I have to write an essay in English. The reason being that I am currently being stuck in my life and need to realize that I really wanna stay here in Bay Area.

When accepted by UC Berkeley Haas MBA program, I decided to challenge in US and not come back to Japan anymore. Having worked in Japan and even in the medical field did not feel right to me and my gut managed to be liberated. So, I took a risk to leave the medical route and attempted to dive into the innovative tech area in Bay Area.

After entering Haas, even before Haas, I spent lots of time on pivoting. What kind of occupations is suitable for me? What kinda company can bring some essential lessons for my future entrepreneurial career? Startup or Big tech? How can we pivot naturally? Network? Join the health-tech first? How can I enhance my resume with a limited number of experiences? Even a cover letter? behavioral and case questions?

Tons of questions squashed me during the semester and even during holidays. My mind could not halt and honestly speaking I felt excruciating about it. Staying in Berkeley was not so funnier than expected. Leaving from its vicious cycle, I traveled to Portland, Hawaii, and Japan. This stay was good and released my stress somehow, while the essential problem could not be solved. 

And I am now in the life crisis. With a high objective, I failed hundreds of times in the recruiting. I applied for over 70 companies, but none of these bore fruit. Even COVID is about to crush the full-time recruiting. Reasonably thinking, no one wants to hire people with medical background and inadequate English skills. Many of alternatives and plan-B failed and I have no more options. I can choose the internship in Japan, but am not sure how it will help. Once coming back to Japan, Idk how to motivate me and when to come back here.

Looking back, I was lack of lots of things. No.1 English. The product job I’m pursuing needs the high skill of language. I was too late to study abroad. And even the amount of reading/writing in English in my life is obviously not enough. It took time to catch it up to native speakers and even people who have used English in their jobs. No.2 working experience in the business. Indeed, we can use transferable skills to other industries, but working as a doctor did not help. How can I appeal to the hiring manager? Data Analysis? Decision making? Of course, they were what I learned in the medical field, but the problems I tackled were totally different from the business – especially tech. In the tech business field, people have to grasp customer’s needs, create the product feature, and track their response. Thankfully, I experienced in a medical device incubator somehow, but working around one year is clearly not enough. 

Getting through those two big hurdles was really tough for me. Some people state that to achieve ‘Flow,’ we need the objective which meets a good balance between stress and afford. In my current situation, stress outweighs afford. I am a single and young man; therefore, I can handle so far. But, I cannot (don’t wanna) believe that it will continue in the future. 

Anyway, my life is shifting. And will see how it goes soon. Keep fingers crossed.