Exploring the Uncharted: My 11-Year Adventure in the Digital Universe

As a firstborn, I pursued my career with only one thing in mind; to support my family and make my parents proud.

Looking back, I can proudly say that my supportive parents are my tower of strength throughout the peaks and valleys in my career and life in general, working really hard to always support everything I needed, despite our limitations. I was always driven to make headway so that I could advance my education without burdening my parents who have always been working hard to support me.

Starting with this small vision, I initiated my academic journey by joining the National Science Olympiad as my school representative in the Physics field where I managed to win my first silver medal.

Throughout this journey, I found Astronomy, my first love in life that has paved a lot of paths to opportunities for me. Despite many difficult times, pursuing this field was such a memorable experience for me. I created beautiful memories with my dad, like when he always drove me to the training facilities for months in his old motorbike throughout my training days.

After spending most of my youth pursuing this field, learning about star constellations and astronomical objects, I finally jumped to the world of technology when I was studying at Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB). I realized that technology will hold such a pivotal role in our lives and as someone who always aspires to create something useful for a lot of people, I firmly believe that I need to understand technology, make use of it, and pursue a career there.

The (Technology) World Is My Oyster

When I was working in Management Consulting, I further discovered my passion in technology when I was assigned to work on branchless banking projects for one of my clients. I didn’t know that it was the start of my 11- year journey in this sector.

The beginning of that journey was rocky. I encountered many adversities and challenging times to create the “right” products that can benefit the society. The COVID-19 pandemic made it even worse. I lost my father to the disease and at the same time, I was struggling with some issues at work.

But, I always tried to get myself together and keep focusing on my goal: making products that can solve the problems of many people.

The pandemic resulted in many job losses and even forced people to survive day by day. Seeing how many people were thriving to take part in helping others get over the difficult situation, I was motivated to also play my role. Therefore, I have always been determined to work together with my team on creating the products fit people’s needs.

When I joined Bukalapak a few years ago, I felt so lucky because I got even more opportunities to achieve my personal mission. It is so great that the team I work with at Bukalapak shares the same mission: Solving our users’ problems and offering them the best experience. We always think that the products we build would help people provide better livelihood for them and their families. This is definitely a mission that is close to my heart.

That is why every time we successfully launch products that our users love, I feel really happy and rewarded.

Creating Tangible Impact with Bukalapak

My current main role is developing BukaFinancial and Digital Products. I am delighted because the number of specific products I got to build has brought a tangible impact.

To successfully create the products, I always start with understanding the problem that we are trying to solve because finding solutions for a problem that turns out doesn’t even exist is really detrimental to the company or even the users.

One of the projects I am proud to be part of, because I believe it has created a tangible impact, is building a transaction platform for the Kartu Prakerja beneficiaries. Kartu Prakerja was a government-initiated program that is intended to provide people an opportunity to upgrade their skills by joining various training programs. This is certainly a great way to take on new career and business opportunities, including for those who have lost their job due to the pandemic and anyone who wishes to step up their career and entrepreneurial game.

As we are assigned by the government to be one of the program’s digital platform partners, we were tasked to provide access for Kartu Prakerja beneficiaries to select and purchase courses/training programs. It was a very challenging task as we have to accommodate hundreds of thousands users each batch and go through a lot of preparation to ensure they are having a seamless experience on our website. But, we are always working on various improvements to constantly make our platform better, so that the users can always find and choose courses conveniently. This is crucial as the beneficiaries rely heavily on our platform to gain relevant skills that could potentially help them live a better life.

None of these impactful platforms and products could happen without the support from my team members. I am grateful to have them and to be in a supportive working environment at Bukalapak. I believe this is a perfect place for me and all of you to make a difference through powerful products.