And I got an offer 🎉

Oh Yeah. I got an offer.

After almost 3 months of unemployment and many rejections, I got an offer. I consider it a good one.

I like the company. The company is a streaming platform; a portal for people to watch movies and series, focusing on Asian content, especially Korean.

I like Korean movies and series. Not all of them, but some series like The Kingdom, Reply, and many other movies.

Comparing Hollywood and Korean, of course, Hollywood will be preferred more. But in Asia, Korean is the best one.

Another interesting thing about the team is I will design for TV also. From Apple TV to Android TV, from LG, and other brands. More than 5 TVOS that I need to design for.

I like to design on big screens like TV and the web.

I remember Aadil, my ex-Carousell colleague, designed for TV also when he worked at Starhub. I would love to talk to him to understand more about designing for TVOS.

What else did I miss?

Of course, the difficulty when searching for a job and happiness when getting one offer.

As someone mentioned, rejection is common, but an offer is rare. We will get hundreds of rejections, but we need only one offer. That's all we need.

And my friend said, we usually get rejected by 10 places before getting an offer.

Talking about my job search, I think it's not that bad. Compared to stories I heard from authors who tried to publish their book for the first time, they got almost a thousand rejections before getting an acceptance from a publisher. And then the book became a bestseller.

There are so many inspirational stories like that.

I realized that in a difficult time, we have to stay positive. And better yet, enjoy the process. Things will be better.

About the compensation, if we count by the month, I got less than the previous company. But if we count by the year, I got more than the previous one. They have a 15% bonus each year and public stock (real money) rewarded for each year of working.

It's a good amount during this time when I'm unemployed, and the economy is bad.

Now when joining any company, we all need to care about their finance. Because when things happen, we are the most vulnerable ones.

I hope the company will do well this year, and no layoffs will happen. If it does happen, it will be very bad. But Tina, my design friend there, said the company is stable and they didn't over-hire in the past.

As you can see, I didn't share much from January because I was busy with Lunar New Year in Vietnam, preparing for job interviews, and settling my emotions (when being unemployed).

I felt like the time was forever. I only got one interview in one week, and the waiting time was so long, especially the waiting time after the last round with Viki. It's 2 weeks of waiting.

Those two weeks were the longest ones because it was the only company I was interviewing with. If I failed, I would need to start all over again, and it would take more than 2 months to proceed.

I was not confident while waiting. Because I didn't feel like I did a good job, even though I tried my best. And there are many other good candidates out there that they are interviewing.

It's competitive now because of the layoff. Many talented designers are unemployed. I'm just average, and many people are better than me.

That thinking made me feel anxious. But in the end, I got good news!

Another reason is that I realize many recruiters will read my sharing, and they will know that I'm interviewing in many places and my thoughts about each company, including their own.

It's both good and bad, as we can't please everyone. However, it's safer not to share it or keep it a secret for yourself only. I'll write about it when things have settled.

Many of my friends who were affected by layoffs are still interviewing, but the process is slow. They are still at the beginning stage.

I hope they get a job soon, and that their mental health remains positive during these difficult times because it's the most important thing.