Never Let Life Get You Down, Because You’re Stronger Than You Think
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A Story of Yoga Sulistiyo Widodo, Bangkit 2023 Batch 2 Cohort from Information Technology, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta
Life has different ways of transforming us into a resilient person. Even sometimes, it gives us hardship so we can grow stronger and tougher as time goes by. Yoga Sulistiyo Widodo (20) had experienced this. The young man already understood that life’s obstacles are inevitable because of the difficulties that his family underwent not so long ago.
Navigating through the ups and downs of life, Yoga realized that life's challenges exist not to let him down but to teach him how to bounce back from setbacks. He knew that he was stronger than he thought and would leverage his resilience to build a successful career in tech.
Yoga and His Family in Overcoming Adversity
In Desa Trayeman, Kabupaten Tegal, Yoga was born from a humble family. His father was a teacher, and his mother was a housewife. As a middle-class family, Yoga had gone through both good and bad times with them.
Previously, Yoga’s family lived a comfortable life. However, their life took a drastic turn when all the family members had to band together to provide financial support for Yoga’s late sister's cervical cancer treatment. Yoga's sister's passing from cervical cancer was a devastating blow to the family, both emotionally and financially.
Having to pay the remainder of Yoga’s sister's medical debt, Yoga's father's remaining salary as a teacher was only IDR 200,000 (USD 13) per month. To help the family recover financially, Yoga’s mother started a rice-selling business to finance Yoga and his brother’s education.
“My family's financial struggles taught me the value of money, and my parents’ hard work motivated me to study hard to make them proud of me.”
Convincing His Parents to Study Technology
His fascination with technology started when he was a child. Yoga’s encounter with computers began when his father had a computer to do his work as a teacher. The little Yoga tried tending with the device and taught himself about the internet.
With his limited budget, Yoga assembled his personal computer. It prompted him to familiarize himself with computer parts. Then, his curiosity for software development grew. Once he graduated from high school, he wanted to pursue a degree in information technology.
Finally, Yoga convinced his parents to let him study his dream major. Then, he enrolled in Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, majoring in Information Technology. With his parents' blessing, he was determined to study hard.
Embarking on His Journey in Bangkit
Among the different areas of technology that Yoga studied, Mobile Development (Android) piqued his interest the most. This was likely because he only owned an Android phone. Then, using his i3 gen 7 laptop to run Android Studio, Yoga embarked on a self-learning journey. To deepen his knowledge, he signed up for many free courses in Dicoding.
Yoga’s involvement in the Dicoding ecosystem acquainted him with Bangkit 2023 Batch 2. A Dicoding newsletter sent to his email let Yoga know that this career readiness program was initiated by Google and supported by GoTo and Traveloka. He thought this training suited him because of the presence of the Mobile Development (Android) path. Later, Yoga signed up for Bangkit and was accepted as one of the +4,500 cohorts.
“Learning in Bangkit was quite challenging because I had to balance between taking this course and attending lectures on campus. However, my experience in Bangkit was pleasant because of its well-structured curriculum and well-organized learning environment.”
Thriving as a Future Globally Competitive Talent
Many motivated Yoga to give the best in Bangkit, and one of those is the healthy competitive environment. He wanted to be as good as his peers, earn Bangkit points, and redeem them one day with his wished merchandise.
“What makes Bangkit special to me is this program equipped me with the skills necessary to launch a career in the industry. I didn’t only obtain technical knowledge but also got insights into soft skills and English. I’m confident that I can be a globally competitive talent.”
Of all the tech classes in Bangkit, Yoga relished Learning Android App Fundamentals (Belajar Fundamental Aplikasi Android) the most. For the soft skills sessions, his favorite one was Critical Thinking and Problem Solving. These classes helped Yoga perceive a problem from different perspectives.
“We are bigger than our problems”
Taking part in Bangkit as a cohort significantly changed Yoga from a timid dreamer into an optimistic visionary. Now, while Yoga was progressing through Bangkit, he wished participating in this program could catalyze his future career. To launch a career as an Android Developer in the industry was the thing that Yoga hoped for.
“I put in all this hard work to build a better future for myself and make my family proud, especially my parents. I hope my dreams come true.”
“Challenges and difficulties are inevitable because they are part of our life and the reason behind the growth of our resilience. Remember that you are always bigger than your problems; never let life get you down. You are born to be strong!”
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