（這篇我是先用英文像意識流一樣寫出來的，所以英文先行，中文翻譯在下方XD）
I had my annual performance review with my boss last week, looking ahead at my career expectations for the coming year. The process was unexpectedly illuminating. In an instant, I realized with sudden clarity that the limitations of what I can achieve at this company, purely due to the nature of our product.
A good hire delivers what the job asks you to. A great hire is able to make good judgmental calls when the situation is the most unclear and ambiguous. This company being an Infrastructure Fintech, the technicality of it greatly prevents me from doing the latter. Many times, I find myself watching PMs discuss new product features, and it’s entirely about API details; then the EM chimes in to point out framework constraints and other technical possibilities. Meanwhile, I sit there with my entire arsenal of business logic, with absolutely no place to apply it. I know with absolute certainty that I thrive in a B2C business, a role with more GTM focus, close to the customers, bringing products to markets.
Thinking about this made me feel a bit discouraged. Job hunting is exhausting. I’ve been in this role for less than a year and a half—must I really move on again?
But then, I had an epiphany: A career spans decades of life. and this job will take probably 1-3 years of it. That’s a fraction, only a chapter in my life. I’ll never do another infrastructure company, and I will never be so technical ever again. I can always go back to the business world that I thrive, back to a marketplace company that I like.
But when office politics and turf wars happen again - as they more commonly do in such business settings - I will for sure miss the experience I have in this technical world and the interactions I have with engineers: their straightforwardness, verbosity, stubbornness, quirkiness, abruptness, and engineers’ unique kind of humour. A sense of genuineness that can sometimes be rare in a business setting.
Every job will end at a point. Every position is but one chapter in the long journey of a career. Be a social observer; enjoy every moment of observation and interaction while you are in it. That’s what you take away from life.
《技術性的篇章》
上週和主管進行了年度績效考核，放眼未來一年的職涯期待。這個過程出乎我意料之外的illuminating，我瞬間再清晰不過地意識到因為產品屬性，我在這家公司的發展終將帶來的侷限。
A good employee，能做好職位要求的事；A great employee，能在情況最模糊、不明朗且資訊不足的時候，做出精準的判斷。我司是一家金融科技infrastructure公司，因為高度技術性，我始終難以做到後者。很多時候，我看著產品經理們討論新功能，談的全是 API 細節；技術主管加入討論，提出框架限制和其他技術可能性，而我和我的一身商業邏輯在一旁毫無用武之地。我非常清楚地知道：我在 B2C 的環境裡才能真正發揮，在更貼近市場、客戶、將產品帶向市場的角色裡。
想到這些，我不禁感到有點沮喪。找工作耗時耗力耗心神，我才剛在這個職位不到一年半—，難道又要換工作了嗎？
但就在那時，我突然想通了：在人的一生當中，職涯是幾十年的事，這份工作大概也只會佔其中的一到三年。這只是人生的一個篇章，我大概不會再進另一家基礎設施公司，也再也不會處於如此技術性的環境了。我隨時可以回到那個讓我如魚得水的商業世界，回到我喜歡的 marketplace產品。但到時候，當辦公室政治和地盤之爭再度在那樣的商業環境上演時，我一定會無比懷念現在這個很技術但相對純粹的環境，懷念與工程師相處、一起工作的點滴：他們的直接、他們總是打太多字、他們的固執、他們的怪癖、他們偶爾的唐突，還有那種屬於工程師的獨特幽默，他們那種在商業世界裡時顯難得的真誠。
每份工作終將隨著合約將走到盡頭，每個職位，不過是漫漫職涯旅途中的一個篇章。當一個社會觀察家，享受每一刻身處其中時的觀察與互動。那才是你從人生帶走的東西。
