DARE TO DREAM BIG!

Hey everybody... Nice to meet you all.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Fandi.

First of all, I want to thank Merry Riana for her passion to share her enlightening life stories. I was sharing this story on her forum and the post has to wait for approval to be visible to everyone. Since I have written my story, I just feel can't wait to share. I ended up in the forum because I clicked my friend's "share" on facebook. I was skeptical at first and reluctant to register for the free ebook. But after some googling, I believed the form and registered. I must say the book "Dare to dream big" had somehow motivated me. A huge benefit for a free book I say. Thank You to Merry Riana :) .

I arrived and see the forum was still quite empty (2 topics, 5 posts,2166 members). You know what I thought? "What a waste". You know... the forum is the gathering of 2166 people wanting to be successful. So I propose every single one of the members in these 2166 persons to share their passions and journeys here.

For the greatest benefit of this activity, I proposed some rules:
- Use name and passion as the topic title.
- Make one topic for one's own story and passion.
So that:
- Any new member with similar passions can search and find the life journey of their precedors.
- I am not considering to give up my dreams. And I think no one wish that. So... the story can be updated for every updates regarding our journey.

Okay... enough introduction. I've been itching to tell you my stories.
I Don't know where to start, And I think I will make it chronological. Perhaps I shall start with my SMA (adequate to Senior High School) experience.
When I was at SMA, I rarely had any achievements. I remember that I was at the third rank in my class during my SMA graduation. No... not from the first, but from the last. I mean, I was the 3rd worst person in my class. 2 more rank down and I was dead last.

Even so, I excelled at physics, and I always thought that inventors are cool. So I chose Physics as my major when I go to university. I gave my full on my first three years in the university. And somehow I was one of the most distinguished students there. I've good grades, and acknowledged by my teachers. Right now, I am realizing once again: Passion really make a difference. You see... I was nearly the dead last in SMA. On the contrary, I was nearly the first during my university period. I learned physics and some programming in university. There I found out that I was quite talented (lucky me :D ) at physics and programming. And on that point, when I graduated, I planned to be a scientist or a programmer.

When I came out from university, I accepted a job from a acquaintance. At first I applied for a programmer position. But since I failed the test, I was not accepted as a programmer, but a web admin instead (I provide image and data for the website). There I learned a little of software development. Now I think about this. I think the failure of the test really a good mirror for my arrogance and lack of preparation. My failure of the test was mainly because I was naive. I had above average logic among my peers at university, and so I underestimated the importance of knowledge. The test was about creating a simple book inventory software using Visual Basic 6.0. And yet I failed because I haven't learned Visual Basic 6.0 before. But after that test, I go to the local bookstore, bought a book about it and create the software in just 3 days. I reported that to my superior. But I had been positioned as web admin. And was satisfied and didn't ask to switch to programming division. That also a mistake I think.

I gathered data and images for the web for about 7 months. Then I quit and was about to start life as a freelance programmer. But lack of confidence has stopped me from continuing it. After 3 jobless months, I joined a local tutor center (Indonesian: "Bimbingan belajar"). There I taught Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry for 1st, 2nd and 3rd year of SMA students. I haven't given up my dream yet. I still learned programming. At some point, I can't accept to teach students just for academic purposes. The students and even I complained about the learning curriculum in Indonesia. And so I gave up the tutor center job and applied as a lecturer in some local college. Fortunately I was accepted.

At the college, firstly I taught physics. And helped some students during their final paper on programming freely. I was not their guide or something, I just wanted to help and learn more. Not long, in about a year, I was trusted to teach a programming subjects. I was nervous at first. But I made it. And later, I was quite well known as a lecturer who has a high skill in programming. Some problems arose in this job. And so I no longer wish to continue. So I decided to quit and once again return to be a freelance programmer.

Out from the college, I got myself self confidence and some capital. I mean, I was acknowledged in the college. I think I can easily develop software equivalent to the students final project in only a month at most (I mean the ones related to sales and stock programs). And I am somewhat known among my friends and social community about my programming skills. And hey... right now I am thinking... Perhaps I've quite accumulated the 3C requirements for an entrepreneur mentioned in Merry Riana's free ebook: "Dare to dream big".

And now I am developing a software for a local medium sized company. And I will be developing another software for the government next month. I think i am still underpaid. But well... This is my learning process. So It is alright.

I must admit here that I am currently can be considered failed. The current project I was working on is being overdue for about 3 months to a total of 5 months development time. Not that I am not skilled enough. But I think now that I lack focus and communication. I was still halfly working at the college for the last half year. And at the same time I accepted to work on the software project, alone. I can't focus on the software project because I still need to prepare teaching materials, tasks, quizzes, and tests. I must admit that the software project was quite abandoned. And because of that, I had a lack of communication to the manager of the company. And therefore the requirements often misinterpreted by me. There are some other problems too. But I should not use that as an excuse. An entrepreneur is someone who ventured to the rough and unknown waters, no?

In this current project, even if I succeeded in developing the software and gained payment, I will still consider myself failed. I have failed to deliver my product in time. And that will hurt my credibility considerably, won't it? Now that I think of it. From the 4 software projects I've done, every single one of them overdued. I don't think that is healthy for my credibility and I need to find a way to solve this. Right now I am guessing the problem is not my programming skills, but rather, my planning and communication skills.

Well... That's my story. Now that I've written and posted it. I think that was quite a story. And I am quite surprised to find that I've not thrown away my dream even once. That's all for now. I will update this post later when I have journeyed further. Perhaps next half year. hahaha.

Thank you for reading. May success be ours.
Fandi Susanto (28-02-2012)