Digital Heroes: Guide to IT World

Whoa! The boarding gate at Haneda Airport looked like a “difficulty level switch” for my life. The project had only started one month earlier. Then suddenly, my manager said: “You’re going to London for two weeks.” What? It wasn’t training. It wasn’t an inspection visit. It was a real overseas business trip. And the destination was London. The financial district of Waterloo. At the time, I was in my eighth year as a working professional. I had always admired global projects. But honestly speaking, I barely understood how financial systems actually worked. Of course, I studied hard. Markets, settlements, trading systems, financial networks… But it was difficult. Even after reading books and attending meetings, I still felt like I only “kind of understood” things. And in the middle of that uncertainty, the London trip was suddenly decided. The purpose was simple: “To understand the financial system running in London.” Honestly… wasn’t that impossible? The Reality of ...

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...