Introducing Kyle Kan

Hello Everyone! Here's the new comer Kyle Kan!

I am a Chinese but I believe my children will be Australian, hope they can still speak Chinese with me, anyway.

I am not a genius, but I am working hard and working smart.

I am not a native English speaker, but I have never stopped learning English. So if you don't understand my English, let me know; If I don't understand your English, you know it is not your fault.

I am not a fantastic guitar player, but I love playing guitar, it is a part of my heart, and I have been playing for more than 10 years.

I am not a good badminton player, but I do enjoy the game and the happiness it brings to me.

I am not a massive muscle guy, but I try to go to gym three times a week and build muscles.

I am not a big guy like a security, but I take any opportunity to learn martial arts, for myself, for my family and for my future family.

I am a very friendly guy with full of love to the creatures on the earth, absolutely including You ; )

I am a positive and optimistic person, I like to smile, I love laughing.

I am a graduate with a master degree in software engineering from the University of Sydney, because I was lucky to get admitted and studied hard to get graduated.

I am a vegetarian, because it is good to my health, no reason of not living longer, so if you wanna be a friend with me, stay healthy, otherwise we won't be friends for long, because you go early, jokes.

I am a developer, because I love it, love its creativity, love the IT industry because it is updating all the time so I can keep learning new things, or simply say I love what it is.

I am an associate developer at C Smart International, because I got hired.

I am a part of the C Smart International family, because I know you will love me and I will love you all.

Ta Ta.

Introducing Matthew Roche

I've recently graduated from UTS with a bachelor of Mathematics and Computing. I have a keen interest in furthering my abilities in programming and learning new technologies. I look forward to my coming months at CSmart.

I enjoy a wide range of activities in my spare time. I am an avid skier and snowboarder; I play indoor soccer weekly; Occasionally go rock climbing/canyoning with my sister and recently acquired my SCUBA diving license. 

Sydney Christmas party slideshow # 2

Hello you all,

Here are some fine photos taken from the camera of Mark Tabios. An excellent bunch of shots! Nice work Mark. 

Enjoy!

Introducing Jehan Estepa

Jehan is the newest member to join the C Smart family. Jehan has provided us with a brief introduction about herself.
Please make her feel welcome!

I am an Java Developer from the Philippines who migrated to Australia in late 2011. I am currently doing Automation Testing for web and mobile applications which I totally enjoy. I look forward to developing further expertise in this discipline.   

In my spare time I write on my personal blog; love to cook (but often an experiment, really); and I am a movie and tv series fanatic. I also read books once in a while and have coffee with friends to catch up.

Melbourne Christmas Function - ALUMBRA

Melbourne Christmas Function was held on 19 Jan 2013 (Saturday) at Alumbra. Many thanks to people who turned up for the function and very glad to see everyone were enjoyed themselves.

Jess has again formally announced his retirement on July this year at the function, and it was such a great speech from Paul for his kind words on Jess's contribution and achievement to the C Smart company over the past 10 years. Although he is leaving us soon, I am sure we will still see him around sometime at the next C Smart events. 

Jess and Evelyn has planned to live in UK for 6 months, 6 months caravanning through Australia and followed by the planned trip back to Tanzania. Their involvement in Tanzania, especially the kinder-garden has brought them a new focus to their lives and a greater understanding of others needs. Certainly, wish them all the very best for their future. 

Here is a short clip that captured during the function. Thank you.

Sydney Directors Award 2012

The Sydney Directors Award was held at Tokonoma Lounge on Sept. 13, 2012, while a similar event was being held in Melbourne. As we lounged sipping wines and nibbling on Japanese canapes, Matt Holani awarded the prizes to Steve Lukic, Matt Lynagh and Kenny Li. In Melbourne, the award went to Peter Salpigtidis. Special mentions were given to Keith Lewis, Tommy Tang, Amir Rafique, Doreen Cheng and Jeff Burns. Congratulation all and well done. Here is a short clip created by Tommy Tang of the Sydney event.

Introducing Jackson Lin

Jackson joins us as an Associate Developer as part of our Graduate Talent Management programme.  Jackson recently completed a Bachelor of Computing Science and Technology at the University of Sydney. 

Jackson spends his spare time playing piano, the odd basketball and participating in competitive gaming events (And even winning something occasionally! Such as Magic the Gathering FNM Drawn 1st place @ Good Games Sydney, Winner of Razor Lycosa Keyboard - Starcraft II Launch event @ City Hunter). Jackson is looking forward to being part of the C Smart family.

Dinner at Red Spice Road

It was a good gathering dinner for Melbourne C Smartees at Red Spice Road Restaurant tonight. The banquet dishes were absolutely delicious especially the Chilli Caramel Pork Belly, Beef Cheek Massaman Curry and Pandan cream and Coconut Jelly.

Paul was giving some updates about the people movement within the company. Welcome 'ex-Card Smarter' Wendy Loo for joining back with us again. Congratulations to Peter Salpigtidis as he has become one of the C Smart family member. Meanwhile, Paul also mentioned that Wendy Keith has accepted the permanent job offer with National Bank Australia. She has done an excellent jobs for our clients. Thanks for all her hard work and efforts that she had contributed for the company. Certainly, she will be missed.

As you can see, everyone is having a great time. Again, thanks Cassandra for organizing the dinner.

Wendy Gets a Shave

Last March, our dear Wendy sacrificed her silver locks to participate in the Worlds Greatest Shave. In the process, she raised approximately $4000 for the Leukaemia Foundation. She would like to thank everyone for their contribution. Good on you Wendy!

Jess & Evelyn's Wedding Day - 28th Jan 2012

Jess and Evelyn's wedding was on the 28th January 2012 at 1.00pm at the Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Hastings. They had afternoon tea after the service, in the church hall provided by their friends at the congregation. They also had communion after the service. The wine was given to everyone, which was very special. Wishing both of you a world of happiness and joy for your new life together.

Did you notice Paul in one of the photos?

Sydney Christmas Party 2011 at Bistrode CBD

Thank you Tommy for the pictures and clip.

Melbourne Pre-Christmas Drinks Function 16 Dec 2011

The Pre-Christmas Drinks function in Melbourne was held at Bok Choy Tang Restaurant at Federation Square. The weather was perfect for holding this function outdoors. Everyone gathered at the venue and had a great time catching up as a company.

At around 6.30pm, Jess announced that the "Director's Award" winner for Melbourne this year was Chris Studdert. Congratulations to him. There were also Appreciation awards presented to Wendy Keith and Cassandra Loo. Following this, Paul had presented a beautiful and interesting speech about the Company direction with some background of current environment of Online Payments.

Apart from director award winner, we were also very excited to hear of the engagement of Cassandra Loo and Eric Wong, they’ve set the date as January 2013. 

On the second half of the afternoon, we started our Kris Kringle activities. As we had a small group in Melbourne where the people were generally kind, there wasn’t a lot of “stealing” happening during the game, and people were happy to receive their own K.K present.

The function continued on and drew to a close around 8.00pm. Thanks again to Cassandra for organising the event.

C Smart Sydney Xmas Party 2011

The Christmas party in Sydney was held at Bistrode CBD on Dec. 16, 2011. First on the programme was the announcement of this year's Directors awardees. Congratulations to Wendy Baker, Michael Lam, Warren Easton, Sandra van der Walt and Chris Studdart, with special mentions to Wendy Keith, Antony Smith, Joy Curva and Cassandra Loo.

Like last year, the party really kicked into gear when we started the Kris Kringle. It started out slow with people seemingly happy to pick their own gifts. But after breaking for the main meal, the carnivore in everyone seemed to have been awakened. Not sure where the Christmas spirit was in the room after that, as people stole gifts one after the other, and again and again. Ned Kelly would have been proud. All in good spirit, of course. Thank you Techie and Steve for organizing the Kris Kringle.

The above video was beautifully compiled by Tommy.

The Wedding of Doreen and Eric

Doreen and Eric became husband and wife on November 12 in the beautiful gardens of Centennial Park. Here is the happy couple with Doreen's father. As you can see, Doreen was such a beautiful bride. They then treated their guests to a sumptuous dinner aboard a twilight cruise around Sydney Harbour.

Antony on the Green

Great to see Ant up and about. Notice the C Smart shirt he is wearing.

AGM 2011 in Canberra

The Annual General Meeting was held in Canberra from Oct. 13-16, in time with the annual Floriade Festival. The attendees and their families were welcomed with drinks at the Rydges Hotel lobby on arrival. It was great to catch up with the C Smarters that we do not see often.

The formal sessions were held on Friday, where we had an abundance of presenters. Aside from the directors, the other speakers were Awen, Steve, Richard and Gina. We are looking forward to perusing the new Infobase site, which Awen previewed.

A highlight was the formal dinner at the War Memorial. We had a very moving tour of the place, followed by a beautiful meal underneath the war planes. The light and sound show was eerie, and did scare the living daylights out of a few of the kids.

The following day was the AGM Challenge held at the Australian Institute of Sports. Everyone had fun running around like mad men, completing brain teasers, sporting tasks, photo assignments and obstacles. It was an exceptional day. The tour around the institute was an eye opener. Good to see where our taxes contribute to, and hats off to all our athletes.



Congratulations to the winning Guatemala team, and well played to everyone else .

The AGM was a great success. Thank you Paul, Matt and Sharnie. Also, thank you to Zoran for compiling the above video.

Amir Rafique joins C Smart

"I have around 7+ years of Java / J2EE experience, mainly in the financial domain i.e. cards and payment processing. In addition to programming, I have keen interests in software architecture and project management. Before joining CSmart, I was working with Clear 2 Pay. I am very excited on joining CSmart and am looking forward to upcoming challenges.

When not working, I love to watch movies, enjoy food and hangout with friends."

Hunter Valley Wine Tour

Leanne Walter has never been to the Hunter Valley. As she is about to finish her short stint in Sydney, a group of us decided it was a good enough reason to go on a wine tour of the Hunter Valley. Tracey Rose even flew in from Melbourne to join us. We visited 4 boutique wineries, and after tasting approximately 35 wines, we were a very jolly bunch. Great having you in Sydney Leanne. Come back soon.

Introducing Golnaz Tahayori

Golnaz is a recent graduate of the University of Technology (UTS), Sydney, studying her Masters in Information Technology (IT). With a background in Software Engineering, she moved to Australia 4 years ago from Iran. She liked it so much she decided to stay.

Since being in Sydney, she has worked for McKinsey & Company and has done academic work at UTS as a Research Assistant/Teaching Assistant. Golnaz’s professional overseas experience includes programming as well as some consulting work for leading companies in Iran.

Golnaz enjoys watching movies and hanging out with friends in her free time. She likes to travel and explore new places and learn and experience different cultures.

Golnaz joins C Smart as an Associate Analyst.

HP Masterchef

HP is conducting its own Masterchef competition. It is really just a ploy to have people supply food for its fortnightly "Under the Clock" meetings. After much coercion, Wendy agreed to represent the Testing team, and Charles, the C Smart team. The secret ingredient was strawberries. Wendy prepared a white chocolate cheesecake, and it looked as good as it tasted. Charles baked a Strawberry Coffee cake. It may not look pretty, but it was yummy. Sadly, neither won. They lost to Ken Jones' Strawberry Sponge cake. The upside though is neither will need to cook again for the succeeding rounds. C Smart Masterchef competition, anyone?