A New Chapter in Japan: From the Philippines to Colorkrew

When I first set my sights on working in Japan as a software engineer, I knew the road wouldn’t be easy. The journey was filled with multiple interview rounds, each one giving me a better sense of the company and its people. What stood out the most during those sessions was how open and transparent everyone was. That honesty—rare in many corporate settings—was a big part of why I felt Colorkrew was the right place for me.

First Impressions and the Culture Shock That Wasn’t

Like many newcomers, I braced myself for a tough adjustment. It was my first time working in a hybrid setup and my first time living so far away from home. I expected the days to feel isolating, the work environment to be overly formal, and communication to be difficult, especially across cultural lines. But reality turned out to be quite different.

Communication was easy and natural, with people happy to share ideas and learn about each other’s cultures. On my first week, teammates invited me to lunch, and we talked about food from our home countries. In meetings, people also asked for my opinion, even though I was new, which made me feel welcomed.

The company also held a welcome party and later an engineering acknowledgement party. These events helped me meet more people, celebrate small wins, and feel part of the team. It didn’t feel like the traditional Japanese company I had imagined. Instead, it was friendly and full of energy. Even in daily stand-ups, we sometimes share jokes or cheer for someone’s progress, which makes work motivating and fun.

Three Months In

After three months at Colorkrew, I can already feel how much I’ve grown. I’ve learned how to communicate and work better with others, especially during development with QAs and product managers. For example, discussing a feature with a QA taught me how to see things from the user’s perspective, while meetings with product managers helped me understand the “why” behind the tasks.

I also got to improve my technical skills thanks to mentorship and our team practices. Code reviews showed me better ways to structure my code, pair programming sessions gave me hands-on learning with teammates, and the bi-weekly technical seminars introduced new tools and ideas I wouldn’t have discovered on my own.

Most importantly, the tasks keep getting more challenging and more interesting. From fixing small bugs at the start to now working on bigger features, each step has kept me motivated and excited to keep learning.

Looking Ahead

Being far from home will always have its challenges, but working in such an open and supportive environment makes the distance easier to handle. Looking forward, I want to keep improving both my technical and personal skills. On the technical side, I’d like to dive deeper into system design and write cleaner, more efficient code. On the personal side, I want to get better at sharing my ideas clearly with the team and taking on more responsibility in projects.

I know the challenges ahead will only get bigger, but that excites me. Whether it’s leading part of a feature, exploring new technologies, or helping others the way my mentors have helped me, I want to keep growing step by step. This journey is just beginning, and I’m eager to see what’s next.