One big page about who I am

Born in 1996 in Jakarta, Indonesia. I had a fairly good childhood with my mom, dad, and three siblings. I spent two years in a small, newly established Islamic elementary school with only 15 other students (got amazing grades back then lol).

In 2004, my mom decided I needed to transfer to a public elementary school for more challenges. I spent 4 years in a classroom with 50+ students. I experienced bullying here and there, but nothing too traumatizing, all things considered.

Since then, I had a somewhat regular, fairly good time in junior and high school. I guess I got some milestones during my junior high years: starting a band and finding the fun in designing web pages. These two things really shaped me into who I am today.

I consider myself as a die-hard generalist

During childhood, I explored, fell in love, and was passionate about a lot of things. I drew my own comic strips in elementary school. In junior high, I created my own web radio station, started a band, and got into futsal.

In high school, I still joined the futsal club (but wasn't very good at making the first team). I also joined the computer club, English club, and choir.

In 2014, I went to Surabaya to study business. In college, I got... more explorative. I joined the student board, an entrepreneur club, and volunteered at several events. But 2017 is when I really felt like living a young adult life in another city.

I joined a non-profit to reduce food waste and do some charitable events. I also started a podcast and a band with my college friends. I got my first internship at a startup, doing marketing work. Just before I graduated, I got an actual broadcasting job as a radio show host for a chart show in Surabaya.

After graduating, I continued doing my radio gig until mid-2020. I also got my first full-time job as a UX researcher at Trustmedis.

I think my life is similar to most people who didn't get into the documentary-worthy spotlight like those athletes who grew up playing that one particular sport until they became professionals. Or like those musicians who grew up writing songs, auditioning, or performing in glorious arenas all their lives.

And now, after a whole life of doing different things, it turns out I enjoy doing all sorts of things without holding on to the desire to become an ultra-rich, famous superstar.

It is simply a pleasure to learn, thinking about different approaches to solve problems, write stuff, create music, design things.

I'm chronically online and not a fan of mobile phones

I got online in 2007 when my elementary school friends introduced me to internet cafes, Yahoo, and Friendster (still the best social media platform for me so far). And since then, I've been in love with desktop computers and laptops. I like writing stuff using a physical keyboard.

As far as I can remember, I got my first mobile phone in 2006 (I was in 4th grade). I loved my Nokia 3200 so much because that is all I could ask for. I could call my parents if an emergency popped up, I could send text messages to my friends to ask about homework, and I could play games on it. That's about it.

During junior high, BlackBerry was the gold standard. Sure, it's great for messages and the basic features. But all that push email, Twitter, and the other stuff is just tech going downhill for me. That was when I realized I'm not very fond of mobile phones. I'd rather sit through 6 to 7 hours of school, another hour or two playing football, then finally come home to my computer to play Club Penguin, play with HTML, CSS, and other stuff.

Even now, I still prefer the web version of things, no matter how big the promotions are if I purchase stuff through the mobile app. I use Notion primarily on my laptop. If a sudden idea pops up, I just use my Telegram to write raw things and record voice notes, which I will deal with later using the desktop app.

I'm super skeptical about "labels"

At the core, I'm highly skeptical about most modern labels that are attached to human beings.

For example, I still don't believe that 8.2+ billion humans on Earth can be summarized with 16 Myers-Briggs personality types. I know tens of people who share a particular personality type, but still have some fundamental differences when it comes to dealing with people or problems.

The same goes for the political spectrum. I can answer the same things on different testing platforms, and they would give me polar-opposite results (apparently I could be a communist and a fascist at the same time, depending on what website I'm on).

Connect with me

To be honest, I'm not quite a people person. But I'd love you to share your thoughts about design, music, and life in general. Go ahead and don't hesitate.