Back in Houston

I'm back in boring Houston.

Surprisingly, I am not suffering from any jet lag. I slept almost throughout my plane ride and two hours after reaching home, I slept again. I dont even get the dizzy spell that i experienced when I was back in Singapore. Not reading on the flight back probably helped.

Now that I am back, I need to face the reality of deciding my fate for the near future. Before, I had wanted to stay behind as I felt that I will get more out of my stint here by staying a little longer to gain more exposure and experience. I thought that this is particularly important for me especially being a newly promoted manager.

But now, after talking to the partner in Singapore, I realized that the skillsets and technical knowledge required to excel in the position back in Spore might be different from what I will learn here. Despite being the same department, the projects managed by the Singapore team are different from those handled over here. In the US, we do a lot more documentation and planning projects that are very specific to TP as the regulations here are very established, while in Singapore, with no specific TP rules in placed, the work tends to focus more on assisting the clients with their overall international tax planning. Not being familiar with that type of work, I can only guess that even though the technical knowledge I gained here will be useful somewhat, I will require a lot more understanding about corporate tax/value added tax/custom in general in order to perform well on the job. I also gathered that the Singapore practice does a lot more direct selling of projects to the clients as compared to our team based in Houston. All these meant that I will need to have strong technical knowledge as well as possess the relevant softskills.

So the point is that, by staying behind, even though I might be able to learn more, the experinece that I get might not necessary help me move forward in my career in the near future. With a clearer idea of what is required of me to perform well in my next role, it means that my original objective of staying back in Houston is now no longer valid. If that is the case, isn't it pretty clear that I should just move back to Singapore?

Well, the truth is, I don't feel like I am ready to take on the new challenges. Perhaps it is also because I am afraid of change. Life's has been pretty good in the US thus far. I am not sure it will be the same in Spore and I am not willing to find out any time soon. I am not ready to give up the relax (nuah) lifestyle that I have grown accustomed to here for the long working hours in Spore. Yet at the same time, I feel that my quality of life has depreciated despite having all those personal time since I am not able to spend the free time with my loved ones.

I will really have to weigh the pros and cons and think really carefully about what I value most before deciding on the next step that i will take.