10 years work in tech…as a nobody

I was born and raised in a small country in Asia. When I was in high school, my parents bought me a very low-end computer, which was my first tech product, and that was the year of 2000. I didn’t use it to learn any programming language, but it was the moment I knew I would work in a tech company someday. My career started in 2012, I was a Java developer working in a local manufacturer, responsible for maintaining internal web-based systems. At that time, I had no idea how to code to be honest, I didn’t even know how I got hired by just completing some basic programming multiple choice questions. My job had not much difficulty, the main responsibility was to simply maintain those very old Java 1.4 Struts-framework websites(okay sometimes creating new pages). I then spent the entire 5 years of my life there, learnt something about “work” and “job”, I thought I was doing a great job. I then decided to leave since I couldn't find my passion at code anymore. I decided to restart as a Product Manager. I thought I could find a job in a short time because I was doing well in my previous job, as well as my so-called technical background, but I was wrong. No one wanted to hire me since I had no proven record as PM. I was struggling for 6 months not finding a job, and even got insulted on an interview saying my previous working experience was nothing to them. Lucky me, I eventually got hired. I didn’t find a job working as an actual PM, but it was close enough so that I could learn from work and others. I spent another 3 years working and learning there, and then got an internal transfer to an actual PM. That was something I didn’t expect. I thought I was doing well again, until I started to look for a new opportunity. I soon realized there was a huge gap between my job and a real PM job in a global company. I had no PM methodology in mind, had no good command of English, and I didn't even know how to answer BQs from my past experience. I then ended up spending 5 months improving those I didn’t do well and found a job at Amazon somewhere in Asia. Now it’s the 10th anniversary since 2012, still struggling on my job, just finished my Google PM on-site in Feb. and not yet got a match (hey where’s hiring managers!). I no longer think I am doing a good job, I am more humble than before, I am still nobody working in tech, but this time I know how to grow and overcome those difficulties. Epilogue (To those struggling at anything): 1. You can literally do anything, as long as you trust in yourself and put effort on it. 2. You don’t need to reach your goal at your first attempt, the path doesn’t have to be a straight line, there can be some stops before your destination. 3. There’re tons of smart people even working harder than you. If you can’t reach your goal at this moment, please don’t give up trying and one day you will find your own glory. TC: 165K