My first 3 Months at Tokopedia as a Product Designer
Last September, I decided to leave my home country India venturing to Indonesia, in order to pursue my career as a product designer at Tokopedia. It was a risky decision which got me anxious and excited since this is my first experience working abroad in a country which language I am not familiar with. Reaching my third month in the company, I admit that the environment has been delightful compare to the working environment I have witnessed back in India.
Previously, I have worked at design consulting, large companies and even startups. During my time working in large companies/agencies, most of the tasks we performed never saw the light of day.
Regardless to the political situations, change in leadership or priority, employees end up pouring endless sweat and tears on their work which tends to be underappreciated by the end of the day.
As a foreigner joining a team of 125 product designers, here are several insights which might be a useful fundamental guideline of what to expect when starting a job in a new country (of course Tokopedia in my case):
SUPPORT FROM TEAM
I found Tokopedia to be a supportive place to take initiative and hack on things I am passionate about. On my first month, I proposed an idea on something outside of my work scope which gained positive feedback from my team. Afterward, I created the prototype within a week, tested it to real users and presented the results to my team.
The support of the team was exceptional — it motivated me to conceptualize more exciting ideas to implement.
Communicating my design perspectives to engineers and product designers can feel a bit stifling at times. Therefore, stepping back and understanding the bigger goal helps me to realize the impact and responsibility of my role on the product which is used by millions of users across the country.
Opportunity
At Tokopedia, I have never been into any predicament with load balancing — I normally have enough time to prioritize my work although oftentimes, I would put more effort in creating products that are accessible to the user. Additionally, I had the opportunity to learn about Design Ops and Abstract which is a very convenient and conflict-less collaboration tool for design file executions.
The Design Team
Aside from being provided with the opportunity to learn about a variety of new products, Tokopedia has a spectacular design team full of creative energies.
Compared to my previous stint where I had to be constantly vigilant of protecting my own interests, my time at Tokopedia has been fruitful.
I enjoy every single day grasping and adopting the great design culture while at the same time spending my time on creating measurable strides towards improving my skill.
Decision
When most friends questioned my decision to move outside India, I kept telling them how grateful I am to work at Tokopedia — far from horrifying, in fact it’s been a great journey for my career.
