“Remember that you are always bigger than your problems”

A Story of Amar Luthfi, Bangkit 2022 Student from Informatics Engineering, Universitas Singaperbangsa Karawang

“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.”
C.S. Lewis

As C.S. Lewis said through his quote, life seems to prepare something extraordinary for Amar Luthfi (22). Born in a modest family, Amar―that’s what he called―encountered challenging obstacles in pursuing his dream. He simply wanted to be a tech talent capable enough to launch his career once he graduated college. However, the difficulty in Amar’s life pushed him to make a tremendous effort to survive and get closer to his goals.

One day, Amar found Bangkit. Through this program, he didn’t only derive abundant tech knowledge from experts but also discovered the true meaning of resilience. As a result, Bangkit transformed and made him realize that he is always bigger than his problems.

Born from Persevering Parents

Some are born to affluent parents, while others are born to persevere parents who are persistent in giving the best for their children. Amar was destined to have the second one between the two categories above. His father is a casual worker who only graduated from primary school. Sometimes, he helped a farm owner to sell his crops, became a bike taxi driver, or sold toys in a primary school area. Yet, Amar’s father is willing to take any job to give his family a decent living and pay for his son’s education.

To help Amar’s father meet family needs, Amar’s mother works as a Quran teacher at a mosque in the neighborhood. She teaches children how to read Quran, memorize prayers, and tell the history of Islam. Amar’s mother’s income is just enough to finance her family. Therefore, Amar’s mother once asked Amar to be a Quran teacher to increase the family’s income.

Seeing his family’s economic deficiency, Amar felt less confident in pursuing his dream of going to college like his friends. However, his parents encouraged him to go on with his wishes. So, with the help of his parents' limited finances, Amar goes to Universitas Singaperbangsa Karawang, majoring in Informatics Engineering.

Being Rejected Didn’t Drag Amar Down

Managing to go to college made Amar grateful. His fear of his parents’ limited funds didn’t make him worry anymore once he got into the third semester. At that time, Amar became a Karawang Cerdas Scholarship awardees presented by the Government of Karawang. Amar could study in peace without having to think about his tuition fees.

However, Amar thought that only relying on lectures on campus wasn’t enough to prepare him for his future tech career. His desire to broaden his knowledge about tech led him to meet Dicoding. He knew about this learning platform from his colleagues. Seeing that Dicoding has a well-structured Android curriculum, Amar was interested in signing up for one of Dicoding’s free classes.

Unfortunately, Amar’s laptop specifications withheld him from learning in Dicoding further. However, he had already registered his e-mail address to Dicoding and received a newsletter informing the registration opening of Bangkit 2021. Seeing Bangkit was initiated by Google, supported by GoTo and Traveloka, and had a Cloud Computing path that didn’t need a device with a sophisticated feature, Amar was fascinated to sign himself up.

“I didn’t make it to Bangkit 2021. Only my friends were accepted. However, this didn’t drag me down. I waited a year to register for Bangkit 2022, then successfully accepted as part of the Cloud Computing cohort.”

From a Timid Part-Time Teacher to a Bold Future Tech Talent

Being accepted in Bangkit pushed Amar to manage his time between studying and teaching. Besides studying in college and Bangkit, Amar also gave private lessons for primary schoolers and taught Geography in one Islamic high school in his neighborhood. Amar did this to earn extra money for his daily needs.

It must be difficult for Amar to balance his time. Sometimes, Amar needed more effort to catch up with the learning pace in Bangkit. However, his peers and facilitators were always there to help Amar comprehend all Bangkit materials. As a result, Amar admitted that he had a pleasant Bangkit experience.

Bangkit transformed Amar from a timid person into a tech student with sufficient confidence. It is because Bangkit packed Amar with abundant Cloud Computing skills. Moreover, the flexible Bangkit schedule made Amar more independent and disciplined in learning.

The most exciting part of Bangkit for Amar is the ILT sessions of soft skill classes. All the insights he acquired from this class are very applicable. Amar knew that soft skills learning materials were scarce to get. He didn’t obtain these teachings from campus. Therefore, once Amar attended soft skills class, he would put his focus on that activity.

“Bangkit got me used to communicating in English and equipped me with presentation skills, personal branding, and time management. It transformed me. This program made me a self-assured person and gave me more insights about the Cloud Computing realm.”

“We are always bigger than our problems.”

After learning for more than 900 hours in Bangkit, Amar had an opportunity to implement his skills on the Capstone Project. Through this final project, Amar grasped that innovative solutions didn’t always have to be something sophisticated. Instead, an innovative solution can be a simple thing that solves simple daily problems.

Now, after graduating from Bangkit, Amar couldn’t wait to launch his tech career. While writing his bachelor thesis, Amar participated in Grow with Google Career Fair. He expected to be a Cloud Engineer and work in a leading tech company so that he could give his family a better life.

“After going through a long learning journey in Bangkit while facing many challenges in my life, I understood one thing, that we are always bigger than our problems. No matter how major an obstacle comes into our life, we’ll always find a way to overcome them.”

Therefore, to his Bangkit 2022 fellow and future Bangkit 2023 cohorts, Amar wanted to encourage them to seize any opportunity coming their way. He also convinced them that it would be a lot easier to reach success together, rather than alone, just like Bangkit's motto, “Let’s rise and move forward together!”

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