I Made Alan: Work Hard and Work Smart!

From the island of gods Bali, I Made Alan came to Jakarta to study at Sampoerna University. With both of his parents working as teachers, Alan is no stranger to education.

“My family has been always so supportive to me,” said Alan who previously graduated from SMAN Bali Mandara. As a high school student, Alan began to participate in computer programming competitions and gained some experience from there.

“Once I was admitted at Sampoerna University, I was really happy as I knew right away that I had world-class quality lecturers,” he reminisced. He is true because Sampoerna University lecturers have successfully educated him to be someone he had never imagined before. For example, he never fancied he would be able to be confident enough to speak publicly but now he does it quite naturally.

Although he recently graduated from Sampoerna University, Alan has amassed some professional experiences. “I have been working in three (3) companies so far in just two (2) years,” he said.

He had played various roles in these companies, from a trainer to a project leader. Currently he is working as a full stack developer and a trainee at Bank BTPN headquarters in Jakarta.

For other students who find a hard time to adjust to the professional life, Alan has some tips: “Know your environment well, follow the rules, express the idea and be open for any feedbacks.”

Sampoerna University takes pride of its graduates’ high employability rate because its curriculum is highly relevant to the latest industry demands. Alan commented that many of hard and soft skills he acquired at the university are fully applicable when he has to work as a professional. “All of the computer science subjects, English skills, presentation and communication skills are just what I need to excel here as a budding developer,” he added.

“I’m now working at Bank BTPN as CHIP4 trainee. This is a one-year program as a full stack developer. In the first 3 months, I will be in class to learn more about best practices in the industry, then I proceed to work on some real projects. I am also actively involved in research and my team will present the paper at Vietnam this December to talk about machine learning,” said Alan, adding that he is also searching for funding for the research.

“I always learn from those experiences and take every advantage, opportunity and build good relationship with others. Working hard and smart will help us achieve our goal,” affirmed the young Balinese who is fond of freestyle soccer when he has free time.

Alan has set his mind on some plans. He wants to build a career as a successful full-stack developer, then pursuing a master’s degree in Computer Science. After gathering rich professional and academic experience, he aims to become a lecturer.

To sum up his experience at Sampoerna University, Alan stated that academic performance is vital, but he also stressed that to be a successful developer, one cannot be an antisocial nerd. He advised that one also should have some experiences and build intrapersonal relationships.

“For any Computer Science students, I advise that you try to master at least 1 programming language and practice your problem-solving skills like in HackerRank. It will help you a lot to sharpen your logic, problem solving skills, coding skills and of course to finally land a lucrative job,” Alan generously shared his tips to succeed like he did. (*/)