Why I Accepted an ¥8,000 Salary Cut for a Job in a Residential Building

I joined the current company three years ago after an interview in a rented house within a residential complex and agreed to a salary cut of ¥8,000.

I was the first programmer; the CTO arrived only two months earlier. At the time, finding office space was difficult, so the interview took place in a large house rented in the community.

The interviewer's reputation preceded him – friends described him as an expert in the chain‑store industry. After researching his background online, I met him in person and observed the following traits:

Deep understanding of chain‑store business; has worked on almost every core system, including online/offline, supply chain, supplier management, integrated finance, marketing, and delivery.

Wears multiple hats: developer, product manager, and designer.

Has held director positions at leading chain‑store companies.

Strong logical thinking.

Hands‑on frontline experience.

After the conversation I decided to join. The CEO finished the interview and the HR negotiated the salary, resulting in an ¥8,000 reduction.

My decision rested on three factors:

Industry fit and company stability. Being in the same industry meant I could quickly adapt and be productive. The company’s steady growth was confirmed by data such as single‑store profitability, per‑square‑meter efficiency, gross and net profit, inventory turnover days, daily average cup count, EBITDA, and store‑opening plans.

Opportunity to fill knowledge gaps. I had only partial experience with complete inventory, supply‑chain, and supplier‑management systems. This role allowed me to acquire the missing pieces and boost future competitiveness.

Chance to build an IT system from 0 to 1. Such opportunities are rare; I was confident I could design and implement the entire platform, creating whatever components were lacking.

Although my background is in technical management, I never abandoned frontline capabilities. When we lacked suitable developers, I handled development, operations, and even set up the release pipeline so developers could deploy their own changes.

Key technical artifacts I introduced include:

Foundational framework

Template project

Rapid development framework

Network infrastructure

…and other essential components.

From this experience I distilled a simple decision framework for anyone facing a poor interview environment:

Is the direct leader worth following? Evaluate their communication, logic, and business insight.

Does the role fill a missing piece in your career puzzle? Look beyond immediate salary and consider the three‑year resume impact.

I invite readers to share their most extreme interview locations and whether they would accept a salary cut to work under a great leader.