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Would you walk away from a lucrative and highly respected job that thousands dream of just to pursue the purest passion inside you?
From stepping into the office of one of the most coveted companies for engineers to returning to the childhood dream he once set aside, Jordan Puah made his decision not out of impulse or comfort, but from a heart determined to create value and meaning.
From sunny days to harsh reality
Jordan was born and raised in Malaysia, but unlike most kids his age, he never sat for UPSR.
At just the age of 11, his family moved to the United States, and he still remembers how quickly he fell in love with life in a new country, especially in sunny California where the days felt warm and forgiving, and winter didn’t come with the harsh bite he imagined.
Without realising it, those two years planted a quiet seed in his heart, one that would later shape his biggest decisions.
Jordan returned to Malaysia two years later and continued his studies at an international school. But as he grew older and exam results started carrying more weight, he was forced to confront a truth he didn’t want to acknowledge.
At that time, I was sort of the ‘troublemaker’ kid in school, where I talked nonstop and couldn’t sit still in class,” he said with a laugh.
“When I turned 15, I had a major paradigm shift when I realised I had to start taking my studies seriously. Coincidentally, my teacher made me sit right in the front row. I promised myself not to talk and just observe.
That’s when I realised I could learn a lot just by staying quiet. It was also the first time I truly pushed myself.”
Following this, Jordan went from an average student to becoming top 2 in his cohort, where he scored 7As in his IGCSE exam.
Discovering his own way
Jordan briefly joined Sunway University’s American Degree Transfer Program (ADTP), where it would consist of him studying two years in Malaysia and the remaining two years in the US.
But his plan took an unexpected turn when Western Michigan University offered him a scholarship worth USD 16,000 (approximately RM66,000) a year.
As tempting as it was, accepting it meant starting all over again from Year 1 — throwing away the progress he had already built in Malaysia.
He hesitated at first, because restarting an entire degree felt like a huge step backward and meant letting go of the progress he had already made in Malaysia.
Yet the scholarship was simply too significant to ignore, and somewhere deep inside, he knew that opportunities of this scale rarely come twice, which eventually gave him the courage to take the leap.
And that would not be the only twist in his academic journey.
After settling into life at Western Michigan, he found himself standing at another crossroads in his second year, eventually deciding to switch from Mechanical Engineering to Chemical Engineering, a choice that reshaped the direction of his entire degree.
Initially, I took Mechanical Engineering but switched to Chemical Engineering in my second year. Not because I loved labs or equations, but because I hated robots, coding, and mechanics.”
Fortunately, because he changed early, the transition was smooth. He didn’t need to retake the entire programme, and all his credits were able to carry over — a small mercy in a journey filled with big choices.
“Despite the change, university life was the best time ever I had freedom, fun, and saw a version of myself I’d never seen before,” he said.
Jordan later went on to undergo his internship in pharmaceuticals, sealant manufacturing, and food-science facilities — experiences that further expanded his worldview.
He also successfully graduated from Western Michigan University and moved on to the next phase of his life, finding a job.
‘Tesla emailed me??’
Like most engineering students, Jordan applied for several jobs through LinkedIn and sent out countless resumes.
He recalled that on one particular day, he randomly clicked into Tesla’s website and stumbled upon their hiring page. Thinking he might as well try his luck, he submitted an application.
I honestly thought Tesla would never see my application. They get thousands every week.”
To his surprise, Tesla replied and called him for an interview, which Jordan described as “brutal”.
There were three rounds of intense interviews, including a manager session that caught him completely off guard .
“The second interview came out of the blue because Tesla forgot to notify me in advance, and I had to do it completely impromptu,” he said
He also go through multiple senior engineers drilling him on every technical detail he had ever listed on his resume.
One question they loved asking was: ‘What’s the hardest problem you’ve ever solved?’ They want to see your thought process when facing a challenging problem.”
After the intense interview session, Jordan was eventually hired by Tesla, leaving him deeply relieved and overjoyed.
Living the dream
Upon being hired by Tesla, Jordan was paid about USD 72,000 (approx. RM297,000) in yearly salary, a USD 15,000 (approx. RM61,900) sign-on bonus, USD 12,000 (approx. RM49.500) for relocation, plus a range of benefits he had never encountered before.
But beyond the compensation, the greatest privilege was something money could not buy — the people he met and the culture that shaped him.
His manager, Megan, became the benchmark of what a leader should be and perhaps the biggest gift Tesla ever gave him.
She was the best mentor I’ve ever met — sharp, kind, caring, and supportive. She shaped the way I want to lead people in the future.”
“I was so lucky. Megan was so down-to-earth and genuinely excited about everything — our projects, her kids, her life. Every time we talked, you could feel how much she cared about both your career growth and your well-being,” he said.
Jordan’s coworkers made the experience even richer as they were a colourful blend of brilliant, funny, sharp-minded individuals from all corners of the world.
“They joked about everything, debated ideas for hours, and complained about the same difficult colleague everyone avoided.
“One of my favourite memories was a road trip with his coworker, Parker, to Yellowstone, a personal bucket-list destination I wanted to cross off before leaving the US,” he recounted.
And then there was Tesla itself — a place where the culture carried an almost electric charge.
“I learned that ‘Everything is possible’ wasn’t just a slogan. It was a mindset, a discipline, a belief that even the wildest solution was worth trying if it could push the company one step forward.”
‘Loved my colleagues but hated the job’
Despite the work perks, and enjoying the people at work, Jordan soon found himself falling into a mental rut as his job become more and more stale.
Although I loved the people and the culture there, I hated the job scope. I didn’t enjoy facing machines, robotics, software, or mechanical troubleshooting whole day everyday as I yearned for human interaction and human warmth in the work I do.”
And given Tesla’s highly competitive work culture, it only made things harder.
I saw my seniors and managers having constant meetings, making high-pressure decisions, and handling on-call responsibilities that could yank them out of bed at 3am.”
He said that when he tried to envision his future by looking at the way his seniors worked, he realised he did not want to be in their position, and that staying there would eventually turn him into exactly that.
“I admired my seniors for being able to handle that level of pressure every day, but it also made me understand that my passion was never here, it was somewhere else entirely.”
Passion for the F&B business
Upon seeing the hectic lifestyle of his seniors, Jordan was reminded of the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi that he watched when he was just 15 years old.
Seeing how Jiro Ono pursued perfection in every piece of sushi, pouring his passion and dedication into his craft, deeply inspired Jordan.
After watching the documentary, he even took up a part-time job at Sushi Zanmai, hoping to experience a glimpse of the passion he saw on screen.
Even though the pay was low and the hours were long, that was the happiest I had ever been at work. I loved the smile on customers’ faces, enjoy serving them with warmth, and seeing the joy of seeing them enjoy good food.
After working at Sushi Zanmai, Jordan began to realise how much he appreciated restaurants that served with heart and food that was prepared with genuine care.
“Food is emotional to me. If the food or service is bad, I feel sad. But if people enjoy what I make, my whole day feels brighter.”
Jordan said he found inspiration from Malaysian entrepreneurs like Ying Ying Teo (Dona Bakehouse) and Claire Tan (Grumpy Bagels), where their passion for creating joy through food reignited his own.
Leaving Tesla for F&B
While most would kill for a job position at Tesla, leaving was shockingly easy for Jordan.
“I could make the decision with a clear mind as I had a financially stable family, sufficient savings, and a father who had just invested in a restaurant and offered me a safe space to learn and grow.
However, my biggest fear was disappointing my dad. What if I loved F&B only as a part-time thing?” he admitted.
Before resigning, Jordan used his remaining annual leave to work full-time at the restaurant to try things out. Thanks to prior experience at working at multiple F&B jobs in the US, he was fairly confident he could pull through.
While Jordan’s family weren’t surprised by his decision to quit Tesla, his father set two conditions for him before he could return home: complete his degree studies and work in Tesla for at least 1.5 years.
Jordan eventually fulfilled those conditions and came home, where he now works with his father in their restaurant and handles marketing, operations, and R&D.
Building a restaurant with heart
Following the change in jobs, Jordan said he’s now learning how to bring his and his father’s vision to life every day.
Following the change in careers, Jordan said he is now learning how to bring both his and his father’s vision to life every single day.
From solving equations and tackling technical problems at Tesla, he now pours his energy into letting culture shine through the food served at TeoChew Nang Cafeteria in Klang.
He also documents his journey through videos, sharing his story, his growth, and the process of building his own F&B path. Most importantly, he enjoys every moment he spends serving customers and making sure each plate that leaves the kitchen is made with intention and heart.
While he no longer checks the clock anxiously the way he did when he was 15, he still retains the same discipline when it comes to formulating recipes, studying customer behaviour, and designing experiences that make people feel welcome.
And when asked to compare his time at Tesla and the restaurant, Jordan said this with a smile:
“Tesla was a dream. But this feels like a purpose. Food makes people happy. And maybe that’s all I ever wanted to do.”
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