Booting Up - Learning And Update
Aug. 2024
Last month, I had the opportunity to visit Bangkok for the first time. The reason was because of the first Publisher Professional Service (PubPS) APAC Bootcamp. All the Solution Engineers within different APAC countries (Japan, China, Taiwan, etc.) met in the Taboola Bangkok Office for a week of training and learning. This event allowed me to learn new Taboola products and different techniques. However, with how the Japanese market is unique, applying the same styles is not an option. I needed to make some adjustments. The following post explains the new techniques I applied after boot camp.
Emphasis On Professional Relationship
Currently, I am the only “technical” position located locally for the Japanese market. The remaining local employees are more business centered. Thus, it is easy to stick out as I have different responsibilities and KPIs compared to others. Paul Mark's seminar taught me about having a balanced relationship with other departments. Right now, I place a stronger emphasis on having a professional relationship with the business team. This means minimizing unnecessary and non-work related discussions. If everyone else is planning an internal event, assume that I am not part of it. Instead, I prioritize the work requested by other departments and teams.
Sell Yourself For Every Opportunity
Compared to my teammates, I am more of an introvert. As an introvert, I have to work three times as hard to surpass a hard-working introvert. One of the things I am doing more now is to plan “realistic” initiatives. For example, I am currently conducting a mini “tech-talk” in Japanese for the members who may have difficulty with understanding it in English. One topic I presented was basic frontend and backend knowledge.
Another thing I do is try to offer ideas based on the business team’s goals or challenges. For instance, Japanese clients are not as “forgiving” about mistakes. In other words, everything needs to be close to perfection on the first try. Therefore, it is important to offer myself to the business team and offer ideas to minimize the chances of mistakes. For example, I am working with members from other teams to create a checklist to help gather the necessary information to minimize the back and forth between the clients and us.
Dedicate Time For Side Topics
One of the goals for the Pub PS is to be “equally aligned” partners with our clients. However, this is a challenge in Japanese culture as the cultural mindset is “clients are above us.” While being equal is impossible, we can still create a minimized distance with our clients. To achieve this, it is important to have knowledge outside our basic responsibilities. This may include other services offered by the company or even the scope of the company, such as Google Analytics, AWS, etc. Currently, I am taking an AWS Solution Architect and Google Ad Manager course on Udemy. From time to time, clients will ask us questions about why Amazon S3 Bucket or Google Analytics is not working as they imagined. While these topics are not directly related to the company, being able to offer suggestions or ideas minimizes the distance between clients.
Now, I understand that not everyone may agree with these practices. Some may think I am undervaluing myself. However, at the end of the day we all have to practice when in Rome. Additionally, having these additional knowledge and skills may benefit me in the future.