My Data Journey: Serendipity
Hey, welcome to my medium! My name is Katarina Nimas, and sometimes I share articles about data. If you haven’t checked it, please check my recent article!
I want to make a fresh topic that is related to data. I want to share my story and my journey to get into data. I hope my articles can motivate all of you who struggle with data because I started it when data science was uncommon. Let’s check this out!
I want to be an Android Developer
When I was a freshman, I thought that college was enough. But at the end of the first semester, I realized that what I got in college was not enough. I don’t know if it’s because it’s still early so it’s okay or if it’s really necessary to learn from other resources besides lectures. At that time I thought wouldn’t it be better to start early by learning from other resources? At that time I had a friend who was good at build android applications because he had studied it at school. I became motivated to learn more and follow the path. If I can master early, I can earn money by becoming an android developer when I’m still a student. I can say that’s the naive thinking of a freshman.
I used to join a community that was in my major (information systems) in 2018, called Information Systems Android Development (ISAD). I didn’t know at that time about the minimum laptop specs, I didn’t really understand what ram, SSD, and so on. At that time, I was using a netbook (it seems that there are no gadgets like this anymore) which still uses Windows 7 and all its components are below the Android standard, even the windows are 32-bit. Initially, we studied Java programming concepts that will be studied in the second semester so I learned this earlier than the others. The problem I’m having with the laptop’s limited specs is that the time it takes to install the library is very long, some even get stuck. I’m quite down and a little desperate, but I’m not giving up.
At the beginning of the second semester, I was grateful that my sister was given the sustenance to buy me a laptop with specifications above my old netbook. I am very grateful to have a sister like her. I bought a laptop with 4Gb ram specifications, a 1TB HDD, and an intel i3 processor. You may think that the laptop I have is still below the standard for developing Android applications. I know that but I have no other choice. I am reluctant to ask for a laptop with more specifications because of the limited money my family has. I’m trying to learn to use a laptop even though it’s a bit slow but still able to run.
“You will never be able to code”
In the second semester, there is a programming course. One day, I was absent from a meeting, so I missed some material. I had quite a bit of difficulty mastering the material because I only understood it when it was explained directly by the lecturer. I asked my friend to help explain. I didn’t realize he didn’t have good explanation skills. So when I didn’t understand he blamed me with “you can’t code”. I was quite surprised and angry because I didn’t feel that stupid. I insisted on proving that I could code. Finally, I found information about coding classes on the internet.
What is Python? Is that something like a snake?
I found the android developer class there but it’s full. I was wondering if I should join next year, but I felt it would be too late. (Fun fact: next year this program will not be held for students). There are two classes that still have quotas, namely Python programming and cyber security. I’m a bit afraid to take cyber security, so I finally considered taking python. I don’t know what python is or what it looks like. I read briefly on the internet that it’s a programming language. I thought there was nothing wrong with learning a new programming language, so I ended up taking a Python programming class.
What is data science? What job that related to it?
When I first started learning python, I was surprised that it was easier than java. Python is a high-level programming language that is similar to the human language. I enjoyed six months of learning python. I managed to complete the training to the end. I realized that python was for me. I wonder what python can be used for? Build an app? Websites? Java can be used to build android applications, but how about python?
I searched and found out if python can be used to build websites and data science. In the third semester, I studied websites with laravel, I wanted something new. For me, data science is unique. I tried to learn it and happened (again) there is a Bootcamp promotion about data science for free. I signed up without a second thought. I followed the Bootcamp for four months. In the first three months, the material is easy to follow. But in the last month, there was deep learning material that was unfamiliar to me. I’m having trouble but I can still pass the Bootcamp. I thought at the time that if I had more time to study deep learning, I would be able to master it.
Fun fact: when I joined the Bootcamp I just realized that data scientist is a very needed job for the next few years.
I think this is a fit for me
Summer 2020, Indonesia is facing the covid 19 virus so we have to stay at home. There is a summer short course program from Asia University on the topic of artificial intelligence which is carried out online. I joined the program because I wanted to know how other universities were studying artificial intelligence. The material offered is quite interesting, and from there I got to know the AWS lab and some deep learning facilities from Microsoft. At the end of the course, students must make a final project. I made a final project regarding the passenger hotspot.
The lecturer will select several students to make presentations. The selected students come from different countries, such as South Korea and Indonesia. I was lucky to be one of those students. When finished the presentation, one of the professors praised me, and I was quite happy. Finally, I managed to get second place in the presentation of the final project.
At that moment I felt that data science was for me.
Check my task and final project:
Nah, I want to be a Web Developer
I tried to challenge myself by taking part in the Gemastik competition. Gemastik is a very big IT competition in Indonesia and is attended by hundreds of students. I want to follow the Data Mining track. But I have a problem, I don’t have a team. A close friend that I know is not interested in data science. My department’s organization facilitates finding a team. I’ve also tried to contact the seniors I know, but to no avail. I thought, I really shouldn’t go. Almost the D day of registration closing, one of my friends contacted me that there was a team that lacked members and I was encouraged to contact them. I contacted them, seniors I’ve never met before, but that’s okay, I like having new friends. I guess I didn’t help much during the preliminaries because it was halfway through. Their research was very interesting, I learned a lot. In short, we are through to the final. I’m very nervous, I feel like I’m still very lacking. When the final, I was confused and didn’t know what to do. The data given is huge, I’ve never seen data this big. During the presentation, we realized that the method chosen was wrong. We should have been doing supervised learning, but instead, we were doing unsupervised learning. I was in the dorm thinking how stupid I was, not helping and making the team lose.
Before I took part in the final, I signed up for the Blibli Future Program for the data track section. Before the final started, my friend contacted me if he got an HR invitation. I answered no, maybe I didn’t pass because it might fail the logic test. Miraculously, a few hours after the announcement of the winner (which I lost haha), HR Blibli contacted me for an interview. I just said yes but was not excited. I’m still sad because my team lost.
That’s when I decided, I wanted to move to website development instead.
While studying website development, I took part in the Future Blibli selection. I didn’t expect that I would pass because I knew my abilities weren’t much. It doesn’t feel like I’ve reached the Focus Group Discussion phase. I saw many participants who came from the top 3 universities in Indonesia. In my heart, I said, “This seems impossible”. After the FGD, I prayed,
“If in the end, I don’t qualify for full-time (the program has 2 phases where if I don’t pass phase 1, I will not continue to phase 2 and so on”), please fail me from the FGD phase”.
Praise God, finally, I was able to qualify to be part of the Blibli Future Program.
I think I can’t survive
The program begins with Bootcamp followed by the first phase of the project. Projects are done individually. You can see my previous story related to Blibli Future Program — Phase one.
I’m having a bit of trouble, especially in Data Engineering because I’m not very good at the tools, but as time went on, I became able to. I’m not really sure what I’m doing but I can qualify and move on to phase two. Phase two is done in groups. I work on data science and data analysis. If you want to see my part, you can check out my previous story.
This phase is very tiring, especially in Data Engineering (again). The tools used are very unfamiliar to me. Luckily I was given a partner who understands more about this. Data science is also difficult because I repeatedly made mistakes even a few days before the project presentation.
Every day I cried because of my stupidity until I was mentally exhausted. Praise God I was able to pass it and pass the Future Program and become a full-time employee.
I also received an award as an “Excellence” participant.
Hello Data Analyst
After graduating, I had three choices, to become a Data Analyst, Engineer, or Scientist. I have a Data Analyst because I had an internship there before and I feel I have started to adapt there, I don’t want to start from the beginning again. And yes now here I am as a Blibli data analyst.
This is the journey of my career so far. Sometimes I want to give up and despair, but there are always events that make me go back to the data. It’s about hard work and serendipity. Thank you for reading!
