When I was in Uni, I often times wondered, how does if feel, working for people , running his strategy, improving your skills, and then, creating your own dream. -the latter is important since I want myself to keep my dream creating an internet company-. When I was in the end of my lazy graduation times, I decided to go for Internet Startups instead of FMCG or engineering company. Why? 2 reasons : I want to keep having a dream & I want to learn from young prodigy. The latter, I don’t accept its fraction. It has to be young AND prodigy.
Then I start selling myself off. It was smooth (if you want to be excel at interview, my suggestion : be a traveler AND programmer). I’m now in Garena, a Singapore based internet company with crazy amount of dollars, competing with Rocket Internet (but still, am a Rocket fan) to be biggest player in Indonesia. Actually, there are Silicon Valley backed up companies as well, but I think Rocket is the real challenge. Except Softbank-backed Tokopedia (hats off, friends) : they are doing amazing job.
The Slipicon Valley
My uncle just arrived from California, brought me golden gate t-shirt and LA Clippers hat-he knows I’m a fan- but i’m not surprised at all. I see the miniature of CA every single day (eventhough it’s still 1/1000 comparison XD). Every morning I see North Europeans, Germans, sheikh-Indians, and of course Americans in my workplace in slipi : which many people compare it with SV and call it Slipicon Valley.
Here they do things dirty. Innovation is not done in the term of technology, it is done in the level of operation. Manual checking everywhere. Faulty transactions. Slow customer service. Sleepless operations. 12-15 hours of work everyday. Especially if you are managers, not coder which happen to get very special treatment in this industry.
But those all will pay off, trust me. You have courage, passion, and brain? ask for responsibility. Then deliver result. Then ask what you want. They don’t want to give you? Others will. Everything moves so fast, you will think you hate weekend sometimes.
BUT. This is not for everybody. I don’t even think this is a proper life. Working like there is no tomorrow. Make sure you love your product, or you’ll end up losing motivation. And make sure you have future plan, since if you stay here for more than half of your career life, it will consumes your personal life. Most of them here want to learn. Either to sell, to operates, to create, or to lead a product/business. Use this kind of career as a substitute to your master degree (if you want to) or to any consulting firm (if you happen to have GPA less than 3.75. Bugger!)
Sepertinya sudah setahun tidak nulis secara sukarela di blog ini. Berbagai macam alasan seperti kesibukan dan kemalasan adalah penyebabnya. Selain itu, ga ada yang baru yang menurut gue menarik untuk diupload di blog ini, setidaknya sampai saat ini. Makanya sekarang mau nulis resume saat ini, setahun ke belakang.
Wisuda / ga kuliah lagi 😦
Tepatnya 28 maret 2015 gue wisuda. Setelah 4,5 tahun mengenyam pendidikan dari kampus ITB tercinta, aku harus wisuda. Kesannya ngga ikhlas banget, hehe. Abis seru sih.
Well kalo ditanya bedanya, ITB beda dari kampus lain, dalam arti baik dan kurang baik. Baiknya adalah ITB itu kampus teknik, jadi kita fokus ngomongin teknologi. Ngga nyentuh-nyentuh ekonomi atau kebijakan. Jadinya kita true geek. Kita benar benar terinspirasi oleh kata-kata : teknologi mengubah semuanya. Dan itulah yang ngebuat kita bakal tertarik ke teknologi sampai ngewarisin perasaan ini ke anak cucu kita.
Udah kebayang ntar kalo gue punya anak, nyeritain sejarah handphone dari nokia warna warni sampai adroid. Sejarah mesin game arcade (gue sebutnya mesin ding-dong) sampe bisa download game di Android. Semua masa-masa yang gapernah mereka alamin. Kalo anak gue keranjingan ngegame, mau gue pancing untuk ngoding bikin game.
Ini yang gue maksud mesin dingdong
Di ITB, kita juga tau perkembangan ekonomi negara, terutama yang berhubungan dengan oil & gas. Karena itu menyagkut sebagian besar hidup anak ITB. hehehe. Jadi seru aja meskipun not even my business tho. Yang ngga kita tau adalah : berita terkini di indonesia kaya kasus korupsi dll. Ini ga begitu baik sih, setidaknya kita harus tau ada korupsi apa. Tapi gue punya pembelaan : kasus korupsi bukannya gitu2 aja ya? Yang penting tuh edukasi antikorupsi nya. Hehe
Trus tentang STEI nih. Ini the best part nya. Kumpul ama geek, dork, or whatever the call us, yang punya minat sama. Sekolah elektro & informatika ini emang jago banget buat kita betah. Mereka (dosen dan jajarannya) selalu ngasih challenge yang menarik minat kita untuk belajar lebih. Jelek nya adalah : Challenge nya ga pernah serius. Jadi kita ngga terpacu untuk berpikir lebih. Ngoprek / kerja lab yang kebanyakan cuma formalitas doang, ngga memicu kita untuk berkreasi lebih.
Salah satu ritual dari pengikut ajaran sekte GEEK : bermain dota
Kampus ITB ini yang lebih super seru. Selain kampus yang nyaman dan udah terkenal akan keindahannya, yang paling penting itu temen-temennya. Bayangin, lo bisa kenal dengan 1 angkatan! Di kampus lain cuma bisa kenal anak 1 fakultas / 400 orang an. Kalo di sini, lo bisa kenal ama 1 angkatan loh (3000 an)! Itu semua karena kampusnya kecil, jadi “everyone knows everyone” bisa dilakukan di kampus ini. Temen lo otomatis jadi banyak banget. Yang susah itu keep up setelah lulus hehe
Kami semua juga gandrung internet. Artikel forbes, techcrunch, fastcompany, dst. selalu jadi santapan empuk diskusi anak ITB. Meskipun ga diskusi, mereka baca lah. Internet ini lah yang jadi pembeda dari anak univ lain di indonesia. Ga semua orang suka baca, meskipun cuma internet. Apalagi diskusi. Contohnya kalo Apple/ Microsoft rilis produk baru, pasti ada yang share di Fb. Ada seminar baru di ted.com? share Fb. Artikel menggelitik otak dari waitbutwhy.com? share. Informasi yang beredar adalah yang patut diperbincangkan, dan itu berkualitas (cieeh hehe).
Sekarang ngomongin kurang baiknya ya. Pertama, akses parkir susah. Tapi ini juga yang memicu semua orang untuk jalan kaki ke kampus. Yang ke dua, dosennya kurang aplikatif. Mayoritas adalah orang riset yang menjadi dosen. Menurut saya pribadi, dosen yang aplikatif adalah dosenyang pernah merasakan atmosfir dunia kerja. Untung lah di Teknik Elektro STEI ITB, banyak dosen macam ini. hehe
Yang kedua, dari segi mahasiswanya adalah, anaknya agak songong. Untung beneran pinter. Kalo anda menemui yang kurang songong, itu artinya dia super rendah hati atau gak ada semangat hidup sama sekali. Kesongong an dan ke over-PD-an ini adalah bukti eksistensi anak ITB. Ngga perlu sensi / marah, biarkan realita dunia kerja saja yang menghajar mereka.. hehe.
Ditampar dunia kerja
Nah cukup di sini dulu ngomongin kampus ITB. Ingat, kampus ini ga perfect, banyak sekali flaw nya. Malah kebanyakan kalo kata gue. Tapi di sini seru dan menantang, setidaknya itulah yang bisa gue jamin. Tapi kalo lo bandingin ama top universities di luar negeri, ya emang masih berusaha mengapung lah ya.. hehe. Yang penting jangan berhenti berinovasi!
Next Topic : Afterschool : Kerja Vs Kuliah Vs Bisnis, an end to countless discussions.
before ITB : saat belum masuk ke ITB. People could misinterpret me with bus-ticket-guy
After ITB : With one of our gang members, Ella, Planologi 10. Thanks for the wonderful shot here! Well, this looks better than one before.
I always want to have abroad experience. I did apply for a program back when I was in high school, but I did not get the offer. Then it became one of my goals when I entered college. I have to go abroad. I applied four programs, got accepted in three of them, and took two of them. So I was abroad for approximately seven months. Two months for internship in Bangkok, Thailand, and five months in Singapore as an exchange student. What did I learn from that journey?
Life is not a race.
Yes. This is what I feel just now. My friends are about to graduate while I will stay longer in campus, compensating my time abroad. Dude, it’s freakin’ boring. When your friends are free, you got to do your assignments. When you are free, your friends are dumped with their final projects/thesis. But I remember that one year ago I made a note that I want to buy myself a time. This is what I got. It’s perfect, but I didn’t know that it would be like this. Don’t get me wrong, I feel so glad that I have this experience. Now, I know the true value of a friendship. From now on, I want to be a good friend, and be good to my friend. It’s not legendary if your friends aren’t there to see it, isn’t it Barney?
Look after a family and friends.
When you are outside there abroad, where the people speak a language you don’t understand, you need companies. So look after some friends. Have some conversations. If you are lucky, you might get a family to care about you. This is what I get in Bangkok and Singapore. When I was working as research student in Bangkok, I was lucky to have some great friends in my lab. I won’t make it this far if it wasn’t from their support on me. In that lab, I feel like having new classmates.
From these LAB fellows in ThaiThese gossip gals from around AsiaAnd the whole gank of TF SCHOLARS NUS 2013. Miss em all :’)
When I was in Singapore, lot of exchange students there so I felt like became a member of a community. But the main thing is there are 40 of us, so it feels like having new classmates in high school. The best thing is they came from several countries in Asia!
But don’t forget your family back in home
But my mom is still my guidance star. She’s always there to chat me or give me a call. She always there if I need to talk. She never fails to comfort me or put me back on my legs if I don’t feel like having a good day. The rule is you don’t forget friend who have always been there for you when you need it. And your mom is that friend.
Family, Comes first and will always be
And also your pals back in your Uni.
Even if you are not there to witness your old friend having moments of their life, always show that you are there to congratulate them, to send them some messages, or to be your late night coffee partner, even just in online. It’s important to make them now that you’re still their friend. Be thankful for their support which makes you having abroad experience.
friend 4eva!
Be friendly with transition
Live somewhere else means you’re about to have transitions in your life. From spiciness of your food, accent of your language, transportation mode, temperature, anything. This is definitely amazing, and will makes your jaw dropped for a while, but it’s a bit tricky. You need to transform right. Don’t let the transition eats you and stress you.
Always have high hope
When you are abroad you will meet amazing persons everywhere. They are the cream of the crop, the top of their competition. Sure they are amazing person in their job, but you will realize that they are just a normal folks that don’t give up with their dream. They dropped a lot, got rejected, being in some hard times, but they just don’t give it up. Their dream is their treasure, and they will keep it until the end of the time. You can learn a lot from them, that if you keep your dream and hold it tight, it will keep you and give yourself a guideance. Be a friend with your own dream.
high hope 1high hope 2
A friend wants to capture his dream ends up crazy 😀
Be a good friend
Did I mention this already? But this is very important for everyone. Make yourself a good friend, be reachable and talkable to everyone. It doesn’t need a special recipe or a degree from communication science. It needs some effort and humility from yourself to listen and care about the person next to you.
And don’t forget to have fun and try something new! That’s the point of being abroad isn’t it?
I’ll write the story in Bahasa first, then i’ll write it in English. Afterall, it was same story.
KMUTT Logo
Salah satu dosen saya, Pak Armein ZR pernah bilang, bahwa semesta kita adalah apa yang bisa kita lihat dan ketahui. Jadi saya memutuskan untuk menjalani kehidupan di bangkok se-bahagia mungkin dan se-menyenangkan mungkin, serta mencoba hal-hal baru untuk memperluas semesta saya. Pengalaman baru.
Salah satu pengalaman baru saya adalah naik pesawat jakarta-bangkok. Saya belum pernah naik pesawat sebelumnya. Sama sekali. Waktu itu saya tiba di Bandara sukarno hatta jam 12 malam, tapi flight jam 7 pagi. Mulai lah, malam gak jelas yang dihabiskan dengan mengamati orang lalu lalang dan membaca novel ‘Hafalan Shalat Delisa’. Novelnya sangat-sangat sedih dan sangat-sangat bagus. Saya merekomendasikan banyak anak muda dan manusia yang kehilangan makna hidup untuk baca novel ini.
Pengalaman lain adalah berteman dengan orang Thailand. Karena keramahannya, saya banyak bicara ke orang-orang ini. Teman pertama saya dan Fauzan (saya ke bangkok dengan M Fauzan, EL ITB 2010) adalah Tik & Song.
Song, taken from FbTik, taken from Fb
Mereka berdua adalah graduate student di KMUTT. Tik adalah pemudi dengan kemampuan komunikasi yang mumpuni. Bahasa Inggrisnya lancar, dan dia juga bisa menguasai pembicaraan. Song adalah gadis dengan penampilan modis dan fashionable. Kalau tertawa manis sekali.
Selain itu, kami di sini dipandu oleh mahasiswa 2011 bernama Aun. Pemuda satu ini lugu dan pekerjakeras. Dia selalu bawa catatan tentang apa yang harus dia kerjakan. Dia bekerja selama liburan untuk menambah uang. Hebat. Kami juga kenalan dengan mahasiswa manis yang duduk di kantin. Namanya Pat. Dia memakai kerudung, seorang muslim. Ternyata Pat adalah mahasiswa S1 dengan usia 3.5 tahun lebih tua dari Fauzan :p . Tapi dia maniiis banget dah. Dia juga kenalin kita ke temannya namanya Sa (Za?). Mereka satu kelas. Sa ini kelihatannya sangat gaul dan easy going.
Sa, No pic?Pat- Very kind-hearted engineer
Selain itu ada teman-teman Indonesia (belum sempat ketemu), orang-orang international office yang sangat baik dan menawarkan program bersama mahasiswa korea (yeay!). Terimakasih kepada Bu Sasima, Pak Anak, yang dulu ke ITB dan masih kenal saya. Dan kepada dosen-dosen yang sangat gaul seperti Mr Poj, dan baik seperti Mr Phakkorn. Udah aah!
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One of my Lecturer at ITB, Mr Armein ZR, told us that our universe is the things that we could see and we could know. So, I decide to enjoy my life, being impulsive, and live my life at bangkok to the fullest, and try something i never been tried. All of those thing are in purpose to expand my universe. New experiences.
So, one of my universe expanded by travel by plane from jakarta to bangkok at 3rd or june 2013. I’ve been arrived at airport at 00 AM but my flight was in 7.00 AM. This events starts my random night in the jakarta airport, that i spent it read a novel called “Delisa’s shalat reads(?)”. Very very good and very touching novel. I recommend this novel to everyone. Any people and any religion.To the youth and to the people that feel emptiness of his/her life.
Another Experiences was to met with Thai People, espescially KMUTT folks. Since they are very kind, I talk much to these persons. Me & Fauzans first friend is Tik & Song. They are graduate students at our departements. Tik have very good communication skill, good english, and she’s kind of talk & joke all day very much. You will love to joke around with her. Song is a girl with very up to date fashion and good fashion instinct. And She has very lovely nice smile. I mean incredible. Thumbs up!
Besides them, we have Aun to jelp us to deal with student registration stuff. This boy is very hardworker. He use to bring his little agenda, writing his tasks there. He work at summer to make extra money. Great job Buddy! We also make friends with thailand muslim student called Pat. Pat was in cafetaria, and I go to talk to her, spontaniously. She’s using Hijab. Pat is a final year student, she is 24. She is veeeeery damn cute and has sweet smile. She also introduce us to her friend, Sa. Sa (or Za) is very cool girl. I dont know why I always thinking that Sa would be a good Rockstar Singer 😀 . Sa is very easy going. They are classmate.
Other than that, there are indonesian people (whis is we didn’t meet them yet), International Office people which is veeery nice. They even offer us to join a program with korean student in july and free tours. And thank you to Mrs Sasima and Mr Anak, that still remember me. We have met in ITB. And there are very kind and cool lecturers like Mr Phakkorn and Mr Poj. Thats all for today!!
Berlian Agusta 