Satrio: A rebel who almost failed as a product manager at Binar Academy

Binar Academy
Binar Academy
Published in
5 min readFeb 19, 2019
Satrio Arbiyudho Cesiojakty (right), product management student of Binar Academy’s 6th batch.

The sun, round as a coin and accompanied by a blanket of thin clouds, shone brightly and overshadowed the billboard jungle of Yogyakarta, as a young lad named Satrio shared his story.

He is the last of the six siblings and unlike him, the rest of them were having their best time as public servants. Their success made his parents told him to follow his siblings’ path. However, he gently refused the dictation.

Satrio Arbiyudho Cesiojakty has been a rebel since graduated from high school. He had a dream to study computer science at Bina Nusantara University. But his parents forced him to go to a public university rather than a private one, threatening him that they wouldn’t pay for his tuition. In a short time, he gave up on his dreams and followed his parents’ wish.

But not long after that, his rebellious soul returned. He ended up going to 5 majors at 3 different universities in Yogyakarta and only graduated from one, engineering physics major at Universitas Gadjah Mada. “I eventually finished that one, just for the sake of, you know, I’m not young anymore,” he laughed.

Satrio was presenting his product in Party Class session.

A year ago, shortly after his college graduation — yeah, finally — he went to Binar Academy to learn about product management. Although he showed a brilliant start, but in the last month of the academic progress, he left his team discreetly. He told no one that he had a family problem back home in Bengkulu and was forced to leave his Binar Academy activities immediately. His team became a leaderless mess. While the other teams kept showing signs of development, his team was left behind. They lost their captain, and had no idea where to go…

Two weeks later, after concluding a bunch of fights he had with his family, Satrio went back to Yogyakarta to resume his study. It turned out that his team already weighed that his action was unforgivable. However, Satrio didn’t give up. He restlessly picked up what he left off, restructured the mess, and made personal apologies to win the team’s trust once more. Luckily, his team still needed Satrio so bad and together, they decided to move on and forget the past for the sake of their future.

In the end, his team accelerated well and could finish their app in time before the Showcase. Even though they were not the best team nor selected as one of the top students, they were all glad that they were able to complete their graduation without leaving any unfinished product.

Satrio demonstrated his product at the Showcase.

After completing his product management class, Satrio applied for Binar Career Hub and got accepted to work for Amnesty International as a product manager intern. He was trusted to handle the reputable NGO’s web development project and delivered the job well. Next, his journey continued as a talent acquisition intern at Binar Academy. With his determined approach, he was able to reform Binar Academy’s talent recruitment system and connected many talents to Binar’s partnering companies through the platfrom.

Months had gone and his achievements got a lot of attention from many companies, and the lucky one was Prudential, which finally won his signature to hire him as a product manager. Now, he keeps making magic to help Prudential transforming the company digitally.

We asked Satrio to share his view on IT industry, reflecting through his roller-coaster journey before settling in his current postion.

Binar Academy: Hi Satrio! How’s life in Jakarta?

Satrio: Not as bad as people said. I kinda like it here.

Binar Academy: Good for you. Hey, would you mind if we ask you some questions?

Satrio: Nope, go ahead.

Binar Academy: You’re known as a critical and rebellious person, what do you think about that view?

Satrio: Well, I once described myself as a rebel, but I see myself differently now. In my opinion, people were raised in their respective families, with their respective values. However, there are some who still forced some not-so-good old-fashioned, irrelevant status quo to their children — their own next generation who supposedly have rights to decide their own path. For example, just because my older siblings are successful public servants, my parents forced me to follow their path. They’re afraid if I insist to try a new, uncertain path — like, in IT industry — I won’t be as successful as the others, hence they made me to obey their restrictions.

Binar Academy: But you didn’t, did you?

Satrio: As you can see, here I am in the IT industry. But here’s the thing: now I kinda understand, parents only want the good thing for their children, regardless of the way they make it happen for us, they do it as a form of love. The problem is, I don’t see myself suitable as a public servant hahahahaha. It’s too conventionally boring for me.

Binar Academy: Being a public servant is not a bad thing tho, if you don’t like the conventional system, transform it digitally from the inside, as you do now.

Satrio: I guess it’s too late for me hahahahaha. Knowing that, now I’m focusing myself to work at a special project here, at Prudential, the largest insurance firm in the world, to help them transforming their already well-established system to embrace the digital era. I’m very excited!

Binar Academy: We’re not going into the details of your job now, considering that would be confidential. So, after working for a world-class NGO and the #1 insurance company, can you tell us what you’ve learnt as a product manager in these exciting experience?

Satrio: Honestly both companies are my first exposures of what NGO and insurance industry look like, respectively. But the key principles are objectively the same. Firstly, as a product manager, measure yourself before you judge the others. Then, have faith in yourself that you can always do good things, there are others that will help you when you’re lost. The third, this is what I learn from my past experience as a student in Binar Academy, separate your personal and your professional life. And the last, every kind of work you’ve done, regardless the quality, has a life, just like a child of your own.

Binar Academy: Wow that’s deep. Ok, thank you for the sharing. You rock!

Satrio: Lovely. Let’s grab a drink next time.

Binar Academy: Sure!

Binar Academy is a social enterprise that transforms society and businesses digitally through learning and collaboration.

We provide several services to transform your company digitally by providing the human capital, technological knowledge and business advisory.

We are also a tech academy where we teach students to build an app within 8 weeks.

Further inquiries? Visit us at www.binar.co.id or drop an inquiries at info@binar.co.id

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Binar Academy
Binar Academy

An academy with endless learning & collaboration spirit. Spreading knowledge, nurturing people and enlighten society.