The Joy of Learning and Overcoming Challenges
They say ‘we’re only young once’, and apparently once is never enough to explore our talents to bring the greater good. At least that’s our impression when we meet Rangga Husnaprawira, Chief Product Officer at GovTech Edu.
In his 20s, Rangga continues to learn and maximize his energy and capabilities to contribute to Indonesia, creating an irreversible education transformation through technology. He manages Indonesia’s best talents across product management, design, content and data analytics/ data science working in a very high-performing environment.
“I am grateful for the opportunity. Earning their trust to lead the team is more valuable than anything I could think of,” he said, reminiscing the day when he got the offer.
In the early days, though he was bursting with excitement, Rangga had some challenges. For one, he’s the youngest in the C-level role yet he got a chance to manage senior leaders who are certainly older than him. Reluctance was surely inevitable.
“I had this thought that maybe they wouldn’t believe me because I’m too young or not as senior as they’d expect me to be,” he flashbacked. Such a worry is understandable given the C-level role is commonly held by more senior talents than younger ones.
Yet, he did not give in.
“I am very grateful for my insecurities,” he said. “They encouraged me to reflect and be more mindful of my strengths and work on areas that I need to improve.”
His insecurities then turn into a powerful energy that inspires him to get to know his colleagues and learn about his role everyday. “Our relationship at GovTech is based on mutual respect. We help each other as much as possible. At the end of the day, it’s all about human connections, and GovTech’s team really helped me to build my confidence and I’m super grateful for that. I believe we all have insecurities that won’t 100% go away. It definitely took time to have self-conviction and confidence to run the job well. I learned a lot from my journey and will continue to do so,” he said humbly.
He is now reaping his hard work, not only having more confidence but also growing his team. The team consisted of 50 people when he joined, now around 100 within only 5 months after joining the organization. This is his first time managing such a big team, he said.
“These are amazing talents who are capable in their respective fields and mission-driven. I’ve never seen this before and I’m proud to be teaming up with them.”
Never-ending learning process
Rangga, who holds degrees in economy and business, has always been interested in product management– he just wasn’t aware there’s the term, he told us.
“I like building things and finding solutions. I think that’s the foundation of product management. I didn’t find any difficulties adapting myself to product management given my different educational background. The transition was like any other job transition. You definitely won’t be an expert overnight, but if you’re willing to spend a lot of time learning, you will probably pick up almost all the context that you need within three months.”
Rangga understands the importance of catering users’ needs therefore he’d like to dedicate time to have sessions with the users in the coming months. “I’d love to deepen my understanding of the education system in this country and spend more time with our users. It would be great if I could visit teachers in other parts of Indonesia and learn about our education system from them,” he added.
He is also on a mission to grow and scale his team. He’d love to see more of Indonesia’s best talents join the team and develop quality tech products for the greater good.
“We are looking for Product Managers who have experiences in building tech products– massive scale ones would be a plus. In terms of personality, we’d love to meet those with entrepreneurial skills– people who are not afraid to still be scrappy and get their hands dirty. We’re also eyeing candidates with humility, with the mindset that everyone has something to teach and something to learn. People who promote the spirit of camaraderie are also important because, at the end of the day, we are developing products for the nations and it’s a team sport.”
