always want to find balance in life since we are living in a challenging and stressful world today. This is a simple vision of my future, and having these simple things would be completely fulfilling to me.
