I can’t believe I’ve been working at my current company for 1 year since I joined last year. Perhaps this is just a small note, I feel I’m quite insecure (or might be stressed out) and embarrassed by the many unknowns and uncertainties that I’ve experienced or even worked on during my time here HAHA
When I joined my current office, the product engineering team in the Indonesian office was mostly filled with UGM and ITB alumni1 and there were also 4 members from data engineering team who held Master degrees from top Taiwanese universities (National Taiwan University and also National Central University). Honestly, it was definitely one of the most shocking moments when I found out about this2. Their experience is also quite proven since they came from top companies too.
Our team is very small and lean for handling large-scale products (in my opinion). And this is where a feeling of insecurity occurs over something that is obscure because there is ‘space’ and ‘gaps’ which appear to be very big.
But I think, I have begun to slowly understand and accept that it would be so much better that I can finally learn and be in an ecosystem like this because apart from that, it always makes me feel stupid which results in me having to strive 3-5 times harder for the better. I also realize how small I am.
Editorial notes, 26 September 2025: When I read this again, I just knew that around 43% of the employees at my workplace were Masters graduates (most of them were my colleagues in Malaysia)