Self-Belief: A Fundamental to Keep Pushing Amidst Obstacles

Coming from Cilegon, Manfred Michael (22) is currently pursuing undergraduate education at Gunadarma University, Depok. He chose Informatics Engineering for a reasonably unique reason. His father's love for technology, or rather playing games to the point of getting "top global" predicate, encouraged him to follow similar things in his own way.

Although Michael likes playing games, the Machine Learning path refers to his fundamentals in taking a role in the technology sector. What has he gone through from self-learning through YouTube tutorials to getting a job, even before graduating from college?

Deepening Machine Learning Since Freshman

"My parents didn't demand that I pursue a career in a particular sector. However, it would seem cool if I could become a lawyer," Michael chirped with a chuckle.

After giving a fun fact about a career sector that had the potential for him, Michael shared that he has been fond of Machine Learning since freshman. At that time, he studied diligently through tutorials on YouTube.

Moreover, in the second semester, the last child of two siblings was eager to develop his knowledge by joining Google Developer Clubs (GDSC) on campus. At first, he had a role as a Machine Learning supervisor. Then, he tried the others by taking on speaker and moderator responsibilities.

Michael's GDSC friends, who have become Gunadarma's alums, have had promising careers. He then tried to dig for information to get the same opportunity. What do they say?

“To be involved in the industrial sector, with rapid development and tight competition, we need to learn outside lecture materials. One of the learning programs we can deal with came into Bangkit. Register yourself and feel the benefits when running a professional life later.”

Without further consideration, Michael registered for Bangkit by taking the Machine Learning path. Before discovering this program, he wanted a TensorFlow certificate, but the costs discouraged him. No wonder his motivation increased by trying to perform best when he was finally selected as a Cohort.

Exploring Insightful Input while Bangkit

"What are the challenging parts when following Bangkit?" This question dragged Michael into memories about his participation. He said that managing time in such a way as to complete all courses was not easy peasy.

Nevertheless, Michael found it very helpful in the time management soft skills session since his daily schedule began to be organized after he practiced it. The simple thing that made it perfect was the use of Google Calendar.

To say nothing of time management, another soft skill he explored was communication. Why so? During Bangkit, he tried to build relationships with fellows on Discord. He also shared knowledge with them and provided support for mutual development.

Entering the Capstone Project agenda, Michael and his team chose a company-based approach guided by Traveloka. Of the four categories, they are interested in working on "Price Engine Optimization." In the opinion of a boy who has a hobby of watching films, along with making predictions from previous sales history, there needs to be a breakthrough to develop a more complex system.

Michael's exploration also penetrated another soft skill, namely creativity, after attending the soft skills session "Idea Generation & MVP Planning." Besides searching, processing datasets, and developing demand forecasting models, he also proposed unique ideas that became the main feature.

Thanks to this idea, Michael and his team were nominated as the best team for the "Price Engine Optimization" category. Why so? As claimed by the judges, the predictions based on the users' wishes can provide exciting novelty. Furthermore, when the application is related to set-up discounts, that can be toggled on or off easily.

Anyhow, the achievements they got were not like falling off a log. They didn't understand the development system "Price Engine Optimization" at first. It can be adequately resolved thanks to perseverance in self-learning together and actively asking questions in the forum provided.

Train Self-Belief after Passing a Challenge

Another challenge in Bangkit that Michael had to pass was the TensorFlow certification exam, which he looked forward to. He never skipped three tryouts for the best results. Not to mention, he still has discussion agendas with fellows to improve problem-solving skills as they can show various perspectives to get through a different case. The result?

In addition to getting the TensorFlow certificate he has been waiting for, he became an intern at Nodeflux as an AI Engineer. "I am proud to have passed all the recruitment processes where the applicants reached 8 thousand people," Michael said passionately.

“The experience of problem-solving and mastering the fundamental material of Machine Learning while participating in Bangkit can increase self-competence when undergoing interviews.”

During his internship at Nodeflux, Michael shared that there were many opportunities to learn new tools and libraries. He found it difficult initially, but he has been training in self-belief since he was in Bangkit as he tried to explore.

Michael spent six months at Nodeflux. Not only enriching his experience, especially in trending modeling and deploying, but he also got an idea of his career plan ahead. He wants to become an AI Engineer with strong MLOps skills so his work will be more efficient when applied in the business sector.

Lucky for him, when HR from Jatis Mobile sent a message to him about a job offer as an AI Engineer. No wonder it came from his hard work after sending applications to more than 50 companies along with the thesis process.

At the end of the interview session, Michael left a message for the Bangkit Cohort 2023. He said high motivation is needed when participating in this learning program, especially if you have other activities, such as studying or working. When you feel down, don't be afraid to ask for help. "Throw a question on Discord, and there will be many people happy to answer it," Michael said.

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