i got the dream job!!!
I received the news over a week ago, and until now, I'm still not sure if I could write about this coherently.
But I got the dream job!!!
The past 10 months have been filled with doubts, anxiety, and grief. It was the most confusing transition of my life, stepping out of school and into the 'real world'. Nobody told me that a huge part of that would be an awkward and anxious waiting period.
Months after my graduation, while I already had one foot in taking the January 2026 certification exam like the rest of my peers, I decided to back out. I was dealing with a heavily deteriorated mental health and the passing of my grandmother. It was a huge decision, one that my dad expressed disapproval of. I felt like I was going off-course.
This year, my priority shifted from studying for the exam to job applications. The entry-level offers in industrial microbiology1 were depressing. I couldn't imagine myself working eight to twelve-hour shifts six days a week in the industry. And it has always been my dream to work in our government's science and tech department, so I limited my applications to those. This made my progress extremely slow2. The waiting around almost made me descend into insanity.
In this blog, I mentioned being shortlisted and invited for an interview in one of the said S&T department's agencies. It was in textile research, and I got rejected. Looking back, I think this was the most solid example of "rejection is redirection" because a month later, I was again shortlisted and invited for an interview for another S&T agency, this time in health research.
As I've said, government processes take so long. But I think I got really lucky because I received my congratulatory letter less than two weeks later.
And I am so, so thankful for this opportunity. Because I get to work in my dream agency and in my dream field of medical microbiology (at some point I was getting too desperate and started applying for industrial and food micro positions). I'm now two days into the job, and honestly, I still can't wrap my head around the fact that I am here.
I'm glad I've written through my dark days, including one where I was on the brink of giving up and when I was talking about being nervous for this job's interview.
Hello past Rye, you did it. You got the dream job :)