- Tell me about your self?
– want that every people have equal opportunity to get better live
– kuliah, advokasi mahasiswa, community development
– Indonesia Mengajar, as first batch of Pengajar Muda.
I was graduate from Faculty of Computer Science, Universitas Indonesia. Now I am married and a father of 3 years old daughter. I have an aspiration that every people could have equal opportunity to make efforts to get better live. That aspiration has driven me to do a lot of things in my life. That is why I have been joining or developing some programs since I was in the college to achieve that aspiration. When I was a college student, I advocated fellow students who face financial difficulty to pay tuition fee by facilitating communication between them and the dean so they can get scholarship from the faculty. I develop a community development program which train street children to assemble computer, so they can open a small computer reparation business to earn more money. One year after I entered my professional career, I joined Indonesia Mengajar as the first batch of Pengajar Muda, youth who was sent to the rural/remote areas to teach in an Elementary School and to be an agent of change in one village for a year. Those were my small parts to contribute to realize the aspiration. Now, I want to broaden my contribution for society.
In my work place, I always try to bring something new, to make a breakthrough. Back to my time in Indonesia Mengajar, I developed Ruang Belajar, an online sharing knowledge platform to share creative teaching method. The content are written by the Pengajar Muda from all over municipalities and in the information stored in the platform can be access by public. Then in Indosat, I develop a new IT Solution, a Data Center onshoring project for one of Indosat’s corporate customer, multinational company that operates in Indonesia. The project is so special because it combines 3 Indosat’s major services into an integrated solution which had never been done before. With that project, now Indosat have a new portfolio which can be sold to other its corporate customers.
I always work for my aspiration, to make breakthroughs, to help people have equal opportunity to get better live. So in the future I have decided that I want to contribute to help the government to improve the implementation of Universal National Healthcare which now is run by BPJS Kesehatan. That’s why I decided to take an MBA to upgrade and enrich my knowledge, skills, experience, and network that are needed to reach that goal.
– in my professional career, moving step from technical to business
– why?
– bringing something new, break through
– project bangkok bank
– my award or promotion?
– in IM as officer, develop Ruang Belajar
– What I’m looking for,
– equal opportunity to get better live, break through, goverment policy about national health care system,
– that’s why i want to take MBA
https://theinterviewguys.com/tell-me-about-yourself-interview-question/#
https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/interview-tell-me-about-yourself
- What is the biggest problem that you ever have and then how did you overcome?
– mahasiswa ilmu komputer tanpa komputer?
– first time I’m far away from home
– alone, no family
– limited money
– no computer
12 years ago, I moved to Jakarta to continue my study in Faculty of Computer Science , Universitas Indonesia. This is the first time I’m far away from home, live alone in a city with no family, and had very limited money. I was eighteen back then.
How did i survive in new city, Jakarta? I had two major challenge, which are finding place to stay and overcome my financial situation.
I was Nurul Fikri course student in Surabaya. So before I left Surabaya for Jakarta, I contacted Nurul Fikri Head Quarter in Jakarta and asked them for a temporary place to stay in one of its nearest branches from UI. Nurul Fikri recognized me because I’m one of their students that always scored in top 100 in every try out nationally. So for awhile I had placed to stay. In the day, I spent my time in UI (in my faculty or in Masjid UI). And in the night, after the last batch of Nurul Fikri’s student went home, I went back to Nurul Fikri to get rest for the night. For 2 weeks straight I lived in Nurul Fikri Akses UI, before I got room in university dormitory.
I have mentioned that I had limited financial situation. However, I sticked to my commitment that I didn’t want to burden my family with my tuition fee and living costs.
To support my study, I searched for many sources; I tried to get scholarship from the faculty. I talked to the dean about my situation. He understand it and I got scholarship from the faculty. From its standard enrollment fee, which is 25 million, I didn’t have to pay at all. I also didn’t have to pay my tuition fee, which was 1.5 million per semester. For books, I borrowed all of them from my seniors. And as computer science student I didn’t have money to buy computer. Fortunately, I made a lot of good friends in UI dormitory. They allowed me to install programming software into their computers and let me use it from midnight until morning if I had assignment from college.
For fulfilling my living cost, I tried my best to earn money while I started studying. That’s why I tried to find a job in Nurul Fikri as a mathematics tutor. I got the job but it would be started in the second semester. It meant that I had to find alternatives way to survive in the first semester. I even sold nasi uduk at the dorm every morning to get extra money (peddled from one building to another). In the beginning of the second year, my financial condition started to be stable. I already mastered some programming skills and started earning money from doing IT projects. I thought that I was already able to support my self financially, that’s why I voluntary decided to stop my schoolarhip from the faculty so the budget could be used for other students in need.
My first year of college student was my hardest time. But it is so valuable and one of the most beautiful moment of my life. I made a lot of friends, struggled together to achieve our dreams and to fulfill our parents’s hopes. It was hard but it was beautiful.
- What are your strength and weakness?
– strength, membuat terobosan
Since when I was a kid, I like develop new initiatives, create new breakthroughs. If I find something broken, I like to fix it with a method that haven’t done before. When I was high school, I made my mathematics and physics teacher mad at me many times because I solve equations or problems using my own formula instead of what the have taught us. In my oranizational experience, I established new department in my High School Rohis, the deparment of Media Islam, when I was still junior member of the organization. I always want to develop breakthroughs that help people solve their problems or make things work better, faster, and more efficient. My last big achievement in my current job in Indosat, I create a project that hasn’t done by any one before. I win Data Center onshoring project from one of multinational bank that operates in Indonesia. This project combines two major Indosat services, which are connectivity link and Data Center services, and one new service which is server procurement, relocation and installation both in DC and DRC. This is the first time Indosat delivers one stop solution for DC-DRC set up and by far it is the most important Indosat B2B’s new portfolio in 2017.
– strength, analytical thinking
I have good analytical thinking skill. I can analyse complex problem and develop solutions to solve it in effective and efficient way. The skill proved by my experiences as a lecturer assistant for algorithm/programming courses. In my career I have moved step by step from technical to business area, but all of my jobs are always about problem solving. I used to be an IT business analyst with responsibility to gather client’s requirement, find their pain point, and design solutions in form of software specification. In my current company, in many occasion I identify inefficient procedures and initiative suggesting my management about better procedures. As a result, I became trusted as assistant to my Group Head Division to analyse data and get the insight of the data.
– strength, resilient, determined?
I am also a determined person. I give my best effort to reach my goals and tackle all problems that hampered me. With my high determination, I become resilient in tackling problems and handling hardest situation in my life. The example was when I first came to Jakarta as a computer science student. I don’t have a family or relative in Jakarta. I don’t have computer or laptop to study and I have to work to earn more money to support my living cost. Considering the difficulty that I faced, I still can perform well in my academic results and become a lecturer assistant in my second year.
– Weakness, learning new language
I found it difficult for me to learn new language, including English. I understand that English is very important. For that matter, I have done some efforts to improve my English. I practice my English skill by myself for years; I read many English article in daily basis, read aloud those articles, listening to English podcast, having a monologue conversation with my self and friends (including my wife), joining special courses (I utilize training budget from my company). I have shown my determination and as a result I earn 7 for my IELTS score.
– Weakness, I love adrenalin
I find my biggest drive to work when I am in a time bound. I like the pressure that challenge me. So sometimes, I like to do some task close to the deadline just to get more adrenaline. This is not a procrastination practice, but someone else may see this as a procrastination.
– Weakness, documenting my complex idea into a flowing essay.
I am very resourceful in thinking and able develop complex ideas that connect many factor. I find it quite challenging for me to write those complex ideas into a flowing essay or narration. I tackle that problem by documenting my idea using bullet point or mind map method. However, I understand that writing an essay is an important skill I need to master. Hence, I practice to write a lot. I took writing class for IELTS and getting feedback from others. One of example is I have routine practice with my wife. Each of us choose an on-line article and we write down our opinion about them, and we give each other feedback.
– berlatih, lebih banyak menulis. So I practice to write more.
– les writing in ielts. I took writing class for IELTS
– getting feedback from others, one of the example is I have a routine with my wife about discussing a topic in English and get feedback from her.
what make you special to receive this scholarship/ what differes you from other applicants?
Agung Firmansyah 