38 Years with SP: Growing through Change
Maizan Binte Abdullah, Senior Technician from Condition Monitoring (CM), manages a team of 10 to perform health checks across substations in the north of Singapore.
Her team collates and analyses recorded measurements and checks for anomalies in switchgears and transformers.
When Maizan joined SP 38 years ago, she was doing something quite different.
Learning and Adapting
After completing her post-secondary education, Maizan started as an apprentice in the Electro Mechanical Maintenance Fitting department at the Public Utilities Board (PUB). Subsequently, she was posted to the Meters section to conduct meter maintenance activities.
When PUB corporatised in 1995, she moved to SP where she continued with the Meters section for the next 14 years. She would have thought that would be her home for the rest of her career. However in 2019, she was seconded to CM. This change to field work seemed to be unsurmountable, having been in a deskbound administrative role for more than 20 years.
“Given my age, I was very worried that I may not be able to cope with the demands of the new role. However, I recognised that I needed to move out of my comfort zone and acquire new skills to remain relevant,” shared Maizan.
After going through training and with strong support from her team and the management, Maizan is settling so well at CM that she became the team lead for North Zone in the same year.
A lifelong learner, Maizan completed her part-time Diploma in Engineering (Power Engineering) programme at Singapore Polytechnic in May 2020 under SP’s sponsorship. She soldiered on despite having to juggle her new role and studies.
“There were times when I felt overwhelmed and felt like giving up. I am glad I had the support from my family, my boss and colleagues who encouraged me to persevere. This experience has been very enriching, and I look forward to continue growing!” exclaimed Maizan.
Growing despite COVID-19
With this mindset, Maizan and her team continued to learn new ways of working to carry out their duties during the Circuit Breaker period.
“Due to the need to minimise contact, we had to stagger our working hours. This is a challenge as CM relies heavily on teamwork. We also had to wear a mask when doing checks in the substation, which is an enclosed space and often hot and humid,” shared Maizan.
However, Maizan takes it in her stride. She performs daily check-ins with her team members via instant messaging and tele-conferencing.
With a sparkle in her eyes, she said, “Work is never the same every day. I take this as an opportunity to grow – to be stronger and better in managing change and future crises.”
— 27 July 2020
