Overlearning to Go Beyond the Limits


A Story of Bagja 9102 Kurniawan, Bangkit 2022 Graduate from Informatics Engineering, Universitas Telkom
“The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you.”
B. B. King, American Singer
Most of us think it’s “the empty container” that needs to be filled with water. When we see the container full, we will stop filling it so the water won’t overflow. Without realizing it, we tend to perceive our minds that way. We’re excited to learn when we feel we don’t know something. However, our learning process stops once we believe our knowledge is sufficient.

That principle doesn’t apply to Bagja 9102 Kurniawan (20). Bagja is a Bangkit 2022 Graduate who has been introduced to computers since kindergarten. Because computers were interesting to explore, Bagja aspired to be a tech talent. So he brought that dream to college and decided to study Informatics Engineering at Universitas Telkom.

Relentlessly learning about tech isn’t dull for Bagja because, in his opinion, overlearning can help him go beyond his limits. It’s proven seeing Bagja become a full-time employee in a Japanese tech company now, even before graduating from college.

Joined Bangkit to Validate His Knowledge


Bagja is an Informatics Engineering student at Universitas Telkom who has been very familiar with computers since kindergarten. He aspired to be a digital talent; therefore, he decided to take one step closer to this dream by studying IT on campus.

During his time as an informatics student, Bagja equipped himself with tech insights independently. As a result, he became a self-taught student interested in exploring Machine Learning. To learn more about this subject, Bagja allocated more time.

Amid his perseverance in studying Machine Learning, Bagja was introduced to Bangkit by his seniors. He heard that Bangkit is a career readiness program initiated by Google and supported by GoTo, Traveloka, and DeepTech, which accommodates students passionate about building startups or working at well-known companies.
“Knowing Bangkit is a good program for students, I was interested in joining it. Apart from that, Bangkit also offered TFD certification opportunity, which attracted me the most. I think that certification can validate my Machine Learning knowledge.”
Therefore, without thinking much, Bagja enrolled in Bangkit. Then, believing that overlearning could take him further and beyond his limits, Bagja picked the Machine Learning path.

Represented the Best Company-Based Capstone Project in Traveloka


After becoming a Machine Learning cohort, Bagja felt that what he got from Bangkit exceeded his expectations. This program sharpened his technical skills and taught him soft skills and English. These two non-technical knowledge made Bagja understand that personal branding matters to a tech talent like him.

In Bangkit, Bagja had an opportunity to implement the learning gained from various courses and ILT sessions in Bangkit by working on the Company-Based Capstone Project. He and his team needed to prove themselves in Traveloka by creating a hotel recommendation app.
“We decided to create a Bali-based hotel recommendation app called ‘HotelBli.’ Why Bali? Because according to the head of BPS Bali, Hanif Yahya, and the World Bank, Bali is one of the main tourism destinations significantly affected by the global pandemic. Knowing that G20, a prestigious intergovernmental event themed ‘Recover Together, Recover Stronger,’ will take place in Bali, we are excited to build the ‘HotelBli’ to help Bali recover. We utilized five deep learning algorithms to find the best hotel recommendations based on the location, reviews, user preferences, etc.”
The HotelBli made Bagja and his team successfully become the best capstone project group in Traveloka. That allowed Bagja to attend the offline event of Bangkit 2022 Graduation, representing his team, to receive awards from Bangkit directly.

Grow with Google Career Fair Get Bagja Closer to His Dream


Learning repeatedly and participating in 900 hours of training in Bangkit got Bagja more than just ready to take the TensorFlow Developer (TFD) certification exam. His belief that overlearning can take him further was proven when Bagja became a certified TFD.

What Bagja accomplished after Bangkit wasn’t only that. After graduating from this program, Bagja participated in the Grow with Google (GwG) Career Fair. He showed the recruiters that he is a ready-to-work tech talent with globally recognized certification.
“Travelling the world by creating footprints, whether working, studying, or doing scientific publications, is my dream. And then, becoming a Machine Learning expert working overseas is part of that big dream. The GwG Career Fair made me closer to that ambition because this event brought me together with Nomura Research Institute Indonesia, a Japanese company that hired me as a Machine Learning Engineer. I believe that my current work experience can help me to work abroad one day.”
Bagja is happy to get a full-time position before graduating from campus. Therefore, he perceives that Bangkit is a program that can bridge every student with their dreams. For Bangkit 2023, Bagja hopes this program will accommodate more Indonesian students who want to upskill and become future tech talent.

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