Life as a startup intern in Jakarta
At the beginning of Semester 2 last year, I read an article by Ryan and Deci (2000) which focused on behavioural theory. It said that people can be —
‘proactive and engaged, [or] passive and alienated, largely as a function of the social conditions in which they develop and function’.
I resonated with this statement quite strongly, to the point where I was driven to write a journal entry on the ‘notes’ function of my computer.
I wrote —
‘We complain about chores.
To most, washing is a burden forced upon us in the absence of assistance. I remember when I was in India. After lunch overlooking the River Ganges, I was amazed at the scene I stood witness to on my left. I watched two children playing on a rooftop whilst two women stood laughing as they did the washing.
We dwell on feminism and the fact that domestic tasks should not only be associated with woman. However, we must consider the subjective nature of task satisfaction, and understand that female empowerment may be achieved through the domestic role women play in caring for their families.
These tasks are no less rewarding than tasks men typically engage in. They are often essential components in life.’
This entry was just one example of the level of complexity that often exists in my thought processes. I guess it was also evidence of certain views I have formed from being exposed to various cross-cultural social conditions.
Feeling reflective of my past travel experiences, I found myself suddenly on the university’s global learning page and reading about the internship opportunity. I applied in a heartbeat and before I knew it, was off to Jakarta to complete a 6 week internship.
I will be completely honest in saying that I was somewhat apprehensive about Jakarta. I was unfamiliar with the Indonesian culture and was clueless about what exactly ‘Jack’s Labs’, the company I would be working at, was all about. I knew that I would be working in the sphere of technology, but I experienced a sense of discomfort not understanding the details which were provided to me, which described Jack’s Labs as a ‘Tech Startup Incubator’.
During the first 2 weeks in Indonesia, we engaged in cultural learning activities at Atma Jaya University, with all of the students involved in the program. I met amazing people and lived in a Boarding House — called a ‘Kost’ — with 22 others, nearby the University.
This was a highlight of the trip.
I forged friendships which are now as strong as ever and I gained an insight into the realities of living with housemates — which sometimes included prioritising socialising over sleeping. Sadly, the 2 weeks came to an end very quickly and I moved into a different Kost nearby my placement — which was much more independant. I was amazed at how quickly the first Kost had become ‘home’ and I regularly returned there to visit other people who had not moved for their placement.
When the time came to start my placement, I was extremely nervous. Unlike many of my peers in the program, I hadn’t received any correspondence from my Mentor. My Program Advisor said not to worry, and to just turn up on day one at 9am. You can imagine my confusion when I arrived to a locked door, with no person in sight.
That’s when I first realised the depths of the saying — ‘in Jakarta time’ — where no one is ever on time (so my start time was around 10am thereafter).
After waiting around for a while, people began to arrive and I met the entire the team — which was small in numbers but large in culture. This included my mentor, Reza; A fun, determined and inspiring guy who fast became my friend.
I hit the ground running at Jack’s. I was introduced to a few projects which they had been working on and was involved with implementing offline and online marketing strategies. I was also involved in helping with competitor research — which involved evaluating UX and UI- and was completely different to what I had learnt at university. I found it quite difficult to adapt to the work quickly, having never learnt about ‘deep machine learning’ and ‘funding rounds’, which are common terms in the tech startup sphere.
Let’s just say that my internship involved many Google searches.
It seemed that for every answer I would find, I would ask a new question.
For every question I had, I would want a new answer.
The influx of information was overwhelming at the best of times. However, slowly but surely, I started to get a better idea of the ins-and-outs of the ‘tech startup’ world.
I soon realised a common theme inherent in processing information; that was, that it takes great effort to seek clarity and it often gets confusing before it is understandable. This statement may appear extremely simple on face value and one may label it as ‘common knowledge’. However, its meaning cannot be truly understood without practically engaging in the depths of the effort involved.
Part of my internship involved writing a blog. In one of my blogs, which focused on the issue of ‘humanising complexity’, I wrote —
‘Ray Lane, a prominent VC in Silicon Valley, emphasised that an inability to capitalise on complexity stood as one of the biggest threat to the IT industry. Dr Andreas Kluth, Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, further explained that ‘people are analogue, not digital; biological, not mechanical’ in highlighting the need for human centred technology. I fast realised that the need for such technology has been a large driver of growth — with Google, Youtube, Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram being just some of many user-centred success stories. By placing the technology at the hands of the user, they have been able to grow markets which may not otherwise been open. If this is how technology has been used to evolve society, why is it that we still follow traditional practises which we don’t necessarily have control over?’
This is an example of the continuous evaluation that I engaged in throughout the month.
Writing a blog was an extremely effective way to document my thoughts and as I continued to delve into the complexity, I began to connect the dots between the information I was processing.
Ultimately, Jakarta was an enormous trigger for some ideas that I have built through my engagement in practical experiences over the last five years. It is without doubt that my experience in Indonesia changed my life and I will be forever grateful for the experience.
