KINCIR ANGIN

Hello, its me, bayu.

This is a series of my career experiences in the past two years. In this article I will share my experience of working with people from BPPT in conducting research projects.

In fact, the company where I work has a partnership with MEPPO BPPT since 2016. MEPPO BPPT as a research organization and my company as their partners from the industry. We aim to develop industrial CNC machines for educational purposes. CNC machine is one type of machine that has been used massively in factories or other industries, especially for production purposes such as for making molds. My company is a local company that specializes in manufacturing these machines.

BT MEPPO or MEPPO BPPT is part of a BPPT government organization that specializes in machinery. In 2019, our research proposal with MEPPO BPPT was granted funding from KEMENRISTEKDIKTI in the industrial technology development program (PPTI). Therefore I have the opportunity to work together and know how it really is working with people from BPPT. I really learned many things, good and bad experiences. Honestly I'm really disappointed. But, I don't want to be subjective because this is my first time working with people from BPPT as their partners.

Actually, the program duration is one year but technically it starts in August 2019 and ends in December 2019. I was given the responsibility to handle the electrical system together with other electrical engineers from MEPPO BPPT.

In its implementation, I feel that our engineer from my company and other engineers from MEPPO BPPT have very poor coordination. My company takes this project seriously and really wants to make a good product but people from BPPT seem to only want to complete this project regardless of the results, to be honest most of the technical work is done by engineers from my company. Sometimes I also feel that they underestimate our work, even my boss told me that. The truth is that all of the design and implementation concepts in the field are led by people from my company and maybe because of that they doubt and then underestimate it. I think this is ironic. For my company, this program is very important to go to the next prototyping stage but for people from BPPT I think it's only for credit. Sorry to say that.

Not everyone from BPPT is annoying, I appreciate some of them. There is one person that I really respect. He is a senior engineer who has a mechanical engineering background and has a good vision. He had a dream to build his own industrial cnc machine, so from a young age he learned many things freely. The most important thing according to him is knowing how (best practices) besides knowledge. For example, he explained, Mr. Habibie could theoretically tell people how to make airplanes, but to show people how to actually implement it he had to give a real example, that is what is meant by knowing how (best pratices). A best pratices is like accumulation experience that different from one person to another, so it was more difficult to pass down to next generation. And one thing, because of the high costs in the development process he thought it would be good if development process of industrial technology could be done on the government side and the government must provide full support. It would be difficult if given the task to private companies that are only supported by investors, especially from local companies.

In the end it was subjective from my perspective..haha, But there are still many things to be learned for sure. As my boss said, it will be bloodly hell difficult.

Hello, its me bayu.

I want to tell you in more detail about my job role. When someone asks me what my job description is, I really don't know how to explain it. As you already know, my company is more like a startup, it is a manufacturing company but still in the stage of making prototypes and experimenting. When I talk about my work, I am really proud of what I do, because my company was founded by local people, my CEO came from Kediri and graduated from mechanical engineering department of ITB. He has a background of mechanical but also able to code firmware and understand electronics. He is a strong figure who has been proven to establish a local company before and also has a strong technical sense in the mechanical and electrical fields. He is still in middle of 40 and currently handles two companies, both as CEO.

In my last article, I mentioned that in my company I was the only electrical engineer so basically all the tasks that have the scope in electricity are my responsibility. Imagine that you have just graduated and you have to handle all the work yourself, without technical training, only independent study. I have two friends, they are mechanical engineers who also graduated from ITB. The first is a mechanical design engineer specializing in CNC, the other is a mechanical design engineer specializing in engine. Our boss is the CEO I mentioned before. Basically we directly get instructions from him.

When I say that my job role is to explore and experiment, I don't mean to be overly dramatic. I think it's common for those who work at RnD, especially in startup companies that force people to learn and do things that sometimes don't really relate to their background studies. This also applies to my company. We have our motto, "make everything from scratch, open source is better", in fact that's what everyone learns in the first place, for example instead of a microsoft office you have to use a libre office, instead of a windows operating system you have to familier with linux operating system.

Being an RnD team isn't really as great as you think it is but it's still fun because you have to do a lot of experimentation, explore all possibilities, also you have to stay on track, endure stress, and manage it as best as you can. Usually getting a little progress is sometimes very time consuming. But even small progress is very important. Our CEO doesn't just sit in his chair, he directly leads the RnD process, that's why his employees really respect him. We just have to discuss everything with him and do our best. Sometimes I wonder how he can be so competent in handling all the company tasks when his background is engineering.

Developing a product is very difficult. First, you must understand the problem correctly, then learn the basic concepts from all fields related to the problem and finally develop solutions based on it. The formula that everyone knows is to see, learn, and modify or in Indonesian "tiru, amati, modifikasi". What I learned is that applying that principle to the product development process is not entirely wrong, basically we don't know anything and we learn from existing solutions, not just copy other people's work and republish it. This is our effort to understand how things work. Actually, it's not easy and really difficult, especially in small companies where you only have limited resources.

After all, we are just local people who want to be independent in technology. In this pandemic, we are still alive and continuing research, even small progress really has a lot of meaning for us, sometimes it can make our sleep better.

Hello, it's me, bayu.

I rarely talk about my job, but in this article i want to share about my career life after I graduated in December 2017 from college. I have a bachelor's degree from the electrical engineering department from University of Jenderal Soedirman. So I am an electrical engineer. then I got my first job as a embedded & instrument engineer.

As everyone who graduates knows, getting a job is very difficult. I have to pretend to be someone else just to be employed,  beating another candidate, impress recruiter and something like that, Yes I know as a fresh graduate people there is no value except the spirit of enthusiasm to study and of course the desire to struggle to finish the job.

I really wanted to rely on the skills I got from college but that didn't help me much. Somehow after a few months of struggling I got my first job. Initially I thought it was a very cool position, embedded & instrument engineer, I was very happy and blessed to have the job I dreamed of when I was in college. But it didn't go well and I really had to try hard to get fit in my company. more like what I'm studying in college were nothing. haha ... damn but that's true, the reality is really cruel if you want to know.

I adapt and learn many things, I endure day after day, month after month and when I look back it's been two years. to be honest, I was bored and started thinking about quitting and looking for another job. The reason is that I feel tired all the time and I feel that I haven't gone anywhere in the last two years. It's very difficult to develop your own skills. I have tried to take a freelance job to vary my activities and also to raise more money, but I am still bored.

Actually my job is not too special. Varies from time to time, at first I was given the task to connect the electrical system of CNC machine,  learn to read wiring diagrams, PLC programming and machine commissioning. Then, at any cost I have to design a PCB of 3-phase asyncronus AC motor drive and also programmed the firmware. It took me more than 5 months to make an alpha prototype, frustrating all the time, exploding over and over again. It was truly a nightmare, even though I imagined quitting my job every day, I could still bear it.

After that, I was assigned to another project, my company collaborated with MEPPO BPPT doing a research project to make another CNC machine. It started in August last year and ended in December. It's not really over yet, I still have a lot of work to do but because the corona virus pandemic, it was postponed for an unspecified time. So here I am still wondering, do I have to stay or find another job ....

Let's stay for a little longer, maybe the situation will get better. There’re many things to learn but I am really sick to work and study by myself. Fyi, i was the only one that have bachelor of electrical engineering in my company. This is my story of two years of work. How about you?

‘Teman’, semakin dewasa pertemanan kita akan menjadi luas secara sekilas, tetapi sebenarnya hanya di permukaan. Semakin dewasa, pertemanan akan tumbuh dalam bidang 3 dimensi, kedalaman. Orang-orang yang satu frekuensi akan saling berkumpul. Orang-orang yang satu visi akan bertemu di perjalanan.

Every time I wake up in the morning, I tell myself

"Just one more day, please. Everything shall pass."

At the end of the day, "thanks to myself for surviving today, alhamdulillah, thank God".

Jika kita secara egois berkeyakinan kita bisa melakukan apa pun dengan hidup kita, itu tidak salah sama sekali, sungguh kita boleh mempertanyakan keyakinan kita ini dan mencari kebenaran di dunia ini. Apa pun itu kita tetap harus berbuat baik pada kedua orang tua kita, saudara, sanak-keluarga, teman dan tetangga kita. Sungguh tidak masalah bersikap egois atas keputusan-keputusan dalam hidup kita ini. Coba pikirkan dan rasakan lagi,

"What matters the most to you?".

"What do you want to do with ur life?".

Depok, 16032020 00:29 AM

Hal yang paling menyakitkan itu aku pikir bukan saat kita tidak mendapatkan apa yang paling kita inginkan, misalnya tidak diterima di sekolah impian, atau saat perasaan suka kita tidak berbalas oleh lawan jenis yang kita sukai, bukan juga saat kita dimarahi atasan atau terpaksa melakukan sesuatu yg kita tidak harapkan.

Aku rasa hal yang paling menyakitkan itu adalah melihat orang tua kita sakit. Orang tua kita pintar sekali menyembunyikan perasaan mereka di depan anak-anaknya. Ketika sakit pun mereka tidak banyak mengeluh. Tidak pernah terbayangkan sebelumnya bagaimana perasaan orang tua yang melihat anaknya sakit. Raut khawatir di wajah mereka, doa yang selalu dipanjatkan sehabis salat, sulit tidur dan terus memikirkan kondisi anaknya. Bahkan mereka mungkin berdoa agar sakit yg diderita anaknya dipindahkan saja kepada mereka. MasyaAllah.

Ketika kita jatuh dan terluka, orang tua-lah yang pertama datang dan menguatkan kita, mereka selalu mendoakan kebaikan untuk kita, tidak pernah menyerah berjuang demi anaknya, mereka melakukan berbagai macam hal yang tidak pernah kita bayangkan agar kebutuhan anaknya tercukupi. Lalu melihat satu demi satu anaknya pergi meninggalakan rumah. Sulit sekali menjelaskan perasaan itu.

Ketika kita beranjak dewasa dan melihat orang tua kita yang semakin menua. Melihat keriput di wajah dan kulit mereka, melihat rambut putih yang semakin dominan, melihat mata mereka yang sayu. Mereka cukup merasa senang ketika kita sudah bisa mandiri, memiliki keluarga sendiri. Mereka tidak meminta balasan atas semua jerih payah yang mereka lakukan dahulu kala. Mereka hanya cukup melihat anak-anaknya hidup dengan baik dan mempunyai keluarga sendiri.

Bagi seorang anak, salah satu pilihan sulit yang harus dilakukan untuk membahagiakan orang tua adalah dengan menjadi anak yang sholeh/sholehah, berbakti dan selalu mendoakan kedua orang tuanya.

Pernahkah kamu menanyakan pertanyaan itu pada dirimu sendiri?

“Apa yang paling berharga bagimu di dunia ini?”

Aku...menanyakan pertanyaan itu setiap hari....tapi tetap masih belum menemukan jawabannya.

Waktu berjalan, Tuhan menunjukkan kuasa atas kehendakNya. Aku melihat satu persatu, berbagai macam hal yang kugantungkan di langit terhempas persis seperti meteor yang jatuh dan terbakar di lapisan atmosfer bumi. Hangus menjadi serpihan debu sebelum sempat mendarat di bumi. Menyaksikan itu semua kemudian merasakannya berkali-kali. Sulit menjelaskannya. Seperti menancapkan sembilu di ujung keyakinan. Aku berpikir mungkin aku akan goyah dan tidak sanggup bertahan. Jatuh-terluka-gelisah-sedih-hampa-putus asa-kehilangan-marah.

Hari demi hari berlalu, ketika beranjak dewasa, aku belajar untuk mengikhlaskan dan merelakan. Aku memercayai bahwa semua hal di dunia ini adalah milik Sang Pencipta. Semua hal yang terjadi sehari-hari di sekitar kita adalah ujian. Semua hal yang dititipkan pada kita adalah ujian. Seperti apa dan bagaimana bentuk ujian itu adalah kehendak Allah terhadap makhluknya. Maka hal yang kuyakini benar, Rabbku adalah sebaik-baiknya tempat bergantung-berlindung-dan meminta.

Aku sangat kagum pada orang-orang yang tidak tergoda pada kemilau dunia. Mereka menempatkan din-Nya melebihi apa pun di dunia ini. Mereka bersabar dan tabah menghadapi segala macam ujian di kala cukup maupun kekurangan. Mereka melihat segala hal baik dan percaya bahwa Allah Maha Pengasih dan Penyayang bagi hambanya. Mereka kuat dengan keyakinan itu dan tidak pernah sekali pun berputus asa akan rahmat Allah SWT. Sungguh mengagumkan. Bisa melihat orang-orang seperti itu saja sudah merupakan karunia dan pembelajaran bagiku. Aku ingin terus belajar.

Aku memikirkan bagaimana caranya merangkai kata demi kata, menyampaikan rasa dengan struktur diksi yang elok tapi juga sarat makna. Aku latihan beberapa kali, lagi dan lagi sampai aku merasa cukup. Aku sama sekali tidak tahu cara menulis puisi. Aku ingin menulis puisi. Beberapa kali aku bisa merasakan apa yang aku tulis, mungkin orang lain tidak mengerti-sungguh tidak masalah. Aku pikir semua hal di dunia ini punya pelabuhannya sendiri, termasuk apa yg aku sebut puisi. Tahun berlalu dan aku masih menikmatinya, meski sampai sekarang aku masih ragu menyebut ini puisi-tidak masalah orang lain menyebutnya apa-aku tidak memedulikannya. Aku menyukai cara seperti ini, menulis puisi untuk diri sendiri, entah kamu. Aku tau kamu menulis tentangku, dan jika tebakanku benar, aku sungguh merasa senang. Terima kasih sudah menemani aku menulis.

Aku suka kembali membaca tulisanku beberapa bulan lalu, juga tulisan-tulisannku bertahun-tahun lalu, mungkin seperti berkontemplasi terhadap diri sendiri. Mengenal kembali diri kita di masa lalu. Kadang aku tertegun dan merasa asing akan diriku di masa lalu. Kemudian aku tersadar, perjalanan ini telah membentuk diri kita sedemikian menjadi diri kita di masa sekarang, menjadi diri kita saat ini yg entah kenapa aku merasa perlu merefleksikannya dengan diriku di masa lalu. Aku perlu berbenah.