Archive - PakaiOtak

Hiring Freeze Economics

A hiring freeze isn’t a hiring freeze. It’s a slow-motion senior exodus, and the spreadsheet doesn’t show it.

Jul 28 • PakaiOtak

Can Automate for SG, Not for MY

Half of what we shipped to Singapore last year still hasn’t reached Malaysia. Engineering didn’t break. The assumption did.

Jul 20 • PakaiOtak

June 2026

Coaching vs Covering

I used to think every time I picked up a task my report had dropped, I was failing as a manager. Took me three years to see I had it backwards.

Jun 5 • PakaiOtak

May 2026

The 80% Problem

Fast Tickets, Slow Growth

May 24 • PakaiOtak

Why I'm Writing This Series

One engineering manager's signals from Kuala Lumpur.

May 19 • PakaiOtak

#nojs-banner { position: fixed; bottom: 0; left: 0; padding: 16px 16px 16px 32px; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; background: red; color: white; font-family: -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; } #nojs-banner a { color: inherit; text-decoration: underline; } This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts