​Engineers Out of Office

​Details
6:30 – 7:00pm · Doors open, come say hi
7:00 – 7:30pm · Panel
7:30 – 8:30pm · Q&A and open conversation

​(if u cant attend in person, but would love to tune in, please register anyway! we will post a google meet link here in this luma at 6:30pm)

​This might feel familiar:

​Most of us grew up on a very familiar script: good grades, CS degree, grind LeetCode, land the big MNC job, climb the ladder, don’t do anything weird. That path works for a lot of people, but tonight we want to open up the “what ifs” that sit outside it.

• ​What if your career doesn't need to be a straight line, it can be a scatter plot, and it still counts.

• ​What if you didn't need 300 LeetCode questions before you were allowed to apply.

• ​What if the ugliest version of your idea, shipped to ten people, would teach you more than another six months of thinking about it.

• ​What if "the job market is cooked" is true for the people doing what everyone else is doing, there are different perspectives to it?

• ​What if your parents’ or manager’s definition of "successful" was shaped by a world that no longer exists

​---

​We are three Malaysian software engineers who took visibly different-looking routes. We're not here to tell anyone what to do. We just want to share what we actually did, why it worked, and what we would've wanted to hear at 19.

​What we want to share

• ​Stories of unconventional paths. The unfiltered version: what it cost, what it returned, what compounded over time. (the invisible return)

• ​How to create your own "luck." Luck is mostly the surface area of moves you're willing to make, and we'll get specific.

• ​How to knock on "closed doors"without waiting for permission. The DM, the cold email etc; Closed doors are closed, but they're not locked ;))

​Your hosts

​Rachel is a Software Engineering Intern at Treater, an eight-person startup in the US. She went physics, then CS, then big tech, then startups. Currently a CS final year student at Vanderbilt, graduating next May. Rachel LOVES matcha !!

​Jess is an Applied AI Engineer at a Singapore SME. She built her first business as a teenager, since then she’s deliberately chosen paths that prioritize opportunities that compound over titles that simply look good on paper. her cv isn’t stacked with logos everyone would recognize, but each role has helped her maximize learning, ownership, and long-term growth. Jess plays tennis and skis ;)

​Zi was an engineer at Ramp and was a founding engineer at Flint (YC S23). He took a gap semester to study Chinese at Peking University. He solves maths problems for fun as a kid, reads deeply, and has an unusually thoughtful take on how closed doors actually open, including how he got into Ramp and a YC-backed team without ever grinding LeetCode the standard way.

​Note:

​We're all only home for a short while, and this is the one evening the three of us overlap. If you've been sitting on a question about internships, startups, gap years, or any route that doesn't fit the usual script, bring it along. Come as you are, hang out, and jump in when you feel like it.

​About the format

​Vulnerability: Low ●──○──○ High

​You can just listen. No pressure to share.

​Structure: Free flow ○──●──○ Guided

​Lightly guided panel

Prep needed: None ●──○──○ Lots

​Just show up. Bring the questions you've been sitting on.

​Vibe: Casual ●──○──○ Formal

​Come as you are, hang out, listen in, and join the conversation if you feel like it.