A Deliveryman Who Became an IT Staff at the Cabinet Secretariat of the Republic of Indonesia

A Story of Dwiki Ahma Maulana, Bangkit 2021 Graduate from Informatics Engineering, Universitas Dian Nuswantoro

“Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”

(John F. Kennedy)

When many youths can quickly achieve their IT dreams thanks to their privilege, Dwiki Ahma Maulana (24) must fight twice as hard to pursue his. Born to parents who worked as laborers, Dwiki was uncertain about continuing his study at university. In his mind, he only wanted to go to vocational school for four years, then graduate with a diploma to get to work soon.

However, the universe showed Dwiki another way. While undergoing an internship program in his senior year of vocational school, Dwiki raised money. Then he enrolled in the Department of Informatics Engineering at Universitas Dian Nuswantoro, which led him to meet Bangkit. Who would have thought that Bangkit increased Dwiki’s self-confidence to be successfully hired as an IT Staff at the Cabinet Secretariat of the Republic of Indonesia?

Despaired of Studying at University Once

In Demak, Central Java, Dwiki lived with his parents. His mother is a laborer in a garment factory, and his father is a construction worker. Dwiki is the youngest of two children. His married older brother stayed in Semarang with his little family.

Although living a simple life, Dwiki’s parents tried their best to give proper education to their two sons. With their limited income, Dwiki’s parents managed to fund Dwiki and his brother till high school. After graduation, Dwiki’s brother decided to work. However, Dwiki was at a crossroads between continuing his education and launching his career like his brother.

Unlike most high school students who graduated after three years of studying, Dwiki needed to go to vocational school for four years, three years of learning, and one year of internship. After graduating from the vocational school later, Dwiki would earn a diploma.

At first, Dwiki was hesitant to attend university because of the economic limitations. However, Dwiki changed his mind after joining the Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education internship program as an IT Software Engineer in 2016.

“Getting allowances encouraged me to save money for college. My sufficient savings raised my spirit to continue my education.”

Being successfully accepted into the Department of Informatics Engineering at Universitas Dian Nuswantoro, Dwiki became the first member of his family to study at university. Although Dwiki financed his educational needs himself, his parents helped a little bit for their son's success.

From Being an “Ojek” to a Deliveryman, Dwiki was Persistently Looking for Opportunities

Dwiki never regretted his decision to continue his study. Becoming a student of Universitas Dian Nuswantoro led him to meet Bangkit. On the contrary, Dwiki’s lecturer introduced him to this program and encouraged him to join because he said Bangkit is an excellent tech acceleration program.

To learn more about Bangkit, Dwiki started doing little research. Finally, he saw that Bangkit has Cloud Computing (CC) as one of its learning paths. In his opinion, CC has promising opportunities for career development. Therefore, Dwiki decided to sign up for Bangkit.

After being accepted in Bangkit as a CC cohort, Dwiki faced another challenge. Joining Bangkit while creating a bachelor’s thesis pushed Dwiki to manage his time well. He thought about giving up on Bangkit because of his tight deadlines. However, seeing Dwiki’s potency of success, his lecturer supported Dwiki to survive in Bangkit while writing his paper. Encouraged by his lecture, Dwiki’s Bangkit activity and thesis work could finally walk together till the end.

Learning in Bangkit transformed Dwiki into a high-spirited person. After graduating from Bangkit and college, Dwiki pursued any opportunity in sight to make a living while waiting for his bachelor’s certificate to issue.

“The only chance I could grab at that time was to become an “ojek” and a deliveryman. I wasn’t embarrassed wearing my “ojek” uniform and taking my passenger or delivering food from door to door. All the things I did were to give life to my family.”

Dwiki met a better opportunity once his bachelor’s certificate was issued. He started to apply to numerous companies. Not long after that, a golden opportunity came closer to Dwiki.

Taking Part in the Cabinet Secretariat of the Republic of Indonesia

Officially holding a bachelor's degree and Bangkit certificate opened many doors for Dwiki. One of them was a vacancy in the Indonesian Office of Cabinet Affairs offered by his senior. That governmental institution was looking for an IT Staff at that time. Many of Dwiki’s friends were in doubt about applying for that position, while Dwiki saw this as a golden opportunity.

In the recruitment process, Dwiki said that the recruiter was intrigued by Bangkit. The most asked questions during the interview were about Bangkit because of Google's involvement.

“They wanted to know further about Bangkit activity, the learning output, also the impact. Therefore, knowing that I survived, thrived, and then graduated well from Bangkit, I managed to be hired as a contract-based IT Staff at the Indonesian Office of Cabinet Affairs.”

As a Full-Stack Developer, Dwiki was responsible for developing the website of Data Center and Information Technology (Pusdatin) and maintaining applications for the human resources department. Dwiki admitted that his knowledge about CC from Bangkit impacted him, who handles the server at the office. Besides that, the soft skill teachings about time management and teamwork were also helpful for his work.

Therefore, Dwiki hoped he could someday be a civil servant in the IT sector. If the opportunity hasn’t come, he would like to hone his IT skills by working in a leading tech company. It didn’t matter for Dwiki to work anywhere because all that Dwiki wanted was to implement his IT knowledge into a real working environment.

For his junior in Bangkit 2022, he has three messages.

“First, whenever you enter a new environment, be willing to learn something new and start from scratch. Second, never feel inferior seeing your peers’ success. Remember that everyone has their own timeline for reaching their goals. Last but not least, luck is a point where opportunity and readiness meet. So, make sure you prepare well.” 

More stories about Bangkit alumni & cohort:

1. Aviel Singkop Naftali - "Bangkit has empowered me to help high school students unleash their potential."
2. Garry Putranto Arimurti - Being the Most Reliable Talent After Graduated with Distinction
3. Valensio Leonard - Bangkit as the Gateway of More Promising Opportunities