From Germany for Indonesia: A Day in the Life of Bukalapak’s Part-Time Software Engineer

There are a bunch of people who juggle a part-time job and studying at the campus. You’re probably one of them. The challenge is real — and it’s even tougher when you’re living in 11,000 kilometers away from your employer.

Ali Ariff, a part-time Backend Software Engineer at Bukalapak, is facing that situation. He’s currently studying his master degree in Software Systems Engineering at RWTH Aachen University in Germany. On weekdays, he spends all day at campus studying some papers and tasks. He reviews course materials in between break times. As the sky dusks, he goes back to his place, working for Bukalapak. He usually checks some issues and responds to emails. Every now and then, he spends weekends working as well.

“Time management is very challenging. My office is 5 hours ahead of me. I manage to work everything on schedule,” he said.

When Ali starts working at night, his colleagues in Indonesia are still dreaming underneath their blankets at dawn. And just when his colleagues are ready to start a day, Ali hits the bed.

And that’s how his days went by ever since he became a student two years ago. It might look exhausting, but Ali learns that communication, compromise, and tolerance among colleagues are keys to keep the work going.

Be Back Home

Back in the day, Ali was a full-time employee at Bukalapak. Unlike his former full-time position, his current role as a part-timer demands less technical decision making; more on consultations. He is responsible for assisting the Customer Service team to provide a favorable service for the users, including bug fixing, service migration, and integrate some new features into third-party services.

Sometimes he teams up with his colleagues in Indonesia through chats or video calls, other times he works by himself. Either way, Ali considers himself lucky to be able to work with such supportive colleagues.

Take this experience, for example. When he decided to pursue higher education abroad, his supervisors supported him and allowed him to continue his career at Bukalapak as a part-timer. Bukalapak also supports him joining hackathon competitions, conferences, meetups, and many other activities while he’s in Germany.

It is not surprising that he would love to continue his journey at Bukalapak, a locally-owned startup. “I’ll be back home and join Bukalapak. I love their culture and friendship! I believe it is a good time to give back to my country by contributing at Bukalapak,” he confidently said.

One might wonder if he was ever tempted to stay and work in Germany. “I am on a mission to finish my master. Never ever crossed my mind to work here,” he giggled.

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