After seven years, I officially became a Security Engineer at a large tech company in ASEAN. The journey to get there was long and anything but a straight line.

Starting out

It started in 2018, my third semester at university in Yogyakarta. That was when I first saw how work actually runs day to day. I got my first job through a mentor from the community and put the Linux I had picked up in senior high school to use in production environment, problems we had never seen in class, and the habit of figuring things out ourselves or asking seniors when we were stuck.

From there I moved deeper into infrastructure. Teams were shifting from traditional setups to cloud for scale. I had cared about security since senior high school and had joined a security community, but I was not ready to do it professionally yet, so I leaned into what was in front of me that is cloud, containers and Kubernetes. I had touched Docker before in university, Linux there was practical enough to get comfortable on the CLI without going deep into internals.

Into DevOps

DevOps drew me in next CI/CD, deployments, monitoring, and everything that keeps systems running. SRE had existed since 2003, and over time more roles appeared, but the work still sat on the same ground that is infrastructure, with each company drawing the responsibility differently.

My second job pushed me further into cloud (GCP) and Kubernetes, even though I had no prior experience when I started. Every move brought something new to learn. On the side, I kept my security interest alive reading articles, staying on top of trends, and staying connected with friends in penetration testing, offensive security, and blue teams. Having a community where you can ask questions freely and share what you learn matters more than any single course.

Choosing Cloud Security

Cloud security started to look like the right bet close enough to what I already ran that I would not be starting from zero, with room to grow over the next few years. I invested evenings in it for a while: reading, following people who knew the space, watching threats evolve before AI took over the conversation this year. There was no neat roadmap, I just kept spending free time on what I cared about, and work and interest slowly lined up.

Becoming a DevSecOps Engineer

A DevSecOps role at a small startup during Covid changed the picture again. I DM the CEO directly, asked for an internship, and ended up with a full-time offer.

In this company I mostly conducted research. It was a certification company which focused on DevSecOps, Container Security, Kubernetes Security, and etc related to product security. I already had experience with cloud and Kubernetes from my previous jobs, so it felt like a natural next step to learn more about security around the same stack I had been working on.

I had always seen myself as a purely technical person, but there I met a great leader who taught me so much beyond technical skills how to solve problems, think differently, and care about soft skills. This was also where I started speaking English more seriously. It was rough at first, but after a few years I grew more confident, even if I still stumble on vocabulary sometimes. Learning by doing made it much easier speaking regularly is far more effective than just reading. As Indonesians, we don’t naturally speak English in our daily lives, which creates a language gap when working in an international environment. That experience taught me just how important English is as a language for global opportunities.

Finding a good mentor or leader is important in our career journey, and how you treat feedback as an opportunity for improvement can make a significant difference in your life. Everyone makes mistakes, but that is no excuse to repeat them. We should always reflect and strive to improve. That company made me care much more about soft skills. I started reading a lot of books, which broadened my mindset and changed how I see things how the world works differently, how we work, and how we grow.

The pivot

This year brought an unexpected turn. After moving from Singapore to Japan, I worked as a DevOps Engineer in Observability team, but only stayed for a few months. I began looking for new opportunities again, hoping to finally land the role I had always wanted. Then one day, a message appeared on my LinkedIn about a Security Engineer position. The responsibilities were mostly DevOps-related but with a broader scope of security engineering exactly what I had been looking for.

I said yes and gave it a shot. The interview process moved quickly, spanning 3 rounds over 3 days, with the offer settled on the 4th day. It was one of the fastest interview processes I had ever experienced, and one of the most memorable. In that moment, I couldn’t help but feel grateful and reflect this was the 7 years of waiting finally paying off. It reminded me that when you stay dedicated to what you are passionate about, the right opportunity will come when the time is right.

One motto I still live by came from our team Work From Cloud:

KONTOL - Keep On, Never Tired Of Learning.

To wrap things up, here are my key takeaways from this journey:

  • Always stay hungry. Not having experience with a certain technology is never a dealbreaker what matters is showing that you can pick up something new quickly. Your dedication and willingness to learn will speak louder than your current skill set
  • Foundation knowledge is more important than ever in the AI era don’t overlook the basics
  • Spending your free time on research and learning is never a bad thing
  • Problem solving is not just a skill, it is a mindset especially when facing problems you have never encountered before
  • Have a career plan for the next few years. It keeps you on track and helps you from losing your way
  • Invest in your knowledge without worrying too much about the cost. If you believe in the return, it will come
  • Dedication pays off. Stay consistent and trust the process
  • Show up whether as a speaker or a participant, attending events and conferences is one of the best ways to build your network. Sharing what you know builds credibility, and being in the room opens doors you never expected
  • A good mentor can change the entire trajectory of your career