Speaking at Mendaki Club's Re:Work initiative

I was invited (accepted without hesitation) to be part of a panel of speakers at MClub's Re:Work Initiative (Career Conversation) for tech last weekend. I learned that the event was oversubscribed, registrations exceeded the 50 pax limit imposed due to the covid restrictions. When we started, the seats were full (YAY to punctuality !!!)

The panel session was good and we covered several topics with conversations on each speakers' journey on how they ended up in a tech company, personal branding, how to be successful in finding the right job and getting it. With all three speakers having different background, the same questions were addressed differently by each of us. (I AM LEARNING FROM THEM TOO!!!!)

One of the interesting question during the panel session was , 'Is there any advantage to any particular group resulting from the push for equal employment opportunities ?' I think this is a good question and each one of us did address it from what our respective companies practise and also our personal take on it.

The panel session was then followed by the breakout sessions and I went around to 4 different groups to interact to them. I had a more intimate, open and light hearted 15 mins session in each group. There were good questions as well in the breakouts and I got questions on 'How was my leadership style ?', 'What is one career advice that you would give to those who just started their career ?', 'Is there a challenge for mid-career switchers to get into tech and what are the challenges?', 'Do I see continuous growth in the tech industry or this is another dotcom bubble ?'. I enjoyed giving my perspective on these questions as I tried to keep the session casual and palatable.

Of all the interactions, two questions made be stopped in my tracks

1. You are in Oracle for so long, what made you stay ?

2. One career advice that you would give to those who just started their career ?

To the first, BOSSES I TRUST MY CAREER WITH. This is primarily the reason I stayed in Oracle as long as I did because I have bosses like Kevin and Pascal who I trust that they will continuously give me opportunities for me to grow, move to the next level and give me guidance when I screwed up. You can get a lot of things when you move from one company to another BUT a relationship where you can trust your management chain IS GOLDEN.

To the second, BLESSINGS from our parents and the people who loves us and we love them. Any career, tech or not, one will face with many challenges, set backs, unhappiness but what make us go again and again and try our best each time are the people that matters.

Lastly, kudos to the MClub team again for trailblazing to have a physical event and I hope the team will continue to be able to engage the community in the coming months and years and bring much benefit to all physically or online.

Ciao, till then.