Ideally, Anyone Can Be a Programmer

Arigi Wiratama is one of a living testimonies to the statement that "anyone can be a programmer". The youngest mentor on the Refactory programming bootcamp, Arigi's story is not only interesting but also heroic. This is a story of the determination of a young man who literally started from scratch, and then skyrocketed his position until he leads one of the big projects in Refactory, and only God knows where he'll stop.

I joined BixBox (startup where Refactory founder is connected), 5 months prior to Arigi. So I had the leisure to watch his growth. And it is amazing, even though it begins with a meeting that tends to be unimpressive.

A few days prior to him joining, we at BixBox received short notice that Taufan (CEO of BixBox) offering a 17-year-old boy, freshly graduated of high school, for a chance of internship. That is Arigi. He looks exactly as he should be: a young, tiny boy, with a typical Arek Suroboyo vibe. His eyes are full of sparkle, filled with great enthusiasm for learning programming, which surprisingly, is a whole new world to him. That's that. There are nothing special i noticed. Bummer.

Later, Arigi was placed under Gufron wings (currently, COO Refactory). A ball of fervor. That is my second impression on Arigi. He keep bouncing back and forth behind Gufron just to see how Gufron work. Gufron who is a patient man by default, often become uncomfortable for his guts. Once or twice, I heard Arigi's question was returned with the answer "Google first before asking". But, looking back, i sincerely thinking that this is what greatly contribute to form Arigi splendid work habit as programmer: Google first before asking.

During his internship, Arigi diligently following each of our extreme schedules. Some of the time, we even goes overtime 2 straight days a row only to prepare for an apps demo schedule. I think, through this process, Arigi was forged to adapt in a militant tempo.

Now, Arigi at the age of 18 and almost 19 years old, is leading a Refactory project which resulted in 5 star satisfaction. Even Steve Jobs (according to 'Bite in the Apple' written by Chrisan Brennan) at the age of 18 years old is still losing his way. He and Wozniak (Apple cofounders) sold an illegal tools to hijack the phone charge to save money to go to college, which later he only use to take ceramics, poetry and dance classes. It's safe to say that Arigi had an early start than Steve Jobs.

Arigi is every cell that represents Refactory. His existence in the programming world is the premise that represents all of the essence we trust in Refactory. That is everyone, with the proper support of environment, amplified with their strong sense of self determination, ideally anyone can be a professional programmer.

And Arigi internship is the basis of the Refactory establishment. We want to provide a thriving environment to those who have a strong determination to skyrocket his career as programmers. Who knows, in the not-so-distant future, the next icon of technology after Steve Jobs, is coming from Indonesia, or we hope, from Refactory.

This story was published first on Refactory Blog (Visit to read the Indonesian version).