Born to a geeky chemist father who always wanted me to go to MIT, I grew up hearing about the university but never thought I would attend myself. My father finally succeeded in pushing me to get here. He had told me to aim for MIT ever since I was in middle school. I didn’t take that advice seriously at the time, but in recent years I thought, why not? I took a sabbatical leave after years of working at IBM and jumped into academic life, arriving at MIT in 2025 to attend the Supply Chain Management Master’s Program. It turned out to be fun and intriguing! I will not lie, grad school is just as tiring as work. 😉
Having always worked in procurement, and rotating across roles and users/ clients, I was inspired to learn more about the end-to-end supply chain process. I understand procurement is only a tiny part of the bigger picture of the end to end supply chain process. It focuses more on purchasing activities, handling requisitions, sourcing suppliers, running RFx processes, and negotiating contracts, but that is only the beginning before seeing the broader supply chain perspective.
At MIT SCM, I can gain a helicopter-view conceptual understanding of the end-to-end supply chain, ranging from demand forecasting, managing stock and inventory (thanks to the 260 lectures), how AI plays a role in supply chains, and network optimization. Initially, from a holistic view, it seemed very complex, but over time I found it interesting!
Moreover, when I also took strategic classes outside SCM, such as at the MIT Sloan School and Harvard, my perspective widened. I realized many areas connect to supply chains, such as geopolitical issues, tariff impacts, regulatory policies and technology disruption.
Beyond the topics covered in class, I also met great professors who gave me new insights and brilliant knowledge. I am so grateful to have met them. What I admired most about them is that they are incredibly smart yet remain humble. Meeting smart and brilliant people is precious, but meeting people who are both smart and humble is the most charming experience. Knowing they have deep knowledge yet stay grounded is inspiring.
Being at MIT truly matches the famous saying, “it’s like drinking from a firehose.” I understand that when learning from a firehose of information, perhaps not all lectures will be applied directly to my work. Still, understanding the concepts from those lectures is important to me.
After nearly a decade at work, moving into academic life made me reflect a lot. Leaving my career temporarily was a big deal for me because I truly love my work and apparently I miss my team and my clients!
The most important lesson from my career experience compared to my academic experience was the execution: In my career experience, every decision had to be practical and fast because it directly affected suppliers, contracts, and customers. Whilst in academic life, the focus is slightly different. Instead of rushing, I now have time to step back, study and understand the concepts and the methods, and learn “why” and “how” those decisions and methods actually work.
Some lessons from my career and academic life taught me the importance of persistence and humility. To achieve what we want, we must keep going patiently and strategically without losing hope, even when sometimes the results are not immediately visible. Do it scared, do it unsure, do it imperfectly, but just do it. Along the way, through experiences in both career and academic life, humility should be practiced, because there is always a sky above the sky. Curiosity should be maintained, and learning should be sought from people everywhere, as it is often surprising how much others know beyond what we have already learned.
Nadia Assegaf served as IBM Indonesia Procurement Lead, where she managed ICT products, data center and MRO purchasing, supplier bidding and contract negotiations across the Indonesian market. Driven by curiosity about broader business impact in an end-to-end supply cain process, she is now pursuing Supply Chain Management at MIT. Beyond her professional work, she actively writes for one of Indonesia’s newspapers, The Jakarta Post, sharing insights about procurement innovations specifically in the Indonesia market. She is also committed to social impact, volunteering as a mathematics teacher for elementary school students for an Orphanage Foundation, Yayasan Rumah Yatim. Her dedication was formally recognized by IBM through the Volunteer Badge for completing 100 Hours of Volunteering Contribution.