If you had to compare your career journey to something, what would it be? Some might say it’s like a roller coaster; others might compare it to skiing. But for Mind-Thanapol, Lead Back-end Engineer of the Digital Excellence and Delivery (DX) team at Bluebik, he compares his journey to piloting a rocket into space. 

Mind – Thanapol Supitayakul is one of the rising Gen Z talents in tech worth watching. In just 3 years, he has moved from starting as a Front-End Engineer to Back-End Engineer, receiving a Senior promotion and, most recently, becoming Lead Back-End Engineer. Many of the projects he oversees have achieved remarkable and efficient “cost reductions” while creating real impact. We can easily envision his bright future ahead. 

Mind graduated with a degree in Aerospace Engineering from Chulalongkorn University. He studied engines of all kinds that could fly, from drones and aircraft to spacecraft. But his turning point came in his senior year. After an internship, he realized the slow production cycles of aerospace didn’t align with his desire for fast, visible results. So, he spent his final year of study simultaneously reskilling himself to transition into coding, where he could see faster, more immediate results. And he succeeded! 

 
“Mind – Thanapol Supitayakul” graduated in Aerospace Engineering from Chulalongkorn University  

After graduation, he immediately landed a position as a Front-End Engineer with the Digital Excellence and Delivery (DX) team, a team that brings together tech experts at Bluebik.  

Throughout his 3 years of working here, he has received numerous opportunities, both for career transitions and growth.  

Reading up on this point, you might picture Mind as someone full of passion and determination toward his self-set goals. But quite the opposite, he never set goals about what he should become at a certain age. Mind is someone ready to leap with the flow, ready to adapt to new work assignments or roles, and never stops seizing opportunities that are offered to him. 

Let’s explore Mind’s story, which he has vividly compared to a journey into space in this article! 

Phase 1: Launching from the Earth 

Gathering knowledge and transitioning from Front-End to Back-End 

“If I had to compare it to a rocket, it would be like when it’s on Earth, preparing to launch from the station, building up speed. But that moment, according to aerospace principles, is considered the most dangerous time. If anything goes wrong, it would be at that moment.” 

As a first jobber, Mind was a fresh graduate working in a field different from his studies. What he did with full commitment during his early work period was learning. With the mindset that the work of a Software Developer is vast and distant, he only knew the surface. Therefore, listening to the team and continuous learning were the most important things. 

“I started with Front-End because it was visual. If I told it to make the background blue, it would be blue. If I told it to make the text red, it would be red. Click and it responds immediately. I felt it was very reactive. After about 2 months of Front-End work, the director asked if I was interested in joining the Back-End team due to their current recruitment efforts. Everything was new to me at that time, but I said yes, not because I had a plan, but because I went with the flow. If an opportunity comes, I take it.” 

This open mindset helped Mind thrive. “Having Front-End experience made Back-End easier. Actually, I quite encourage people not to define themselves as just Front-End or Back-End, because when we work and limit ourselves to being just one part, it prevents us from seeing the complete picture. If we say we’re Front-End, we’ll only care about this much, and when problems arise, we say ‘that’s not my responsibility, I don’t know,’ and we let go. That’s fine because that’s your job scope. But when we know, even if just on the surface, about where the water flows from the mountain, the stuff that comes from Back-End, what it flows through, when we see that rough picture, I think the workflow becomes much easier. And in the long term, I think it can help us grow much more in later fields. If we stay only in an ecosystem where we feel safe, I think we might not grow much.” 

“At Bluebik, because we’re an end-to-end Enterprise Digital Transformation consultancy, I believe many people have multi-skills that can be applied to other areas of work. Like Front-End and Back-End, the work content might be different, but the basic skills are transferable. So, actually, changing career paths within Bluebik is possible. If you can prove that you can work in a new role, nothing prevents you from doing it.” 

Phase 2: Entering Earth’s Orbit  

From Junior Back-End to Senior Back-End  

“In the second year, getting promoted to senior was like a rocket that had entered Earth’s orbit. We already knew how the work was done. We might not have known deeply or truly, but at least if we were asked to do it, we could already do it. At that moment, it was when we were looking for the next goal, which was building deeper expertise.”  

From Junior Back-End to Senior Back-End, the challenges became more complex, and Mind welcomed them. These challenges were what forced him to learn and grow tremendously in his career.  

“The project where I learned intensively, which made my career leap forward, was quite brutal in its challenge. It was a project involving an application. I’m not sure what inspired me to pick up one feature to work on; it was a “Notification” sending. It turned out to be a much more difficult problem than I expected.  

At first, I thought it would be easy, just sending messages. But when I looked deeper, it was incredibly complex behind the scenes, especially when scaled to millions of users. But that work also taught me a lot, including Front-End, Back-End, and Infrastructure. I feel lucky to have done it because this project forced us to research and learn everything. It pushed me forward.”  

“I’m not naturally brilliant, but the situation forced me to grow and fight the challenges. That’s the beauty of hard problems — they create opportunities. If we only do work that we’re already good at, it remains average. However, when we challenge ourselves and take risks, it helps increase opportunities. If we don’t step beyond doing other things, it prevents us from growing.”  

“After becoming a senior, I had new responsibilities, more duties. I had to do my own work and also help coach others. It was the year I reflected on what I should do next as a Developer.”  

Phase 3: Beyond Earth’s Orbit 

Becoming Lead Back-End Engineer 

Mind describes his journey at this phase as we have exited the Earth’s orbit. “I was assigned to lead a new project myself. I’m not working on projects that others have set up for me. I can confidently say that I designed this diagram, developed the system, and consulted on it myself. This is my product, I created with my own hands.”  

After working as a Senior Back-End for a while, Mind was promoted to Lead Back-End at just 25 years old, with a new goal: “creating impact through the work I do.”  

“As Lead Back-End, my work is no longer routine; no two days are the same.” Mind said. ”And yes, I still have to come back to write code or work on features sometimes. I believe that if a Lead Back-End doesn’t touch code at all and only manages, they won’t be able to keep up with the world.”  

When we asked about his leadership and management style. Mind said, “I try to adapt and apply what I learned from my previous experiences to how the director managed the team. I want my team to feel safe. No one should feel afraid to ask questions or bring up issues. I think the work environment is very important because I can’t complete projects alone; it requires teamwork and cooperation from everyone to push forward.”  

One of Mind’s proudest achievements?  

Driving cost optimization for large enterprises. “Every time I hear this word, I get goosebumps, because it’s really not as simple as losing weight, where if you eat clean and exercise. Cost reduction must start with understanding why we’re currently paying this much. It’s not like you can press 2-3 buttons and cut costs in half. It doesn’t work that way.” 

“The clients we’ve worked with are quite large organizations. Their operation costs are quite substantial, worth tens of millions to hundreds of millions. Cost reduction will remain a significant challenge for many companies, as reducing costs can lead to increased profits. The details of reducing costs in each area are very complex. 

For example, if a company spends 10 million baht a year on servers, identifying where every baht goes is already complex. There are many components behind it. The question is: of the 10 million paid, you got 100, but did you use all 100?” 

“These questions are part of my work! How can we reduce it while still generating the same revenue? The solution for each project will be different. Some projects might be purely about cloud solutions. Still, for others, due to using old technology or having been developed for a long time, often the simplest solution is setting up a new application system.” 

But the real reward, Mind says, is seeing his work make a difference in the real world. “What I’m most proud of in my current work is when I go outside and see people using the app we made, or see our app stickers on various doors, or see news about people talking about the benefits of our app. It makes me feel happy and proud because it reflects that what we did really helped facilitate convenience for a large number of consumers. I think that’s the impact we can create for society.” 

The Journey Doesn’t End Here 

This is just Mind’s third year in the field with Bluebik, and he’s not planning to slow down.  

When asked about his destination goals, he doesn’t set a flag for himself based on age numbers, but instead looks at the continuous journey ahead, as he puts it: “Leaving Earth’s orbit doesn’t mean you stop at the moon. Once one project ends, a new project is already waiting. This year, I made it to the moon. Next year, maybe I’ll reach Mars. The year after, maybe Jupiter. The challenges will keep growing, and I’m ready.” 

Launch Pad Trivia: Bluebik’s Support Behind the Scenes 

“When I was building the notification system, everyone was swamped. I couldn’t ask many people for help. I had to learn by myself. I also needed to improve my Cloud skills and want to acquire a certification. So I talked to Bluebik about my interest in taking this exam, and Bluebik agreed to sponsor the exam fee. This also benefits our team as several people wanted to take it too.” 

“For many Developers, the cost of certification is a barrier. If you fail, it’s a big loss. When Bluebik supports exam fees like this, it helps a lot. Bluebik not only covered the cost, but they also offered bonuses for passing. I think it’s an excellent sandbox, because tech people need to continuously study anyway since technology changes every day.” 

If you want your career journey to skyrocket, like Mind, be part of Bluebik today: https://bit.ly/JobsatBluebik.