Asilla is home to a staff of many different personalities with a wide variety of characteristics. Here we introduce Asilla's work and working styles through the "real voices" of our staff members who are active as professionals in their respective fields.
This time, we interviewed a young employee, Shun Inaoka, who joined Asilla's R&D base in Vietnam as a new graduate and is now working as a product manager (PM).
PROFILE・Shun Inaoka
Shun Inaoka was born in Osaka. He joined Asilla in April 2021 as a new graduate and was assigned to the product development team in Vietnam, where he was in charge of AI algorithm development and R&D team management. Currently, he is engaged in the management of AI Security asilla, an AI security system, as a PM.
*Background, title, and content of the interview are as of the time of the interview.
I had always had a yearning to go abroad, but I had never actually had the opportunity to visit, and it was during my first year of college that I made my first overseas visit.
After entering university, I lived together in a student dormitory, which was a very international environment with many international students living there. Through daily communication with people of various nationalities and backgrounds, I came to strongly feel that I could be myself in a diverse environment. As I spent time in this environment, my interest in foreign countries naturally grew stronger.
ー Why do you think you can "be yourself" in a cross-cultural environment?
There are two reasons why I feel this way.
The first is that in English, it is easy to be direct and direct in expression.
Compared to Japanese, which has many euphemistic expressions, English conversation tends to be more grammatically direct. In addition, due to my poor English skills, I have been using simple and easy-to-understand expressions. Gradually, I have come to be able to express my opinions more straightforwardly in English.
Second, I feel less peer pressure.
Secondly, I don't feel pressured to be the same person as others. Even if there is a difference of opinion, I have come to be able to think that the reason my ideas differ from others' is because we come from different backgrounds. Gradually, I was able to confidently express my own opinions without feeling pressured to do so even if my opinions differed from those of others.
From these thoughts, I gradually came to believe that I could "be myself" in a cross-cultural environment.
Studying abroad in the Philippines was a major catalyst for me to find a job overseas.
I played handball during my college years, but I took advantage of a long break after retirement to go to the Philippines for two months to study abroad. I was greatly influenced by the local people I met there.
I spent two months with my roommates, a Taiwanese and a Korean, and they were studying abroad with a firm vision for their future, compared to me who was studying abroad for vague reasons like "it looks kind of fun. I am very proud of them.
After studying abroad, they went on to graduate school in the U.K., went on a work holiday in Canada, and even became a therapist in Dubai.
There are various options out there, such as working without being tied to a country or studying abroad for an extended period of time."
From this experience, my way of thinking became more flexible and I began to consider working abroad as an option.
I majored in engineering (civil engineering) at university.
However, around the time I entered graduate school, I began to read more and more papers on AI and deep learning and became somewhat interested in the topic as it became a hot topic in the world.
When I started job hunting, I focused on the AI industry because I felt that I would be able to work anywhere in the world without getting ripped off and that I would be suited to the industry because of my mathematical mindset.
However, I had no knowledge or experience in AI at the time, so I thought, "I can't go on like this," and started taking actions that I could do by myself little by little, such as changing my research theme to data analysis using AI after consulting with my professor at the graduate school.
At the time, I did not know much about the AI industry, let alone the existence of Asilla, and I found the company through a recruiting medium during my job hunting activities. When I searched for a company based on the criteria of "AI industry," "overseas employment," and "new graduates," there were more companies than I could count, and one of them was Asilla.
To be honest, "AI industry," "overseas employment," and "growth rate" all matched my career axis, so I saw no reason not to choose it. The most decisive factor among them was the opportunity to work overseas even as a new graduate.
Generally, when working overseas (stationed overseas), one is often ordered to work overseas after building up a sufficient career in Japan for at least several years, and it is a rare case that an overseas assignment is fulfilled immediately after entering the company. However, there is no guarantee that you will surely be able to grab a ticket to an overseas assignment just because you have joined the company. Especially in the beginning, I was in the midst of my Corona career, so I never thought I would have the experience of working overseas as a new graduate.
Then I came across an employee interview article with Ichijo-san, who is working at the Vietnam location. I was impressed by his unique career and thought, "Maybe there is a chance for me to work in Vietnam, too. In fact, as I proceeded to the interview process, he approached me with the opportunity to work at the Vietnam base. With Asilla, I could gain the overseas experience I wanted as a new graduate. I would rather seize a "sure" chance than a deep future that may not come anytime soon. With this in mind, I strongly decided to join Asilla.
I knew there was opposition from my friends and concern from my family. There were many options in the seller's market: graduate degrees, athletic background, English language skills, but I was still asked, "Why a startup? Why go abroad? There were many voices of concern and opposition from those around me. While I listened to the voices of those around me, I still wanted to put my own will first and decided to join Asilla. In the end, my parents and other people around me understood my wish, and they warmly encouraged me, saying, "If you want to do it, why not? They warmly encouraged me to do so.
Before joining the company, I expected to be involved in hands-on development and a wide range of development-related tasks. When I actually joined the company, I am entrusted with a deep and wide range of discretionary work, from the development of core AI technologies to the management of large-scale projects. Considering the speed of my growth and the breadth of my experience, I am glad that I chose Asilla.
Mr. Inaoka made a career choice based on "AI" and "overseas" because he saw the potential. In the second part of this article, we will report on his current work and his overseas employment in Vietnam.
▼Click here for the second part
AI × Overseas Employment × Growth Rate" No Reason Not to Choose Asilla -An Interview with a Newly Graduated 3-Year-Old Product Manager (Part 2)
