Life After PETRONAS: What No One Tells You
Life After PETRONAS: What No One Tells You
To my fellow PETRONAS colleagues who recently took the VSS or MSS,
I see you.
And I know how this feels.
For many of you, PETRONAS wasn’t just an employer.
It was home.
It was the place that raised you professionally, from your first day as a scholar to the moment you led teams, projects, or even entire departments.
For years, the structure was clear.
The systems were strong.
The culture, though demanding, gave you stability.
And now, for the first time in decades, you’re stepping out into a world that doesn’t have the same rhythm.
Here’s what you need to know:
The world outside PETRONAS is big, fast, and often messy.
Not every company has governance manuals, structured grading systems, or a defined performance framework.
In some places, you’ll find:
Roles that change overnight
Processes that live only in people’s heads
Leaders who make decisions based on instinct, not data
A culture that values survival more than structure
If you land in another large organisation, the adjustment might be small.
But if you find yourself in a mid-sized or growing company, prepare for culture shock.
You’ll be tempted to say, “In PETRONAS, we used to…”
But pause.
That’s not the world you’re in anymore.
Here, you build from what’s missing, not from what’s already perfect.
Here, your corporate discipline becomes your greatest asset, but only if you pair it with humility and patience.
Be ready for frustration.
Be ready to see processes that make no sense.
Be ready to start over, to prove your worth in an ecosystem that doesn’t know your legacy.
It’s okay.
Because what you bring - structure, integrity, governance, and calm under pressure, are the things these environments desperately need.
So bring your best self, not just your experience.
Bring curiosity, not comparison.
And most importantly, bring kindness.
This new chapter might feel uncertain, but uncertainty is where growth begins.
You’ve already built your foundation in one of the most structured organisations in the country.
Now it’s time to see how far that foundation can take you in the real, unpredictable, beautifully chaotic world outside.
You’ve got this.
And trust me, the world needs what you’ve learned.
I’ll be honest, I’m still figuring it out too.
Building something on your own after years of structure isn’t easy. Some days feel uncertain, some feel messy.
But every time I help a business put structure in place or guide someone through their own transition, I’m reminded why this path matters.
We may not have the PETRONAS systems around us anymore, but we still carry what we learned, and that will always be enough to start again.
Many of us who left have taken different paths. Some joined other corporates, some became consultants, and some, like me, built their own ventures to keep serving people in new ways.
At ZZ People & Culture Solutions, I work with growing organisations that don’t yet have the structure, clarity, or rhythm of big corporates, helping them build what we once took for granted.
And maybe that’s where your next chapter begins too:
Bringing structure where there’s none.
Bringing calm where there’s chaos.
And helping others grow, just as we once did.
To everyone stepping out of the tower for the first time… take a deep breath.
The world outside is not as structured, but it’s full of possibility.
You’ll stumble, you’ll learn, and you’ll grow in ways you never imagined.
Just never stop learning.
Because out here, there’s a lot to catch.