Food Archive - September 2026

September was the month where I finally stopped preparing to enter the working world, and actually entered it.

Day 1 started rather immediately. No gentle introduction, no “take some time to settle in” or welcoming briefing — even Presoft had one, albeit brief. Somehow, I was already sitting in client meetings.

Okay. So this is work.

Thankfully, the reality was considerably less terrifying than what I had built up in my head based on that first day. It isn't like a truck isekai'd me into another world, Presoft-style.

For the most part, work has been remote. Very remote, actually (truthful to the offer letter). Enough that September somehow ended with only two proper food entries because there simply wasn't much reason to leave the house.

Every now and then, however, came the summons.

Meet the clients (with the higher ups, never alone).
Attend a meeting (usually online if internal).
Present something to the clients.
Be physically present for something.

And honestly? I don't mind it.

The biggest surprise, however, is how different this feels compared to Presoft.

Presoft taught me a lot, I wouldn't downplay that. But if anything, it also taught me what I didn't want from working life.
The commute, the traffic, the general chaos, and the feeling that I was constantly fighting the environment (read: being micromanaged) made me dread the idea of entering the workforce properly. All of that made me wonder whether this was simply what adulthood was going to be.
20 years on the same seat, with the higher-ups circling above me like hawks, overseeing my every move.

Apparently not.

This time around, the work environment feels different.

I'm trusted to work remotely. I'm actually getting exposed to clients. I've had lunch with people I would've never expected to be casually having lunch with a month ago. I even got approached by the CEO (well, my boss) for a drink while waiting at the lobby.
Though Presoft did offer a Chagee, but that's after successfully navigating a spam task for submitting grants.

I'm still learning. A lot. There's still plenty I don't know.

I'm still figuring out the workflow, the expectations, the people, the systems, and exactly how much I'm supposed to know (or research) before asking questions.

But at least I'm not spending two hours a day fighting traffic just to discover that half the day could've been done from home.

Maybe that's what adulthood is supposed to be.
Maybe I just got lucky with the first month (or the first job).

That's probably the biggest surprise.

The money is better.
The work is different.
The environment is better suited to me (at least, as a transistional phase).
And somehow, I'm already being trusted with things I didn't expect to touch this early.

I even managed to touch technologies I probably wouldn't have expected an average software developer to deal with — including an RFID thingy. I could be wrong about that, but I definitely never touched anything like it during my time at Presoft. The closest I've been to touching non code was seeing buddy intern (declining) router setup, or dealing with API mess involving Backblaze, Whatsapp, Autocount, Billplz, and others.

Of course, it's only been one month.

Maybe I'm still in the honeymoon phase. Maybe the difficult parts haven't spawned yet. Maybe October will decide that September was merely the tutorial.

But for now?

Better than Presoft.

And honestly, I'll take that. Let's see what October does to that statement.