Every career trajectory features pivotal turning points. For me, that moment arrived in early 2024. Following the completion of an intensive bootcamp cohort at Alkademi, an unexpected vote of confidence emerged: I was appointed as a Project Manager (PM) at Alkademi. This trust stemmed from the leadership style, proactive communication, and problem-solving orientation demonstrated throughout the bootcamp.
Transitioning from a bootcamp participant to stewarding technology projects was no trivial leap. Yet across this journey, my foundation in technical leadership, agile delivery, and engineering depth was forged directly on the frontlines.
Navigating Without a Senior PM
Entering the role presented a distinct institutional circumstance: there was no Senior PM at Alkademi at the time. There was no intermediate managerial tier to provide routine operational guidance.
What initially seemed like a steep climb rapidly transformed into an invaluable learning accelerator: I received direct mentorship from Mas Alfan, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Alkademi.
Endjiansyah leading an engineering coordination session at Alkademi, fostering open communication and technical alignment.
Learning directly under executive engineering leadership instilled a comprehensive, high-level perspective:
- Bridging Stakeholder Vision and Technical Backlogs: Translating partner objectives and user needs into clear, actionable architectural tasks for the engineering team.
- Developer Sprint Cadence: Balancing team throughput to maintain delivery momentum without compromising code health or causing burnout.
- Proactive Risk Mitigation: Handling unpredictable technical blockers and deployment hurdles with structured problem-solving and decisive execution.
The Round Table: The Entire 2024 Alkademi Developer Team
Among the most enduring memories of daily life as a PM are the collaborative sessions held around the circular table at Alkademi’s office. This was where the entire 2024 Alkademi developer cohort gathered with laptops open for daily standups, sprint retrospectives, and architecture brainstorming.
The team formation around the round table held a unique dynamic:
- Two senior developers: Former bootcamp mentors from the previous year who helped cultivate our engineering foundation.
- Adnan, Farid, Hanif, Maahir, and Rijal: Their junior peers who were also my fellow bootcamp peers from the Far Capital program.
The complete 2024 Alkademi developer team gathered around the circular table alongside the senior developers, Adnan, Farid, Hanif, Maahir, and Rijal.
As a PM emerging from the exact same bootcamp cohort, our communication was organic, empathetic, yet rigorously professional. This round table bore witness to countless breakthroughs in technical architecture and shared celebrations for every production release.
Remarkably, the round table was not always a physical one. During Jabar Digital Academy 2024, the entire developer team was scattered across different locations: some in Cianjur, myself in Cikole (Lembang), and the rest at the Alkademi office in Bandung. Despite being dispersed across regions while simultaneously running mentoring activities, our daily standups and development cycles continued to run seamlessly—a testament to the team’s mature collaboration rhythm that was no longer dependent on physical proximity.
Virtual daily standup of the Alkademi developer team during Jabar Digital Academy 2024—development continued smoothly despite the team being spread across Cianjur, Cikole (Lembang), and the Alkademi office in Bandung.
Team dynamics naturally experience transitions and farewells as well. Over time, both of our senior developers alongside Rijal stepped forward into the next chapters of their careers. This departure marked a new dynamic: the internal development team was left without any senior developers.
A warm farewell moment with one of the senior developers served as a treasured reminder that behind codebases and sprint deadlines lies an enduring bond of professional camaraderie.
Endjiansyah alongside a senior developer (former bootcamp mentor) during a warm farewell moment at Alkademi.
Stewarding the TPM Mandate: Technical Depth, Rigorous Delivery
The scope of this journey resonated deeply with the role of a Technical Project Manager (TPM): possessing a nuanced grasp of software architecture while executing end-to-end project management responsibilities. From schedule orchestration and risk mitigation to representing initiatives before high-profile stakeholders.
Reviewing the wider spectrum of initiatives in this portfolio—from regional platforms with the ASEAN Foundation, healthcare and social aid systems for AWS in Communities in Karawang, AI literacy piloting with Minecraft Education reviewed by VP Gibran, educator empowerment in Microsoft Elevate, to community hackathons like Lailatul Coding—each endeavor was powered by this synthesis of technical fluency and disciplined project execution.
Endjiansyah participating in The 6th West Java Investment Summit (WJIS) 2024, where technology program documentation was featured on the main stage screen.
A standout moment in program representation was attending The 6th West Java Investment Summit (WJIS) 2024 alongside CTO Mas Alfan. At this regional investment and development summit, our technology documentation was featured across the center stage screens, complemented by an interactive digital installation showcasing technology aspirations and contributions from across West Java.
Mas Alfan (CTO of Alkademi) before the interactive digital showcase at The 6th West Java Investment Summit (WJIS) 2024—attending the summit alongside Endjiansyah as Alkademi’s technology impact was spotlighted.
February 2026 Dynamics: Passing the Baton and Reinforcing Engineering Frontlines
Time progressed, and by early 2026, Alkademi had scaled substantially. The organizational structure had matured with a growing roster of dedicated talent across project management operations.
With this evolution, the operational baton of Project Manager was handed over to Mas Hanif Fajri, who now stewards project deliveries across Alkademi.
On the other hand, following the departure of the senior developers and Rijal, Alkademi’s software engineering division now relied entirely on the four core developers: Adnan, Farid, Hanif, and Maahir—with no internal senior developer remaining on the team. Concurrently, a strategic surge emerged in demand for specialized technical curriculum authoring, module development, and accelerated software delivery requiring nuanced technical leadership.
Given that most fellow PMs came from non-technical operational backgrounds and the developer team required architectural guidance from within, the decision to transition my role back to Software Engineering proved to be both timely and impactful. The two years of technical leadership honed directly under CTO Mas Alfan served as an invaluable asset to guide fellow engineers from the frontlines, design cutting-edge technology modules, and uphold software quality across Alkademi’s platforms. Furthermore, the collaboration with Mas Hanif Fajri remains deeply integrated; on complex architectural questions and technical advisory, we continue to sit together to formulate the best solutions.
This journey confirms that professional roles in tech are fundamentally fluid and adaptive. Whether steering strategy as a Technical Project Manager or architecting systems as a Software Engineer, my core mission remains unchanged: delivering the highest impact wherever the organization needs it most.
