My Engineering Journey at Midtrans: Addressing Problems One Step at A Time
Most people know Midtrans as a payment gateway service provider for businesses. They’re not wrong. But for me, Midtrans has been my learning space for years. This is where I start my journey as an engineer, learn some new things that I didn’t get at university, and grow as a person. My journey here continues, and this is how I started as an engineer in Midtrans Engineering Team.
Being the first female engineer in Midtrans
I know that engineering has always been a male-dominated field. And in a way, it’s quite intimidating, I had never expected to be the first female engineer when I entered Midtrans a few years ago. It shocked me — but also kind of proud — to be the first female engineer here.
I came to Midtrans as an intern who was fighting my way to get a title called “Bachelor”. Back then, I knew nothing about payment gateway until my seniors mentioned Midtrans. They said that Midtrans has a fun and challenging engineering team. It sounded interesting to me, so I applied for an internship there and got accepted.
I did the internship for three months, just like any other student. I found that what my seniors told me was true. As an intern, I got to work on some new projects that would be helpful for the team’s productivity. It’s quite challenging as they allowed me to use the tech stack that I want, as long as it meets the requirements. So, they give me a chance to explore more available options before we decide on the best option.
It was a fun experience for me to work at Midtrans as an intern. I thought my journey with Midtrans would stop there, but what happened was the other way around! One day, Midtrans’ HR Team approached me and offered me a full-time job as an engineer after I graduated from university. Of course, I said yes to that opportunity. I got myself ready, and that marked my remarkable journey with Midtrans.
Reliability is number one
I’m no longer an intern; now I’m a full-time employee here at Midtrans. I have done several exciting projects, made a few mistakes, made new friends, and gotten to experience several conditions here. I think it’s safe to say that Midtrans has become my comfortable learning and growing space.
However, I’m not saying that working at Midtrans was always a rainbow and unicorn. Working at Midtrans is challenging, but I found myself improving a lot, so I’m not complaining. One of the most challenging things I’ve ever experienced was when I had to integrate a new payment type for the first time. The most challenging part was actually not the “technical” part of the project, but more how to design the payment flow, clearing up the requirements and communicating with teammates and third parties to ensure that everything would go smoothly.
In Midtrans, we believe that “reliability is number one”. That was what we set as a standard throughout development of our products. And that was a part of the challenge because we can’t tolerate one bit. In regards to payment, we should ensure the product and feature is safe and able to make merchants’ life easier.
You know what they say; hard work pays off. After so many challenges and obstacles, my team and I managed to gain high traffic for that particular payment type. It’s even become one of the highest among the other payment types!
I can see myself growing through every challenge. It’s like walking on stairs. Every part of it isn’t easy, but it makes me learn and improve something from myself. From integrating a payment type, participating in improving architecture by event-driven architecture, and now, here I am, managing my own little team.
Great Teamwork, Pleasant Culture
One of the reasons I could do such a challenging project is because I also have a reliable teammate. They are my teammates at work hours, people who constantly give you learning opportunities and are always available for discussions. And I call them friends after work hours.
I am beyond grateful to have seniors who also become my mentor. They are knowledgeable and able to give me helpful feedback to make my work better. They are a good example and gave me aspirations about the mentor I want to be.
Also, there are no dumb questions; my teammates will answer any question you ask and provide you with relevant references. My workplace also builds a culture in which they won’t blame a person who makes mistakes. Instead, they are trying to identify the problem and what they can do to solve it.
People make mistakes, and so do I. As a new engineer at Midtrans a few years ago, I had my fair share of making mistakes. Of course, I was scared at that time because my mistake was quite big — big enough to cause a financial loss to the company.
However, the treatment from my team was unexpected. I think it’s normal to blame someone who makes a mistake, but that’s not what I experienced. My teammates didn’t put the blame on me at all. What they did was focus on the problem and how to solve it. “Everybody can make mistakes, so how to prevent that?” That was the moment when I completely changed my mindset about mistakes.
Working at Midtrans makes me experience various things; I face challenges, grow and learn simultaneously, meet new people and mentors, and many other good things. Even though I work in a male-dominated team, they don’t make me feel small. Instead, they help me be a better engineer.
“Reliability is number one” is what I put first on every task I do. And that also applies to me along with my engineering journey at Midtrans. I know it won’t always be an easy road, but our engineering team will always have each other’s back, and that’s a good enough foundation to tackle possible problems in the future.
