Because I have too many drafts that don’t get published...

June 1, 2018

Turning 3 

When I first moved here, I thought the excitement of working overseas will quickly lose its charm on me and that after a few months, I’ll feel normal about it. Three years have passed, and I can honestly say I’m still enamoured by this city. 

Today, I’m celebrating my 3^rd year living and working in Singapore. *clink clink*

The experience surely had its ups and downs and taught me so much about life and personal growth. Career-wise, it has challenged me while also fulfilled me in many ways I didn’t think was possible. 

From the initial contract of two months in June 2015, my service got extended longer and longer. Suddenly, it’s now 2018. 

I had the pleasure of working with the best people that a contract IT consultant can ever hope for. For the times I needed help, there was a spectrum of colleagues-turned-friends, whom I seek advice from. My bosses and even the client bosses have been nothing but amazing and supportive too. I had everything a person would need to be a better and well-rounded SAP ABAP Consultant.  

Turning 30

Couple of months ago, I turned 30. There was no big spectacle about it. I spent the entire day just sleeping and/or hanging around in bed. Also, I’m very happy to report that I didn’t automatically get bad hangovers the moment I passed my 20’s, as wildly believed in urban legends. 

On a more serious note, I have come to terms that I probably won’t have my own family or have a kid/s in the near future. But I want something, at least one part of my life, to be more than just temporary. Easily, career was the first area of my life that I looked into. 

Contract Life

At this point, I told myself I’m tired of having to rely on an IT agency to decide if I will have a job for the next months to come. Because that’s what being on contract means.

And then this happened too. 

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed and utilised all the perks of being on a contractual basis. Whenever a project finishes? I go off and travel the world, without having to worry about using up my vacation days. On my own dime for the time lost, but still that kind of independence was something I lived for and needed at the time.

The big caveat was that I was essentially unable to plan for the future due to this setup.

The Plot Twist

So I have been mulling about what I can do to uplevel, at least on a career perspective, where I can make use of my skills and also apply some under-utilised ones. I set some short term and long term goals and tried to back-trace several routes that I can take to reach them. I’m not gonna lie, I laughed my own ideas off. They sounded so impossible. 

Until one afternoon, I received an email from a headhunter for a permanent job and as it turned out, it was one of the plans I made that I initially deemed as crazy. For one, though related by industry, it’s a totally different role from programming. 

Cutting the story from that first introduction until today, so many things have happened—One of which is that I have gotten and accepted the offer. *clink clink*

As a result, I’m now on a weeklong break and next week, I’ll start working again. Only this time, it won’t be as an SAP ABAP Developer. 

Ending (also New Beginning)

It was pure excitement for me until my last day at work last week. That’s only when it hit me. The work I have been doing for the past 7 years won’t be the same work I’ll head into next week. The thought of it was equal parts motivating and terrifying. My natural reaction, of course, was to cry my feelings out until I felt better. 

Yes, a career change at this age seems to be daunting. I don’t even know if I will succeed at it. What I do know is that I’m extremely excited to be given this opportunity, in the first place. You can bet I won’t take it for granted.

Stepping out of my career comfort zone was the best gift I gave to myself three years ago, and it is the gift I’m giving myself again now. I can only hope that I’d learn a lot from this new adventure.