Wake up. Check phone. 2026. I am 27. Noo, Damn it.

I remember when Fiersa Besari once wrote: "Nyatakan perasaan, hentikan penyesalan, maafkan kesalahan, tertawakan kenangan, kejar impian. Hidup terlalu singkat untuk dipakai meratap." I keep coming back to this quote. It sounds simple, but it is not. Most people spend years stuck in regret, afraid to say what they feel, afraid to move. This quote reminds me that time is moving whether I am ready or not. So I might as well move with it.

It has been many months since I last touched this site. Not because I lost interest. I just got busy rewiring my entire brain.

2025 Was... A Lot

I do not really know how to summarise 2025. A lot of things happened, some I planned, most I did not.

I got accepted to KTH. Terang AI grew to 7000 users and 3 B2B clients. I became a Staff Engineer at a YC company. We won an award at a BRICS competition. I mass-applied to countless things and got rejected by most of them.

Looking back, it is like hallucinogenic. Not in a "wow I am so great" way, gosh, NPD? no, because I hid the actual failing processes haha. It is More like sitting in a room full of puzzle pieces, wondering how they all ended up here. Some pieces fit, automagically. Some do not. I am still figuring that out honestly.

But here is what I have been asking myself lately: is this worth it? Is all this discomfort actually leading somewhere, or am I just exhausting myself for nothing?

I was reading something the other night, trying to make sense of why I felt so tired doing things I actually enjoyed. Came across this idea called the Learning Zone Model. It says growth happens when we push beyond our comfort zone, but not so far that we panic and shut down. The sweet spot is the stretch. That uncomfortable place where we are learning, struggling, but still moving. Push too little, we stagnate. Push too hard, we burn out.

I think I have been living in that stretch zone for a while now. And honestly? Some days it feels like growth. Other days it just feels like exhaustion. The tricky part is they look the same from the inside.

What I do know is this: I am more assertive now than I was a year ago. I used to shrink. I used to apologise for taking up space. Now I speak up. I push back. I trust my own ideas more. That did not come from staying comfortable. It came from all the moments I wanted to quit but did not.

So maybe the answer is not "is this worth it?" Maybe the better question is: "am I still learning, or am I just surviving?" If I am still learning, I keep going. If I am just surviving, I need to step back and breathe.

Something that Made Me Cry in 2025?

I have a true story. this story will not be generated by freakin AI.

I was fixing a bug in our AI interview feature. To debug it, I had to listen to user recordings. Random ones. Just checking if the audio was processed correctly.

(This is a non-technical story, don't worry)

Then I heard it. A rooster crowing in the background. The sound of a village morning. And a voice, practicing for an LPDP scholarship interview, using Terang AI to prepare.

I cried.

Indo: Gue mbrebes.

My eyes feel warm and teary, I am mortified lol.

I couldn't say anything, my tears had fallen, I didn't know what was happening, I couldn't say anything, I was frozen and focused on listening to her voice.

It was not just the rooster. It was her voice. The way she spoke, and through the sound frequency, and amplitude, she was not just practicing answers. She was telling her story like she had nothing to lose. I could hear the spirit, the hunger, the belief that this was her chance. As human, we have a human perception to feel the frequency when someone talks, read the emotions, and psychological spectrum. Every word sent shivers down my spine. She did not have a quiet room or a fancy microphone. She had chickens in the background and a dream she refused to let go.

And that time, I thought:

"how can I be weak when someone like her is fighting this hard?,"

You will never know how much that recording meant to me. Someone in a village, far from the big cities, far from the expensive tutors and prep courses, was using something I built to chase their dream. That was the moment everything changed for me.

Anyway, Indonesia ranked 69th out of 81 countries in the latest PISA scores. Only 18% of our students meet minimum proficiency in mathematics. Those are not just numbers. Those are millions of kids whose potential is stuck because the system failed them.

Terang AI is my answer to that. AI-powered personalised learning and exam simulation. Not the generic buzzword stuff. Actual tools that work for Indonesian students.

In one year, we grew to over 7,000 users and 3 B2B clients. We won an award at BRICS. We are partnering with communities in Papua and NTT to reach students in Eastern Indonesia.

But honestly? The numbers are not why I wake up and work on this. That recording is. That rooster is. That voice practicing alone in a village, believing they have a chance.

This is not just a startup. This is the thing I would do even if nobody paid me.

Levers: What Working at a YC Company Actually Teaches Me

Since August 2024, I have been working at Levers Inc., a YC S22 company. Started as a Platform Engineer, now Staff.

People romanticise YC companies. "Oh, you work at a YC startup? Must be exciting!" And yeah, it is. But it is also brutal in the best way.

Here is what nobody tells us: YC culture is not about perks or fancy offices. It is about velocity. It is about shipping things that matter, fast. It is about being comfortable with ambiguity and solving problems we have never seen before, sometimes before our morning coffee kicks in.

At Levers, I designed and deployed Saudi Arabia first SAMA-compliant AI telephony infrastructure. That is the Saudi banking sector, one of the most regulated markets on Earth. We built defense systems for our core AI assets. We presented to investment committees about IP defensibility for Series A.

The technical stuff is cool. But the real lesson? Speed compounds. Every week we do not ship is a week our competition gets closer. YC companies understand this at a cellular level.

Working here also changed something in me.

There were moments when I was given problems that felt way above my level. Problems where the safe answer was "we need someone more experienced." And honestly, they were not wrong. I did not have the experience.

But I kept asking myself: why not try? I knew the risks. I knew I might fail. But I also thought, what is there to lose? If I fail, we learn something. If I succeed, we move forward.

So I tried. And sometimes it worked. More often than I expected.

That taught me something I carry with me now: do not wait until you feel ready. Do not wait for permission. If you are aware of the risks and willing to learn, just try. The worst case is you fail and learn. The best case is you prove everyone wrong, including yourself.

One More (important*) Thing

I have noticed that throughout 2025, I was so focused on building that I forgot to... you know... exist as a human being sometimes.

Late nights debugging infrastructure. Weekends spent on pitch decks. Networking events where I forgot to eat.

2026 goal is not just professional growth. It is finding balance. Maybe picking up a hobby that does not involve a terminal. Maybe exploring this city I have been living in but barely seeing. I want to plan my retirement at my early 30s, like 30 or 31.

And maybe, finally make some time for a social life, travel somewhere in the world.

I am single btw, you can find my CV in the below pa... (apa sih ini?!)

We will see, nggak tau juga.

Sweden Can Wait

I received an admission letter from KTH Royal Institute of Technology. One of Europe top technical universities. When I got that email, I just stared at my screen for a while. This was the kind of thing I used to daydream about.

Why Sweden? Why not the US or the UK?

I don't know. I am not interested.

Honestly, it is just a dream I have carried since I was a kid. Back then, I used to imagine myself studying in Germany. I had no real reason, just a feeling, maybe I was inspired by our 3rd President, Pak B.J. Habibie. Now I cannot find a reason to choose Germany over Sweden. The dream switched and evolving, but the core stayed the same: go somewhere far in the European Countries, learn something new, prove to myself that I can.

And long story short, I deferred it. Why?

(please no offense, this is just my false dilemma) Here is something I have realised: studying for a master degree abroad usually falls into two categories.

• Either the parents are wealthy.
• Or parents are wealthy and some do not have to work, so they can focus entirely on chasing this dream.

I am neither.

The IELTS test alone costs money. The application fees, the preparation, the documents. None of that is free. And while I was figuring all of this out, I was also thinking about what to eat tomorrow and how to help my family. That is the reality.

You know Sandwich gen? It is a redflag, to some extent hhaha. meh... but it is real.

And even if I make it there, I know my mind will still be here. Thinking about home. Thinking about how everyone is doing back in Indonesia. That does not just disappear when you board a plane. They would say "It's okay, just focus on your study, we are totally fine here," But I know the reality is not. This will eventually hurt me, considering the uni intake is 2 years. Frugal living is not healthy in Jakarta brother, especially for your family.

I did the math. 360,000 SEK for two years of tuition (it is probably 650 million IDR). Add living costs and you are looking at around 450 million IDR total, this is something that you need to prove to a Swedish Embassy, to ensure you will not be a gembel di negara orang. That is not a small number, cumulatively. That is a house in some parts of Indonesia, I am definitely exercising frugal living for real now for myself to save all of this.

I am the first guy and have three younger sisters still in school and university (she is in Trisakti). My dad drives Gojek, my mom takes care of the house. Going to Sweden right now just does not make sense. The wall, and the threshold is real. I need to find out how to save the energy to break it.

And yes I tried for scholarships. But 2025 was also the year my grandpa and uncle passed away. I feel that 2025 is not my year, and it is just giving me time to take a step back. It was hard to focus on that process when stuff like that happens. Missed some deadlines, did not perform my best. It is what it is.

Why not LPDP? I tried it, but I can't focus due to the above reason.

So now I am working towards it. Self-funded, no problem. With what I earn now from my salary, one year of saving and I am there. KTH is not a closed door. Just a matter of time.

It is not the most glamorous reason. But it is the real one.

What Keeps Me Going

Back in 2018, my second year of college at University of Indonesia, I was using a small, chunky black ThinkPad that was already 7 years old. Slow, barely functioning, held together by my own repairs because that is all I could afford. I spent more time fixing that laptop than actually using it. But that machine got me through my thesis. That machine did not care about my excuses.

There is research that says scarcity actually makes you more creative. When you have less, your brain is forced to think beyond the obvious solutions. I believe that. That broken laptop did not limit me. It taught me to be resourceful.

I also learned something important at work. I had an idea for a new approach to our AI system. Some people were skeptical. Why not just hire someone experienced, they said. But one person listened. He said it made sense. He trusted me to try. And now it is working.

That taught me something I want to carry forward: when someone comes to you with an idea, especially someone younger or less experienced, give them the chance. Be the person who says "it makes sense, let us try" instead of the person who shuts it down. I want to nurture that same belief in others.

I think about that a lot now. Conditions were never perfect. They still are not. But I kept going anyway.

Do not overthink the worst case. Do not wait for the perfect moment. Just focus and execute. Everything you do shapes you. Maybe not in the way you expect, but it does. If you stay consistent, you end up somewhere. Not because the universe owes you anything, but because you kept moving while others were still thinking about it.

That is the whole secret of mine as Alfian. There is no magic. Just do not stop.

Final Thoughts

If 2025 taught me anything, it is that growth is not linear. Sometimes you are climbing. Sometimes you are falling. Sometimes you are strapped to a rocket and just holding on.

But I keep moving.

I build things that matter. I work with people who inspire me. I take bets on myself even when the odds look ridiculous.

2026 is about continuing that momentum. Mindset: growth. Mental: focused (mostly). Model: ship fast, learn faster.

Let us see what happens.

Thanks for reading. Btw, If you made it this far too, you are a real one. Drop me a message, I would love to hear what you are building in 2026.

Cheers!

Hai Semuanya,

Akhir-akhir ini, kejadian demi kejadian yang ada di Indonesia membuat jiwa gue tergerak, khususnya bagaimana cara pandang gue, untuk bisa menilai apa yang terjadi dari hasil observasi secara menyeluruh dan empiris (gaya banget). Tapi ini beneran, gue akan coba senatural dan senetral mungkin merespons melalui tulisan, supaya lebih komprehensif untuk dilihat.

Sejauh ini, post-post yang gue tulis itu dalam bahasa inggris, bukan tanpa sebab, ini semua gue lakukan karena dulu gue punya target untuk bisa dibaca oleh kawan-kawan yang ada di luar Indonesia, karena gue punya kolega dari Southeast Asia juga, e.g. Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, dll, sehingga gue berpikir mungkin alangkah baiknya ditulis dengan bahasa inggris, sekalian belajar write-up juga ceritanya. Tetapi, untuk postingan ini akan gue tulis khusus dan mungkin akan menjadi satu-satunya post dalam Bahasa Indonesia "versi tongkrongan", agar mudah dicerna oleh pengunjung setia situs ini seantero Indonesia (mudah-mudahan ada, ya). Dan tidak menutup kemungkinan juga ini akan gue buat jadi 2 versi, di mana versi Englishnya yang akan menyusul nantinya.

Post ini bakalan jadi Opinotes (Opinion Notes) panjang, dan gue mau mulai dulu di sini. Mungkin gue nggak seekspresif yang lainnya, karena gue gak suka FOMO, karena gue lebih suka nulis apa adanya sebagai ekspresi kegundahan gue di situs ini.

(Disclaimer: Untuk Media yang ingin mengutip, tolong banget nih kasih credit)

Awalan Dulu

Apa sih yang sebenernya terjadi, dan kenapa penting banget buat kita semua bisa belajar?

Ini semua berawal dari statement abang ini: TB Hasanuddin, beliau dari Fraksi PD—peeeeep. Silakan dilihat saja video short di bawah ini:

https://jurnalis.org/terungkap-gaji-anggota-dpr-lebih-dari-100-juta-ini-kata-tb-hasanuddin

Mungkin ada beberapa orang, yang belum tau kalau beliau lah yang nge-spill pertama kali. Statement yang beliau berikan menjadi sebuah pertanyaan besar, Kenapa? Ya karena kok tiba-tiba DPR nggak ada angin, nggak ada ujan bisa ada kenaikan tunjangan, dan anehnya kita semua nggak tau soal ini, alias nggak ada flow transparansi dari awal untuk diinformasikan ke publik. Untungnya bang TB Hasanuddin ini berbaik hati nge-spill semuanya pas awal agustus lalu (kalau dari beberapa sumber di tanggal 12 Agustus 2025).

Gue jadi berpikir, ternyata DPR kita sukanya emang ngasih surprise, jadi kita bisa melihat dunia Indonesia jauh lebih seru dari apa yang pernah dibayangkan.

Analisa Gembel gue soal housing:

Dari video tadi, intinya kalau ada anggota DPR tidak dapat housing, itu di exchange menjadi uang, alias "cair bos", nambah gede lagi gaji DPR yang tidak dapat Rumah Dinas. Misalnya, tunjangan Housing itu kan awalnya rumah aja, bukan uang, tapi sekarang jadi uang sejumlah 50 juta rupiah. Kalau gitu, secara logika, karena ada beberapa DPR yang nggak pake Rumah Dinas, bisa aja ini menimbulkan masalah internal juga, ada sebuah hole di situ, yang implikasinya ada possibility majority dari anggota DPR malah jadi nggak ambil Rumah Dinasnya dong? Mending pada milih cair aja nggak, sih?

Ya dibuktiin dari sumber yang gue akan kasih di bawah, jadi Sekretariat Jenderal DPR, Indra Iskandar, mengatakan anggota DPR periode 2024-2029 nggak akan lagi menempati rumah dinas di Kalibata, Jakarta Selatan maupun rumah dinas di Pos Pengumben, Ulujami, Jakarta Barat.

Btw gue mau coba kasih liat Rumah DPR yang ada di kalibata dan pos pengumben:

Jadi rumah itu dibangun dari tahun 1988, dari sumber ini: https://www.bbc.com/indonesia/articles/c756vw1wndeo

Ada 50% rumah (150-180an, gue nggak dapet datanya) yang rusak, katanya. Apa iya? Silakan berkomentar. Jadi mereka juga udah diskusi ke Kemenkeu, "Apakah possible bisa dikasih anggaran ke kita untuk renov "tipis-tipis"?," tanya DPR.

Walaupun tipis tapi gue rasa juga besarannya pasti gede juga sih.

"Ternyata, nggak ada anggarannya nih kosong dompet gue," jawab Kemenkeu.

Apakah bener? Gue melakukan perhitungan matematis sederhana, gue dapet info dari sini kalau biaya maintenance itu 24 juta rupiah per tahun per unit.

Jumlah Housing:

• Kalibata: 300 unit Rumah
• Ulujami: 100an unit Rumah
• Total available: 400an unit
• DPR members: 580 people
• Shortage: 180 member yang nggak ada housing

Potretan Maintenance vs Allowance:

• Maintenance (400 units, selama 5 tahun): Rp48 Miliar
• Additional kalau ditambah Shortage allowance (180 members, 5 tahun): Rp540 Miliar, total jadi 588 Miliar
• Housing allowance (580 members, selama 5 tahun): Rp1.7~ Triliun

Total kompensasi mungkin similar value-wise, tapi kalau maintenance (24 juta per tahun) lebih murah 36x daripada full-allowance 50 juta perbulan, secara logika mereka, DPR jadi milih yang allowance aja, lah. Nah ini serunya, mungkin ada beberapa anggota yang tergiur, itu aja. Jadi sebenarnya, kenaikan yang terjadi itu bukan kenaikan gaji/tunjangan murni, ini cuma hasil kompensasi.

Masalahnya clear, untuk nge-budget tunjangan ini kan jadi spending uang, daripada nempatin bangunan yang udah jadi, yang mana udah tangible alias udah berwujud itu barang, udah dispending duluan jaman dulu untuk pembangunan itu, dan ini bernilai juga asetnya, kan. Jadinya, polemik ini berimplikasi ke budgeting lagi, jadi beban lagi, di mana harus generate budget baru lagi dari pagu-nya DPR ke Kementrian Keuangan. Padahal sekarang Kemenkeu juga lagi butuh penghematan.

Dalam Kapasitas gue, apa iya, di sistem budgeting governance DPR RI ini nggak ada budgetary add-on, ya semacam anomaly detection yang konteksnya sesuai sama prioritas budget saat ini? Semacam layer untuk "check and balance" and "risk analysis", gitu lho maksudnya.

Jadi, opini gue, kenapa nggak paksa aja para anggota DPR pake rumah dinasnya, sayang juga nggak kepake, kan. Dan itu tanpa terkecuali.

Ini yang ngebuat adanya demo besar-besaran gara-gara DPR yang dinilai dan keliatan terlalu serakah, padahal ekonomi lagi susah. Sampe ada tagar "Bubarkan DPR", nah tapi komunikasi ini dikomentarin sama pion-pion DPR yang gue juga nggak akan sebut namanya satu-satu. Intinya ada pola dan framework komunikasi yang tidak konstruktif dan buruk sehingga menimbulkan komplikasi, diliput beberapa media, dan boom...

Negative sentiments are everywhere. Negative Echo Chambers were generated.

And we are totally cooked.

Siapa aja yang demo

Pertama, gue turut berduka cita untuk para korban jiwa, semoga amal ibadah diterima di sisi-Nya, keluarga yang ditinggalkan diberi keikhlasan atas kepergiannya dan mendapatkan perlindungan dan bantuan yang layak. Aamiin.

• Yang demo: Mahasiswa, driver ojol, buruh, emak-emak
• Yang jadi sasaran: DPR, polisi, pemerintah Prabowo
• Yang jadi korban: Affan Kurniawan (driver ojol umur 21) sama 7 orang lain tewas

Sebenernya dari Aksi yang awalnya terjadi normal-normal aja mulai 25 Agustus 2025, namun beberapa hari kemudian ada komplikasi yang terjadi, khususnya memuncak tanggal 28 Agustus pas Affan tewas kena lindas barracuda polisi. Entah gue nggak tau gimana SOP polisi, tapi, kayanya nggak normal kalo Polisi overreact pake kendaraan tempur, sampe TNI turun juga. Setau gue dulu jadi Mahasiswa, demo itu emang dibolehin sampe jam 6 sore, dan harus pulang. Mungkin itu juga ada kaitannya dengan Massa yang rusuh pas lewat jam yang disediakan, bakar beberapa fasilitas, akhirnya jadi chaos. Tapi gue yakin, orang Aksi yang normal nggak akan berbuat seperti ini, jadinya ada beberapa Kelompok lain yang join juga, dengan agenda berbeda.

Jakarta jadi epicenter, tetapi nyebar ke 37 kota di seluruh Indonesia. Gedung DPR, kantor pemda, rumah pejabat jadi sasaran massa. Dan korban jiwa juga bertambah di berbagai wilayah.

Parahnya lagi, ada pula aksi looting, alias penjarahan, terutama di beberapa Rumah anggota DPR yang memiliki komunikasi yang buruk.

Gambar di atas salah satunya, tapi sialnya, Rumah Ibu Sri Mulyani, Kemenkeu kita satu ini juga kena looting.

Bahas Tipis-tipis: Apakah Naikin Gaji DPR Bisa Kurangi Korupsi?

Kalau gue telisik lebih dalam lagi, sebenernya apakah berpengaruh ya, misalnya ada kenaikan gaji dari anggota Dewan dengan tingkat korupsinya? Gue dapet paper bagus dari penelitian cross-country yang menganalisis data 129 negara selama 10 tahun. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0161893817300194

Intinya gini,

Riset ini berbicara bahwa naikin gaji pemerintah memang bisa mengurangi korupsi, tapi nilainya bisa dibilang receh. Per satu unit kenaikan gaji (sebesar rata-rata upah manufaktur tiap negara masing-masing), tingkat korupsi cuma turun 0.26 unit. Artinya buat ngurangin korupsi secara signifikan, negara idealnya harus naikin gaji tujuh kali lipat. Jadi ada statement di papernya: "solely relying on increasing government wages to reduce corruption can be very costly."

Nah, masalahnya dengan kasus DPR Indonesia:

Pertama, mereka udah digaji tinggi, 10-20 kali UMP sebelum dapat tunjangan perumahan. Riset menunjukkan strategi ini paling efektif buat negara dengan "relatively low government wage," tapi DPR Indonesia udah jauh di atas threshold itu.

Kedua, ini bukan kenaikan gaji murni tapi pengganti fasilitas rumah dinas. Jadi secara teoritis, sebenernya ada efek anti-korupsinya karena ada konversi aset jadi allowance.

Ketiga, cost-effectiveness gak make sense. Penelitian bilang strategi ini "very costly," padahal DPR milih opsi yang 36 kali lebih mahal dari maintenance rumah dinas (Rp 1.7 triliun vs Rp 48 miliar).

Gue mau kasih Contoh di negara tetangga: Singapore

Singapore melakukan pendekatan yang holistik, bukan cuma naikin gaji doang. Mereka bayar menterinya $1+ juta per tahun (tertinggi di dunia), tapi dibarengi dengan sistem yang ketat: CPIB (badan anti korupsi) ada framework tersendiri untuk lapor langsung ke PM, zero tolerance tanpa statute of limitations, dan ada semacam "shame culture" yang kuat. Kalau ada korupsi gampang aja ngehakiminya, toh jumlah penduduknya cuma setengah penduduk jakarta, Hasilnya: CPI score 85/100, ranking 4 dunia.

Ada lagi contoh yang lebih jauh, Estonia. Negara ini pake pendekatan teknologi, namanya e-estonia (https://e-estonia.com/), jadi 99% layanan publik online, blockchain untuk semua transaksi pemerintah, digital ID untuk semua warga. Mereka tidak mengandalkan gaji tinggi, tapi eliminasi kontak manusia yang bisa korupsi. Birokrasi semua dipangkas, hemat waktu. Cost-nya jauh lebih murah, hasilnya CPI score 76/100, ranking 13 dunia.

Menariknya, bahkan di China yang terkenal dengan hukuman berat termasuk hukuman mati untuk korupsi, penelitian game theory yang gue baca dari JSTOR: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23462215?read-now=1&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents dan menemukan bahwa hukuman berat malah bisa counterproductive, ini jadi kontras sama 2 negara sebelumnya (singapore, estonia). Penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa "hanya meningkatkan hukuman secara berlawanan intuisi dapat menurunkan frekuensi investigasi korupsi, bukan frekuensi korupsi itu sendiri."

Jadi dari tiga pendekatan ini: gaji tinggi (Singapore), teknologi (Estonia), dan hukuman berat (China) yang paling efektif ternyata kombinasi insentif positif dan sistem yang kuat, bukan sekadar mengandalkan ancaman. Indonesia mesti punya kreativitas untuk bisa adaptasi skema-skema yang relevan dari ketiga model ini.

Game theory ngasih tau kita hal yang lebih masuk akal: (1) kasih insentif yang proper buat yang nyidik/penegak hukum, (2) bikin sistem reward buat yang anti-korupsi, dan (3) pastiin ada cukup pejabat yang emang bener-bener berintegritas. Nah ini yang bikin pendekatan holistik kayak Singapura sama Estonia jauh lebih ngena daripada cuma ngandelin ancaman hukuman doang.

Kembali lagi ke tabiat manusia, kalau dari buku Adam Smith "The Wealth of Nations" dengan konsep Invisible Hand-nya, manusia itu pada dasarnya makhluk insentif. Gue belajar ini dari kuliah Ekonomi Ibu Sri Mulyani di FEB UI dulu. Kadang kebaikan (termasuk permintaan-penawaran) akan datang kalau ada sistem kolektif yang ujungnya ada insentifnya.

Jadi intinya, kalau gue berbiaca secara akademis, DPR dan Pemerintah Indo mengambil strategi anti-korupsi yang udah terbukti mahal, nggak ngangkat dan low-impact. Kausalitasnya cenderung salah arah, dan gue pikir inilah saatnya kita harus berpegang dengan merit-based dan assessment di dalam penerimaan anggota badan legislatif.

Solusi & Rekomendasi: 3-9

3 / 09 / 2025

Mungkin section-section sebelumnya gue membahas dari sisi atau perspektif ekonomi-akademis. Tapi sekarang pendekatan gue akan condong ke aspek political economy. Di kuliahan dulu, gue pernah Belajar policy brief and analysis, dan itu juga sesuai dengan kapasitas gue sekarang yaitu Tech Professional, jadi akan gue breakdown dan disisipkan juga dari sisi tech di proposal ini.

3 Point Dalam 30 Hari:

1. Batalkan housing allowance
   • Implementasi model hybrid: maintenance rumah dinas + allowance targeted untuk 180 anggota yang kekurangan housing
   • Paksa semua anggota DPR gunakan fasilitas negara yang sudah tersedia, tanpa pengecualian
   • Hemat Rp 1.137 triliun (65.9% lebih murah dari skema full-allowance)
2. E-governance transparan
   • Publikasi real-time semua pengeluaran DPR >Rp 100 juta selama 24/7
   • Dashboard untuk "masyarakat" dengan data searchable dan downloadable, pake fitur AI untuk bisa detect anomali dan suspicious spending patterns
   • API terbuka untuk media dan civil society monitoring
3. Digitalisasi asset disclosure
   • Deklarasi kekayaan semua legislator online dengan verifikasi blockchain
   • Include aset keluarga, kepentingan bisnis, dan hubungan finansial
   • Update mandatory setiap 6 bulan, kalau tidak dijalankan ada penalty sanksi yang berat

Reformasi Penuh, 3 Point Dalam 1-2 Tahun:

1. Transparansi dengan Performance-based Indicator yang jelas di Legislatif
   • Voting record, attendance rate, bill sponsorship semua public dengan AI-suggested scoring system
   • Live streaming semua sidang dengan transcript searchable
   • Annual report card untuk setiap anggota dengan metrics yang terukur, kalau bisa pake AI juga untuk summary dan wrap up dalam 1 tahun, apakah ada produktivitas yang diharapkan, seperti halnya KPI dalam framework korporasi
2. Penguatan oversight independen dengan proteksi konstitusional
   • KPK dan Ombudsman tidak bisa diintervensi legislatif atau eksekutif
   • Budget allocation yang terlindungi dari political interference
   • Appointment process yang melibatkan civil society dan akademisi
3. Sahkan UU Perampasan Asset, dan Implementasi Asset recovery enforcement dengan digital tracking
   1. Penyitaan aset wajib untuk kasus korupsi >Rp 1 miliar dengan sistem AI pelacak aset lintas yurisdiksi
   2. Kerja sama internasional untuk pemulihan aset offshore
   3. Database terintegrasi untuk monitoring real-time pergerakan aset tersangka korupsi

Transformasi Sistemik, 3 Point Dalam 3-5 Tahun:

1. Electoral reform berbasis competency/merit
   • Campaign finance reform dengan spending limits dan public financing options
   • Rekrutmen kompetitif dengan tes standar nasional, bukan berdasarkan koneksi
   • Minimum qualification requirements untuk legislative candidate dengan Minimum Degree Study, e.g. S2/Master
   • Anti-nepotisme enforcement: 2 degree separation rule untuk posisi publik
2. Technology-enabled governance seperti Estonia
   • 99% layanan publik online untuk eliminasi human discretion
   • Blockchain verification untuk semua transaksi pemerintah >Rp 50 juta
   • Digital ID system (sekarang ada digital KTP kan, ya) untuk semua warga dengan e-voting capabilities
3. Amandemen konstitusi untuk checks and balances
   1. Perampasan aset wajib untuk semua kasus korupsi tanpa batas waktu kadaluwarsa
   2. Pembatasan masa jabatan untuk seluruh posisi kepemimpinan
   3. Penguatan pemisahan kekuasaan dengan perlindungan independensi yudikatif

Semua ini berdasarkan evidence dari comparative analysis Singapore-Estonia dan cost-benefit calculation yang udah kita bahas sebelumnya. Bukan cuma surface level thinking, tapi lebih ke actionable policy dengan precedent internasional.

Other Movement?

Gue nggak akan membahas other movements yang hari ini lagi rame di sosial media, karena di sini dengan kapasitas yang ada, gue coba memberikan perspektif yang berbeda. Dan gue selalu memberikan respect apabila ada visi/misi yang relevan. Tapi gue lebih percaya sama believe gue sendiri kalau point 3-9 section sebelumnya itu udan ngecover solusi yang konkrit, dan nggak cuma surface-level aja.

Harapan tetap ada, tapi bukan harapan kosong. Gue berani punya pikiran beda yang bisa jadi addition buat semua pemikiran yang ada existing di social media.

Final Thoughts

Di penghujung tulisan ini, gue mau tekankan bahwa masalah DPR bukan cuma soal angka Rp 1,7 triliun. Ini soal bagaimana kita sebagai bangsa mau mendefinisikan ulang kontrak sosial antara rakyat dan wakilnya.

Affan Kurniawan dan korban lainnya tidak mati sia-sia kalau momentum ini bisa jadi turning point untuk reformasi sistemik yang sesungguhnya. Bukan sekadar demo, lalu lupa, lalu business as usual lagi.

Solusi 3-9 yang gue tawarkan mungkin kedengarannya idealis, tapi semua berbasis evidensi dan precedent internasional. Perubahan sistemik butuh waktu, tapi kalau kita mulai sekarang dengan roadmap yang jelas, Indonesia 2030 bisa jadi negara dengan governance yang jauh lebih baik. Dan apa hasilnya? Iklim ekonomi dan investasi jadi makin subur, nggak kaya sekarang carut-marut, apalagi karena kasus E-Fishery, kambing-lah.

Terakhir,

Kita semua punya pilihan.

Best,
Fin

In cyberspace, where applications dictate our every move, protecting them is not just a concern but it is a critical survival imperative. Between 2021 and 2023, the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) market grew to $195 billion [1], making web applications a prime target for cybercriminals, including large organisations like Acer. The recent ransomware attack on Acer was caused by the exploitation of zero-day vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s Exchange servers, which are integral to web-based email systems and had only recently been patched. The REvil group used these flaws to breach Acer’s systems and demand a £50 million ransom [2]. Consequently, adopting a shift-left approach to security, which involves identifying vulnerabilities before code goes live on the Internet, is more crucial than ever, as outlined in the top ten OWASP Web Application Security Risks under A08:2021—Software and Data Integrity Failures [3].

Today's application security testing methods distinguish vulnerabilities throughout the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), yet each one has specific limitations. SoftwareComposition Analysis (SCA) offers a good detection rate and is vital for vulnerability detection through apps’ dependencies but has high false positives and limited use in large projects [4]. Static Application Security Testing (SAST) tools are good at identifying potential code issues but often flag many false positives and lack in-depth end-to-end testing [5]. Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) tools can also be useful but tend to have a low rate of true positives and limited scope [6]. Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST) tools combine aspects of both SAST and DAST, incorporating human interaction for vulnerability remediation, still, none of these methods fully address vulnerabilities that need a deeper understanding of context and reasoning, pointing out a key gap in our ability to achieve more nuanced and complete vulnerability detection and remediation. Recent research introduced KARTAL [7], a state-of-the-art method using a fine-tuned Large Language Model (LLM) to detect complex Broken Access Control vulnerabilities with 87.19% accuracy. This study highlighted the need for more specialised labelled datasets to reduce false positives but did not address software supply chain processes or generate the corpus needed for fuzzer integration.

The rapid invention of AI has opened new possibilities in security standards. As AI advances in usage and complexity, securing the system is becoming a critical industry norm. Large Language Models (LLMs) have become pervasive, it is driven by the rise of both commercial and open-source pre-trained models.

Fig. 1.0. The increasing number of AI model parameters [8]

Figure 1.0 illustrates the progression of AI models, which have seen a dramatic increase in the number of parameters, from 117 million in GPT-1 to 1.76 trillion in GPT-4. This expansion highlights their potential in areas like vulnerability detection, making it more affordable and faster. SCA and IAST are complementary: IAST identifies issues in real-time with actionable insights, while SCA focuses on hunting dependency discrepancies.Integrating these approaches helps fortify software throughout development and operation.Furthermore, LLMs enhance security analysis by understanding natural language, adapting to different programming languages, and detecting invasive vulnerabilities, thus zero-day hunting becomes more feasible, with fewer false positives and negatives.

The integration begins with the collection of large corpus data from both open-source SCA and IAST systems. This combined dataset, rich in contextual information, is first used for transfer learning to adapt the pre-trained model with a small few-shot prompt sampling test. It is then extended and fine-tuned with a larger, dedicated security dataset to ensure optimal performance in the specific security domain. Targeted vulnerabilities are labelled for identification: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation) as “1”, CWE-59 (Improper Link Resolution Before File Access) as “2”, CWE-78 (OS Command Injection) as “3”, so on and so forth, and samples without vulnerabilities are labelled as “0”. To identify the optimal pre-trained model with the highest performance and lowest latency, we evaluate the topperformance decoder-only transformers available on the HuggingFace platform. By doing so, the LLM’s aptitude to recognise subtle and complex vulnerabilities is a key advantage of this approach. By uncovering hidden attack vectors and complex interactions within the data, the LLM enhances the detection patterns of both SCA and IAST tools. The results from this analysis refine the detection algorithms of these tools, creating a feedback loop that continuously improves their accuracy.

The "hunting method" uses threat intelligence and behavioural analysis with SCA, IAST, and LLMs to detect vulnerabilities. A proposed solution is provided in the diagram below.

Fig. 1.1. The proposed hunting methodology within Software-Development-Life-cycle

Figure 1.1 shows a security testing workflow within the SDLC, split into "SCA & IAST (SAST)" on the left and "IAST (DAST Interactive)" on the right. In "SCA & IAST (SAST)," SAST, SCA, and IAST are combined. An LLM uses text corpus from specific wordlists to automate vulnerability scanning. Insights from this are stored in a prompts database to refine LLM prompts for CVE and CWE classifications, integrating into the "Code Commit" and "Build" stages to detect vulnerabilities early. The "IAST (DAST Interactive)" section focuses on dynamic testing. Data from previous stages improves the model, and fuzzing tests in virtualised environments are analysed by an IAST agent to identify vulnerabilities. This data is then formatted into prompts for classification, supporting the "Deploy" stage to ensure security before deployment. The production stage will proceed only once the IAST accuracy threshold is met. This approach tackles static and dynamic vulnerabilities, minimises false positives, and reduces misclassifications. However, there are challenges to navigate, such as making sure the integration of LLMs with IAST does not impact system performance and striking the right balance between detection accuracy and overall efficiency. Additionally, managing data labelling work is essential but can be quite cumbersome and time-consuming.

In summary, combining advanced AI models with traditional security methods significantly advances web application security posture. As threats grow, integrating these approaches will be crucial for large organisations' software supply chains. This approach enhances security measures and sets a new standard for DevSecOps practitioners worldwide.

This scientific article is copyrighted: https://e-hakcipta.dgip.go.id/index.php/c?code=MjkwZDY1NmI0Y2NlNzFjN2U2ZTJiMzRlNjEyZDFmNjUK

References

[1]  Gartner, “Gartner Forecasts Worldwide Public Cloud End-User Spend- ing to Reach Nearly $600 Billion in 2023 — gartner.com,” 31 October 2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2022-10-31-gartner-forecasts- worldwide-public-cloud-end-user-spending-to-reach-nearly-600-billion-in-2023. [Accessed 11 August 2024].

[2]  J. Yeung, “Acer has reportedly fallen victim to $50 million USD ransomware attack due to previous Microsoft server flaws, Hypebeast,” 2021. [Online]. Available: https://hypebeast.com/2021/3/acer-microsoft-exchange-revil-50-million-usd- ransomware-attack. [Accessed 14 August 2024].

[3]  A. V. D. Stock, B. Glas, N. Smithline and T. Gigler, “OWASP Top 10:2021 — owasp.org,” 2021. [Online]. Available: https://owasp.org/Top10/. [Accessed 11 August 2024].

[4]  J. D. Pereira, “Techniques and Tools for Advanced Software Vulnerability Detection,” pp. pp. 123-126, 2020.

[5]  A. Nguyen-Duc, M. V. Do, Q. L. Hong, K. N. Khac and A. N. Quang, “On the adoption of static analysis for software security assessment–a case study of an open-source e- government project,” Computers & Security, vol. 111, pp. 102-470, December 2021.

[6]  F. Ö. Sönmez and B. G. Kiliç, “Holistic web application security visualization for multi- project and multi-phase dynamic application security test results,” IEEE, 2021.

[7]  S. Sakaoglu, “Kartal: Web application vulnerability hunting using large language models,” 2023.

[8]  J. Howarth, “Number of Parameters in GPT-4 (Latest Data) - Exploding Topics,” 06 August 2024. [Online]. Available: https://explodingtopics.com/blog/gpt-parameters. [Accessed 11 August 2024].

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~ 🥂

It has been couple months I have not written something here. Recently, I faced very tough months, it was a rendering period, but now it is getting better. I am not sure if my muscle memory can write it up correctly within this post, feel strange, tho. But I would try my best.

I have had so many weird things happen in the last three months, I resigned from my previous company and start my temporary career as YouTuber, Instagrammer, writer, Linkedin influencer and full-time jobless professional. Though I do not plan to be a TikToker, I dislike TikTok, not a huge fan. I didn't even have power to revive my Twitter account, I am not a good tweet. That decision is intentional. This is not my first attempt at building a personal brand on social media. I researched it a long time ago, and I am still finding the best direction for my character. You might think I am real, but there is no such thing. Everything on social media is fake. We must be aware of this fact. But honestly, I loved to share content through my Instagram story. Sometimes I went extra-miles, oversharing things, and too much. It is because I didn't manage it very well that I don't have the cadence to share my things in a scheduled manner. However, it doesn't represent who I am in real life, but 'jempols' did represent itself (#blaming). It is probably just representing 40% of who I am supposed to be. That being said, it is just 40 out of 100 of the real me. It has a word length limit to write with my two jempols on a single story.

What is Opinotes?

There is no dictionary in the world that lists opinotes as a word. It is just a made-up word that I created to represent Opinion and Notes. It refers to my written ideas that are shared through mediums like paper or blog posts, but not as lengthy as a book. Just as we commonly hear about footnotes or endnotes, opinotes provides as a new way to categorise this specific type of writing.

Remember, Opinotes originated from these unattractive little sites.

Welcome to the OPINOTES #1 🎉🎉🚀

Finding My Social Character in era 5.0

Instagram was originally used to share images with captions associated with them. Scenery, travel, anything related to our outside activities could be posted as media, for those who go out and touch-the-grass, this is a suitable platform to share the content. It was a straightforward journey that anyone can take within the platform, to get some dopamines once somebody likes or comment the post. Now, it has evolved to include stories, reels, and many other features. That's so nice, a micro-dopamine attack. But I personally use it frequently for "stories." I have never updated my posts, and most likely do not use it as it was designed for. I am not comfortable posting anything related to my face that is because I am ... ugly?, and no activity to feed somebody else, I am honestly not doing anything like someone else did? I went to provinces, enjoy the nature, scenery, I had enjoyed it without taking any single picture, stupid dumb. It has been 4-5 years since my posts have been frozen. Why is my life so boring? Yeah, I don't post anything for my followers except stories. I don't deserve to have followers because of that, I have nothing to offer. But thanks to my followers, colleagues, and friends. You are the best.

Some people start their social accounts and use them as they are. Unlike me, I would say that I am more comfortable with writing and video sharing. I didn't use my Twitter, instead I changed my Instagram to my Twitter. How about Threads? It is just like Twitter, I do not like it 100%, and is not providing a self-destructing messages feature, which vanish after a set amount of time. I am not a type of person who enjoy to give my historical message to all people. It is become a scary part of our lives AKA jejak digital 🥶. This is the era of society 5.0, we can prompt everything through artificial intelligence, even our historical tweet can be populated by the AI company by using our writings, images, photos, everything is possible to change our social algorithms.

I like to keep things mysterious, for the most part. Though, I also share odd things, cringe and everyone knows it. It is just part of life, right?

Then how about personal branding? It depends on how we deliberately improve ourselves to be concise in our social communication to the audiences.

The above image illustrates how personal branding should be approached. Everything must be balanced, much like enhancing all the attributes of our character. I couldn't say that this is building a reputation, but personal branding is part of it.

Understanding What People Curious about

I am not a specialist in this particular topic, but as far as I observe, I got many hints about increasing the chance of success to get more temporal engagements. I came across several accounts that has so many followers, until I found most of their content are:

• Made-up story, alias Gimmick. Many accounts with large number of followers often rely on made-up stories or gimmicks to go viral. The goal is to create content that is highly shareable and resonates with a broad audience. The attention-grabbing can boost engagement in the short term, they often lack substance and may not build long-term trust with the viewers.
• Speaking negatively or in opposition made people angry. This type is actually bad idea, I would say it is 50:50 chance, it can lead them to be reported if there is a community guideline violence, however in certain circumstances it worked perfectly. Negative or controversial content tends to elicit emotional responses, which can drive higher engagement through link click, comments, shares, and likes as well.
• Momentum, similar to political standing, is a powerful tool for creators. While I could be mistaken, I have observed many creators leveraging trending topics or hot issues to boost their engagement and visibility, even though they were usually not into politics. It is weird. Some of them are just capitalising on current, high-interest subjects, they effectively capture audience attention and drive more interactions from the people. But, it is still categorised as normal in this transition phase, despite the anomaly.

The above share points are quite sophisticated strategies to make algorithms even crazier. Therefore, social media platforms need to revolutionise their guidelines to adapt this evolution accordingly. Because it will affect the whole process, how can they make sure we get the essential informations, not trashes. This can be different story If we are a social media content specialist, we need to create content that is quite engaging, not necessarily weird. However, even engaging content could potentially make us cringe sometimes.

And from the audiences' perspectives, people often exist in their own echo chambers, they are seeking out information that reinforces their existing beliefs and avoid perspectives that challenge or negatively impact their opinions.

As a result, individuals tend to engage with arguments and viewpoints that align with what they want to hear, while in the same time dismissing or ignoring contrary information.

Nonetheless, honestly, the essential methodology requires only an Authenticity. And currently I am still experimenting the best approach for myself too. Such as this experimental video, people tend to love when it comes a unique character in front of their screen, I was wearing the black sunglasses during the content:

The engagement is quite solid as I got 14K viewers solely for this video, since I brought an authenticity and an odd character.

At least I had tried my best to invest my personal branding haha, walaupun masih sedikit maksa.

Final Thoughts

I have always appreciated how this modernity seems odd to me, especially in this digital and society 5.0 era. But it is what it is.

All in all, as social creatures, we thrive on communication and connection. We all have strengths and weaknesses, and we seek both entertainment and novelty in our lives. As long-time observers, we continuously invest on sharing new ideas and experiences with so-called personal branding.

See you in another Opinotes!

Cheers~ 🥂

SEA:

Without further ado, this is the global cybersecurity index in APAC:

And for Global:

If you want to access my spreadsheet, you can request here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-IUcqMxzKOuPGGuV-1tdFJvw01oW9jwoQCTH01r4Ep0/edit?usp=sharing

References:

Global Cybersecurity Index

ITU

NCSI :: Ranking

NCSI logo

Cybersecurity Exposure Index (CEI) 2020 | PasswordManagers.co

Discover which countries are the most and least exposed to cybercrime. Our index compares 108 countries across Europe, America, Asia-Pacific, and Africa.

PasswordManagers.coEditor

Random Prolog

I have always been that person who loves to talk – whether it is sharing stories, discussing ideas, being self-deprecating, criticising government regulations, or just chatting about everyday life. Recently, I realised that branding myself as a talkative person on social media isn't as easy as it sounds. I must be careful about what I say; netizens' reactions are uncontrollable. At least, I think twice before clicking the "post story" or "send comment" button, just to ensure that I am not offending anyone with my content style. But sometimes I went too far to use an Indonesia's curse words 😹 That is all my bad and I regret it already, so don't worry.

But I understand that we can't control how people react to our statements. If someone doesn't agree with me, that's pretty normal. Unapologetically human. This is a democratic country, after all, so we can respect each other's opinions, even though my opinions aren't very opinionated 😹. I have gotten used to it, and I hope you can roast me, we can do that each other for fun without taking it personally. It was fun, so cheers 🥂.

Let's make our lives colorful together with our diverse mindsets and values. I love you guys, peace. ❤️

(Lol, did I just market myself and tease my readers or what?)

Why Do We Need to Pick the Hard Path?

Alright, most of us definitely face thousands of problems in a single day or week. I remember the last time I was repairing my laptop on my own during my college days 6 years ago.

Aiish— this is gonna be a long and boring write-up, but I just want to tell you a story of mine.

I had had several old laptops ranging from 2012, 2015, 2017 lenovo thinkpad and ideapad distribution and I get used to maintain it such as replacing the thermal paste, fan cleaning, motherboard cleaning, battery replacement, hdd to ssd replacement, and many other pheriperals.

Some of you may think that I am a geek, computer geek or master or am I just trying to flex the impostor syndrome too all my readers? Listen..

I graduated as an engineer, and just because I am an engineer so what? It doesn't mean I am good at soldering or fastening screws. I have a slight tremor in my hand, whether at micro or nano scale, and I notice it occasionally. I am just a poor man living in South Jakarta. I don't want to self-pity, but that is my reality. It's not because of my computer degree, but I didn't have the budget to take my laptop to a repair shop during my time in college. I wanted my old 2012 laptop to work for 4 years so I wouldn't need to buy a new one. That being said, I was living frugally, and that's it.

If I had money, I would have given it to the a repair guy, I wanted to be a soloist or guitarist (huh?). But, since it costs me bunch of dollars, I refuse to move forward with it, I DECLARE A WAR with the computer components instead!

It always took me a while to understand and made me dizzy, so I worked on it for several days just to fix one single laptop. But eventually, after hundreds of repetitions because I kept forgetting to screw the internals back in again and again, I finally did it, yay!

I hate hardware things.

That being said, the situation forces me to do things the hard way, within a tight timeframe. I have grown accustomed to choosing the hard and complex route over the simple one. Sometimes, surprisingly, the hard way wins. It's almost like a joke 🤡, but have you ever felt that way?

I mean let's look at this illustration below.

Even simple things can become more complicated than we originally planned. Let's be real, remember when you tried to assemble the IKEA furniture for our flat/dorm/room? We need to follow the full complex instructions not half, using all the tools provided, only to realise we have put the table legs on backward. It can't magically be solved without an effort to read all of those instructions, except if you bring the IKEA guy to your room 😃.

The most easy way to stay away from the hard way is to not follow the easy way, and it is the only way to avoid cracking things up.

If we fix that by skipping to read the guide book for some parts, we will end up making it worse or maybe even cracking things up. However, once we read the instructions carefully "one more time" and incorporate the provided tools, we would definitely say: "Oh, damn, it should be like that, tho,"

We almost gave up? But what happens if we do?

Answer: We will not reach the climax.

Have you ever played a game, No?,

But I'll give you one more graph in game difficulty design.

The game mechanics always spike in the middle of the graph. We find it easy at first, but gradually feel it becoming too difficult by the second level instead of the third. That's why, in the second level, players often avoid continuing the game. To address this, developers always offer several growth packages in their shop to let players buy gears or items that can increase the character's attributes, or just offering the opportunity for more players to join the party. By the time we reach the fourth level, we are already used to it, and we can accomplish the game.

It also reflects in our real-life problems. Now we are getting used to our creator's design.

Option and Decision

When is the best time to use an easy way?

• When Time is Limited
  • If you need to meet a deadline or complete something quickly, the easier and faster route might be the best option by using any observable route or resource.
• When the risk are Low
  • If the consequences of failure are minimal, taking the easier path can be a practical decision.
• When the resources are abundant
  • If we can easily find the resources and implement it on-the-fly without any additional effort to observe or research it.

How about a hard way?

• For Growth and Learning
  • Choosing the harder route can lead to significant personal growth and valuable learning experiences, as challenges often present opportunities for development.
• For High Rewards
  • If the potential payoff for taking the harder path is substantial, the extra effort and struggle may be worthwhile, especially when we only have limited resources.
• For Lasting Impact and Quality
  • When striving for excellence, enduring results, or a reputation for quality, taking the harder route ensures more sustainable and higher-quality outcomes.

Causes (field)

We often find ourselves opting for the hard path when faced with challenges, and there are various reasons behind it. Growing up in a resource-constrained environment like South Jakarta suburb area, I have learned to tackle problems with limited means. No matter how difficult the problem is, it helps us to achieve a victory for humanity. I don't want to be an ignorant person. But my problem and its complexity are just a nano scale of what happens in Gaza and Rafah.

I hope that I am not too late to say this. I wanted to help, but I can't do it alone. I have limited value to give; I can't help humanity by myself. But if we do this together, we can build our team to accomplish this goal—not in a game, but in reality! I believe we can rebalance the world's humanity once again by leveraging our power. This is probably the thing that I can do to make a slightly change to help several brave fellas out there by building this small write-up.

Guys, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Palestine, is dire and urgent and really hard. Decades of conflict, blockade, and limited access to essential resources have left innocent civilians, including children, facing immense suffering. Thousands of families lack access to clean water, adequate food, and healthcare. The recent escalation of violence has only exacerbated these challenges, leaving homes destroyed and lives shattered. Your donation can provide vital humanitarian aid, including emergency food assistance, medical supplies, shelter, and support for trauma victims.

If you guys interested on helping our friends and family there, I found various way to donate and trusted way, such as:

• Embassy of The State of Palestine (recommended)
  • This is the instagram account channel that is official and we can send a donation through Mandiri Banking, please check this out from the highlight of this is official ig: https://www.instagram.com/palestineembassy.id/?hl=en
• The second one we can trust Basnaz crowdfunding
  • Here is the link: please also recheck the link or any other link you can found, but at least I will give you here: https://donasi.baznas.go.id/bantumuslimdipalestina

This is the exception, not a joke, neither hard nor easy, but a reasonable way to help our humanity. I can only recommend you two links, if you have other references and trusted link, please send me the link in the comment section or just use that channel ✅

I really appreciate!

Final Thoughts

Overall, having our own unique approach to solving problems might seem like a joke, but life has taught us resilience. And facing challenges with limited resources has made me more empathetic.

The crisis in Gaza reminds us of others' hardships, urging us to support trusted aid organisations. I hope my reflections are useful for those who need them. Let's share diverse views, respect opinions, and support each other to make a compassionate world. Cheers to a life of understanding and kindness. Peace and love to all. ❤️

I really appreciate for visiting my today's write-up!

There were several seasons in our lives when we were struggling to visit some websites. I have the same stuff to deal with. Sometimes I find a specific website that cannot be opened, and I have no idea why it happens.

This is going to be a TL;DR write-up introduction. I am going to talk about my frustration with the internet complexity and my motivation to share this post, brave.

When I was accessing my site: https://alfianfirmansyah.com via mobile browser during the earlier development, sometimes I found it not working at first time, but after refreshing several times, it worked. Even though I am a DevOps professional, It was still making me a bit dizzy to find the root cause, or It indicated that I am a real noob, somehow.

I remember that time when I was trying to change my mobile browsers: Chrome, a native Samsung browser, and some browsers that are all available within the PlayStore I had tried it, but still I wasn't able to access it. I changed my internet data on my phone several times to Telkomsel, XL, Telkomsel, XL, twenty times in a minute. But no, It doesn't seem to indicate that it is accessible. Furthermore, it also happened when I shared it via a LinkedIn post, the thumbnail image was somehow missing, and there was no meta image or any OpenGraph tag in it.

I need to fix this at all costs!, or I might ruin my reputation!

(It definitely sounds frustrating, really, honestly 😹)

Nonetheless, after researching for almost 2 consecutive days. it turned out there was a problem with my TLS version. I am using a Cloudflare TLS certificate manager and the problem is TLS 1.3 is having a problem with the mobile browser, I had no idea why. After I changed it again to TLS 1.2, and dang.. it worked. According to my gut feeling, my mobile browser version is not supporting the TLS 1.3, and pretty much obsolete at that time, so I need to update the browser. And turns out there was a WordPress guy who had the same problem as I did, but the object is linkedin bot: https://noobient.com/2023/04/05/linkedin-bot-just-lost-tls-1-3-support/

Please don't get intimidated with my complex problem above, even if I had solved many problems related to DevOps, but this encourages and motivates me to go back to boost fundamental knowledges, again. Let's be a noob together with me.

The Internet Runs on Magic

Let's interpret the simplified animation above, Internet has such a complex mechanisms, lots of layers, just like a sandwich 🥪, but when we type "https://www.google.com" in our browser works seamlessly, how does it happen?

DNS

The magic of internet starts from the DNS. If we run our own server, usually it will only have a public IP address, such as 34.5.6.7. Since we are a lazy species and find it difficult to remember numbers, DNS helps us use easily memorable domain names instead. If we type www.google.com, DNS servers will translate website names into IP addresses, helping our browser find and load it. It is called a DNS resolution. As we know, www is a sub-domain, .google is a domain name, and .com. is a top-level domain name, so-called TLD as its abbreviation.

Well, here's how:

Now we got IP address of google.com from DNS server.

TCP/IP

Second, we will focus on TCP/IP, because we already got IP address from the previous DNS resolution, but what on earth TCP/IP actually is?

IP (Internet Protocol)

IP is like the address on the letters, making sure they go to the right places.

TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)

Think of TCP as the mailman who makes sure all our letters and replies get delivered safely and in the right order to our house.

Spongebob is way too excited, though.

Firewall

We agree that we have consent of our own house, as a landlord, there will be set of rules or security in our house with implicit or explicitly visible to all visitors, therefore firewall is simply a security guard in our house. If the request follows the security rules set by the firewall, our browser can access the website.

However, if it doesn’t meet these rules, access is blocked, and our browser cannot reach the site. Firewalls play an essential role in securing our network from unwanted or harmful content. Only the toughest ones can pass, like Spongebob.

SSL/TLS encryption

We will likely familiar with http or https, but we will focus on https. Since we visit the "https://www.google.com". HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) is just like an extended version of http protocol, but both were using different paradigm in terms of security. HTTPS port is 443, and http is 80, but we can ignore them by default, it won't explicitly added to the https://www.google.com:443 as modern browser set it as default and hide it for simplicity.

As I mentioned, the difference between them is the encryption mechanisms. Our payload over HTTPS (message or information) will likely be encrypted while being sent to the server. This means the traffic will only be visible to the client and the server. If our traffic is intercepted by hackers, they wouldn't be able to read it; hence, it is unreadable. Since encrypting and decrypting take time, it will affect overall performance. On the other hand, HTTP doesn't have this mechanism, and this use-case is usually needed to improve performance for internal service communication.

Moreover, sometimes we are confused about the SSL and TLS terms. In fact, they both actually the same. SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security) are encryption protocols that are used to secure the data transmitted over HTTPS. Both are the same, however, SSL is quite old and TLS is having a newer cryptographic algorithm, different creator and project, but share the same mission. However, SSL is now deprecated.

We ship them by using a certificate. The certificate can be located on different levels, such as Load Balancer level, Reverse Proxy, or Webserver of our application level. Therefore it can be terminated (validated) on a different level as well.

When our browser connects to Google's server via HTTPS, both our browser and Google's server initially agree on the version of SSL/TLS to utilise. Following this agreement, they establish a secure, encrypted channel through which data can be transmitted.

Load Balancer

In real scenario, there are lots of traffic is happening on google.com, it has billion of traffic every single day, or million traffic per second. One server will be impossible to handle, then we need to find a way how to distribute the traffic, so the work is shared evenly among all the servers.

If one server dies, the traffic will failover to the healthy server by load balancer, meanwhile the self-healing will be run at that time to the unhealthy server and then it will recover to receive the traffic again from a load balancer instruction or configuration.

Load Balancer works in a 3-7 OSI layer, meaning it will works on network-transport to application layer, which means it will work from TCP/UDP to HTTP/S. However, remember that HTTP load balancer (L7) has more CPU and memory intensive since there is a routing and any feature computation under-the-hood, such as rate limiter, buffer, data logging etc, meanwhile the (L4) load balancer doesn't have a precise configuration other than forwarding, redirecting and distributing the TCP traffic to the target machine/port.

Web Server and Reverse Proxy

A web server functions like a restaurant host. It handles our order (request for a web page) and ensures we receive the correct dish (web page) in return.

When we want to visit "google.com," Google's server receives the request from the load balancer. The server then assembles the web page we requested, including the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that make it functional directly.

Once the web server has prepared the page, it sends it back to the load balancer. The load balancer then delivers it to our browser, which uses these elements (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) to display the web page we wanted.

All the modern front-end frameworks such as next.js, react.js, nuxt.js doesn't need a separated web server, as they listen and act as web server right away, so-called application server. For instance, a Node.js native uses express.js to listen the port. However, for the interpreter-based language such as php and python, we need an additional external web server to serve the contents such as apache/httpd and gunicorn.

In essence, a web server is very close to the web application itself as it helps the application to serve the contents to the end user.

How about the reverse proxy?

A Reverse proxy share the same idea, it also have a function or configuration set to serve the web page in html, css, js, or any other mime-types. However, reverse proxies are more sophisticated on caching, compression and often responsible to perform an SSL termination more than Web Server does.

A reverse proxy is a server that act as a gatekeeper for our server, sitting in front of the web server. Reverse proxy typically has more complex options to implement a security module, such as NGINX which acts as a security layer by masking the identity of the backend servers and protecting them from direct attacks, such as a rate limiter, and other security rules.

Both reverse proxy and web server are like siblings.

Application Server and Database

Let's talk about the intersection between Frontend and Backend in Application server and database.

As the request comes to the application server, it will be processed by the frontend first. To get the dynamic data, the frontend will send a request to the backend, which will query the database for the data.

The fetched data format usually depends on the design of the application. It can be plain text/string, an array, JSON (the popular format), or YAML (the less popular format).

Then this data will be processed again by the frontend to form a table or any content which comprises of some data to the end-user. Of course we need to beautify the data with CSS, but backend will definitely hate it.

End-user Rendering

When our browser gets a response from the web server, it’s like getting a box with all the parts of a puzzle. Inside are the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files that make up the webpage.

Here’s what happens next:

1. Arranging Content: Our browser places text and images where they belong.
2. Styling Everything: It makes everything look good using CSS.
3. Making It Interactive: If there’s JavaScript, our browser runs it, enabling buttons and dynamic features.

After doing all this, we see the complete webpage on our screen. Now we can click links, fill out forms, and interact with the page, just like finishing a puzzle and bringing it to life,

The life of website is a miracle, akin to magic.

Final Thoughts

Finally, this lengthy post must come to an end here.

I personally think that, all of those things are like a magic, with just a fingertip, we can now easily access everything on the internet within milliseconds, it is almost instant. The complexities of the internet can feel like a modern puzzle, as I discovered with my site, https://alfianfirmansyah.com, facing issues ranging from browser compatibility to TLS version complications. This journey highlights the sophisticated processes behind the scenes, from DNS resolution translating domain names into IP addresses, to TCP/IP protocols ensuring reliable data transmission, firewalls securing networks, SSL/TLS encryption safeguarding data exchanges, and load balancers managing traffic efficiently.

As long as we understand most of the internet's layers, we will appreciate the importance of fundamental knowledge and a learning mindset to truly grasp the "magic" of the internet.

I appreciate your visit! Cheers~

References

Understanding TCP/Ip layering through internet flow?

I have gone through below resources , got high level understanding but not able to map the data flow through TCP/IP to data flow through internet in real world ? TCP/IP layering video HTTP vs TC…

Stack Overflowscott miles

What Happens When You Type ‘www.google.com’ in Your Browser and Press Enter?

In the vast realm of the internet, one URL stands out as the most universally recognized and visited: “https://www.google.com.” We’ve all…

MediumJohn Kamau

What happens when you type google.com in your browser and press Enter

We take for granted how effortless it feels to open our browser, type a web address like google.com, and press “Enter” to instantly view…

MediumKevin Kiruri

What happens when you type google.com in your browser and press Enter?

In the realm of software engineering, understanding the underlying mechanisms that power our daily…

DEV CommunityJude Ndubuisi 🥷🧑‍💻

This roles is not available anymore, thank you.

Hi fellas!

I am urgently hiring for position:

Company Overview

Submit-Manuscript.Org is an emerging provider of conference management platform, dedicated to simplifying the process of organising the conference or seminar. Our innovative platform offers a comprehensive suite of tools designed to streamline editorial management, increase participant engagement, and maximise the overall conference preparation.

Job Description

We are seeking a motivated and enthusiastic individual to join our team as a Customer Success Representative. In this role, you will be the first point of contact, providing assistance via chat and effectively pitching our conference management platform for potential clients and partners.

Position Details

This is a contract position with an expected duration until October 2024. Depok area is prioritised.

Responsibilities

• Respond promptly and professionally to inquiries via chat, email, and other communication channels.
• Engage with potential clients and partners to understand their needs and demonstrate how our platform can address their requirements.
• Educate prospects about the features and benefits of our conference management solution.

Qualifications

• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, including basic english communication.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to build rapport with potential clients.
• Proactive attitude and a willingness to learn about our product and industry.
• Bachelor's degree or High school diploma.

Benefits

• Flexible working hour, and there will be an opportunity to have advancement on-site program for business training.

How to Apply

If you are passionate about helping clients succeed and thrive in the conference management industry, we'd love to hear from you! Please submit your CV detailing why you are the ideal candidate for this position to me@alfianfirmanyah.com.

Please send the CV no later than Wednesday, Mar, 13th 2024.

Thank you for your attention! 😊

Hi peeps,

To be honest, I am writing this post to get rid of my boredom during the election day. I appreciate for Johann. (medium) who inspired me to write this topic and also Wabi-Sabi, a japanese art of imperfection, aesthetic philosophy book 😃. This is February 14th, 2024, a 24-hour holiday, and on-site voting is taking place everywhere. You might think that I intend to write a political holistic view within this post—

...yuck. No, I don't, and worry not. It's not going to be a political write-up anyway. I am an adult, independent, I have my own choice according to my own research, such as abuse it by telling bad rumours, invalidated informations, videos, or news which lacked research. That is it. Beep—

Alright, one thing I have always noticed that this world demands perfection. There was a constant high pressure in our society that is affecting individuals to maintain a flawless and idealised lifestyle. However, something that I actually noticed again that well—it is a mere illusion. We are not completely have an ideal state at all. We made mistakes, unapologetically human, we also taste the flavour of one-of-a-kind perfect state without a mistake.

Now I realised that we have been built naturally and uniquely.

Have you ever wondered why the earth is round? Even if I tried to search it on Google, I saw countless pictures that were perfectly round shape, most of them. But it turns out the earth is an imperfect sphere, it's an irregular shape. Strange but true, isn't that crazy? It just goes to show that even the most fundamental things "we think" we know can surprise us with their imperfections.

As can be seen on the above animation, that was a large-scale potato with no water on it. For real, a long-lasting rotating and levitating potato in space 😹.

The Beauty of Imperfection

We all have our flaws, but you know, these imperfections are what make us unique and add excitement to our lives. They remind us that it's alright to be a bit rough around the edges and make mistakes, as long as we keep trying to improve ourselves, as long as we keep learning and swimming, everything is gonna be alright.

I reflected during my time when I was in middle school. I joined a Taekwondo club and Basketball club. I had no idea why I choose those clubs, I am a rookie, noob and unskilled. In basketball, I struggle with shooting three-pointers and dribbling effectively, especially when running at high speed—sometimes, the ball gets left behind, my opponent hit me and I fell easily. During my first Taekwondo practice, I injured my toes while learning to kick, and crying. Such a loser kid.

These imperfections are not defects, they are opportunities for learning and growth. I am grateful for my health, but I recognised the vulnerabilities in my physique.

The second reflection is my professional career. There is a challenging time, got so many tasks, all of them are high priority, p0. I can't even set the scale, that was sucks. Even my project manager at that time told me that she was a little bit fucked up. Imagine combining urgent + important and strict due date and there is only me in a team. The only thing I can do is sequentially work and swim faster. I am keeping it as simple as possible, just to make it happen. Yeah I eventually did it and accomplished those tasks, but with their imperfections. At least it worked, and documenting it will prevent the technology from being forgotten. And eventually I can pass and overcome that fucked up situation, perfection is bullshit.

Moreover, my weaknesses and imperfections provide chances for my personal development and the creation of deeper connections. By being authentic and acknowledge my flaws. Trust me, It is worth more than gold.

Just because I am not perfect, doesn't mean I am a bad, a useless, a redflag and named it, overall, my life itself is an imperfect journey. And so is yours.

Final Thoughts

Every mistake, every little bump in the road, it's all part of the journey. It's these imperfections that help us come up with amazing ideas and make things even better. I welcome anybody to do the same, to work on our potential. We have a unique imperfection, we always have it. We are human, really humane.

Thanks for visiting, cheers~ 🥂

I am writing this post at 4:20 AM and starving, since I am also struggling to adjust my sleeping schedule again, totally bad idea. So let me get my snacks (including mie kuah indomie rasa ayam bawang) to proceed while accomplishing this rather technical and sophisticated post. Surprisingly, this is gonna be my first computer operating system post, ever.

I am not a geek, yet I have been casually studying Linux for almost 8 years, and 4 years bachelor of computer engineering and I had no idea about the term 'sparse file' until I coincidentally found it in Ubuntu 22.04 while debugging the VM workload that was occurred at the company where I am currently working, Tokopedia and GoTo Logistics.

Though, nowadays we have been surrounded by cloud-native workload such as container orchestrator: Kubernetes that is very efficient in terms of cost and technical practice, however, we are still managing Virtual Machines as our main workload. In my opinion, managing VMs are superb, impractical for some reasons. We may find the tradeoff to maintain every single thing manually, such as the multi-vendor strategy to create VM's image, including the attach/detach disk, backup/restore some files and folders and more.

And now, the mystery is happening.

Caught the mystery

It started when there is something strange in our Virtual Machine and it led approximately 20 minutes delay time process during the /var/log backup process. It was negatively impacting the overall process, such as the increasing of CPU utilisation which made every process heavier, and led a delayed additional dependency process and main app booting.

After researching for almost 2 months (Lazy mode 😹), I found that /var/log/lastlog which was having a 1.2 TB size, not an actual disk, but a sparse file's metadata. The actual size of this sparse file is merely around 64KB at that time. It's almost fake.

#----------------------#
# To see metadata size #
#----------------------#

# ls -lah /var/log/lastlog 
-r--------  1 root root 1.2T Jan 28 4:26 /var/log/lastlog

#----------------------------#
# To see actual size on disk #
#----------------------------#

# du -sh /vat/log/lastlog
64K     /var/log/lastlog

Sparse files offer a more efficient way to store and handle large files with a lot of empty space. Unlike regular files, they only use actual disk space for the data written, avoiding unnecessary storage allocation and reducing unneeded read/write operations. This results in significant space savings, reduced system burden, and quicker processing times. However, they have their own limitations and may not be the best fit for all use cases. The choice between sparse and regular files really comes down to understanding your specific needs and how best to meet them.

Our log backup script was using rsync to backup the /var/log data, and since rsync has its own limitation to handle a sparse file, even though it has additional flags such as --sparse or -S, it would work when the sparse file's size is MB or GB, yet the rsync process is still taking too long time to map this 1.2 TB sparse file, it led the system to compute 1.2 TB and dramatically increased CPU utilisation over time. The nightmare of rsync and lastlog meeting, and I was crying at the corner.

What is lastlog

The above illustration simply describes the lastlog.

The importance of the lastlog file depends on the context of system administration and security. In a nutshell, lastlog keeps track record of the last login time and session of all users in the system.

It is quite important for Auditing and Security which provide crucial information in timing the use of resources, diagnosing potential unauthorised access, or tracking user access for auditing purposes. Other than that, forensics, In cases of security breaches, lastlog can provide vital clues for system forensics.

However, I am still not pretty sure, why did they design it with sparse file. Why on earth they poorly design the database by using a sparse file. It is something that I have asked to google several times, but I didn't see the conclusion. I mean, I understood the concept of sparse files, but I didn't get it when they created lastlog with a sparse file completely. After researching on why does the /var/log/lastlog file appear so huge (in GB or sometime in TB) sparse file on 64-bit machines is that space is provisioned in advance for every possible user ID. Given that there are approximately 2^32 users and each login record uses 256 bytes, the total comes to around 1.2 TB - give or take. And that's it. There is no background or behind the scene.

For example, If somebody tried to login, lastlog will write the info into the sparse file, it took 256 bytes only out of 1.2 terra bytes of empty space. That was efficient and inefficient at the same time. Why do they create a sparse file, while we can still use a regular file. It won't hurt the performance wise, and we can rotate it and compress it, just like a regular log file 😐. I mean why did they generate a very large file metadata size by 1.2 TB.🤯 Like they can create a lastlog binary to read a compressed file and aggregate it is also possible for the alternative.

Is it because of we need to achieve an efficient energy saving? Less Computation power? Green energy? Are you sure about that😂.

I am aware, that disk efficiency of sparse file is good for large and scattered UID logged in users. Suppose we want to record data for user logins. Assume that the user ID is related to the position of their data in the file. This means if we have a user so-called "Rafi Ahmad" with an ID of 10,000, his data will be placed at the 10,000th position in the file.

Now, we only have 100 users, but their IDs are scattered in a wide range. The highest user ID is 10,000. It could be random and scattered like 1, 7, 100, 107, 200, 10000 so on and so forth until 100 users in total.

If you use a regular file to store this data, you need to create a file large enough to accommodate 10,000 entries since the user with the highest ID is 10,000. In regular files, each character (whether it's filled with real data or it's a null character represented by '0') occupies disk space.

Contrarily, in sparse files, if there are sections filled with null characters, the filesystem only records the metadata about where these null characters are located and how many there are, but does not consume any actual disk space for storing these null characters. But since we only have 100 users, 9,900 entries in that file are going to be empty. Thus, sparse file is more storage efficient compared to regular file.

But, in real situations, even a large-scale company will not have login users more than 1000 users in a single machine. 😂

Implications

It has been implicated several commands in the apps or tools that touch this file. It impacted at every tool that has copy/archive/extract capability, it needs to have an "special" understanding of copying sparse files as well. Such as cp, mv, rsync, zip, tar, unzip, untar, unrar and more.

If we didn't define the handling of sparse files, it would directly copy the metadata size onto the disk, instead of using the actual size, which could be very risky. For instance, if we were to copy a 1.2TB sparse file that actually uses 64KB on the disk, without the appropriate handling, it would copy 1.2TB onto the disk instead of just copying 64KB.

The fact that handling sparse files using flags is not sufficient for rsync. I attempted to run rsync on the 1.2 TB file and due to the natural large size of a sparse file, it still had a mapping duration that was taking forever and even caused hanging. Therefore, there are still limitations to sparse file handling. So sad.

The Workaround

The workaround is using other than rsync, we can just move it with mv and cp.

And it turns out retained the sparse file and the actual size without any sparse handling flag. Magical.

Final Thoughts

Sparse files are like smart files that only take up space when they need to. Imagine a book that only has pages when you write on it. This way, they save a lot of room and work faster compared to regular files, which are like normal books that have all pages, filled or not. But sparse files also have limitations and may not be suitable for all situations, just like the legacy lastlog file. Because It cannot be synced with rsync, it would take forever. And finally, this requires a different backup scripts to hack all of this. So annoying, isn't it?

Hey everyone,

This post was inspired by conversations I had with my Tokopedia colleagues at a Japanese restaurant in Blok-M while we were enjoying dinner together. It was a particularly enjoyable day since it was Friday and we had just visited Gojek's office to set up a workspace. We wanted to explore and try out the game room, various meeting rooms, and other facilities. It was an exciting day out, just before the weekend. Thanks pengyou!

And without further ado, I was taking notes about my thoughts at that time. Yes, it is well-recognised that to be an expert in this digital era requires sophisticated and up-to-date skillsets by taking certifications. For instance, a network expert, they need to take a cisco CCNA as fundamental knowledge standard, or to be a cloud expert need to take CP (Cloud Practitioner), DevOps, AWS or GCP or Azure solution architect associate or professional more more and more certifications. Some people think they are a necessity, some people also mentioned that they are a good addition for skillsets. Yes, I know, it is good. But, I would say that, those are not essential things anymore.

I know, I know. This is gonna be a sensitive topic for some people who are dedicated on achieving this spectrum, however please don't be salty first ❌, we might need to think differently and I want to share a little bit story and explaining the tradeoffs ✅.

Chill everyone. Stay calm, Don't hate me~

The starting point

When I was in college in 2018, that was my second year and I have almost spent my whole time to fix my old-fashioned laptop that is limited due to its specification, Lenovo X230. This laptop is built differently 😹, so I was still using it for almost 8 freaking years since its release date on April 2011. Even if it is not well-maintained, it was worked like a charm still, the only thing I remember was just replacing the ONE and ONLY slot of disk to SSD from a former disktype: HDD. And due to my financial stability at that time, I only have a budget for 1 slot of 128 GB kingston SSD.

This limitation, however, I need to take care of it very carefully. At the first time, I had installed windows as an operating system, however due to its natural pre-installed softwares and dependencies, the baseline disk of windows was occupied for almost 60% even before installing my personal workstations, e.g. Offices, projects, android studio, VHDL, many things related to my computer practicums. That is way too painful, and I need to think harder to make my laptop handle it without worrying to destroy my tiny disk 🙈.

The first thing I have tried was searching to google. More and more research until I can sum up my key takeaway... Linux. Why didn't I try linux? It turns out Linux has managed the disk size very efficiently as the same set quality of functions as windows.

After overthinking it for almost 1 day, I decided to use Linux Ubuntu 16.04 as Operating System for my tiny laptop. It was soo weird, but it brought me to the gate of real Computing world. When it comes to software installation, Linux is way too hard compared to windows. Therefore, it took me a while to understand the way of linux works at every aspect. And from understanding linux for almost 2 years,

I am getting used to it...

For...

11 out of 100.

However, so many things need to be installed, I have had a limitation to buy a brand-new SSD. My tiny laptop was eventually giving up. And I need to distribute my work to a new laptop, as soon as possible, until I desperately opened google to do more research again.

It turns out opened my gate to the world of Cloud Computing, as by hosting our work to the virtual machine, we can do that flexibly, elasticly. My gaze was focused on AWS (Amazon Web Services) as my first cloud service provider, and the most convenient ones at that time. I got dozens of education credits to know more about it. Thanks AWS.

As the first leg of the journey, I learned AWS by evaluating their cloud products, read all pricings, and calculate my workloads manually, for 1 year in 2019 to 2020. In addition, the documentations gave me some sort of new knowledge about cloud computing best practices: A well-architected pillar framework. I amased of their standard operating procedure, it is just like an OpenStack cloud orchestration (Heat) as opensource Infrastructure level as a service. I learned openstack during my research intern in NTUST Taiwan, telco on-prem 5G, and IoT over Kubernetes but it was cancelled due to covid 😆. And the most important thing is the nurturing culture as their mission in creating demand in southeast asia during that time was unforgettable. There are like AWS Invent which was held at every year-end, this event was very helpful to know more about a brand-new update from AWS cloud and I had explored it, and it generated 25 USD credits for me after filling one constructive feedback and can be stacked 5 times. Not only in AWS invent, credit was also easily to get from annual surveys for 100 USD or something, and also I have applied my company to use AWS activate, and got so much credits like almost 2000 USD equivalent credits. As I am still learning about cloud computing while doing my first product inventions (https://submit-manuscript.org and https://iotnesia.id) I was contacted by one of AWS Demand Generation Representatives (Malaysia): Mr. Ariff Ridzuan in 2020. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ariffridzuan)

I remember that I am really into a certification, instead of deepen my hands-on knowledge about cloud computing in AWS.

And even, an AWS representative said this to me.

At some points, I was only spinning around and talked about certification-certification-certification-hell without any conclusion about my real problem: lacks of AWS and cloud knowledge to build my IoT app constructively. And in the end, something that is really help me is not a certification AT ALL, but this.

Credits was really super duper freaking helpful to initiate and boost my research in cloud computing. I didn't even think about the certification anymore, since 3000 USD Credits in my account adequately provides my needs to explore all the things within the AWS cloud, I have mastered it for only 1 year and got so much experiences. I was just relying on a 3D: Determination, Dedicated and Discipline, I can build my high-scale digital infrastructure faster than ever.

He was a good person. Thanks Mr. Ariff.

Engineer Mindset has been changed

I'm not overly skeptical, just a bit. However, my understanding of the cloud computing spectrum differs considerably from that of others. This has caused a dramatic shift in my mindset. Nowadays, I feel that the cloud certification market is oversaturated, almost to the point of plus-plus-plus excess. The increasing number of certified professionals has led to a saturated market with high competition for cloud-related jobs.

Nonetheless, it's possible to find entire sets of questions and answers available for exam practice. This potentially can be considered as cheating, and may create bias against the true achievers in the cloud computing field. It can cause those who gained their certification through diligent study and practical application to be undervalued, as it muddies the distinction between those who genuinely understand the material and those who simply memorised the answers. Where is the professionalism? The true manpower quality?

In such a scenario, merely giving a certification may not proper a significant advantage. So, where does that leave personal value?

Oversaturated = more supply = decreased gaji alias low wages = decreased quality.

Not a slippery slopes. But it make sense, doesn't it? It ended up to the situation where certification is not special anymore, yes it adds up the value, but it won't help much too for the role sustainability. Have you ever heard about AI that can take an exam? What is the difference between AI and human then?

I may not be as brilliant as Albert Einstein, but I love to think differently, similar to Isaac Newton who adopted a slightly philosophical thinking approach. Doing so helps me build and realise my unique value, enabling me to fill my own 'glass'.

I changed my user perspective from:

to become:

Some may ask, Why not both?

• Too much cost
• Time consuming

As engineer, we only need a widely scope training playground to explore cloud computing in real life application, rather than recycling our mind to the certification hell situation to showcase it to the world. By doing so, we can build more ideas of digital products and their under-the-hood engineering processes from helicopter-view. It would produce more takeaways at the growth of every aspect of computer and engineering.

Final Thoughts

You will get my points.

From my perspective, Cloud Certification, while valuable, isn't the be-all and end-all in tech spectrum. Yes, It'd be considered good for learning path, I agree. Though it helps validate our skills and offers structured learning, this certification is becoming oversaturated. The increasing number of certified professionals not only devalues these credentials but impacts wages due to higher supply than demand. The availability of entire sets of practice exam questions and answers can also create bias against genuine achievers in this field. This scenario can potentially lead into reduced overall quality in Cloud Computing roles area. Forget about certification when we are thinking about "showcasing" to seek attention from others, but do it when you really wanted the knowledge to your own business. Nevertheless, by thinking differently in this challenging landscape, we have the opportunity to build and realise our unique individual value, irrespective of conventional certifications.

I appreciate for your visit this dumpsters site😂. Cheers~

Hi folks!

Most of us have likely had an experience where we were tight to pick just one option from among the best ones available to us. Sometimes when it appears in front of me, it's just like a Gacha.

"Umm, what is it again? Gacha?"

Oh, come on, really?

Gacha is like a capsule toy vending machine where the reward has its own mechanisms and tiers, and it progressively depends on the level we're currently at. This game system, however, is mostly set by the law of probability.

No matter if we pick one of 3 boxes, the reward is purely random, and it only has chances:

1 gold box for the best item which is the prestigious one — imagine finding a kilogram of gold inside it.

1 diamond box for a good item — typically usable or consumables one. such as we will get a Rp500K free starbucks voucher

1 copper box for common/useless items — usually invaluable like imagine we might obtain a baby powder inside this box

We are only relying on our luck. You might assume that your chances of securing a gold box is 1 in 3 or 1/3 (one over three). However, according to my experience (disclaimer) as private community game developer, the truth is: It's not guaranteed and not that simple.

(Indo: Kita nggak segampang itu bisa dapet gold box dalam 1 game, karena nilai kemungkinan keluarnya bukan 1/3. Nyatanya game developer itu biasanya bikin kita lebih susah untuk dapet 1 gold box, bahkan dalam 3x percobaan belum tentu bisa dapet 1 gold, karena dibuat nilai prob keluarnya cuma 1/1000 dalam satu kali nge gacha, jadi per 1x coba ya possibilitynya cuma 1/1000 gold box, kalo 3x percobaan ya artinya prob cuma 3/1000)

I will illustrate this further shortly. Supposed that:

1 gold box = I will set it as 1 return probability

1 diamond box = I will set it as 250 return probability

1 copper box = I will set it as 750 return probability

If we run the game 1000 times, we will have:

1 gold box ✅

250 diamond boxes ☑️

750 copper boxes ✔️

So scary, right? Imagine, you need to spend your time and money to play 1000x game to get 1 gold box guarantee.

The Gacha-based system game is controllable, It's simply a matter of stochastic probability kind of stuff and adds some psychological thing (like intermittent reward) to make it addictive. And mostly, the number of chances are not publicly shared, that is why, gacha is completely a blind game. However, people love it, still, I don't know why 😹

(This article illustrates the addictiveness very well: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/datablog/ng-interactive/2017/sep/28/hooked-how-pokies-are-designed-to-be-addictive)

Let's stop here, the math kinds of stuff made my head spin around like a slot machine hahah.

(Who knows, I might just consider a career change and become a top-notch slot machine dealer in Las Vegas or online Bandar slot Zeus server Singapore gacor link aku bang. uhm.)

ANYWAY, It is also mirroring our life, particularly my life seriously, where I often find multiple choices that impact my life journey, just like a gacha.

I don't even know whether it will lead me to the best reward or only to get a baby powder. Why does it sound materialistic 😃

When I was in high school, I wanted to be a Taekwondo athlete, I have almost joined an Indonesian taekwondo national team in Ragunan, Jakarta. It's like I am ready to kick some serious butt and bring home gold medals from the International championship. But guess what? Life had other plans for me. As soon as I stepped into the world of Taekwondo, I discovered there was more than one path to success.

First option: Cheerleading

Taekwondo athlete —kyorugi. I trained like crazy, day in and day out, perfecting my kicks and dodges or little punches, participating in taekwondo competitions, festivals, pelatkot (kota), pelatda (daerah). Some only in PARTICIPATING, not win all of them 😩 I couldn't help but notice there were these pesky or maniac athletes who were way faster and stronger than me naturally. It's like they had rockets and springs in their feet since they were a kid, probably since they were 5 years old, meanwhile, I discovered taekwondo when I was in 7th-grade junior high school.

I have also noticed that there is something wrong with my hamstring, I got a leg injury since the last practice for high school taekwondo. I calmed down my nerves and refused the registration, even though they knew I was eligible, but It was just a sad moment. At that time, I thought I would have a shorter time to live in this sport for being an athlete. So what was my second option? Cheerleading?

Hey, those high kicks and jumps are almost like Taekwondo, right? Plus, I get to wear a short skirt and cute uniform, and dance and jump and splitting my leg. And I would probably die instantly. The end. (Just kidding)

Second option: The pivot to Engineering

College. I thought, "Okay, maybe I'm not destined for Taekwondo greatness, but college will be my ticket to success, won't it?" I poured my heart into studying and acing exams in high school. During college admissions, I laid down a wild card —a collection of taekwondo certificates, and guess what, It paid off. I got the "golden ticket" to Computer Engineering at Universitas Indonesia, Depok. I just realised that taekwondo brought me a ticket to college. I realised that my past wasn't left behind, it journeyed with me, shaping me, and guiding me to this academic life. Taekwondo may have been my first love, but it guided me to my destiny —Engineering.

I remember It was my 3rd year at college, I had a similar moment. I was faced with several choices, which proved to be challenging as I had to make a difficult decision in a short amount of time. The first option is to go to Taiwan to be an intern researcher at NTUST (National Taiwan University of Science and Technology) ...or the second option to join my professor's research for building the first Indonesian Cloud Conference Management System.

The tradeoff to pick the first option is international exposure and the second option is to have an experience in making cloud-based sites. Even though those boxes are promising, I had chosen the second option, and it turns out I have made it! I built this site with my own heart for 2 years straight, and it led me to be an inventor among 6 inventors (who are my professors, all of them, sound scary. One Undergraduate student vs. five professors?) since we applied for a copyright certificate which was published by the Ministry of Law and Human Rights. Many international conferences use this platform, I can't even believe it bjir. And it has impacted my career journey enormously until today when this post is being published.

I realised that I had chosen the gold box of gacha. And it was unexpected before, never thought about this path. Weird.

Luck is a thing for life?

Imagine, 7 Billion people on this planet. How many people will have a chance to get a prosperous life? Probably less than 1%.

It's just like an MMORPG game, we have to know about the random attribute called luck at every player's stat. Luck represents chances. For instance, Chances of damage or hit will be randomly generated by the game engine will not be predicted easily while attacking the Boss HP or Physical Armor or Defense. Then you will be the top ten strongest warriors at that season for high damage contributions. But does it will constantly happen throughout all seasons? Unfortunately No.

Instead, if we increase the number of basic attributes, little by little, we will pretty much increase the overall number of damage hit, it will conclude the game. Even more accurate and being the top-notch warrior all the time, all the seasons. Does it will last longer for next and future seasons? Yes. We have a strength that is come naturally.

This post is too long and too abstract, I guess (I hope you understand my absurd write-up style).

In the end, life is a lot like a MMORPG game, life is full of trade-offs. With 7 billion people in the world, only a few might get lucky and land the jackpot. However, just as any experienced gamer knows, we can't solely rely on luck. Luck is expensive. We have to work on building our skills bit by bit, which is much more reliable and enduring. Rather than just hoping for that one big break, we should focus our energies on continuous growth and improvement. The fun part—this dedication and commitment to ourselves can sometimes lead to unexpected surprises, just like stumbling upon a hidden treasure in a game. And isn’t this exactly what makes us a winner in the ultimate game called "life"?

Thanks for your visit! Cheers~

Hi there!

This post intended to give us a little commercial break. I used to plan this post from a long time ago where I am able to share my contact casually in my own site.

I am a 3-years experience DevOps and Cloud Infrastructure Engineer. If you guys interested to consult about website intricacies, under-the-hood website technologies, applications, architecture of your digital cloud infrastructure, DevOps automations, I am here and available!

(Disclaimer first: I am acknowledging myself as consultant. I will enhance your infrastructure's design and optimise it based on well-architecture framework and cost-effective principles)

If you wish to reach out, have any queries, or simply want to exchange thoughts, please feel free to:

• Send me private message on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/alfian-firmansyah
• Email me at me@alfianfirmansyah.com. This is my valid professional and casual email currently today😂

If you wanted to exchange with private/encrypted messages/files don't hesitate to use my public PGP key. And please send your public key as well alongside the message or attachment.

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Looking forward for our interaction! Enjoy your time on my site!

I'm not sure why time passes so quickly without my permission. I'm not ready yet to sit down, reflect and review everything in one go. When I decided to write-up this post, I almost lost it, but here we go, my 2023 In review.

In my honest opinion. 2023 is a "very challenging" year that I have ever faced in my life, alongside the 2020 and 2021, where we acknowledge that as covid-19 era.

I have always remember that time that 2020 is way too terrible, 2021 is quite better. And 2022 is the actual recovery-transition phase, I would say that as pre-new normal.

I'm not sure if everyone else will feel the same way as I do, what do you think?

Nonetheless, 2023, this year is kinda weird. I recognised, sometimes I was really grateful that everything goes back to normal, it is like we are currently in a truly new-normal condition. It is almost a perfect phase, now we can meet again our colleagues at our office, mask is not needed anymore in public space or public transportation, or even at office, the economy is far more better and considerably improved at all sectors.

To me, this is a transformation year, where we can step-up our delayed potential and give an effort to get a better result. Just try to fill the empty space of our personal growth to the actual value that supposed to be. And yes, this was just happening.

Started a new responsibility

In early 2023, higher-ups at my company assigned me to oversee a new operating unit. At first, I was pessimistic, believing it wouldn't benefit me. I knew there were no incentives, neither a promotion nor a salary increase. I will not explain further.

However, this leads me with negative thought everyday, half motivated to work, but obviously I realised that I need always to keep my professionalism. Because at first time, I was alone. They assigned me and were hoping me as a single fighter. Impossible. I was almost signed my resignation letter. However, I was just thinking that, ok, atleast great knowledge and experience in return so I will label this as my personal growth, and that is for me, not for company. I work for myself, and I don't give a shit with that. I don't want to ask for any single appreciation from company to me, not at all. At least, I got everything in my CV, and jump out to better opportunities.

There are lots of work has been done and well accomplished with high quality in the end, and I am proud of myself. I surrounded by lots of positive people who always beside me and I appreciate for their dedication to help me grow this far. It is like, colleagues > companies. Even though colleagues and I was part of company, but there is a layer that we are completely separated with company thing (you probably feel the same way, don't you?) That is why, I feel grateful to have them all and I am proud of them. We shared the same feeling and condition when we met, and It made us solid to tackle all the problems.

2023 is our progress to success. 📈

Write-up is a thing

In 2023, I started building this website to practice and improve my English writing skills. My spoken English is good from years of conducting meetings at a company and my private game server community but my writing leaves much to be desired. So I'm learning through doing. This website serves as my training ground, and I appreciate readers pointing out any mistakes.

And this site was also my achievement. I cannot imagine for how many times I have dreamed of owning a site with my own domain, but never actualise it.

Sometimes we can only dream without actualise it to come true. So, in this phase, I have learnt that I need to convert my dream to a plan, and a plan to a "doing", and celebrate my current progress. At least, I am in a doing progress, and as time goes by, it would work.

Now, it worked! And this is the time to celebrate it to myself 🎉

Thinking outside the box

God set my destiny in a mysterious way. In the early of 2023, April, If I haven't mistaken. I found a mysterious call inside my head that I need to pursue for next level education. I found lots of country problem for cybersecurity, such as government platform that containing hundreds of million Indonesian PII data leaked by some cyber actors. And it is getting worse now. I wanted to act on this.

Along with it, many friends are doing the same thing, I don't know what does it call, maybe I was experiencing a FOMO, but in a positive way(?). Hahaha, but honestly, I wanted to bring more value to my life, my family and directly contribute to small things for this planet, with education, wait.. why does it sound too naive. 😄

Since I was in highscool, I dreamed of studying in Germany. Because Germany, in terms of quality of engineering education is totally advanced. That is why I have watched Gita Savitri Devi most of the time back in 2015 and 2016. She inspired me since day one she created her youtube channel. However, now I am being a jerk. Since Germany is different, I mean, it requires to learn germany language 101, I am very lazy to take a german certification. And also, there is nothing fit with my topics: IoT, Cloud and Cybersecurity in Germany, I couldn't find it.

However, I found suitable programs in Northern Europe or Nordic countries. The quality? Don't ask me, you can find it on google. Finland, sweden and norway are very high quality country. Remember bluetooth radio technology? Ericsson from sweden invented it. Remember Nokia 3010 The strongest phone all the time in history 🤣?

Finland invented it.

A car's seatbelt? Volvo sweden invented it.

I intend to invent something. And to actualise it, I need a supportive environment.

That is what I thought. I have skepticism that pursuing education in my home country won't allow me to reach the level of value I desire. It also related with the metric where the most of successful startup/company's founders are pursued their education overseas. It somehow increased the success opportunity. My decision to study abroad wasn't solely influenced by FOMO. But I view it as luck. That I surrounded by a good people that can help me in this phase. I got inspired by them, that is all. I outlined my reasons in my motivation letter, which is currently part of my ongoing admissions process. I hope for a positive outcome. It took me an eight months to refine and validate a letter. It was sooo challenging and hard. But I'm confident my motivation is way better now, especially as this post is being published. I have also lowering my expectation, that because I am thinking at least I tried everything to come out from the comfort zone, so myself in the future won't regret it and grateful. In addition, with the help of my friends, both local and international, now I am available to put an effort in this phase.

I observed that determination is a key to revolutionise my surroundings, including my life.

Final Thoughts

2023 is a great history for me. I am always get myself ready that 2024 is an opportunity year. More learning opportunity, career and success,

and long period of prosperity.

Happy new year 2024 everyone! Keep Grinding, I believe we can grow our strength and evolve just like a myth and mysterious dragon 🐉

Cheers~