First published on TechieStory, 18 May 2021: archived copy. TechieStory also ran it in Vietnamese: archived copy. Huy was a Product Manager at the World Mosquito Program then, and roles and plans are as of that date.
Don't worry! People sometimes feel lost, too. When our work falls into a state of saturation, we see nothing interesting to learn and try. Then we can't level up. That's the point of working on different or new things. In my opinion, it's easy to get lost after getting married, and in that Covid pandemic 😷.
I also had a breakthrough: a jump from Business Analyst at a tech company to Product Manager at a non-profit organisation. Earn money while doing something good; that's awesome! At the same time, lots of things change. There are different missions, different workflows, different views, and so on. I would like to do many things, then find what fits me best or what I'm good at. I adapt easily. Deciding to learn a new field and accepting a new challenge are simple. The essential question is, "Can we commit to it for the long term?" We all have a unique nature, so if we don't like what we do, it can't last, unless we did it for so long that it changed our nature.
Usually I was one of the oldest guys in my previous companies, but I'm the youngest here, wow. I work mostly with people born in the 70s and 80s, with Ph.D. degrees, covering most of the Earth's time zones. So when setting meeting times, we work hard to rotate and take turns at the bad hours. My scope of work is close to Operations. I am responsible for all internal systems, software, digital products, and so on. It's fun, too. The growth rate is not as fast as at for-profit companies, but there are still a lot of daily tasks. The environment here is multinational, and people work in a "work hard, play hard" style. They start work at 8:30 AM, sometimes even earlier. At 4 PM, everyone starts wrapping up and heading home to avoid the traffic jams. In general, we work and have meetings continuously. There is no playing and joking around during working hours.
There is drama in every workplace. Small companies have less drama; big companies have more. That's it! The main thing is that we're kind to each other, so that we can still talk and be friends later. In general, every problem has a solution. Put your heart into each decision, because sometimes we can't say who's right or wrong.