Kenapa pulang kampung? / Why I moved back to Indonesia
Last week I moved back to Jakarta, Indonesia.
After living in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past 3 years (previously followed by stints in Michigan, Boston, San Diego, and Singapore) I packed 2 suitcases, my climbing gear, and my broken bule Bahasa, to relocate to the motherland. Many would consider this “pulang kampung” but having not permanently lived here for over 15 years — it’s certainly been quite a different, unfamiliar kampung.
A lot of folks were surprised to learn that I was giving up my kushy Silicon Valley job and comfortable life in California to move to what is still technically a developing country.
Having spent my formative years in Indonesia and studied Indonesian politics, economics, history, anthropology (and martabak) in more recent years, I’ve always harbored a desire to return here to reconnect with my roots and do my part to improve the condition of the country through financial inclusion; little did I know it was going to be at this moment, but everything happens for a reason :).
I have sensed a similar desire in my conversations with other members of the Indonesian diaspora, and feel compelled to tell you all that right now is an amazing time to import your respective talents back home! There is a visceral energy in the air here, with the millennial-majority demographics here driving a lot of positive economic progress through the start-up ecosystem.
Though the transition had its set of challenges, I am so glad that I took the leap of faith — especially to work for a company like Go-Jek.
At the highest levels, the company identifies strongly with positively impacting the country of Indonesia, and driving this nation’s development through innovation. As such, it attracts talent that is not only bright and ambitious, but also deeply impact-driven as well.
Go-Jek is one of those rare breeds of companies that are actually “making the world a better place” — or so the satired phrase echoed throughout HBO’s Silicon Valley goes. The social impact that it leaves on Indonesia (and soon the rest of Southeast Asia) is palpable…
Check out the #CeritaGOJEK series on YouTube for some great examples of Indonesians whose lives have been transformed by the ubiquitous green brand’s products and services.
We are building really exciting products, particularly on our team :), and are looking for bright, hungry, and mission-driven engineers, data scientists, BI developers, product managers, etc. to help us revolutionize financial inclusion in Indonesia.
Please check out our careers page or better yet: reach out to me at max.hasan at go-jek dot com if you are interested in chatting and joining me to #PulangKampung
