David Imanuel Widjaja, PMP

Living life to serve and impact people, community, & society

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Where my story began.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is home to the world’s largest Muslim population and stands as the fourth most populous country globally. Growing up as a Chinese Indonesian while upholding the Christian faith marked our family as a double minority. During the 1998 tragedy riot, which targeted the country's ethnic Chinese population, our family was relocated to Singapore by SGI (Silicon Graphics, Inc.) as my father was SGI's ASEAN/Regional Channel & Marketing Manager. We spent 3 years in Singapore until the riot subsided. Although our family obtained our Singaporean Permanent Resident (PR), we decided to forfeit it and return to Indonesia with a mission to continue building and advancing Indonesia's Information Technology (IT) infrastructure and IT talents.

The journey from the east to west.

My father said, "I strived to go from a small village to the big city, in the same way I want you to strive from Indonesia to the USA."

Hence, my father sent me to the US for college so that I could strive and build my character, competency, and career (3Cs) by going out of my comfort zone. Although I was accepted to public universities, such as the University of Minnesota, I chose Calvin University (formerly known as Calvin College) in Grand Rapids, MI. Calvin College provides a holistic approach in building one's character and competency that are rooted in deep Christian faith. During my time at Calvin, I started working as a Cleaning Crew, where I worked every day from 9 PM to 11 PM, building my discipline and character.

Gradually, I began transitioning to on-campus jobs relating to my major, which was a double major in Computer Information Systems & Business (Marketing) from both the Computer Science and Business departments. My focus was on learning to design digital products, systems, and technology to solve business and organizational problems. To enhance my learning, I was determined to get at least one internship every summer and explored different types of companies and roles. I also took an interim abroad in China to learn about the Business and Engineering landscape there, and also a semester abroad at York, United Kingdom, as I enjoy learning/experiencing different cultures.

After 4 years, I graduated with my double majors and received the highest honor from both the Computer Science and Business departments, along with receiving the all-semester dean's list.

Grace on foreign grounds.

I was in college during a time in a government administration that was immigrant-averse. When I was interning at Amway Global Headquarters in Ada, MI, as a Global CRM Solutions Systems Analyst, the Human Resources department told me that I was the highest-performing intern. Yet, they could not provide me with a return offer for International Students. The following year, the question "Do you require sponsorship?" (Visa sponsorship) started showing up in all job applications. Hence, by the time I graduated, securing a job was challenging.

As an International student on an F-1 Student Visa OPT (Optional Practical Training), I had just 60 days to find work or leave the U.S. I applied to hundreds of jobs, and most of the rejections were due to visa limitations. At the very best, I was fortunate to have gotten another summer internship as a Data Analyst/Engineer at Priority Health (owned by Corewell Health, previously known as Spectrum Health). But by the grace of God, as I was already planning my plans to go back and develop Indonesia through continuing my family's IT business, Deloitte called me last minute and offered me a full-time position as a Risk & Financial Advisory Consultant. Because I'm a man of my word and I've committed to the internship at Priority Health, I told Deloitte that I will negotiate with Priority Health first before accepting the offer.

After discernments and negotiations, I was able to find a middle ground by first finishing my Priority Health internship before moving to Deloitte. Even so, due to the current administration, my employment authorization document (EAD) card was delayed, and my three-month internship was cut into two months. But Priority Health was gracious enough to still accept me. I managed to finish well, understanding the whole US healthcare system within a short period of time and delivering a scalable data pipeline for Obamacare reporting at CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services).

By the grace of God, I was fortunate to join Deloitte, yet many of my peers were not. I studied USCIS regulations, consulted with lawyers, and discovered how NGOs could provide compliant project-based volunteering. As I was an active volunteer at the Fellowship of Indonesian Christians in America (FICA), being one of the directors, I proposed a process and system to the board members on how we can help other international students by creating a compliant OPT volunteering program. Though the board feared legal risks, I gathered volunteers and piloted this program with one student. Five years later, 35 students have joined the program, and about 30% secured full-time jobs in the U.S.

Initially, I was only able to work for 3 years at Deloitte, USA, due to the F-1 Visa OPT restrictions. To continue beyond 3 years, one needs to get the H-1B Working Visa through a lottery system, where only sixty-five thousand allotted visas are available for the whole world. As I did not get the lottery the first year, I was planning to go back to Indonesia. Yet, by the grace of God, I got the lottery in my second year, and I was able to work for 6 more years. In the same year, during the COVID-19 pandemic's great resignation, Deloitte suddenly changed its green card sponsorship policy. Initially, Deloitte will start the green card process sponsorship only after five years if one's a campus hire. However, Deloitte suddenly changed the policy to two years instead of five years.

Yet, the green card process was not smooth sailing. Due to the pandemic, San Francisco had an ordinance that forced companies within the city to halt their hiring. This caused Deloitte to move me to the San Jose office, as companies that are not hiring can't proceed with the initial recruiting phase of the green card process. Moreover, due to the election resulting in another government administration that was immigrant-averse, there was a retroregression that caused a backlog in green card I-140 application processing for the first time in years. Hence, Deloitte was not able to proceed with the green card process.

The immigration politics escalated to a point where the administration has declared a $100,000 fee for certain H-1B visa petitions. Yet, by the grace of God, in the midst of the immigration political instability and after almost 6 years building my career with Deloitte, my wife and I finally got our green card in the week of 4th of July, 2025.

Soli Deo Gloria - All Glory be to God Alone.

The roadmap less traveled.

Faith and Family — the two biggest influences in shaping my principles and mission in life.

Pioneering AI Infrastructure in Indonesia, PT Epsindo Prima Solusi is NVIDIA’s only Elite partner for DGX Supercomputer Solutions and opened the market for NVIDIA’s AI Nation. However, our family's company, being a clean business that upholds integrity in a corrupt system, caused our family to lose millions of dollars in opportunities. Yet, my father keeps reminding me to uphold our integrity, character, and competency, and not to compromise on immoral decisions — no matter what the cost and consequences — as it is the right thing to do as a moral being. In this case, the price of upholding our values has caused our business to remain a small company for more than 17 years.

As my father has passed retirement age, the time draws near when I’ll be taking over his legacy and continuing to uphold our principles. With all the blessings and privileges of studying and working in the US, I’m determined to expand my family’s business into the US, where the venture will demonstrate how Technology/AI-driven platforms and solutions can truly create social good at scale through character and high competency.

I know that upholding our principles will be challenging, especially being a double minority in Indonesia. But observing leaders like Ahok, the former Chinese Christian governor of Jakarta, who fought corruption despite facing imprisonment, reinforced my understanding that meaningful societal impact often requires courage, vision, and working beyond personal gain.

Therefore, as I integrate my career in the US with expanding my family’s AI business, I embrace every moment, because at the end of the day, integrity, resilience, and community-building are not just values I inherited—they are the foundation of the legacy I aim to scale for Indonesia and the world.