$30 off During Our Annual Pro Sale. View Details »

How Working in IT Looks Like

Zain Fathoni
November 01, 2017

How Working in IT Looks Like

Lessons learned from my career journey in IT industry

Zain Fathoni

November 01, 2017
Tweet

Other Decks in Education

Transcript

  1. Zain Fathoni
    Software Engineer at
    HOW WORKING IN IT LOOKS LIKE

    View Slide

  2. HOW WORKING IN IT LOOKS LIKE
    OUTLINE
    ▸ Introduction
    ▸ Working Experience
    ▸ Walkthrough
    ▸ Lessons Learned
    ▸ Career Opportunities in IT Industry
    ▸ Core Skills
    ▸ What’s Next?

    View Slide

  3. INTRODUCTION
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/zainfathoni/

    View Slide

  4. WALKTHROUGH
    WORKING EXPERIENCE

    View Slide

  5. WORKING EXPERIENCE | WALKTHROUGH
    2008
    Teknik Informatika
    ITB
    Undergraduate
    Student

    View Slide

  6. WORKING EXPERIENCE | WALKTHROUGH
    2008
    2013
    Qiwary Usaha
    Nusantara
    Programmer
    Teknik Informatika
    ITB
    Undergraduate
    Student

    View Slide

  7. WORKING EXPERIENCE | WALKTHROUGH
    2008
    2013
    Qiwary Usaha
    Nusantara
    Programmer
    Teknik Informatika
    ITB
    Undergraduate
    Student
    2014
    Graduated from ITB
    Bachelor Degree

    View Slide

  8. WORKING EXPERIENCE | WALKTHROUGH
    2008
    2013
    Qiwary Usaha
    Nusantara
    Programmer
    Teknik Informatika
    ITB
    Undergraduate
    Student
    2014
    Graduated from ITB
    Bachelor Degree
    2015
    Xtremax Indonesia
    Software
    Developer

    View Slide

  9. WORKING EXPERIENCE | WALKTHROUGH
    2008
    2013
    Qiwary Usaha
    Nusantara
    Programmer
    Teknik Informatika
    ITB
    Undergraduate
    Student
    2014
    Graduated from ITB
    Bachelor Degree
    2015
    Xtremax Indonesia
    Software
    Developer
    2015
    Xtremax Indonesia
    Software
    Development
    Manager

    View Slide

  10. WORKING EXPERIENCE | WALKTHROUGH
    2008
    2013
    Qiwary Usaha
    Nusantara
    Programmer
    Teknik Informatika
    ITB
    Undergraduate
    Student
    2014
    Graduated from ITB
    Bachelor Degree
    2015
    Xtremax Indonesia
    Software
    Developer
    2015
    Xtremax Indonesia
    Software
    Development
    Manager
    2017
    Bukalapak
    Software Engineer
    Future

    View Slide

  11. LESSONS
    LEARNED
    WORKING EXPERIENCE

    View Slide

  12. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2008
    Teknik Informatika
    ITB
    Undergraduate
    Student

    View Slide

  13. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2008
    Teknik Informatika
    ITB
    Undergraduate
    Student
    ▸ Teknik Informatika (IF) vs

    Sistem & Teknologi Informasi (STI)
    ▸ IF ➜ Low-Level Staffs
    ▸ STI ➜ High-Level Bosses

    View Slide

  14. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2008
    Teknik Informatika
    ITB
    Undergraduate
    Student
    ▸ Teknik Informatika (IF) vs

    Sistem & Teknologi Informasi (STI)
    ▸ IF ➜ Low-Level Staffs
    ▸ STI ➜ High-Level Bosses
    ▸ I thought I should have chosen STI instead of IF
    ➜ Is it true? We will find out later.

    View Slide

  15. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2008
    Teknik Informatika
    ITB
    Undergraduate
    Student
    ▸ Teknik Informatika (IF) vs

    Sistem & Teknologi Informasi (STI)
    ▸ IF ➜ Low-Level Staffs
    ▸ STI ➜ High-Level Bosses
    ▸ I thought I should have chosen STI instead of IF
    ➜ Is it true? We will find out later.
    " Try it first, decide later

    View Slide

  16. “JUST PICK ONE THING TO DO,
    AND IF THAT DOESN’T WORK,
    THEN PICK ANOTHER.
    MAKING A CHOICE AND
    TRYING IT IS AN IMPORTANT
    CAREER SKILL.”
    Penelope Trunk
    https://www.brazen.com/blog/recruiting-hr/how-to-decide-
    on-a-career-even-if-you-dont-know-what-you-want/

    View Slide

  17. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2008
    2013
    Qiwary Usaha
    Nusantara
    Programmer
    Teknik Informatika
    ITB
    Undergraduate
    Student

    View Slide

  18. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2013
    Qiwary Usaha
    Nusantara
    Programmer
    ▸ Started to learn practical coding skills
    ▸ Encountered many technical challenges
    ▸ Started enjoying coding
    ▸ Indonesian Government Projects
    ▸ Tight deadlines
    ▸ Changing requirements
    ▸ Spotted some mysterious requirement changes
    ▸ Get ready for anything

    View Slide

  19. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2013
    Qiwary Usaha
    Nusantara
    Programmer
    ▸ Started to learn practical coding skills
    ▸ Encountered many technical challenges
    ▸ Started enjoying coding
    ▸ Indonesian Government Projects
    ▸ Tight deadlines
    ▸ Changing requirements
    ▸ Spotted some mysterious requirement changes

    View Slide

  20. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2013
    Qiwary Usaha
    Nusantara
    Programmer
    ▸ Started to learn practical coding skills
    ▸ Encountered many technical challenges
    ▸ Started enjoying coding
    ▸ Indonesian Government Projects
    ▸ Tight deadlines
    ▸ Changing requirements
    ▸ Spotted some mysterious requirement changes
    " Get ready for anything

    View Slide

  21. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2008
    2013
    Qiwary Usaha
    Nusantara
    Programmer
    Teknik Informatika
    ITB
    Undergraduate
    Student
    2014
    Graduated from ITB
    Bachelor Degree

    View Slide

  22. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2014
    Graduated from ITB
    Bachelor Degree
    ▸ Started to look for other opportunities

    View Slide

  23. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2014
    Graduated from ITB
    Bachelor Degree
    ▸ Started to look for other opportunities
    ▸ Getting some job offers which I rejected

    View Slide

  24. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2014
    Graduated from ITB
    Bachelor Degree
    ▸ Started to look for other opportunities
    ▸ Getting some job offers which I rejected
    ▸ Getting my job applications rejected

    View Slide

  25. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2014
    Graduated from ITB
    Bachelor Degree
    ▸ Started to look for other opportunities
    ▸ Getting some job offers which I rejected
    ▸ Getting my job applications rejected
    ▸ Finally, I joined Xtremax, a Singaporean
    software agency

    View Slide

  26. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2014
    Graduated from ITB
    Bachelor Degree
    ▸ Started to look for other opportunities
    ▸ Getting some job offers which I rejected
    ▸ Getting my job applications rejected
    ▸ Finally, I joined Xtremax, a Singaporean
    software agency
    " There are so many opportunities in

    IT industry out there, don’t worry!

    View Slide

  27. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2008
    2013
    Qiwary Usaha
    Nusantara
    Programmer
    Teknik Informatika
    ITB
    Undergraduate
    Student
    2014
    Graduated from ITB
    Bachelor Degree
    2015
    Xtremax Indonesia
    Software
    Developer

    View Slide

  28. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2015
    Xtremax Indonesia
    Software
    Developer
    ▸ Singaporean Government Projects
    ▸ Higher standards than Indonesian ones
    ▸ Using Waterfall, but still many requirement changes
    ▸ Started learning Web Technologies
    ▸ Backend ➜ aligned with job descriptions
    ▸ Frontend ➜ self-motivated
    ▸ Learned that many software development best
    practices are not implemented yet
    ▸ Never stop learning

    View Slide

  29. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2015
    Xtremax Indonesia
    Software
    Developer
    ▸ Singaporean Government Projects
    ▸ Higher standards than Indonesian ones
    ▸ Using Waterfall, but still many requirement changes
    ▸ Started learning Web Technologies
    ▸ Backend ➜ aligned with job descriptions
    ▸ Frontend ➜ self-motivated
    ▸ Learned that many software development best
    practices are not implemented yet
    ▸ Never stop learning

    View Slide

  30. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2015
    Xtremax Indonesia
    Software
    Developer
    ▸ Singaporean Government Projects
    ▸ Higher standards than Indonesian ones
    ▸ Using Waterfall, but still many requirement changes
    ▸ Started learning Web Technologies
    ▸ Backend ➜ aligned with job descriptions
    ▸ Frontend ➜ self-motivated
    ▸ Learned that many software development best
    practices are not implemented yet
    Never stop learning

    View Slide

  31. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2015
    Xtremax Indonesia
    Software
    Developer
    ▸ Singaporean Government Projects
    ▸ Higher standards than Indonesian ones
    ▸ Using Waterfall, but still many requirement changes
    ▸ Started learning Web Technologies
    ▸ Backend ➜ aligned with job descriptions
    ▸ Frontend ➜ self-motivated
    ▸ Learned that many software development best
    practices are not implemented yet
    " Never stop learning

    View Slide

  32. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2008
    2013
    Qiwary Usaha
    Nusantara
    Programmer
    Teknik Informatika
    ITB
    Undergraduate
    Student
    2014
    Graduated from ITB
    Bachelor Degree
    2015
    Xtremax Indonesia
    Software
    Developer
    2015
    Xtremax Indonesia
    Software
    Development
    Manager

    View Slide

  33. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2015
    Xtremax Indonesia
    Software
    Development
    Manager
    ▸ Accepted an offer for a managerial position, why not?
    ▸ I got to be one of the bosses instead of the staffs ➜ I
    should get an exclusive salary raise
    ▸ I was not working on certain projects ➜ I could have
    more time to learn new things for R & D to improve the
    company’s best practices
    ▸ Is it true? The facts are:
    ▸ No salary difference until a few months later ➜
    together with fellow non-manager employees
    ▸ I was not directly working on certain projects, but I was
    in charge of all projects ➜ no time to learn new things
    ▸ Manager > Developer

    View Slide

  34. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2015
    Xtremax Indonesia
    Software
    Development
    Manager
    ▸ Accepted an offer for a managerial position, why not?
    ▸ I got to be one of the bosses instead of the staffs ➜ I
    should get an exclusive salary raise
    ▸ I was not working on certain projects ➜ I could have
    more time to learn new things for R & D to improve the
    company’s best practices
    ▸ Is it true? The facts are:
    ▸ No salary difference until a few months later ➜
    together with fellow non-manager employees
    ▸ I was not directly working on certain projects, but I was
    in charge of all projects ➜ no time to learn new things
    ▸ Manager > Developer

    View Slide

  35. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2015
    Xtremax Indonesia
    Software
    Development
    Manager
    ▸ Accepted an offer for a managerial position, why not?
    ▸ I got to be one of the bosses instead of the staffs ➜ I
    should get an exclusive salary raise
    ▸ I was not working on certain projects ➜ I could have
    more time to learn new things for R & D to improve the
    company’s best practices
    ▸ Is it true? The facts are:
    ▸ No salary difference until a few months later ➜
    together with fellow non-manager employees
    ▸ I was not directly working on certain projects, but I was
    in charge of all projects ➜ no time to learn new things
    ▸ Manager > Developer

    View Slide

  36. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2015
    Xtremax Indonesia
    Software
    Development
    Manager
    ▸ Accepted an offer for a managerial position, why not?
    ▸ I got to be one of the bosses instead of the staffs ➜ I
    should get an exclusive salary raise
    ▸ I was not working on certain projects ➜ I could have
    more time to learn new things for R & D to improve the
    company’s best practices
    ▸ Is it true? The facts are:
    ▸ No salary difference until a few months later ➜
    together with fellow non-manager employees
    ▸ I was not directly working on certain projects, but I was
    in charge of all projects ➜ no time to learn new things
    ▸ Manager > Developer

    View Slide

  37. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2015
    Xtremax Indonesia
    Software
    Development
    Manager
    ▸ Accepted an offer for a managerial position, why not?
    ▸ I got to be one of the bosses instead of the staffs ➜ I
    should get an exclusive salary raise
    ▸ I was not working on certain projects ➜ I could have
    more time to learn new things for R & D to improve the
    company’s best practices
    ▸ Is it true? The facts are:
    ▸ No salary difference until a few months later ➜
    together with fellow non-manager employees
    ▸ I was not directly working on certain projects, but I was
    in charge of all projects ➜ no time to learn new things
    ▸ Manager > Developer

    View Slide

  38. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2015
    Xtremax Indonesia
    Software
    Development
    Manager
    ▸ Accepted an offer for a managerial position, why not?
    ▸ I got to be one of the bosses instead of the staffs ➜ I
    should get an exclusive salary raise
    ▸ I was not working on certain projects ➜ I could have
    more time to learn new things for R & D to improve the
    company’s best practices
    ▸ Is it true? The facts are:
    ▸ No salary difference until a few months later ➜
    together with fellow non-manager employees
    ▸ I was not directly working on certain projects, but I was
    in charge of all projects ➜ no time to learn new things

    View Slide

  39. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2015
    Xtremax Indonesia
    Software
    Development
    Manager
    ▸ Accepted an offer for a managerial position, why not?
    ▸ I got to be one of the bosses instead of the staffs ➜ I
    should get an exclusive salary raise
    ▸ I was not working on certain projects ➜ I could have
    more time to learn new things for R & D to improve the
    company’s best practices
    ▸ Is it true? The facts are:
    ▸ No salary difference until a few months later ➜
    together with fellow non-manager employees
    ▸ I was not directly working on certain projects, but I was
    in charge of all projects ➜ no time to learn new things
    " Manager > Developer

    View Slide

  40. I THINK MANAGERIAL CAREER PATH IS
    NOT MY THING.
    I LOVED BEING A DEVELOPER MORE
    THAN BEING A MANAGER.
    Zain Fathoni
    SELF-REFLECTION

    View Slide

  41. THEN I RESIGNED
    *Of course after finding a new job, I still have a family to be fed. %
    And that new job is ……

    View Slide

  42. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2008
    2013
    Qiwary Usaha
    Nusantara
    Programmer
    Teknik Informatika
    ITB
    Undergraduate
    Student
    2014
    Graduated from ITB
    Bachelor Degree
    2015
    Xtremax Indonesia
    Software
    Developer
    2015
    Xtremax Indonesia
    Software
    Development
    Manager
    2017
    Bukalapak
    Software Engineer
    Future

    View Slide

  43. Untuk mendapatkan talenta terbaik,
    Bukalapak membuka lowongan pekerjaan
    untuk engineer pada tahun lalu.

    Dari 10 ribu yang mengajukan, akhirnya
    hanya diterima 30 orang saja.
    DailySocial.id
    TEXT
    https://dailysocial.id/post/mengintip-dapur-teknologi-bukalapak

    View Slide

  44. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2017
    Bukalapak
    Software Engineer
    ▸ After more than a year (from late 2015 to early 2017)
    being a manager, how did I stay sharp to pass the
    coding tests?
    Never stop learning
    ▸ While being a manager, I tried to allocate my spare
    time to learn new technical things by:
    ▸ Reading articles
    ▸ Following online courses
    ▸ Developing https://ojekbelanja.id as an open
    source project
    ▸ https://github.com/zainfathoni/ojekbelanja

    View Slide

  45. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2017
    Bukalapak
    Software Engineer
    ▸ After more than a year (from late 2015 to early 2017)
    being a manager, how did I stay sharp to pass the
    coding tests?
    " Never stop learning
    ▸ While being a manager, I tried to allocate my spare
    time to learn new technical things by:
    ▸ Reading articles
    ▸ Following online courses
    ▸ Developing https://ojekbelanja.id as an open
    source project
    ▸ https://github.com/zainfathoni/ojekbelanja

    View Slide

  46. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2017
    Bukalapak
    Software Engineer
    ▸ After more than a year (from late 2015 to early 2017)
    being a manager, how did I stay sharp to pass the
    coding tests?
    " Never stop learning
    ▸ While being a manager, I tried to allocate my spare
    time to learn new technical things by:
    ▸ Reading articles
    ▸ Following online courses
    ▸ Developing https://ojekbelanja.id as an open
    source project
    ▸ https://github.com/zainfathoni/ojekbelanja

    View Slide

  47. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2017
    Bukalapak
    Software Engineer
    ▸ Get back to be a developer, with a higher salary
    than the previous one while I was a manager.
    ▸ It turns out that in Bukalapak this lesson is still
    relevant
    " Manager > Engineer
    ▸ Recently, one of my college friends just joined
    Bukalapak for a managerial position, and the
    Bukalapak Vice President of Engineering told
    me this,

    View Slide

  48. Oh iya, di kita manager selevel sama
    engineer, jadi bukan berarti kalau
    manager dia jadi golongan di atas
    engineer, hehe.
    Ibrahim Arief, VP of Engineering at Bukalapak
    MANAGER VS ENGINEER

    View Slide

  49. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2017
    Bukalapak
    Software Engineer
    ▸ Moral of the story:
    " Do what you love and what you’re
    good at, not what people think is good
    ▸ Then, what are the options in the IT industry?
    ▸ Company Types
    ▸ Career Opportunities

    View Slide

  50. WORKING EXPERIENCE | LESSONS LEARNED
    2017
    Bukalapak
    Software Engineer
    ▸ Moral of the story:
    " Do what you love and what you’re
    good at, not what people think is good
    ▸ Then, what are the options in the IT industry?
    ▸ Company Types
    ▸ Career Opportunities

    View Slide

  51. LESSONS LEARNED | COMPANY TYPES
    (Most of)
    Service-Based Company
    (Most of)
    Product-Based Company
    Waterfall Agile
    Deadlines are determined by

    external parties (clients)
    Milestones are defined by

    internal parties (stakeholders)
    Working rhythm is
    relatively tight
    Working rhythm is
    relatively loose
    Working hour is relatively strict,
    due to external communication with clients
    Working hour is relatively flexible,
    due to internal communication with stakeholders
    Seldom but big deployments,
    more bugs expected on production
    Rapid but small deployments,
    less bugs expected on production
    " Requirement changes always happen,

    but different companies handle them differently

    View Slide

  52. LESSONS LEARNED | CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
    Technical Career Path Non-Technical Career Path
    Software Engineer

    (Backend, Frontend Web, Mobile Apps)
    Project/Product Manager
    System Engineer
    (DevOps, Database Admin)
    System Analyst
    Designer
    (User Interface, User Experience)
    Business Analyst
    Quality Assurance Engineer Quality Assurance Tester
    Technical Support Account Executive
    etc. etc.
    " Whether you love coding or not,

    there are many career opportunities for you
    Find more in https://careers.bukalapak.com

    View Slide

  53. DIVERSITY & WORK-LIFE BALANCE IN BUKALAPAK
    & Bukalapak fully supports female tech talents

    and encourages work-life balance
    In fact, one of our Engineering Squad Lead is now full-time remotely
    working from home after the birth of her first child.
    When she was pregnant, she intended to resign from Bukalapak because
    of her far commuting distance (Depok—Kemang) and nobody to take care
    of her child at home if she and her husband are working outside.
    Then we offered her to work from home full-time remotely, with the high-
    speed internet bills on us.
    In Bukalapak, female talents don’t have to choose between family and
    career, because we will support both of them if necessary.

    View Slide

  54. COLLEGE DEGREE
    ' Does college degree matter?
    At some point, yes.
    You need to have proper amount of knowledge to be able to pursue a
    career in IT. You can acquire that knowledge in college.
    However, the title itself doesn’t really matter.
    Because most of IT companies appreciate your skills over your title.
    In fact, not all my colleagues in Xtremax and Bukalapak are Informatics
    graduates. Even some of them dropped out from their college, but they’re
    able to prove that they’re skillful enough to be employed.
    Zain Fathoni

    View Slide

  55. SPECIFIC SKILLS
    Technical Career Path Specific Skills Needed
    Software Engineer

    (Backend, Frontend Web, Mobile Apps)
    Basic programming, computer architecture, web
    technologies, mobile apps technologies.
    System Engineer
    (DevOps, Database Admin)
    Software infrastructure, computer networking,
    database administration.
    Designer
    (User Interface, User Experience)
    Design, layout, colors, software usability &
    accessibility.
    Quality Assurance Engineer
    Test scripting, unit testing, functional testing,
    integration testing.
    Technical Support
    Generic computer knowledge,
    product knowledge.
    " Pick one career path, then focus on it,

    master the skills needed

    View Slide

  56. CORE SKILLS
    " Whichever path you choose these core skills are
    mandatory for any position in IT industry
    ▸ Certain level of technical knowledge in the field
    ▸ In team work, good communication skill is mandatory
    ▸ https://slack.engineering/technical-leadership-getting-started-e5161b1bf85c
    ▸ https://charity.wtf/2017/05/11/the-engineer-manager-pendulum/amp/

    View Slide

  57. THANK YOU
    Any Questions?
    t.me/zainfathoni

    View Slide