How I Hacked 2024: Principles to Grow
New Year's resolutions are meaningless unless we maintain our goals with strict discipline. This post won't be another cliché "4 N3W Y34R R3S0LUT1ONS" list, it is actually secret, tho. Instead, I want to share something more meaningful & valuable: an honest reflection on the missing chapters of my 2024 experiences.
It has been quite a while without catching up what my life is going. This is the right moment to reflect what are the things have been done during 2024. I will not repeat this mistake, as I promise to myself to keep up to date once at every month as write-up at this site. I owe you a high-quality post, therefore hopefully this is it. You won't believe it but in couple months, there are many things happened. And unfortunately I skipped few months to write posts and unable to control my post schedule (#making an excuse).
But I think this is the moment, I have gained an adequate energy to share something regarding my gut-feelings. Gut-feeling is always existed on my head, when I am growing my mind, although, gut is actually inside my abdomen, well— nevermind, this paragraph is going nowhere.
Where To Start?
2024 is such a roller coaster to me. It is like I passed out literally 5 times throughout a year.
It is always fascinating to work on a good ecosystem. There are lots of learning opportunities in the last year. During my time when I was working at a Big Tech company, GoTo, I learned something not only related to hard-skills, but also soft-skills. I have been working for two and half years since 2022, and most of the time, I have a conversation and being engaged with someone who is from India. They are nurturing me how to elaborate something in a good manner, including listening to their indian-english accent, I need to get used to it (I was actually struggling with this part at first), it forces me also to speak frequently in english, like almost every single time during e-meeting.
To me, in a business circumstances a hard-skill is just a plus, but a soft-skill is what I actually needed.
I can recall when I tried to speak in front of my India colleagues at a first time, I was getting nervous. I mixed up my words, and was not giving them a clear pronunciation, like "I... I will, oh yeah I'll proceeid with what is that are ..we going to achieve,", I repeated some words many times, and it was actually really hard to catch the meaning of what I was talking about. And I wasn't able to catch fully whatever they explained, since they are using indian-english accent, too fast. It is not because I am not good at communication, tho, I just not get used to it, and it caused very bad and ineffective communication.
As time went by, my communication is deliberately improved and becoming more natural, since I had always talked with my Filipino friend every day after long working hour, Filipino has such a unique english accent too, they called it with taglish (read: tagalog-english). But, to be honest, it is easier to understand, since they are not talking too fast, unlike my Indian friends. It is just my playground to talk casually, and it worked. I had so many Filipino friends and they also influenced me how to properly communicate in an effective way, e.g. how to confirm if you weren't able to catch the last statement or any missing part from your opponent, such as "Sorry, I wasn't able to catch that, could you please mention the last statement you've mentioned earlier," or in short "sorry, come again, please,". This is actually quite simple to do, but you need more experience to get used to it, to be more natural, in daily basis activity. I acknowledged this gap, between my english as Indonesian, Indian and Filipino, in terms of soft-skills, they were very good at english, while Indonesian like me, wasn't a good communicator at first. I was like:
What I experienced is not just my personal story, it is actually a fascinating example of what anthropologists call "workplace culture dynamics." In his research studying organisational cultures, anthropologist Andrew M. Jones discovered that successful workplaces are not just about global business practices, but about how different cultural approaches come together and create unique ways of working, unique ways to communicate. He found that even in international companies, our daily work experiences are deeply shaped by local cultural patterns and personal relationships. In this light, I realised, why some people in a workplace tend to keep their unique accent while using their english. Being a good communicator is not just about speaking fluent English, it is about understanding, bringing value, and bridging these different cultural approaches to create meaningful workplace connections.
The Importance of being Candid during a Hard Times
The way we talk also shapes the actual reality. During those months, I noticed something interesting about workplace dynamics, the strongest team members weren't always the ones with perfect track records, they were the ones who knew how to navigate uncertainty with grace. (this is not degrading my colleagues' quality, but I just want to tell it positively, everybody is not perfect, though).
Beyond just situation of technicality, I remember how people can handled setbacks. I had this way of turning challenges into conversations about growth. When projects hit roadblocks, I would say things like "Let's explore what I can learn from this" instead of dwelling on what went wrong. Let's face it and move forward with better solution and take the lead.
This approach came in handy later, especially during tough conversations. Instead of getting stuck on specific outcomes, I learned to focus on the bigger picture. What mattered was not just where I stood at any given moment, but how I chose to move forward. Also, the more I am getting used to it, the more I realised something regarding the career paths.
Sometimes I need to prune back growth in one area to allow for stronger development in another. Even sometimes I was in the state where I don't know what to do, it is not always visible to me somehow. It meant having honest conversations with my colleagues about where I could improve in regular manner, while keeping sight of my long-term goals is the best choice in the end. Feedback is quite important for me to grow, and I need to bow on someone's else critiques and opinions. Good or Bad doesn't matter, I took it all for the granted, I am eventually being candid that I need those critical points to them without taking it personally.
The Downfall
Life has a funny way of testing me. After leaving my previous company, I found myself facing something many young professionals fear: a three-month gap with no income. Gone were the days of daily standup meetings and team catch-ups. Instead, my new routine involved my laptop, countless job portals, and a whole lot of patience. Strange moment ever.
Let me be real with you guys about the Indonesian tech job market. It is rough out there.
I systematically applied to over 300 positions, meticulously tracking each application in a spreadsheet. Out of those hundreds of applications, I only landed about 20+ interviews, so it is basically 1/10. And let me tell you, some of these experiences were... interesting.
You wouldn't believe some of the things I encountered. Companies ghosting after interviews. Recruiters asking inappropriate questions about age (seriously, why?). Some offered positions with completely different titles than advertised, but the offer is too low-ball (read: the take home pay offer is too freakin' low), because they were always asking about my freakin' last salary, and eventually they tried to give me the number which was lower compared to my previous salary, it is just unethical for me. Another weird experience, one company even wanted me to do an on-site psychometric test requiring PII data (read: KTP, ijazah, wtfyck?) after a rushed 15-minute interview. And don't get me started on the classic "boleh kurang gak mas" response to salary expectations. He thought I was selling vegetables in a traditional market huh(!?) wth.. *smh
Sending out CVs became my new full-time job. From scrolling through local job websites to exploring international opportunities Job Portal, I tried everything. Some days were good, you know, those days when recruiters actually reply to our emails. Other days? Well, let's just say my sent folder got fuller while my inbox stayed quiet.
The toughest challenge wasn't actually finding jobs to apply to, actually. It was maintaining professionalism when facing unprofessional situations. When we are used to having clear tasks and deadlines, job hunting feels like playing a game where nobody tells us the rules, and sometimes it feels like they are changing the rules mid-game.
life needs to shake things up a bit before it can settle into something better, right?
Principle: Do not Assume, Never Settle
Looking back at my job search experience, I discovered two principles that kept me going and can be applied everywhere: never make assumptions, and never settle for less than what we are worth. (shout out to Monica Hynds for this principle).
It is easy to fall into assumptions during a job search. When companies ghost us, you might assume you weren't good enough. When offers come in low, we might assume that's all we deserve. When interviewers ask inappropriate questions, we might assume that's just how things work here. I learned to question these assumptions.
Every time I heard "segitu aja dulu mas" or "masih muda masih bisa naik lagi nanti," I reminded myself: my worth isn't determined by someone else's budget constraints. I stopped assuming that being young meant I had to accept whatever was offered. Experience is not just about years spent working, it is about the value we can bring to the table.
Never settling doesn't mean being arrogant. It means having the courage to say "no" to opportunities that don't align with our worth and our goals. It means understanding that sometimes, walking away from a mediocre offer is the best career move we can make. Each "no" to a lowball offer was actually a "yes" to my own growth.
The Invisible Hand X Gut-Feeling
In economics, Adam Smith talks about the "invisible hand", how individual decisions collectively shape the market behaviour (lol I learned this from Bu Sri Mulyani's lectures). To add this, I was thinking, there was another invisible hand at play: our gut feelings that guide us toward better decisions to get the right market positioning. Both these invisible hands were working together. It is like push and pull factor streamlined each other.
Just like how prices in a market eventually find their sweet spot, our gut feelings help us navigate life's choices. Sometimes they tell us "this restaurant looks sketchy" or "maybe I should take a different street today." You know, these hunches turn out to be right, even if we can't explain why at the moment.
Take relationships, for instance. How many times have we ignored a gut feeling about someone, only to find out later our instincts were spot on? I have also one person always in mind, it is based on my gut feeling, I was thinking that she is the one I was looking for, for many years, but it is secret, hehe. Or think about that time we settled for a mediocre coffee shop just because it was convenient, even though our gut told us to try that new place down the street.
These principles apply everywhere: choosing where to live, picking friends, deciding what to learn next. When our gut says "maybe there is something better," it is usually worth listening to. Not in an arrogant way, but in a self-respecting way. Every time we say no to something that doesn't feel right, we are actually saying yes to our own growth.
It is like having an internal compass, north-west-south-east what is our direction for this state? Sometimes it points us away from the easy path toward something more challenging but ultimately more rewarding.
And you know, the market has a way of proving that compass right.
Learn and Being Inspired
Hell yeah, after all that job hunting period, finally. I landed a role at Levers, a Y Combinator-backed startup (S22 batch). Levers is a Y Combinator-backed startup and backed by Silicon Valley's most prestigious startup accelerator, and Levers made history as their first-ever Saudi Arabian company registered.
Working at Levers felt like stepping into Silicon Valley, but with a Middle Eastern culture. Here I was, now collaborating with a global team building fintech at Saudi and for the entire MENA region. We're just 10 people.
The more I dove into my role at Levers, the clearer this wild idea became. You know that moment when we are having late-night Indomie and suddenly everything makes sense, it is tastier? If a Saudi startup could break into Silicon Valley and shake things up, why couldn't we do the same from Indonesia?
I remember when I was interviewed by the Co-Founder CPO, Founding Senior Engineer and CEO. It was quite clear, though, nothing like Indonesia's interview model. Nobody gives a fyck about my last salary, nobody cares about my age, it was just really straight forward questions. When I was telling them that okay, I have this value, and this value, I am an individual who really into the ownership, and when I hit certain qualities in hard way with my sense of ownership, it will positively impact the outcome qualities, either in product development or organisational cultures.
To me, being at Levers wasn't just about climbing the corporate ladder anymore. It was like being in a masterclass for what I wanted to bring back home. Every international call, every feature deployment, was adding pieces to this bigger puzzle. And speaking of puzzles, little did I know that my university buddies were about to turn this solo dream into something much bigger.
Three Musketeers and LLC
It started with me when I was challenged by the Monash University scholarship programme in cybersecurity. I was really unsure how to integrate CyberSecurity and AI, that is why I reach syahrul through his instagram to get mentored at a Kopitagram cafe (dekat tokopedia tower), He worked at XL AXIATA as Machine Learning Expert, no wonder I need his help. This random instagram with one of my colleagues in Universitas Indonesia is just the beginning of anything. Then in another day, I was asked by fahriza to update about life, and I asked him to invite syahrul to the same cafe tomorrow afternoon. We created the whatsapp group with name "Iseng2".
Until now, it is still written as "Iseng2" lol. WhatsApp message: "Guys, let's catch up at Kopitagram tomorrow afternoon?" Two of my closest university friends, who I hadn't properly seen since our campus days, like probably 4 years since the pandemic, agreed surprisingly quick.
There we were, two Computer Engineering graduates, and one Electrical Engineering sharing a table at a cafe, discussing our life's going. The conversation flowed from catching up about our jobs, master degree, to sharing wild ideas about what Indonesian tech could be, especially with the advancement of AI. It felt like our college days again, the nostalgic moment.
Between bites of french fries, I don't know what does it called, the price is 60K, we started mapping out some ideas, some dreams. We all had different experiences - my stint at OY, GoTo and now Levers, I have really good understanding in Startup Tech environment, one friend's expertise in AI from his work, and another's deep dive into the tech-consulting. It was like pieces of a puzzle finally coming together.
The next thing we knew, we were googling "how to register a PT in Indonesia" at 10 AM. Fast forward through a blur of notary visits, paperwork, and probably too many late-night planning sessions, Terang AI was born - PT Terang Inovasi Indonesia. Why Terang? Because we wanted to bring light (literally, what terang means) to Indonesia's tech scene, and maybe because we were running out of creative name ideas after rejecting 50 other options.
Our mission was clear: take everything we have learned from our collective experiences and build something that actually solves Indonesian problems, not just copy-paste Silicon Valley solutions. No more "Uber for X" or "AI for Y" without understanding the local context.
My motivation is quite complex, but I think I can elaborate it in a simple way. I grew up in Indonesia and saw how unfair our education system is. I was one of the lucky ones who received a good quality education, but it pains me knowing how many friends never got the same chance, their dreams cut short by circumstances beyond their control. The problem persists today, we ranked 69th out of 81 countries in the latest PISA scores, with barely 18% of our students making the cut in mathematics. My engineering experiences opened my eyes to how technology can make the impossible possible. This led me to explore how AI could address our educational challenges through students’ performance monitoring and personalised feedback.
While studying engineering at the University of Indonesia, I realised how technology could drive meaningful change, which led me to create Submit-manuscript.org, a platform simplifying how academics submit and review conference papers, helping researchers present their work internationally. After securing the copyright, I sought to build larger systems. I worked on payment systems at OY! Indonesia, led e-commerce tech at Tokopedia, managed logistics at GoTo, and built fintech at Levers Inc. (YC S22). Building tech that serves millions has taught me so much, but education is what I keep coming back to, it is where technology can truly change lives and shape brighter futures.
This led me to start Terang.ai, where I am making quality education a reality for every student in Indonesia through AI. As Co-Founder, I have utilised what I learnt to build a platform that helps both schools and students. We work with schools across Indonesian islands, ensuring children can get personalised help no matter where they live. I see education and technology access (SDGs 4, 9) as our tools to fight poverty (SDG 1). When we unlock someone's potential through innovation and equal opportunities, we are not just helping them, we transform entire communities.
Anyway, If you want to know more about what we have built:
Final Thoughts
Looking back at 2024, it was wild how life takes me this far. From struggling with Indian-English accents at GoTo, to job hunting, to landing at a Saudi YC startup, and finally starting our own company with my university buddies over late-night discussions, every twist shaped who I am today. That gut feeling, that invisible hand pushing us toward better decisions? It is real. Whether it was saying no to those lowball offers, taking a leap with an international startup, or deciding to build something for Indonesia with Terang AI, every time I listened to that inner compass, it led to something meaningful. Maybe that's what 2024 was all about: learning to trust the journey, even when the destination wasn't clear.
Not even clear, that is why, again, no resolution in this post. ever.
Anyway, I appreciate for visiting, cheers~ 🥂
