This is a pretty network-engineer-specific post and I'd post this to a more IT-related subreddit, but I think engineers in Japan have vastly different circumstances to those in western countries so I think I'd get more relevant input here.
2 years ago, I started to self-study for the CCNA. I passed it in December 2023 and started at my current, all-Japanese company in March 2024. Turns out I'm pretty good at it because less than a year in, I got promoted two ranks which puts me equivalent or higher than many engineers that have been in the field for 5+ years. I've got experience working with Linux servers (got LPIC-1 though it's a pretty low-level cert), Big IP load balancers, and Azure as well as some other miscellaneous stuff, tinkered with Palo Alto firewalls and SD-WAN technology a bit.
Current project is a large-scale one and with no prior Azure experience, I essentially solo-designed 80% of the Azure system for it. I wrote high-level and low-level design documentation, as well as the manuals for building the system and unit testing. I am leading a team of 5 members to build and test the system and additional documentation writing.
Why I'm writing this post is not to brag, but to get input/career advice: Even with my two-rank promotion, I suspect that I am probably over-worked and underpaid. Work-life balance is terrible. My work experience in the industry is very short (16-17 months as of now), but given my achievements so far, surely there are companies out there that would pay me more with better work conditions? English is my native language, I speak near-native Japanese (I wrote all the technical documentation in Japanese and I don't use AI to write), and my Korean is conversational; I could probably work to some extent in Korean with a bit of experience if necessary. Aiming to get CCNP by next April. Anyone in the same industry have any thoughts?
by Yoshikki