Retrospective: 2019-2021

A long‑planned move

We had talked about living and working overseas for years. With our second child born and both kids still young, it felt like the window to try it was either now or “maybe never.”

The plan was simple: my wife would be the primary visa holder via an international school teaching role, and I would continue to freelance remotely for existing clients regardless of where we landed.

She received offers in Qatar, China, and Singapore. We chose Singapore—familiar, close to home, and consistently well‑reviewed by teachers and friends who had lived there.

Uprooting and landing (Dec 2019)

I wrapped up most of my projects, we sold almost everything in the house, and we moved in December 2019. It didn’t take long to settle. Within a week we found a landed condo with plenty of space that had been recently renovated, and the kids completed orientation at a new school within walking distance.

Switching lanes: from engineering to product

After years working closely with talented PMs, I was curious about crossing over to product. I appreciated the craft and suspected my engineering background would help with empathy and execution.

I applied to around ten roles and came across SparesCNX—a startup in the maritime oil and gas space aiming to modernise inventory management using RFID hardware and cloud software. It sounded like a challenge where I could contribute: hardware + web/mobile + cloud.

I was lucky that the Head of Product at the time (who became a mentor), valued PMs from non‑traditional backgrounds—engineering included—believing those experiences often produce stronger PMs. I agree.

Hands‑on product work

I jumped straight into the platform and hardware stack, and got exposure to the full spectrum of product work:

• Customer discovery and on‑site sessions
• Coordinating with hardware partners and firmware teams
• Owning cloud platform initiatives end‑to‑end
• Producing promotional and training videos to support launches and onboarding

One memorable field visit involved going out to a VLCC oil tanker: small boat transfer, a 20‑metre pilot ladder, then a long ramp up to deck. Terrifying for someone with a dislike of heights—but unforgettable learning about real‑world constraints and user contexts.

Life in Singapore, then COVID

Outside of work, Singapore was incredible. Great food, friendly people, a diverse and welcoming culture, top‑notch healthcare, and a strong sense of safety—ideal for a young family. When COVID‑19 hit, Singapore’s response was measured and effective. While friends and family in Melbourne endured repeated lockdowns, we were already inching back toward a version of normal life.

What I learned about the PM role

Those two years were formative. A few takeaways that stuck with me:

• The PM role can be brutal: when things go wrong, it’s on you; when things go right, it’s because the team executed well. That’s how it should be.
• You rarely get the developer “flow” state, but you work across a wider surface area—commercial, marketing, build, customer engagement, support.
• Clarity beats cleverness. Communication—written and verbal—is the main lever.

It'd be impossible to condense what I learned from the team there into a simple blog post - shoutout in particular to Nikki, Andreas, and Chris, who helped me the most.

Coming home

We would have loved to stay longer, but two years without being able to return to see family (Australia’s border closures) was hard. The kids missed their grandparents, and we missed the ease of being close to home. We made the decision to return—though we’d happily go back one day. The strangest part of the journey home was seeing Singapore airport almost completely empty. We were the only passengers on our flight to Melbourne outside of a crew of 5 people.

Summary

2019–2021 was a period of big change: we moved countries, I switched from engineering to product, we navigated a pandemic, and we grew as a family. I’m grateful for the opportunity to live in Singapore and for the colleagues who taught me so much about product and leadership along the way. The reason I'm still in product today is thanks to the experiences I had in Singapore and the appreciation I gained for the role whilst working and living there.