Humans of Helix: Toga Hartadinata

Meet Toga Hartadinata

Principal Software Engineer

Helix Principal Software Engineer Toga Hartadinata spent his childhood in Jakarta, the massive capital city of Indonesia. As a child, he loved to play video games, especially Nintendo Super Smash Brothers. His love for video games piqued his interest in technology. When the time came, he made a move to the U.S. to pursue his advanced education at the University of Minnesota (U of M), majoring in computer engineering. During his time at U of M, Toga served as a teaching assistant, an advisory-type role in which he enjoyed helping guide students’ educational journeys.   

After graduation, Toga moved to the Silicon Hills of central Texas to begin his career. Unsure of the field he wanted to work in, Toga explored various opportunities before landing in the financial services industry. In his early career, Toga worked with several highly impactful mentors who helped him build a sound professional foundation. “They said you’re not really that solid on programming yet,” Toga explained, “so they took the time to teach me more about coding, managing projects and how to manage work-life balance.” This helpful guidance served as a model for how he approaches his work today.  

After several years working in BSA/AML systems, Toga joined Helix as a principal engineer. In his role, Toga coordinates with engineering teams, evaluating their challenges and offering solutions and techniques to help teams code better on the technical side. “I work with them to see what problems they have, what their complaints are, what is getting in the way of what they need to do,” says Toga. He offers solutions and different ways to accomplish tasks. “I believe in helping people build their foundation right. With a strong foundation, they can grow and develop on their own.” Toga views his job as an opportunity to pay it forward, like his mentors who helped him early on in his career.  

When it comes to work-life balance, Toga enjoys playing video games with his sons, introducing them to the classic Nintendo games he played as a child. He dreams of one day taking his family to Japan for a dream vacation to explore its historic castles and various cities, and, of course, enjoy Osaka’s Mario Land theme park.