It might be too early for me to say this.

But, grass is indeed greener on the other side. Regardless of where your position (or location) is.

I’ve helped company with numerous position. Junior, Senior, Lead and then back to L2 engineer. From Malaysia to Germany.

When I was back in Malaysia, working abroad was always the goal, for the invaluable experience. Oh the sight of snows and cold weather. I want to get as far away as possible from Malaysia.

Now that I’m in Germany, I’m yearning to go back and contribute to our nation.

  • I miss the morning dew everytime my parent make breakfast and wakes me up.
  • The smell of the rain, you know its a unique smell.
  • Listening to vehicles passing through our curb

Weird right. The irony.

You’ll start to see a pattern from what I’m about to say.

How many times have we look back, and wish we were kids again?

My guess is, a lot.

I miss breaking fast during Ramadhan with our family, and then playing firecracker after prayers.

As a human, we rarely feel content with what we have. It’s in our nature. We are wired to seek more, more than just within ourself.

But my advise is, just be content with your present time. Acknowledge yourself.

Take a look around you.

Be present.

Are you a junior? Then enjoy the hustle and blood rushing through your system. There’s a lot for you to gain in this path. Jot down all the mistakes you’ve made, chances are you’ll think about this somewhere in the future.

If you’re still living with your parent, cherish this moment, there’s this quote that I hold dear:

One day, you’ll enter your parent’s home as a guest.

For Senior and Lead, I wouldn’t say I’m the right person to give advise as my tenure was short, and afterwards I got the no-brainer offer to go to Germany. Though the scale has been reset, I’ve never regretted it.

Are you still studying? Then enjoy the time that you have with your friend and classmates. The dreaded morning to wake up, to go to the classes. Be patient with the hurdle, I can guarantee you’ll miss those moments.

You’ll miss all the people and stuff, I know I do.

Hey, its greener there

If you’re in this career, we are always looking up high. Where do we see ourself in the future?

Getting your first job? Being manager? A senior? Or transition to other path totally?

My goal right now is towards Individual Contributor, that means I’m aiming for Staff Engineer. Even though the next step should be Senior, I would always aim a bit higher.

But as I’m aware that grasses are greener on things that we have not achieved yet, I’m going to take a breath, look at “now”, and appreciate what I’m blessed with.

My job can be taken away from me one day, anytime. There’s no guarantee anything is sets to stone, permanently.

But I’m grateful that I can earn for my family today.

We shouldn’t be content with what we have, we must grow, but we should be appreciative.

You’ll see that I rarely share on technical stuff.

I like technical stuff, it’s in my blood. It’s what got me waking up to go to work everyday. Technical stuff, although have wide range, I can guarantee all of them are attainable. You just need to put efforts and grit.

I started my career with Rails and took PHP, and now PHP are out of my radar.

Tech come and goes, what makes you relevant is your ability to keep up with it, which I hope you all do.

But then, there’s the human side. This is more tricky, as working hard usually does the opposite. We tend to forget to care for our emotions and needs, we forgot to look at those around us.

I don’t talk Rails or PHP with my parent. But I’m happy it helps me to contribute to them.

We are running and running everyday.

I bet it can get tiring.

Never lose track on your human side.

As of now, my humble advise is..

”Be present. Enjoy the grass under your feet, with your loved ones.”

— 🟥

Al-fatihah for my late father.