Decade in Review

Happy new year!

I was intrigued to join the hype of posting a decade in review on twitter or instagram but then I realized why not writing a post instead? This decade is too long to be packed into an instagram or twitter post. Moreover, Junda wanted to join as well. So here it goes.

2010

Mira

I was in the third year of college, juggling within bunch of assignments and preparing for the final project. Attended my first international gig: Kings of Convenience and Jens Lekman!

With a few female classmates (engineering school - you could imagine)

Junda

Third year as well. First time got a paid job as an intern at CNOOC, I remembered feeling so happy to receive a pay that it kept me going for another paid gig. Got several (as a part time web dev, then temporary software dev trainer) and have to juggle them between classes.

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2011

Mira

An aspiring data scientist, look at the title :))

Got my bachelor's degree, realized that finding a job is no joke. Got my first job at Samsung Electronics as a Software Engineer and move to Cikarang. Bought my first smartphone with my own money :D

Junda

Spent lotsa time in labs

Put all paid gigs on hold to work on my undergrad thesis. My plan to graduate this year was kaput as I lack 1 mandatory credit that completely slipped my mind: sports.

Started on materializing my plan for getting a scholarship by telling my academic supervisor that I would like to help their research in exchange for a recommendation letter.

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2012

Mira

Had my first (and hopefully last) breakup, quite a bad one. Probably one of the lowest points of my life. Had this new hobby: hunting the promo flight ticket and travel around, the farthest was to Raja Ampat in Papua :D

Started my scholarship hunting this year, taking the first IELTS and applied for Erasmus Mundus scholarship, got to the final interview phase but got rejected in the end.

Junda

Graduated undergrad, but stayed on campus to work as a research assistant for another year. Worked part-by-part on scholarship requirements, first TOEFL, then motivation letter, then research plan.

Applied for fulbright scholarship later this year, got no response.

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2013

Mira

Umrah with my family. My very first hiking experience to Mt. Gede! Went to Sigur Rós concert for the first time. More and more trips to Malaysia, Thailand, Lampung, and Belitung. Made my own target to visit every ASEAN country (it hasn’t fulfilled until now as I haven’t visited Brunei and East Timor yet). I was pretty much a weekend wanderer where I could manage on going somewhere after office on Friday, and back to work on Monday. Looking back on it, I always wonder how I could do it. Well, age doesn’t lie. I also tried Erasmus Mundus and rejected again for the second time.

Junda

Accepted an offer for my first full time job as a software engineer for Huawei. First, I was assigned to charging and billing systems of telco operator that handled 10Ks requests per second, therefore a realization that enterprise grade software is a completely different beast than my previous projects. Later got reassigned to handle BI and ETL of said software which more aligned with my long-term goals.

Applied for Monbukagakusho scholarship, got to the last stage but failed there.

Studied Japanese quite extensively back then, this here is my Kanji worksheet stamped all over cabinet - Even my keyboard used Japanese layout

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2014

Mira

Went to Japan and Vietnam with best friends. Had my first sailing experience in Flores. Taking another IELTS as preparation for the scholarship hunting.

The birth of #totorobolang whom I adopted in Hanoi :D

Junda

Took my first paid leave to go to Bali and Palembang, the former for a vacation with undergrad mates, the latter for a wedding.

First LPDP application, did okay on the LGD, but flunked the interview (surprisingly, one of the interviewers was my academic supervisor).

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2015

Mira

Involved in a non-profit organization to teach marginal kids where I got to meet a bunch of cool people. Resigned from Samsung to accept new offer from a friend to join a startup. Quite random as I got the offer from Twitter. Move to Bandung to a rented house in lovely area surrounded by mountains. Got a new role as UI/UX Designer which was the turning point to a new path that I’m following now.

Trekking with the Jatihandap gank - just a few minutes from the house

Got the acceptance from QMUL for MSc in Computer Science but failed the LPDP Scholarship. I deferred the offer with a hope that I’ll get the scholarship next year.

I continued the ASEAN journey by visiting Myanmar and Cambodia.

Junda

Applied for LPDP scholarship for the second time with improved application (unconditional LoA from QMUL, increased IETLS score, basically everything that can be improved is improved - even grammar on the essays), and this time make it all the way through. Before Ramadan got busy with LPDP pre-departure events, in Ramadan resigned from Huawei, and after Ramadan worked on student visa.

Oh to.. Oh to be.. Oh to be a.. Gunner

Back to school around September, doing software engineering with big data specialization. First time coding machine learning models on map-reduce by hand as an assignment. Then fulfilled a lifelong dream to watch Arsenal match at the Emirates, and English national team at Wembley.

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2016

Mira

First solo trip to Philippines, and another tick on the ASEAN list by visiting Laos and Singapore as well. Got accepted in LPDP Scholarship! I was busy with the pre-departure event and preparing everything.

Move to London and got busy with the grad school routine. Met Junda for the very first time :)

Junda

Marathon an exam for all credits at once in May. Euro trip during the school off season, starting with Euro 2016 in Paris. Rendezvous with my father who had work assignment in Prague. Worked on dissertation and then actually finished it during a trip.

A week before going home for good, met Mira for the first time.

Kings Cross St. Pancrass Station - where we met

A month after getting back, went for a two weeks trip to Japan. Depart Indonesia with undergrad mates, and spent the first week with them, they then went back and I did the rest of the trip solo.

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2017

Mira

First time fasting for 19 hours while having the exam. 8 exams packed in one month couldn’t be worse! Busy preparing for the dissertation after that guided by the cool supervisor! Celebrated Eid in Amsterdam with Riwe, had another solo trip to Austria and Czech.

Junda attended his graduation in summer and visited me in London. He then proposed me to marry him.

Finished grad school, two last trips to Italy and Iceland, and went back to Indonesia for good. Get back to the UK in December for the graduation with Mom and Dad.

Junda

Started working as a software consultant for big data solutions. Attended graduation in summer, then proposed to Mira.

Approached by DANA nearing the end of the year.

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2018

Mira
Move back to Jakarta for the job as UX Research in BBM.

Junda

Accepted an offer from DANA as their first data scientist.

Mira & Junda

We got married in October, with two ceremonies in Medan and Jakarta. Had more than enough ceremonies to last a lifetime.

Travelled to Taiwan to meet a friend who got married on the same day.

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2019

Second trip to Japan for both. Junda arranged the itinerary, while Mira managed the budget. Followed by the sunsetting of BBM, where Mira got transferred to a sister company: Vidio.com. Then a few months later, she accepted an offer from Gojek to join them as a product researcher. According to her, one of the best decisions she’d made.

Went back home to Medan in Eid, and had a road trip to Aceh with Mira’s family which turned out to be our last trip together with Mama.

Mama got sick in August, she had big surgery in September while Fauzan got married. Mama passed away in the beginning of November.

What a decade the 10's were for us! I hope the 20's brings prosperity, new adventure, and lots of experience!