Jason Ganub: An American in Jakarta
As a first generation Tibetan-American, Jason Ganub is considered a rebel within the Tibetan community in Portland, Oregon. His only rebellion? Pursuing his dream as a software engineer and moving 8,000 miles away from his hometown to Jakarta.
Being a software engineer is not what a typical Tibetan-American kid would do, because it is considered an uncommon profession and it’s a career path most parents aren’t familiar with. Most of the parents would measure success when their kid is pursuing the so-called dream to be a doctor, a nurse or an accountant. There’s not really an engineer that stands out within the community.
Jason didn’t always want to be an engineer, he studied Business and Information System at university. Then at one point in his life, he became interested in Computer Science. Since being a “rebel” was always in his blood, he often randomly dropped in different Computer Science classes just to learn more about the subject. “The class was so big, the professor would never know whether I’m a student or not,” he told me with laughter.
Upon graduation, Jason immediately joined one of the famous computer hardware companies as a software engineer. He had it all; a stable job with plenty of benefits and perks. But, deep down, Jason knew that if he stayed any longer, it would become his comfort zone. He knew that staying there for a long time couldn’t feed his ambitious soul since the company is quite restrictive on what an employee can and can’t do. In a way, they’re shielding him from coming up with any brilliant ideas and make limitless innovations.
His prayers were answered when his team got canceled. Yes, it was devastating for him at first, but if it wasn’t canceled, he wouldn’t come to Jakarta and become enchanted by the ocean of green jackets. He was mesmerized how technology can change a nation and help elevate millions of lives. He realized that in his life, he doesn’t want to just “code,” he wants his code to create an impact in someone’s life.
“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
This excerpt from Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist reflects just how Jason’s life turned out. During his visit to Jakarta, he was invited to come to the GOJEK office by his friend. He had an informal chit chat with one of our recruiters which he didn’t know was actually a job interview.
Two months later, when he was back in the US, he received an offer from GOJEK. Even though at that time he also received two other job offers, and one was even located in Silicon Valley, he promptly chose GOJEK’s offer because he knew that it would fulfill his dream.
“A small company, a new country, a new language, really far. So, I thought… this has everything I want so I might as well try to go for that,” he confessed. He also admitted that he took this action because he was inspired by The Alchemist. He felt like he needed to find his personal legendary journey on his own, try something new, and explore a myriad of challenges.
“The US is already quite mature when it comes to technology. There are a lot of opportunities but not the same kind of problems. Here is challenging.”
Work Hard, Impact Hard
Ever since Jason moved to Jakarta, he faced a lot of challenges that he wasn’t even aware existed. Since the US has a strong structured environment, the tech innovation that people mostly came up are things that connected to VR, medical, or autonomous driving. Things that will make an impact years from now. But here in Indonesia, every innovation that he came up with could instantly create an impact on millions of people the next day.
“The fact that everything I write can affect somebody’s life, it’s very impactful and I really feel it. If it means you have to spend some time in the weekend or stay a little longer in the office, you know it’s all worth it.”
Knowing that his codes were creating a big impact makes him work a lot harder every day because he wants all the drivers, merchants, partners to get what they deserve. Jason also uses the app at least four times a day and it makes him feel closer with his work. By using the app, he can feel the struggle and realize that if something is wrong with the app, it’ll affect a lot of people. That’s why he always gives his best and make sure, the app works well.
The Rogue One
Being the rogue one in the Tibetan-American community by pursuing his dream as an engineer in a different country makes him want to inspire other Tibetan-American kids out there to follow his path; a different road to the one that is already paved.
“I moved here and I hope one day I can inspire these young kids to want to try something different than others.”
Jason hopes that the younger generation would follow what they think is right and take a gamble in their life, just like he did.
“I think it’s because of our background, the parents wanna make sure their kid is solid and don’t make a mistake.”
Even though he knew it was a valid point since his parents had nothing when they moved to the US, that doesn’t mean one can’t be something other than a doctor or an accountant. Being a software engineer can be considered as successful too. Well, look at Jason now, if you didn’t count him as a successful engineer, then I don’t know what is.
If you’d like to embark on an incredible adventure, maybe even better than Jason’s, have a look at GOJEK Career Page because we’re very sure that we have that offer that can feed your adventurous soul!
