Send the Song: A Side Project That Went Viral All the Way to the Philippines
A Story of Muhammad Razan Fawwaz, Bangkit 2023 Batch 1 Graduate from Informatics, Universitas Syiah Kuala
That Saturday afternoon, the clouds hung heavy, just as gloomy as Muhammad Razan Fawwaz (22) felt. He had just parted ways with someone dear to him and struggled to cope with the loss. Determined to express his feelings, Razan yearned to convey his final thoughts in a heartfelt message attached to a song.
To give voice to his emotions, Razan started coding a website called “Send the Song.” This platform would allow him to share song links and personalized messages with specific individuals. Instead of sending the link to the intended recipient, Razan changed his mind. He decided to publish Send the Song and share it on TikTok.
Within hours, “Send the Song” went viral, becoming a platform for people to share their feelings through songs and messages. Surprisingly, it even gained popularity among users from the Philippines. Razan never expected his simple project to attract so many people.
What was the secret behind Razan’s ability to develop a simple idea that captured the hearts of so many? Let’s dive into his complete story!
Growing Up in a Place Where Technology-Driven Learning Opportunities Were Limited
Razan was born and raised in Aceh. Since childhood, he has shown a keen interest in computers. He started taking apart computers when he was still in elementary school. Both of his parents supported their firstborn’s passion.
“My parents have always encouraged me to explore and try new things. They never worried about me breaking the computer while tinkering because they knew it could be fixed. For them, the most important thing was that I was learning and growing.”
Considering the limited facilities available at his boarding school to dive deep into tech, Razan began his self-paced learning journey. One of the platforms he relied on the most was Dicoding. Unfortunately, the time available for him to take online classes during college was insufficient. Therefore, Razan couldn’t finish some of his Dicoding courses.
However, Razan’s earnestness to learn more about technology intensified as his high school graduation day approached. Therefore, he pursued higher education at Universitas Syiah Kuala (USK) in his hometown, majoring in informatics.
A GDSC Lead Interested in Learning Cloud Computing in Bangkit
As an informatics student at USK, Razan was excited to join the Google Developer Student Club (GDSC), an opportunity to feel the atmosphere of the Google-led tech student community. Razan’s contribution to GDSC at USK earned him a leadership position. He actively became GDSC Lead at USK from August 2022 to July 2023. Two months after being appointed GDSC Lead at USK, Razan was also selected to be the Lead of GDSC Indonesia.
From GDSC, Razan got acquainted with Bangkit, a career readiness program initiated by Google and supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (MoECRT), GoTo, and Traveloka. Seeing many of his seniors became Bangkit participants, Razan was interested in signing up.
Among the three offered learning paths: Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, and Mobile Development (Android), Razan was fascinated by Cloud Computing. His experience learning how to deploy websites and participating in the Juara Google Cloud Platform (GCP) program in 2022 became his strongest motivation to pick this learning path.
After completing a series of selection processes, Razan finally received an email letter of acceptance from Bangkit. He was excited to begin his learning journey.
Earned Associate Cloud Engineer Certification and Professional Cloud Architect Certification
It was challenging yet rewarding for Razan to learn in Bangkit. There was one time when Razan had to manage his time during Ramadan to ensure his Bangkit progress was ahead of schedule, handle GDSC events well, and attend classes on campus. He admitted that the time management class taught in Bangkit helped him sort things out.
Although Razan had to do many things to check the list of his Bangkit duties, he felt lucky to have the opportunity to get to know many people in this program. His favorite part was when Bangkit facilitated a Discord channel for fellow cohort members who had a particular interest in aviation, or they called themselves “Avgeek.”
Besides an expanded professional network, Razan earned many other things from Bangkit. He could solidify his knowledge about Google Cloud service and broaden his horizons regarding Cloud Computing’s best practices. These played pivotal roles in Razan’s success in the Associate Cloud Engineer (ACE) certification exam and the Professional Cloud Architect (PCA) certification.
“The Cloud Computing fundamentals taught in Bangkit assisted me when I dived deeper into this technology to prepare myself for the PCA certification. Already familiar with Google Cloud services, my well-built business instinct and architecture helped me earn this advanced certification.”
Heartbreak: The Momen Razan Implemented His Knowledge
Razan never thought he would apply his knowledge during such heartbreak. He mentioned that “Send the Song” was developed during the weekend and never expected that his innovation would blow the internet, especially among Generation Zs and Alphas in Indonesia.
“At first, I just wanted to treat ‘Send the Song’ as my portfolio dedicated to someone significant to me, but I got this random idea to put it on social media. Finishing this project in the afternoon, I never expected that ‘Send the Song’ would become viral at 8 p.m. on the same day, only two hours after I posted it on TikTok.”
Knowing that ‘Send the Song’ was popular in the Philippines also surprised Razan. It excited him to optimize and further develop the innovation.
Don’t Be Afraid to Start Small
The learning material acquired from Bangkit on managing server and cloud resources helped Razan build ‘Send the Song.’ This work earned him recognition from USK, seeing that ‘Send the Song’ finally has millions of users. Although ‘Send the Song’ has become successful, Razan still aspired to launch a career as a tech talent before embarking on a journey as a technopreneur.
“I think before taking the plunge into the world of technopreneur, I have to gain more knowledge in a tech company and further expand my professional network. I believe that my working experience could someday scale ‘Send the Song’ up.”
“If you’re dreaming of creating technology, just go for it! Send the Song was just a random side project at first, too. But guess what? Your side project could be a hit and your best portfolio piece. So, don’t be afraid to start small.”
More stories about Bangkit Alum and Cohort:
Comments
Post a Comment