worklifesharing

[worklifesharing]

Mengatasi Kegelisahan dan Ketidakamanan

Halo! Saya seorang wanita, berusia 23 tahun yang bekerja sebagai Associate QA Engineer di industri Marketing & Advertising. Saya dibesarkan di Bekasi dan biasa pulang pergi ke Jakarta setiap hari untuk bekerja. Sekarang berbeda. Pindah ke kota lain karena pekerjaan, saya inging menceritakan bagaimana cara mengatasi rasa gelish dan tidak aman.

 Saya bergabung dengan perusahaan ini sejak awal Juni 2020. Pindah dari Jakarta ke Batam saat pandemi terparah. Sangat sulit karena tidak ada keluarga ataupun teman disana. Protokol-nya cukup sulit, memerlukan beberapa dokumen perlu ditandantangani oleh pegawai pemerintah dan tes PCR yang mahal. Setelah beberapa hari tiba di Batam, saya menyadari lingkungannya berbeda dengan Jakarta. Jarang kendaraan umum, jarang macet, tidak ada polisi yang berpatroli, dan kalau tidak punya kendaraan, siap-siap cari Gojek atau Grab. Disini penuh kedamaian, tapi pikiran saya tidak. Saya tidak terbiasa dengan situasi ini. 

Hari pertama bekerja penuh dengan jadwal perkenalan bersama rekan kerja dari berbagai negara. Saya sangat gugup. Saya berbicara bahasa Inggris tidak sebaik saya menulis. Mereka menyambut, ramah, dan rendah hati. Senang bisa bekerja dengan mereka. Saya agak terkejut saat QA lain mengungkapkan bahwa hanya ada 2 orang yang bekerja untuk APAC. Wah, pekerjaan bisa menumpuk, kalau saya lamban. Dua minggu berlalu dan saya tidak mendapatkan perintah tertentu apa yang harus dikerjakan. Beberapa bilang untuk mencari tahu teknologi yang sayang ingin pelajari, sayangnya saya tidak kepikiran apa-apa. Saya lebih suka melakukan rutinitas daripada mencari ilmu. Rasa panik dan bersalah mulai datang.

Hampir sebulan bekerja, saya menerima tugas untuk menguji sebuah situs yang akan digunakan di Australia. Manajer saya memberi tantangan menulis automation testing menggunakan WebdriverIO dengan JavaScript. Terus terang, saya bukan orang yang suka coding, tapi, ini harus diselesaikan. Saya menulis test script dan itu bekerja dengan baik. Awal Agustus, mendapat 2 tugas dari klien ternama. Seorang senior developer dan producer dari Jepang memberi pengarahan dan panduan tentang proyek ini. Mendengarkan penjelasan membuat saya membayangkan test plan seperti apa yang dibutuhkan. Tiba-tiba, mereka berhenti bicara dan bertanya apa saya punya pertanyaan. Otak saya membeku. Meringkas flow yang dijelaskan dan berkata semua baik-baik saja. Panggilan itu harusnya berlangsung selama 1 jam, tapi kami membuatnya jadi 15 menit. Mereka bingung, tidak tahu mengapa saya tidak bertanya apa-apa.

Hari berikutnya, saya menerima panggilan dengan tim yang berbeda. Yang ini memerlukan kesabaran melihat banyaknya lokalisasi (terjemahan). Kaget saat tahu ada beberapa orang Indonesia yang bekerja di luar negri, mereka terlihat seperti orang asing. Lancar berbahasa Inggris dan terlihat sangat alami. Setiap saya melakukan zoom call meeting, saya tidak bisa mengikuti pembicaraan mereka. Mereka berbicara terlalu cepat dan menggunakan aksen yang berbeda. Mereka mengira saya malu atau sakit. Itu masalah, sangat gugup. Sibuk dengan pikiran saya, butuh waktu untuk memproses, dan mengerti apa yang mereka katakan. Saya frustasi ingin bergaul dan mengenal mereka. Selain itu, sering salah kata, dan terlalu banyak “ahh” atau “hmm” yang keluar dari mulut saya. Pada akhirnya, menyadari yang saya alami selama ini adalag kegelisahan, ketidakamanan, panik, dan kaget dengan kebudayaan. Menjadi bodoh selama panggilan dan meragukan diri sendiri. 

Akhirnya, saya menceritakan ini kepada rekan kerja lain yang baru bergabung dan seorang talent manager. Mereka menyarankan berhenti berpikir seperti itu dan mencoba menghibur. Saya cengeng dan nyaris berpikir untuk berkonsultasi dengan psikiater. Salah seorang senior menyadari perubahan perilaku saya dan bertanya apa yang terjadi. Lega rasanya bisa cerita semua. Dia mengajari saya, “Kalau ada beberapa hal yang tidak dimengerti, cara terbaik untuk mengetahuinya berbicara mengenai hal itu. Saat membutuhkan bantuan, semua orang bisa membantu. Intinya, jangan takut untuk bertanya! Sebagai seorang associate tugasmu belajar sebanyak mungkin dari semua orang. Jadilah orang yang proaktif!”. Percaya atau tidak, saya menominasikan dia sebagai senior terbaik yang pernah bekerja dengan saya. Tetap menjaga keimanan tidak peduli bagaimana kondisi yang terjadi, berusaha meyakinkan diri bagaimana cara menghadapi rasa takut.

Proyek dengan tim Jepang telah dirilis akhir Agustus. Senior developer bilang saya berhasil, meskipun sempat kewalahan. Tidak bisa menyelesaikan ini tanpa bantuan tim, karena hanya tersisa 4 hari untuk menguji sebelum digunakan umum. Minggu lalu, saya menerima hasil probation. Para pengulas menuliskan saya baik dalam pekerjaan, tetapi secara mental saya memerlukan bantuan melihat dari masalah meragukan diri sendiri. Manajer saya mengatakan bahwa memiliki rasa ragu pada diri sendiri tidaklah buruk. Tetap diam dan berbicara sedikit saat bingung terhadap sesuatu itu hal wajar. Senang sekali berhasil lulus probation.

Tidak ada yang dapat mengubah emosi dengan cepat. Saya dulu rapuh dan rentan. Bertanya-tanya mengapa ini terjadi, apa yang salah, bagaimana cara menyelesaikan ini. Beruntung bisa bekerja di perusahaan yang memiliki kebudayaan yang baik. Ini sangat membantu, tempat kerja dan lingkungan akan menentukan apakah kamu berkembang atau tetap tidak tahu apa-apa. Komunikasi adalah kunci. Tenang dan berperilaku seperti biasa. Berhasil melalui semua masalah, dan saya masih berusaha dengan masalah lain.

“If you invest wisely, the pay off might just surprise you.” - Meredith Grey

[worklifesharing]

Overcame Anxiety and Insecurity

Howdy! I’m a female, 23 who’s currently working as an Associate QA Engineer in the Marketing & Advertising industry. I was raised in Bekasi and used to commute to Jakarta every day for work. It’s distinctive now. Moving to another city due to work, I wanted to let you know a story about how to overcome insecurity and anxiety. 

I join this company since the beginning of June 2020. Traveled from Jakarta to Batam during the worst pandemic time. It was tough since no family or friends there. The protocol was complicated, a few papers needed to sign by civil service and expensive PCR test. After several days arrived in Batam, I noticed the circumstances were different from Jakarta. Less public transportation, no traffic jams, no police patrols, and not owning a vehicle, be prepared to call Gojek or Grab. Here is full of peace, but my mind isn’t. I’m not familiar with this. 

My first day of work was full of induction schedules with coworkers from diverse countries. I was super nervous. I speak English, but not as well as I do writing. They welcomed, friendly, and humble. Delighted to be able to work with them. I was quite shocked when another QA revealed that there were only two doing works for APAC. Wow, the work could be overloaded, if I was slow. Two weeks passed and I didn’t accept any instruction doing certain work. Part of them told exploring tech I wanted to learn, sadly I was clueless. I was more into doing routines rather than absorb knowledge. Panic and guilt came to my senses.

Almost a month working, I acquired a task to test a website that would be launched in Australia. My manager challenged writing an automation test using WebdriverIO in JavaScript. Frankly, I wasn’t a fan of coding, however, it was required to be done. I wrote the test scripts and it worked properly. Early August, received two tasks from a well-known client. A senior developer and a producer from Japan gave a briefing and the project walkthrough. Listening to the explanation made imagine what kind of test plan would be needed. Suddenly, they stopped talking and asked if I had any questions. My brain froze. Recapping the flow and I said great. The call was supposed to be an hour, we made it 15 minutes. They confused, had no idea why I didn’t ask anything.

The next day, I was on a call with a different team. This one demanded patience considering numerous localisations. Surprised knowing that Indonesian out there working abroad, they were alike foreigners. Fluent English and looked so natural. Every time I had a zoom call meeting with others, I didn’t catch up with their talks. They talked too fast and using different accents. They thought that I was shy or sick. It was problematic, butterflies in my stomach. Busy with my thoughts, needed time to process, and understand what they were saying. I was frustrated being wanted to mingle and become acquainted with them. Aside from that, stumble over words, and too many “aah” or “hmm” came out from my mouth. At the end, aware of what I’ve been having were anxiety, insecurity, panic, along with culture shock. Being idiotic throughout the call and doubting myself.

Finally, I talked about this with another new joiner and a talent manager. They suggested stopping to think that way and tried to cheer up. I was a crybaby and nearly had thought of seeing a psychiatrist. One of the seniors recognized my behavior changes and asked what happened. It was relieved of being an open book. He taught that “If there are some unknowns, the best way to figure it out is to talk to lead about it. Needed support, anyone can help. In general, feel free to ask! Being an associate your job is to learn as much as possible from everyone. Be a proactive person!” Believe it or not, I nominate him as the best senior I’ve ever work with. Keep in faith no matter what condition was happening, trying to convince how to deal with the fear.

The project with the Japan team was released at the end of August. The senior developer spoke that I aced it, even that was overwhelmed. Couldn’t accomplish it without the team help since only remained 4 days to test before it was going live. Last week, I received my probation review. The reviewers wrote I nailed it, but mentally I needed help seeing the self-doubt problem. My manager assumed that it wasn’t awful to have self-doubt. Stay silent and have less talk when disconcerted about something are acceptable. Overjoyed passed the probation. 

Nothing can change emotions rapidly. I was fragile and vulnerable. Wondering why this happened, what was wrong, how to solve this. Lucky to work in a company with valuable culture. It is absolutely helpful, workplace and circle will determine whether you’re evolving or keep in the dark. Communication is the key. Pull yourself together. Succeed through all those issues, and I’m still dealing with others.

“If you invest wisely, the pay off might just surprise you.” - Meredith Grey

[worklifesharing]

Workers Preferable Matters

It is based on a simple 24 hours survey concerning work-life on Instagram with 81 respondents which starts on Thursday, August 27th, 2020 until the next day.

Do you like to work at home or in the office?

Largest workers all over the world work at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Various changes are demanding tremendous effort to adapt and survive the situation. Nearly all miss working at the office, while others enjoy work at home. There are 44 people vote “office” and the rest vote “home”. People miss less work, catching up with coworkers informally, feel out of the loop, do set routines, coworkers perhaps accuse slacking, not have full access to the technology platform, and forget to clock in or out. Those who love to work at home have flexible time, no commuting, save money, able to wear cozy clothes, and no office distraction.

The workplace can be one of the plentiful factors that define productivity. It relies on your work ethic, habit, behavior, nature of work, and work area environment. 

Do you prefer to work morning or night?

Normally the morning will be preferential since it seems higher quality for health. If urgent matters are pilling up, have extra time to accomplish. There are 47 people select “morning” and others select “night”. Early birds may be resilient, proactive, cooperative, conscientious, and happier. But, those are not constantly smarter. Night owls may be intelligent, creative, remain alert for several hours, have night energy with poor health issues.  

Both types are flawed. They are creative and productive in a unique way to achieve their triumphs.

Do you like to find out more or remain do routines?

Generally, people love to learn by doing, do an observation, and research to gain information and insight. There are 49 people pick “find out more” and some pick “remain do routines”. Find out more is worth improving the needed skills, have ideas, and alternative options to complete work. Set up and remain do routines as habit lead to advance certain skill, faster and easier to maintain work. 

These are mutual symbiotic in work which need to do regularly. If you are willing to do both and put effort, you will be one step in front of others.

What do you expect when joining a startup or corporate?

Every option is useful. The options are better salary, benefits and rewards, learn more you don’t do before, and promotions. There are 19 people who choose the first option, 16 choose the second option, 34 choose the third option, and other respondents choose the last option. Good negotiation skills is needed, know your worth, and what the company wishes. Each company has different benefits and rewards that are already determined. Joiner will know them when signing up for an employment agreement. Workers obtain benefits such as allowance and another advantage as experiencing a distinctive situation, and rewards as doing excellent work done. Each one deserves to learn more they don’t do before, sadly not all the company will provide and support considering the finance issues. A few improved tools acquire price to pay, as an alternative, companies will refer to explore with free tools. If your company is bankrupt, your skills help find another job. Hard work and endless effort eventually bring to have a promotion, even though require entirely time. When your boss doesn’t acknowledge everything has done, promotion seems tough to come. Move on and try in another company.

All of these may be your true desire when joining a company, however, only have one or a few in real life. Be realistic, reasonable, and flexible.

What kind of language do you usually use at work?

Any languages are important to be learned since it allows us to share or exchange several common information, idea, and even express feeling. As Indonesian, people regularly talk in Bahasa to communicate seeing that as our mother language and comfortable with it. There are 42 people who vote “Bahasa”, 22 vote “English”, and the rest of respondents vote other languages. English is the uttermost used and spoken language all over the world. Speak actively in English will increase your chance to join a multinational company within your home or abroad, and improve networking. Another language is also necessary to learn to encourage respect others, gain perspective, examine the world, strengthen decision-making, and boost confidence.  

Misunderstand may occur once or twice no matter what languages you are using. Multi-languages will attain us easier to mingle as global citizens.

Do you prefer overwork or less work?

Less work drives to have less stress, personal time, do something people love, boost productivity, and healthier. But, they may not acquire perks of being overwork. There are 45 people who pick “less work” and some pick “overwork”. Overwork cause exhaustion, cut personal time, critical health issue, and lack of concentration, even depression. The benefits of overwork are advanced career, improve relationships with coworkers, and possibly earn much money. Sometimes, overwork also leads to diminishing returns.

“There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life.” ― Alain de Botton

Whatever work habit preferable, each person deserves to be delighted. You only live once.

Your choice brings to a particular future which has consequences. Don’t be afraid to take action.

Author: Luthfia Fitriani

Reference:

https://ckclinical.co.uk/candidates/career-zone/work-place-advice/working-from-home-vs-working-from-the-office/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/night-owl-benefits_n_5877272

https://www.fastcompany.com/3046391/morning-people-vs-night-people-9-insights-backed-by-science

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/salary-negotiation-tips-how-to-get-a-better-offer-2063439

https://www.leadwithlanguages.org/why-learn-languages/top-ten-reasons-to-learn-languages/

https://retireby40.org/pros-cons-working-less/

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20170112-if-you-want-to-earn-more-work-less#:~:text=Studies%20show%20people%20who%20work,downside%20of%20long%20working%20hours.