Anonymous career talk from Malaysian job seekers — salary, interviews, company culture, WFH and more.
Started with fast.ai top-down approach. Then went back to statistics fundamentals on Khan Academy. Kaggle competitions for practice. Took 18 months to feel competent. Hired as junior ML engineer after that.
Be honest and brief. I took time off for personal/health/family reasons, and here is what I did during that period that kept me relevant. Prepare 1-2 upskilling or project activities to show you were not idle.
Training is solid and the brand name opens doors. Salary around RM3,200-3,600. Good for stability.
Webflow is great for marketing sites. Bubble for simple apps. Hiring managers do not always respect them as engineering skills. Good for solo founders and non-engineers to validate ideas quickly.
Response rate was 23%. Interview conversion was 24%. Learnings: company research = better answers, STAR format = clearer delivery, salary question = prepare a range not a number. Good data beats feelings.
My first course made RM4,500 in launch week (100 buyers at RM45). Ongoing sales passive after marketing. Revenue sharing platform: Teachable or course-selling via Notion + Stripe (works in Malaysia now).
If you cannot explain it simply, you do not understand it. I write notes as if teaching a junior. Gaps in the explanation show gaps in my understanding. Best study method I have found for any subject.
Check in privately, not in a group. Say I noticed you seem stressed lately, not that you look terrible. Offer specific help (I can take the next review). Do not problem-solve unless they ask.
Never reveal the offer amount first. Stay calm and factual. Has worked for me twice.
Slowly. Mental health days are being added at some MNCs. EAP coverage is increasing. But stigma in leadership is still real, your manager might nod to wellness talks and then penalise you for taking a sick day.
Employment passes restrict you to work for the sponsoring employer only. Freelancing or consulting income technically violates this. Some people do it quietly, but the risk if found out is pass cancellation.
Warp terminal + Oh My Zsh + Starship prompt. On Windows: WSL2 + Windows Terminal. The difference a good terminal makes to daily productivity is underrated.
CTOS or SSM for basics. SuperJobs salary data. LinkedIn employee tenure trends. Glassdoor if available. Recent news via Google. Ask your network if anyone worked there. This research takes 30 minutes and pays dividends.
PMP if you work in traditional project environments or want global recognition. PMI-ACP or CSM if your workplace uses Agile. Scrum Master cert is quick but oversaturated. PMP has the best long-term value.
After 4 years at a GLC I joined a 25-person startup. No approval chains, chaotic. Stressful at first but I feel more alive.
Told my HR confidentially. Got adjusted deadlines for 3 months. Saw a psychiatrist (company insurance covered it). Medication helped. Took 6 months to feel stable again. Sharing in case it helps someone.
Monorepo with Turborepo or Nx for teams sharing code between frontend and backend. Separate repos for completely independent services. We moved to monorepo at 15 engineers and it helped.
DesignCourse, AJ&Smart, Figma official channel, Charli Marie, and The Futur. Spent 6 months watching and applying. Built 4 case studies. Got my first design role without a design degree.
Get a signed brief before starting. Milestones with part-payment protect you. Never start before receiving a deposit (30-50%). If client becomes unresponsive mid-project, stop work and send a formal notice.
Legally you cannot be discriminated against but in practice it happens. I did not disclose until I received the written offer. Had 3 months to establish myself before my bump was visible. Not ideal but practical.
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