Digital Heroes: Guide to IT World

I Thought I Knew How to Build Systems Whoa! The airplane wing looked strangely fragile. I was boarding an ANA flight from Haneda Airport to London. My very first “overseas system training program” was about to begin. It was my eighth year in the company. I had gained a fair amount of experience in system development and had already worked on systems actively used in society. And I wasn’t just a developer anymore. I had also been involved from the management side, overseeing projects from a broader perspective. “This is how systems are built.” I had gradually started to gain that confidence. Of course, I was not a Java professional. I wasn’t the kind of engineer who specialized in mastering code itself. Rather, my strength was understanding overall architecture and connecting business operations with IT. Little by little, I had started to understand the field where I could truly compete. That was why I viewed this London business trip almost as a “confirmation exercise.” ...

Whoa! The pile of English documents on my desk looked like skyscrapers in a financial district. It was my eighth year as a working professional. I had been raising my hand for years, saying, “I want to join a global project.” I had a little confidence in my English. Still, my TOEIC score was only around 750. Looking back, I was far from fluent. But I wanted to work on international projects. I wanted to collaborate with people overseas. I wanted to see a world beyond what could only be seen in Japan. So I kept studying English little by little, waiting for my chance. And finally, that opportunity arrived. “You’ll be joining the English project.” At that time, I was genuinely excited. Finally, it had come. The global project I had been waiting for. But there was one thing bothering me. There was a sales manager on the team with an intense power-harassment style. Honestly, the atmosphere felt heavy. Still, work is work. “This is the chance I finally earned. I’m going t...