I just passed my probation and it was probably the most intense three months I’ve had in my life. I felt like an amateur (or semi-pro 🤔) trying to play in the all-star game. I’ve been through a lot, so I thought I should write about how my probation went.
Before I actually get into my probation, let’s rewind 4 months. It was January 2020 when COVID-19 didn’t hit Korea yet, and I just got an offer from Toss. I was still going through interviews at different companies. I was even considering applying for remote roles at companies based in North America. I hesitated to reply to my job offer email.
To be honest, Toss has been very appealing to me since the beginning of my job search. It’s the first fintech company in Korea that became a unicorn in less than 4 years with less than 200 employees. A year later, they doubled the valuation, which surpassed $2B. These numbers look impressive, but I wasn’t sure if it was the perfect opportunity I should seize. Now that I look back, I think I wanted to take more time in order to make a prudent decision.
The last call with a recruiter is what made me accept the offer. She told me it was an exceptional case that the team gave an offer to someone who has a couple years of experience. All other server developers, which is the role I applied for, have a lot more experiences at big tech companies in Korea. Before she ended the call, she said that it would be an amazing opportunity for me to grow immensely and to make a massive impact in the financial industry. I decided to give it a shot.
Disclaimer: other teams at Toss might have different hiring standards.
1st Month
With almost 4 years of experience, I considered myself a seasoned junior before I joined Toss. The last job was a software developer at Wealthsimple, which I believe is one of the best tech companies in Canada 🇨🇦. I knew there is still a lot to learn, but I thought I wouldn’t have a problem with passing my probation. It turns out that my confidence level was a bit too high. After the first two weeks, I realized that I was going to struggle to live up to my team’s expectation. It hit me pretty hard.
At every company at which I’ve worked, there was always “that developer” whose proficiency is irreplaceable. Others would ask them for help when they get stuck. They’re go-to developers, or you might call them 10x developers. Every developer on my team is “that developer”. What is even more interesting is that they all work hard and long. The recruiter was right, it’s a huge learning opportunity for me. It also means that I have to learn quickly and start doing my fair share. One of core values at Toss is “go the extra mile”, but the very first mile mark seemed quite far away.
I felt like I was learning everything from scratch. I do have a large breadth of knowledge from my past experience. However, I didn’t have the same level of depth like my team members do. What I’ve accomplished so far looked infinitesimal. Intense peer pressure kicked in.
2nd Month
The second month was the toughest month during my probation. I’ve never worked this hard and long in my life, yet I thought I was not reaching my expectations. Besides, I doubted whether I’m qualified to be a part of the team. I was engulfed by self-criticism. Then there was the first peer review.
The review was not as bad as I anticipated. Comments from my peers (collected anonymously) were straightforward and constructive. I could see that they paid careful attention to my work in order to give me comprehensive feedback. Takeaways from the review are a) I’ve been doing fine in general, and b) I should challenge the team/company.
a) was somewhat surprising at that moment because I had wrong expectations to begin with. I deluded myself that I had to keep up with other developers as quickly as possible. As a matter of fact, I was not hired to be a senior developer in three months. It was peer pressure that created the delusion. The pressure haunted me (it still does), but I did get by. The comment acknowledged that I’m on the right track and boosted my morale somewhat.
b) is a great example of culture at Toss. “Because this is how it has been done” is a discouraged approach to a problem. The team expects you to challenge whenever you have a doubt at work. It doesn’t matter if you started a month ago or if you are a founding member. I thought I had to earn trust first, but I was being too cautious.
All in all, the first peer review was fruitful. It not only comforted me but provided me a very clear direction for the next steps. It was almost a turning point in my probation. I started to get a sense of belonging.
3rd Month
As I entered the last month of my probation, I could see myself getting used to work and culture. Toss, which is actually the name of the app, offers more than 40 financial services. It’s like Venmo, Credit Karma, and Mint, and other fintech apps are in a single app. As you can probably imagine, there are lots of work being done to support all services. Not to mention that the team moves fast while maintaining the quality. You must have grit if you want to thrive at this company.
What I’ve been saying about Toss might sound harsh, but the company puts lots of emphasis on psychological safety. A culture of freedom and responsibility is deeply rooted in the company as well. Frankly, I didn’t expect that these core values would actually work in Korea because bureaucracy and office politics are the norm in this country. I worried that Toss would be just like other Korean companies so that I wouldn’t fit in. Well, I was wrong. Every employee upholds the culture, which is so rare in Korea. This is why cultural fit is the other core part of review process in the probation. The culture is not for everyone for sure, but you won’t enjoy working at Toss if you can’t grasp the core values. I finally began to appreciate the culture in the third month.
If you want to know more about the core values, visit here
The final review went well and I passed the probation 🎉. I have to say the whole process was rough. There were times when I felt lost. However, the process seems necessary as it’s also a chance for a reviewee to see if Toss is the right place for them. I’m glad that I became a part of the company where I want to devote my time and effort. Besides, coffee I get everyday at an in-house coffee shop is too damn good to quit (and free).
Fun fact: “coffee silo”, which consists of full-time baristas, is an actual team at Toss.
