G30S / Xentree — A movement against the credential-first world

Hey 👋 Product Hunt! Xentree founder here.

Ever been rejected for a job because you didn't have a degree? Or as a leader, have you ever hired someone with a fancy degree but lacking actual skills?

Both scenarios stem from the same root problem: a system that often values credentials over competence. A system obsessed with paper qualifications.

September 30th (tomorrow), I’ll launch a small rebellion against that system.

The Meritocracy Paradox

I'm a huge believer in merit. Without it, we get two toxic outcomes:

❌ High skill, low position = Frustration. Talented people get stuck, their potential wasted.

❌ High position, low skill = Abuse of power. Incompetence leads to bad decisions and mismanagement.

This isn't just a personal frustration; it's a systemic flaw. In my home country, Indonesia, this problem is amplified. Millions of graduates enter the workforce each year, but a massive "skill gap" persists between what the industry needs and what our formal education provides. The system teaches theory, but the world demands application.

Experience is the Real Teacher

The path to true merit isn’t found in a textbook. It's forged through a continuous, iterative, problem-solving journey.

This is the heart of experiential learning—the messy, hands-on process of building, failing, learning, and iterating. Every project you managed, every complex problem you solved, every time you failed and got back up—that’s where your most valuable skills were born.

The problem? These invaluable experiences are often intangible. They don't fit neatly on a resume, they are hard to articulate in an interview, and they get lost over time. Your proof of work is scattered and invisible.

This is why I built Xentree — The AI-powered skill portfolio.

Xentree is an AI-powered tool designed to help you "mine" those experiences and extract them into tangible, provable skills.

Imagine every project, every challenge, and every achievement in your career being analyzed by AI to create a rich, dynamic portfolio of your competencies. It helps you connect the dots backward, showing not just what you did, but the concrete skills you gained along the way.

It’s a tool to help you prove your competence, not just your credentials. Xentree v0.15 marks the first step in helping us all focus on our problem-solving journey, making our growth visible and valuable.

Check this out: https://www.producthunt.com/products/xentree

My Ask From You

Thanks for your upvote. But more than that, I’m looking for your honest feedback and criticism to help shape this early version of Xentree into something people want.

Let's start a movement where competence is valued over credentials, and potential is measured by what you can do, not just what your certificate says.

Let's start the journey \o/

. . .

P.S. You can read more of my thoughts on the productivity paradox here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/productivity-paradox-its-hustle-balance-g-e-bayu-alfian-e5lsf/