My experience working at a Japanese startup.
What is the first impression that comes to your mind when hearing about a Japanese company? Overwork? Courtesy? Top-down management? Tricky promotion system?
When I tell people that I’m working for a Japanese startup, I bet the truth is beyond their imagination of a conventional stereotype.
Honestly, I didn’t make any assumptions before I got the job at this company, I just wanted to find a remote one in the beginning. However, before I joined the team, I did have doubts if they have micro-management culture when hearing the founder is a Japanese, I’ve ever heard some horrible managers monitor their employees’ screen using softwares, I’d say it will be worse than working physically in an office; fortunately, this company doesn’t have that kind of disasters, on a contrary, I have a great deal of freedom to use my own time as long as I get things done, it’s quite nice to have a work-life-balance, and I believe that’s how employers and employees can build a sustainable relationship together.
Nevertheless, there are pros and there are cons; working in a startup could be mentally exhausted, especially joining one from an early stage, it’s like you hop on a train running in the tunnel, the direction could be confusing, none of the team members have an idea of when the light is at the end of the tunnel, there’s no guarantee; you’ve got to have a strong sense of self-driven and self-disciplined instead of passive attitude, those principles apply to remote teams either, it could be no one to teach you how to do the specific task, or watch over you day in and day out, you probably might be asked to do something that didn’t list up on the job description that you applied for, and oftentimes, you’re the only member in your expertise, you work there to bring values to the table.
Yet, it doesn’t mean it should be intimidating to work in a startup, there are opportunities and flexibilities out there, it’s often a flat organization rather than top-down management, there’s also plenty of room to discuss and brainstorm together, it’s easier to introduce new ideas to the team, you can have more autonomy of the projects, it also trains you to take responsibilities and ownerships. For some companies, they even take startup experience as a nice-to-have qualification when hiring someone new. Lastly, if you want to have your own startup someday, joining a startup is the fastest way to learn.
Anyway, there’s no right answer, but it’s not rocket science, never stop learning and catch up.