2022 Recap: Reflecting on Milestones and Embracing the Challenges Ahead
Hi, with 2023 coming nearly, I would like to thank you for all of my readers through this blog (tho I’m sure that me, my past self, and my future is the only one reading this blog).
Many things happened in my life this year, and I would like to share them briefly in this article.
Finishing my internship at Tokopedia
During the past year, I had the incredible opportunity to embark on an internship at Tokopedia, a leading e-commerce company in Indonesia. This experience was truly invaluable as it allowed me to dive deep into the world of software engineering and gain practical insights into building scalable and innovative solutions.
Throughout my internship, I was involved in various projects that aimed to allow the migration process from Tokopedia (Modal Toko) to Dhanapala, a subteam specialize in handling lending for Tokopedia merchant. One notable achievement was enhancing the loan application process, where I implemented blocking capabilities to reduce the number of operation tickets for handling risky user loans. By doing so, we significantly reduced the time needed to approve a loan, leading to an improved customer experience.
Additionally, I contributed to the implementation of dynamic loan configuration. This innovative feature allowed the product configuration to be changed on the fly without requiring version updates. By utilizing dynamic configuration stored in the database, we achieved greater flexibility and responsiveness in adapting loan products to meet changing market needs.
My internship at Tokopedia provided me with hands-on experience in tackling real-world challenges and collaborating with experienced professionals. It shaped my technical skills, project management abilities, and problem-solving mindset. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity and the growth it has brought to my journey as a software engineer.
Graduated with good grades and a pretty interesting thesis
Throughout my academic journey, I strived for excellence, and I am proud to say that I graduated with a GPA of 3.95 out of 4. This achievement reflects my commitment to academic excellence and the effort I invested in mastering the coursework and expanding my knowledge.
The highlight of my academic experience was undoubtedly the completion of my thesis titled “Indonesia Opinion Triplet Extraction.” This research project aimed to explore the extraction of opinion triplets from Indonesian text, a challenging and intriguing task. To accomplish this, I utilized the T5 pretrained generative language model as the foundation for my research.
Entering my first full-time job at Shopee
Entering my first full-time job at Shopee marked a significant milestone in my career journey. As I transitioned from being an intern to a full-time software engineer, I was filled with a mix of excitement and anticipation for the challenges and growth opportunities that awaited me.
During the early stages of my employment, I had the opportunity to showcase my skills and dedication by successfully completing the entry task for new engineers. I built a mini marketplace backend API that demonstrated my understanding of software engineering principles and my ability to develop efficient and scalable solutions. This accomplishment not only validated my capabilities but also paved the way for engaging and impactful work ahead.
One of the notable projects I undertook at Shopee was automating the reconciliation process of settlement data for each transaction. Prior to this automation, the process required an entire day (approximately 12 hours) to complete. By leveraging Kafka for distributed processing and utilizing Redis as a distributed lock, my team designed a solution that significantly reduced the time needed to a maximum of 15 minutes per bank. This optimization greatly improved efficiency and allowed for faster and more accurate reconciliation, benefiting both the company and its customers.
Invited to present research results at ICAICTA 2022 (Japan)
In September 2022, I had the opportunity to present the results of my thesis to many researchers and lecturers at ICAICTA 2022. Even though I still think that my research still can be improved, I still feel proud to be able to present research results for about 1 year. Not only that, receiving praise and encouragement from my lecturer also means a lot to me =D
Feel more confident in my work!
While completing my thesis, I have a lot of free time. I spent that time using linux, learning vim and other command line tools. Although I’m still a beginner at vim, I feel more comfortable programming than before. All the tools I use I can access in the terminal, and it makes me feel like I have a personal toolbox that I can use at any time. It’s fun and I’m planning to continue with it in 2023.
The aim of this blog is not to brag but rather to increase my gratitude and help with my self-improvement for the future. Thank you and let’s face 2023 which is full of challenges with more enthusiasm!