Astra Digital

When Astra — one of Indonesia’s oldest and most respected conglomerates — decided to build their digital services arm, they needed more than just a website. They needed a platform that could tell the story of where they’re going, not just where they’ve been.

The challenge

Astra Digital manages a portfolio of tech startups spanning logistics (Paxel), automotive (OLXmobbi), healthtech (Halodoc), and agritech (Sayurbox). The site had to feel modern and forward-looking while respecting the weight of the Astra brand. It needed to work in both Indonesian and English, handle dynamic content from their editorial team, and scale across multiple service pages without becoming a maintenance headache.

My role

I came in as a frontend developer on a cross-functional team — working alongside a PM, senior frontend engineer, backend developers, and QA. The workflow was sprint-based: every day we’d sync up to discuss progress, blockers, and priorities. It was my first time working in a structured enterprise team, and the rhythm took some getting used to.

My main responsibility was slicing UI designs into production-ready code. Taking Figma files and turning them into responsive, accessible components that actually matched what the designers intended. No “close enough” — pixel-perfect was the expectation.

What I built

A Next.js application with server-side rendering, handling the bilingual content structure and dynamic routing across their service verticals. The architecture separates content management from presentation, so their editorial team can update articles and portfolio entries without touching code.

Key decisions:

• Next.js for frontend — SSR for SEO, fast page loads, and seamless routing across service pages
• Component-driven architecture — each service vertical (Digital Ventures, Strategy Consulting, Data Intelligence) gets its own composable section
• TypeScript throughout — when you’re building for a corporate client, type safety isn’t optional
• Performance-first — corporate stakeholders notice slow loads; every page targets sub-2-second LCP

What surprised me

Enterprise teams move differently. There’s more process, more approval chains, more “let’s discuss this in the next sprint.” At first it felt slow. But I realized the structure exists for a reason — when you’re building for a brand like Astra, every decision has stakeholders. The daily syncups kept everyone aligned and prevented things from slipping through the cracks.

What I learned

Working in a structured team taught me how to communicate technical decisions, not just make them. The PM doesn’t care about your component library choices — they care about whether the feature ships on time. Learning to bridge that gap between technical and business language was more valuable than any framework tutorial.