At the end of June 2022, I left Mercari after nearly six years across Japan and the United States. It was an exciting time: the company changed at an extraordinary pace, and I kept challenging myself every day while doing my best to live Mercari's values of Go Bold, All for One, and Be a Pro.
My work at Mercari
I joined the Tokyo office in the summer of 2016 and moved to California a little over a year later. From day one, I was committed to the Mercari US business. In the early days, most of its development was handled from Tokyo. As the US team grew through local hiring and business expansion, Mercari US became increasingly independent around 2018 and developed into a large organization that included teams in Tokyo and elsewhere.
As the company evolved, so did individual roles. Throughout my time at Mercari US, I was an individual contributor. I focused on mobile development—iOS, Android, and React Native—and supported backend and infrastructure work when needed. I have always enjoyed building and improving things with my own hands, and I believe that is where I can make the most direct contribution.
After becoming Mercari US's first Staff Software Engineer in 2020, I led projects from roadmap development through execution. That meant considering not only technical concerns, but also the company's stage, timing, and priorities alongside other work.
As is common in larger organizations in the US, Mercari US's CTO was less focused on writing and reviewing code and more on making business decisions, facilitating discussions, and coordinating based on input from engineers. As a result, my role naturally extended beyond that of an individual contributor. I planned, designed, and executed projects while keeping the company's future in mind.
The largest of these projects was the complete migration of the US app to React Native. I proposed the project myself, began shaping the plan around 2019, and was finally able to launch it in earnest in 2021. Alongside development leadership, architecture design, release planning, and infrastructure work, it required us to minimize the impact on other projects and teams, and to carry it out safely and smoothly. It was an extremely challenging undertaking.
Mercari US had actually rebuilt the app once before, in 2017. At the time, I served as the iOS technical lead, primarily responsible for its architecture and infrastructure. Working on the React Native migration showed me how much my perspective had changed and gave me a strong sense of growth.
On to the next challenge
The simplest reason I decided to leave was that I had begun to feel strongly that I had stayed in one place for too long. Through the React Native migration and other work, I could feel how much stronger the organization had become. It made me realize that the time had come to move on.
Leaving also meant that my work visa would become invalid, so I needed to leave the United States. Finding a way to stay would have been easier than moving countries, but I was not particularly attached to remaining in the US. Since I could not find a path that worked with either a work visa or permanent residency, returning to Japan became the natural decision.
With remote work becoming more common, I had been hoping to find a home somewhere peaceful rather than in a big city. That led me to Kurashiki, Okayama. Searching for a home, viewing properties, and signing a lease remotely from the US sounded like it would be difficult, but with support from the real estate agent and landlord, everything went very smoothly. I also began living with my partner, so the past few months have brought major personal changes as well.
As for work, I do not have anything specific decided yet. I hope to take part in a variety of businesses and projects as a freelancer. I will share more details separately, but please feel free to get in touch through Wantedly, LinkedIn, Facebook, or email.
Because of the pandemic, this is my first time back in Japan in nearly three years. I have been honestly surprised by how much can now be done entirely from a smartphone. As an engineer, I hope I can continue to contribute, even in a small way, to making life more convenient.
In closing
Those six years gave me many valuable experiences. Before joining Mercari, I had never even been to the continental United States. I was able to enjoy both life and work there because of the support of so many people. There are many colleagues and friends, inside and outside the company, whom I was not able to greet personally before leaving and returning to Japan. Thank you again, sincerely.