The other day someone in the office called me Juan, and a few people nearby looked confused. They had been calling me Jan since my first day.
Both are right, technically. Juan is one of my first names. Jan is what my family and friends have always called me. In the Philippines, nicknames like this are common, and they often stay with you for life. Juan is also a bit of an old-fashioned name back home. It’s a Spanish name, and to me it sounds like the old days, like the Juans in folk stories such as Juan Tamad. I don’t mind it at all, and I’ll still turn around if you call me Juan.
I’ve seen something similar with Thai colleagues I worked with before. Many of them had long formal names, but at work they went by a short nickname, often just one syllable.
It was a small moment, but it reminded me that I’m the new guy again. People here are still getting to know me, and I’m still getting to know them. It also got me thinking about how I got here.
Where I’m coming from
For the past four and a half years I worked in fintech. I joined as a Senior Engineer, became a Lead, and later a Staff Engineer.
Fintech has to move fast. When your product moves people’s money, every lost transaction is a worried customer, and fraud and compliance are never far from your mind. Fixes and features needed to reach production quickly, and there were times when proper engineering and product thinking had to wait.
Those years were my baptism by fire. Tight deadlines forced me to get creative. I learned how to work with stakeholders who all needed something urgently, and how to build and grow a team instead of just shipping my own work.
It wasn’t easy. There were good stretches and hard ones, and a few times I was close to walking away. But I got through it, and I’m a better engineer for it.
When it was time to leave, I wanted to leave well. I took the time to hand things over properly, so the team could carry on and I could go with a clear mind.
Where I am now
I’ve just started as a Principal Engineer at a new company, and what I notice most is the culture. My team is mostly new joiners, and there’s a real openness to ideas. People want to collaborate. Leadership knows where we’re going and why, and you can feel it in the team. The work ahead is big, maybe a little daunting, but people seem excited about it rather than worried.
The work is different too. I’ll be building internal data tools, figuring out how AI can turn data into insights that help colleagues in their day-to-day work. We still want to move fast, but we’re building from scratch, so there’s room to think about what we actually want to achieve before we build it.
My previous company felt product-first. This one feels engineering-first. Both have their place, and I’m glad I learned from the first before coming to the second.
Why it feels like a fit
I’m not coming in empty-handed. Everything I’ve learned over the years, especially the last four and a half, taught me to stay calm when things are urgent and to bring people with me. A new team building something from scratch can use that. And this time, the work gives us more room to plan before we build.
So yes, I’m the new guy again, and I’m happy about it. And for the record, you can call me Jan.
