Introverted Me Wanted To Become A Full-time Programmer, Yet Instead I Ended Up As A Product Manager

Dear Introverts, it’s possible to talk to humans 24/7. I’ve done it myself.

Since I first worked in Quipper, I was assigned to multiple departments.

It was one rough ride.

As a fresh graduate back then, I actually wanted to become a full time programmer, since my background is from IT. However, fate didn’t turn out as I wished it to be. Fate brought me to a different starting point, a starting point I did not plan.

I decided to accept fate, and started out as a Data Analyst here in Quipper, which focused on business development and strategy.

I struggled a lot in the beginning, adapting my IT brain which used to only know how to communicate and work with machines (programming, query, formula, etc).

The Rough Ride

Being a great communicator isn’t nature for me. Back then, people used to not understand what I was talking about even in Indonesian language, due to my limited and poor choice of words (this is another story guys).

Despite that, and after my depth of experience in data, business, and strategy, I was next offered the role of Project Manager or SCRUM Master.

I personally thought that taking the new role as SCRUM Master would be a great chance for me to improve my communication and facilitation skills, so I took it.

It was hard, not gonna lie.

I’m a true Introvert. Actively engaging, participating, and communicating with people all day isn’t something that comes naturally from me. I do have limited energy, and it definitely gets drained easily from doing so.

It was challenging, yet it was such a rewarding and valuable experience for me. It was my turning point, my starting point to such significant growth.

I had to learn to bond and engage with the engineer team, which was the second hardest thing, since most of them are introverts as well.

At that time, SCRUM was also a new concept in Quipper. Therefore, I needed to do another extra effort on engaging them in conversations.

I needed to write product specs and present them to business.

Ensure what I write is understandable from three different minds that works differently (UI-UX, Business and tech).

And sometimes I also got bombarded with questions when some specs written weren’t clear enough to one of the parties (e.g tech understood and business does not) — and ended up having longer meetings.

But then the roughness in my experience, eventually became my turning point

With the above, I then started to read more articles, ask, and see how fellow PM works. I would also often read some books, asking for feedback from the team and my manager, and watch scrum related videos posted on Youtube.

Everything. I tried everything to level up my communication and facilitation skills.

My Manager would generously share his own experiences. He would tip me with useful frameworks that would be helpful in facilitating discussions, and with it — somehow it gave me some kind of solid foundation.

A solid foundation on how we could approach communication and solve problems that arise within discussions, as well to help us stay on track on the goal of discussions.

And as time goes by (with multiple attempts of presentation and meetings), I realized how important yet complicated effective communication is.

I learned that communication is not only a form of skill, but also art. It cannot be learned simply by the book and can only be improved through deliberate experience.

And in business, it is a matter of influencing and negotiating between one another.

The transition to become Product Manager

As I transitioned again to become Product Manager, all of my past experiences and learning became even more relevant to me.

Communicating with different teams and creating product specs was much easier for me, as I have understood how business works generally.

And now getting the chance to work with the tech side — which is one of my core strengths, I can finally connect the dots between my past experience (business-data) and current responsibilities (IT and UX).

As a Product Manager, I need to facilitate discussion between different departments regarding some topics/issues, and also build a solution(s) that works well for everyone.

For example, if we ask 5 different people of each dept. to`Describe the best education app`, you will get 5 different answers that are sometimes not intersected with one another.

Becoming a Product Manager is to find these red strings that actually connect the proposed solutions together. And to get it, first you need to actively listen. Listen to their problems, as well as solutions.

Only then, there will be an act of negotiation and/or prioritization of scopes happening within the discussion to build the best solution that works for everyone.

But also note, that these red strings can be outside the box, this red string could also mean we need to build a new solution outside what is being served within the discussion table.

Becoming a Product Manager is to be able to effectively convey information yet actively listen/sensitive to everyone in the room.

A skill that is relevant to all professionals.

Connecting the dots

The journey I had in Quipper was truly quite a ride. It was exhausting and challenging, yet exhilarating and rewarding.

From experiencing multiple departments, I exercised my adaptability, communication, and facilitation skills, as well learned how the company actually works.

You need to be brave to always ask questions (and make friends) to your co-workers and managers. Especially when you’re in a dynamic working culture. You constantly need to be well informed of every change and updates made.

I somehow now feel like I’ve been given a surprise gift. Looking back, I now understand why I had to start out where I started. In the end everything made sense, and I bore the fruits I was looking for all this time.

My journey here in Quipper became my `career discovery`. Eventually I learned that what I wanted to do is to help people with my IT related knowledge, get my hands dirty on the software that will be used by the students, and play the part on developing software for students and teachers.

And now I’m a proud Junior Product Manager, currently given the opportunity to handle Masterclass (focusing on online coaching and tutoring service) and Educators app (focusing on teacher related features) with our fellow engineers and business team — making sure that what we build is aligned with both the teacher’s and student’s needs in both ID and PH markets.

This unique journey has made me grow so much not only professionally, but also personally.

If I can say anything to young Kevin, I’d like to say “don’t be afraid to try new things, especially for someone who just started his/her career. It’s OK to take some time to find your suitable career, and experiment with it. Try to find really caring mentors — as they will help you grow in a career that you aspire, as well as improve your professionalism to a whole new level.”