How I Came To Tartu?
Tere! It’s almost the end of the year, and I know 2020 is not a friendly year for most of us. But, rather than complain and grumble, let’s start our gratitude for the year that will be ended soon. As wise men say, o̵n̵l̵y̵ ̵f̵o̵o̵l̵s̵ ̵r̵u̵s̵h̵ ̵i̵n̵ ̵ gratitude is the source of happiness. Let me share with you a little story before I came to Tartu, based on the wonderful illustration above (ありがとうございました, ななこさん!)
First Career in Video Game Industry (2013–2016)
After I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree study in Computer Science, I pursued my dream to make video games, one of the mediums that I really loved since my childhood. Luckily, while I’m preparing my Bachelor’s thesis at that time, I already got an internship opportunity with one of the biggest mobile game developers in Indonesia’s capital city, Jakarta. It has been a roller coaster experience during the three years of my working experience in this game company. I’m getting to know more about the video game industry, meeting a lot of inspiring people, and one step ahead in pursuing my dream, making video games. Through working experience, I also got a chance to travel abroad for the first time, to the country that I really want to visit, Japan. It was a business trip sponsored by my company, targeted to showcase Indonesia-made games in Tokyo Game Show 2015 event. It’s a dream come true, and open my mind about how great the world outside of my country.
Working Holiday in Australia (2016–2018)
After three years of working experience, I’m experiencing the state of “I want to explore different things”. Inspired by the experience of seeing the outer world through Japan, my inner dream to explore the world, become wanderlust, is awake. Shortly after, working in Australia come to my mind, especially when I remember that I have cousins and auntie living in Sydney.
I’m almost giving up myself when I know that living cost in Australia is really high and finding company to give me sponsorship to work there is another challenge. But the law of attraction has come to me, I heard about a special visa named Work and Holiday Visa, that allow us to work there legally for one year and the possibility to extend it for another year. It became my most challenging working experience, as I never thought that I will work most of the time as a dishwasher. Besides that, it also gives me an opportunity to become part of Google Sydney and Google Melbourne through this job. Seeing with my own eyes, how one of the biggest IT companies in the world treat their employee is opening my mind, I should get back to the IT industry someday in the future. Feeling curious? You can read it in My Google Story.
Back to Indonesia (2018–2019)
After two years of living in Australia, I went back to Indonesia, with the hope to restart my career in the IT industry here or get a scholarship to study in Australia. Before going back to Jakarta, I spent one month staying in Bali, to give myself a sabbatical time, to reflect on what I’m really want to do after this. Surprisingly, I’m finding myself through my encounter with some new friends that I met in Bali, I love “meeting new people and learn from them”. I also building my habit to give myself time for both physical and spiritual exercise every morning time, something that difficult when I have Monday to Friday work time. It’s not limited only to going to Church or to Fitness Center, sometimes it needs only a short walk, do a breathing exercise, greeting random people along the way, and experiencing the surrounding environment.
A complicated feeling came after I leaving my peaceful time in Bali. The opposite atmosphere I feel when I’m back in Jakarta. With a population of over 10 million, this capital city of Indonesia became one of the most congested cities in the world. Living back in Jakarta, I spend a few months here only to study Data Science at Algoritma Academy that somehow opening my career path back to the IT industry.
Getting Know to Estonia
When I’m dreaming about study in Europe, my small mind back in 2019 only think about Germany, Netherland, France, and other big European countries. But it totally changes when the “AHHAA” moment came again, I’m getting know about Estonia from one of my Facebook friends who studying at the University of Tartu at that time. Through that short conversation via FB Messenger, my curiosity about Estonia and its technology rising exponentially. I found out that Transferwise, the fintech company that helped me a lot to send my Australian Dollar to Indonesian Rupiah, is made by Estonian people. Not only that, Bolt (previously Taxify), which I also used in Australia, is also come from Estonia.
The application deadline was very close at that time. But thankfully, the Estonia DreamApply application system is truly awesome. I don’t need to worry about any paper application stuff, as everything is handled digitally. I only need around 3–5 days to prepare and everything. So I can say, I fall in love at the first s̵i̵g̵h̵t̵ search with this small country. You can also read my study abroad journey from here (in the Indonesian language)
My Journey in Tartu, Estonia
May 2019, became my special time, not only because it’s my birthday month, but it also the time when I’ve finally received the letter of acceptance from the University of Tartu with a tuition-waiver (where I can study for totally 100% free), and also an additional scholarship to cover my living cost. Another dream came true, I’ve got the opportunity to explore the world and expand my knowledge at the same time. Two years of a hard time in Australia taught me a life lesson, “never give up on your dream”.
Currently, I’m in the second year of my study, MSc in Software Engineering, starting my Master’s thesis. Besides my study, I still love to meet some new people that made me always eager to learn something from them. I also spend most of my time working in a data analytics company in Tartu, which helped to expand my knowledge in this industry. Studying at the University of Tartu, among the 300 best universities in the world is truly opens a lot of new opportunities for me, not only in my career path but also in helping to answer my inner-self question “what I’m really want to do here?”. It will be a long journey, and let me close with famous quotes from Steve Jobs and J.R.R. Tolkien, “Stay Foolish, Stay Hungry!”, “Not all those who wander are lost”.
