2023 and Beyond Mission Setting

 Writing at the beginning of the year is one good step. Although some might be sceptical about setting a new goal that corresponds to “new goals, new me”, setting a goal could happen every time don’t have to wait until the new year, blablabla. Yes, I agree with that, yet, the new year is an excellent momentum to decide a pathway to choose in the future; not everything has to be achieved in the next 365 days indeed. However, I hate being myself: bursting at every opportunity, trying everything that even I do not know if I would need that or not. That was old Yogi. 

We cannot change the green path in the past, but at least we draw it consciously. 

I believe you are already tired of reading articles on the Internet about trying to say NO more often, so here is my take the more someone understands what pathway He wants to choose in the future, the more conscious the decision He made and vice versa. For me, the objective of writing all this out, if all my effort is already pointed in what I write here and I consistently do these every day, sooner or later, does not have to be less than 365 days; it becomes a realisation someday.

My personal guideline for my life in 2023 and beyond is “persistency”, written on one page of my pocketbook. When I am about to start something, I often think I might have done this before or I must have done this in the past. For instance, when I wanted to review Machine Learning Specialisation by DeepLearning, which I’ve been doing circa 2017, I lost all my notes and progress (in fact, I did not finish that, but some progress had been made!). Hence, every improvement I make should be centralised somewhere in Github or my personal note Obsidian.

I have six big projects for my future:

1. Travel the world: let’s put the most exciting project of all time first. Travelling to Europe is expensive. Travelling from a close country like the United Kingdom might be cheaper. The farther it gets, the more expensive the plane tickets are. With that in mind, this opportunity to learn in the UK cannot be wasted. After we had done some calculations because we were preparing for the Schengen interview,  approximately one person had to spend around ~1500 pounds for 12 days trip in Europe, in IDR is around 28 million. The plan is a semi-backpack with three-star hotels at max. When I wrote this, we finished submitting our Schengen application to TLScontact in Princes Street. The more detail about our trips will be covered somewhere else.
   
   

2. Write and speak fluently. I genuinely want to exercise the opportunity to have permanent residence overseas. I believe Singapore is my main goal before anything changes my mind. The main reasons are life quality, education, traffic (related to public transportation), careers, and finances. At this moment, If I can be honest with you, I still speak English wobbly. From my current examination, the main reasons are anxiety, self-pressure and lack of vocabulary. I tend to speak fast and hope to finish my speech as soon as possible. The way I am doing that is probably because I don't want someone to notice my defect in English. With that, I only use the most common conversational words and more variations of colourful words. Usually, I keep forgetting about the lexical that I need to speak, making me hesitant and reluctant to talk to English even more. My current approach is bottom-up, as I usually do with complex topics. I try to build a solid foundation of my grammar by reviewing and re-learn again daily about grammatical and vocabulary knowledge. I will spare less than 15 minutes daily to write new words or grammar knowledge inside my second-brain workflow, challenge myself to speak-present more, do regular reviews in my system, etc. This programme will evolve by the time I focus on this project.
   
   

3. Combining Finance and Machine Learning. I properly understand how Machine Learning works on a surface area. But when talking about math and adequate integration with the system (engineering side), I doubt myself. I would dedicate myself to understanding and being critical of the fundamental thing in Machine Learning. Linear regression and Logistic regression is an excellent topics to start with.
   
   In addition to that, I aspire to utilise my expertise to tackle Finance problems using Machine Learning. That’s one of the reasons why I picked up FinTech as my major for my master's degree.

4. Grow your www.ygtc.dev portofolio. Showcasing your achievement on a website is fun, to be honest. Tracking back outcomes during the ups is exciting. This project also potentially develops my front-end coding skill that I would not bother to learn in the future.
   
   The key idea is to keep everything simple, showcase your achievements, and that’s it!
   
   

5. Running. I have been attached to running since my last year at the University. I am obsessed with it because I followed Casey Neistat's early days on his Youtube channel when He was still in NYC and continuously published their daily Vlog and always talked about his running habit.
   
   Since then, I have been a “street runner” with a less technical plan, and at that time, I mindlessly have a goal to be able to run 10k daily. Running is a great habit, but I would emphasise my world more on academics than running. However, if I decide to run, I need to have a proper plan for why I have to run and how.
   
   I am considering joining the half-marathon in the UK, but I am waiting right time and waiting for some of my friends also joining the race. On top of that, Strava also provides some legit training plans for any race type starting from 5k until the marathon, so I am pretty glad about that.
   
   

6. MSc of Finance Technology and Policy with Merit. My goal for this degree is to progress and receive merit for my grade. It is a pretty decent achievement for me as a past Sukolilo student who can pursue an international degree. 

January - June 2023:

• Europe travels in April, exploring at least 4 countries and exciting attractions. (plus: connect with friends in the EU).

• Write two blogs in a year and understand the new (English or France(?)) 132 vocabulary.

• Join a new gig, so you can exercise your English or present your work to other people (plus: receive money).

• Drafting Thesis that joins two fields: machine learning and finance (plus: international published or conference)

• Follow proper training for Edinburgh Half-Marathon Running (plus: publish a running story, plus: join a community).

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New Year: Time to Look Inside

It's been a while since my last post. To be honest, writing is the most terrifying activity for me, It just hard and usually my story was not deep enough, not really sure what I'm going to tell, and the flow was quite all over the place. But today, I am going to try to build the habit at the minimum commitment: writing only in the thematic situation, like new year's eve or possibly when I got any chance to fill up this blog. On top of that, as many productivity mentors and gurus out there that did many writing exercises, I just can't and I want to be like them.

Me, as millennials, a man who born in the '90s would agree that 2020 was the worst year of my life. Canceled plans, postponed goals, coping with aloneness, grieves, etc. On the other hand, working from home gave me a chance to be around my family in my hometown, surprisingly better exercise habits, and perhaps doing more deep work in my workplace by doing *quite* meaningful projects.

OK. 2021. is a new year with new hope and for some people and time to *maybe, at least* plan what your next year wants to look like. For me, I already know what I should do and what I want to do in the next year. I could safely say that I don't have a new plan. Hoping I could excel in the things I really need in 2021, and all of them were carried over from previous years.

First, Since I graduated from Information Systems ITS in 2016, I was always thinking about my study continuity: Pursue higher studies does it even necessary? Unfortunately, after 4 years' time pass by -not really working towards my goal- I am still thinking that I really need to put this into priority before everything. The most reason is I am working in a field that quite new in my country, and usually corporates and seniors inside the companies don't "really" know what they are doing, and how to do the job in the right way. The rules of thumb are lacking and the data-driven culture is not well-developed. Based on my experience working in the developed start-up tech companies, you have to be in a mature company situation that really knows what they want to do with its data, or perhaps the company has well-rounded science and technology cuture that already developed by senior managers or founders. It's silly when you think about the job of "Data Scientist / Analyst" in some or inside the corporations are different from the others. When you got lucky enough, got a great boss, partners, and a good culture in the company, your career could be growing or at least your knowledge. Umm, let me think again, maybe every condition is quite relative, based on what kind of person you are. I met a person that worked in his first company and I could say that he could drive the business. Maybe he knows what he is doing, the tasks were quite fit for him,  and eventually influenced other people around him. SO anyway, I am still thinking about studying abroad, focusing on Business Analytics or *hardcore* Machine Learning courses still my options. There are so many opportunities and learning that I could get while I am studying, learning about the technology companies in Europe or any other developed tech place is sounds really fascinating for me. Since working aboard is a huge goal, there are some derivative-goals that need to tackle as well: IELTS, GMAT/GRE, and so many other nitty-gritty that need to prepare like recommendation letter, letter of motivation, finding the scholarship, etc. It would give a pain in the ass at first as the tasks are really big but hopefully, this thing really has a positive impact on my life.

Second, excel in the next semester's personal assessment in my current employer. I am working as a senior data analyst in the payment tribe and I am working closely with physical goods and fintech as well. The situation in my working-place is quite miserable. Many of the data analysts resigned in late 2020 and also people in the Fintech tribe. There were some issues happening, yet so far I still could bear the pressure to not follow the stream. I could feel in my tribe, in terms of data analysis and insight are in the right direction. The written result of the data product and the deep analysis of the recommendation insight, and advanced analytics are really encouraged. Those three are at least make me feel always learning every day and not feeling stuck in the workplace. Other than that, I could see there are many rooms to grow in terms of data technicalities and my soft-skill capability in this company.

Third, read more and express more. Mainly I promise to myself this year I would read more books, papers, or articles. I post the books that I currently read, my wishlists, the books that I still have no motivation to read, and the books that already finished. The lists are not fascinating but I can promise you the lists will be growing over the years.

Fourth, deepen my know-how in programming. In the second semester of 2020, I was working on some projects related to python and machine learning automation that highly utilized in my tribe. One of the projects was to build a python application reminder that could inform data analysts in my current employer that their Big Query Scheduler tables are going to expired soon (this happened because we have a quite silly complex policy of table scheduler). The project made me learn proper apps writing code with proper OOP concepts and there were so many resourceful materials on the internet especially YouTube. The Indonesian Youtube channel will teach you how to write an OOP program in python seamlessly, this another youtube good video and freecodecamp also provide awesome programming resources. For the rest, I would like to enhance my programming skill to build more applications or projects that could be a good decoration in my portfolio.

and Others, working on my soft-skills and making new and "unique" friends are definitely sit in the higher priority of 2021. How I am going to achieve it? not sure yet. just let me work on it in my unconscious mind. lol.

I do hope 2021 is better than the previous year for you everyone. *finger crossed*

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What 2017 Has Taught Me Most.

Blogpost ini dibuat dalam hitungan hari, dan berusaha untuk menyimpulkan apa yang telah dilewati selama setahun. Selama setahun 2017 ini, kayaknya gapernah nentuin target selama setahun mau ngapain, motivasinya cuma seize every single day aja.

Bisa dibilang 2017 penuh aku gunain semua untuk belajar dan bekerja Data Science di perusahaan yang dimana pertama aku join, yaitu Bukalapak dan kalo ditanya, hal apa lagi yang dilakuin, kayaknya emang ga ada kurang lebih ya cuma ngisi waktu kosong dengan liburan sama temen-temen. Sebenernya sangat beruntung sih lulus langsung keterima di perusahaan yang bener-bener ngedepanin kesejahteraan karyawannya. selevel start-up yah, contohnya: makan siang-malem gratis, kadang-kadang makan pagi juga ada, snack berserakan di mana mana, course seringkali bebas reimburse, asuransi kesehatan gausah ditanya lg sebenernya udah ada, dan environmentnya bener2 ndukung banget buat kamu belajar banyak soal building things from open-sources.

Karangan bunga yang nyasar ke jurusan Teknik Informatika (Sept 2016).

Kemudian, berusaha ngelist deh kira-kira setahun itu ngapain aja, mulai dari belajar Kaggle hampir tiap malam (lebay sih kalo lg ada waktu luang aja), ngikutin course Coursera Andew Ng Machine Learning (tapi gak selesai), belajar Statistical Inference-nya Duke University (gak selesai juga ga mampu bayar subscription-nya), ngambil beberapa topic Statistics di Khan Academy, ikut free offline course dari PACMANN-AI, ikut free classnya GDG Bogor introduction of Tensorflow, belajar data science dari mentor yang paling kece padahal masih satu angkatan namanya Fahmi Amir (orang sakti dan terfokus yang pernah gue temuin), dan banyak karyawan yang udah terhitung senior di Bukalapak yang ilmunya sungguh sangat menggiurkan untuk dicuri hehe.

12 bulan pertama kehidupan pasca kuliah, aku sempet sangat struggle untuk ngejar keketinggalan karena emang belum ada banyak fundamental kerja apalagi di perusahaan startup yang bener-bener masuk harus bisa langsung kerja dan emang skill-based di mana orang di promote bukan cuma berapa lama dia bekerja, tapi skill yang dia punya. Percaya gak percaya pertama belajar Sql dan no-sql itu ya di Bukalapak sampai-sampai modeling machine learning, karena databasenya banyak dan data-sourcenya juga banyak jadi seneng banget bisa banyak belajar.

Kehidupan pasca kuliah aku rasain macam di tengah padang rumput savana yang lu..as. Dimana kita harus nentuin prioritas dan keinginan diri sendiri, dan itu bisa sebebas-bebasnya. Untuk orang yang belum terbiasa jadi "Driver" seperti katanya pak Rhenald Kasali, ini justru jadi risk sih. Sedangkan di bagian dunia yang lain banyak orang yang sudah ngerti mau ngapain kita hidup dan harus gimana jalannya. Kemudian kalau ditanya sebenernya hidup mau ngapain, dan jawabannya masih normatif aja: ga mau sia-siain waktu.

Setahun pasca kuliah sebenernya goal tidak tertulisnya adalah cukup simple. Yaitu: "lakuin yang secara maksimal apa yang ada di depan kita sekarang, dengan hanya 1 tujuan di depan lakuin semua hal terbaik yang berhubungan dengan itu dan ignore sisanya". Yeup, cukup terlihat arogan dan egois. Aku ngelakuin hal tersebut karena mikir cita-cita untuk mengenyam studi lanjut dapat dilakukan dengan cuma-cuma di tahun depan, dan mikirnya: oh cari aja pengalaman setahun-duatahun dulu kemudian baru cari beasiswa. Ternyata kalo ngeliat kedepan nih, kayak lagi jalan di padang pasir kemudian ngeliat air dan ngiranya wah deket sih mungkin 30 menit sampai, dan nyatanya cuma fatamorgana.

Jadi ini beberapa poin yang meyimpulkan kehidupan 2017:

1. Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.

Seringkali kalau kita merencanakan dan memerhitungkan suatu hal, akan menghabiskan waktu 2x lebih dari apa yang telah kita perhitungkan, dan ini adalah imbas kalau kita tidak merancang objective dan current condition dari diri sendiri. Hal yang udah direncanakan dengan baik aja bisa molor? apalagi yang tidak. Ini adalah refleksi dari sih sebenernya dari apayang telah aku lakuin, orangnya masih belum bisa stick to the plan untuk rencana-rencana jangka panjang. dan masih mudah untuk terdistrak buat hal2 yang lebih seru yang lebih deket sama kondisi kita saat ini.

2. “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”, Benjamin Franklin.

Planning itu sebenernya kayak mbuat satu jalan yang udah pasti pingin dilaluin, instead of trying so manythings yang emang possible di lakuin, cuma jadinya gak fokus. Daripada ngelakuin 50 hal yang berbeda, lebih baik ngelakuin 1 hal dan itu fokus ke sana. Yang bikin susah adalah seringkali kita tergiur dengan hal-hal yang ada di depan mata kita dan itu terlihat menarik, karena yang jauh itu lebih susah digapai dan butuh waktu lama untuk ndapetinnya. Kadang kepala kita ini suka distraksi yang intensitasnya cukup untuk membuatnya tidak bosan, jadi kalau kita gak balik sama plan-plan yang udah kita rancang baik-baik yah jadinya kita jadi pilih jalan yang berbeda.

3. Dunning-Kruger Effect.

Konsep psikologi ini sering aku temuin dilingkungan kerja aku sekarang, dan pastinya banyak di lingkungan kerja yang lain. Banyak orang yang merasa telah superior, bisa jadi kita sendiri sih. Namun nyatanya kita belum apa-apa. Ternyata orang-orang kita sudah bisa mengadopsi hasil penelitian tahun 2011 ini, jauh2 sebelum tahun itu dengan peribahasa: "Jagung semakin berisi semakin merunduk".

4. Selesaikan apa yang telah kau kerjakan.

Dibalik banyak hal yang aku lakuin dalam hal memperdalam Data Science, justru pada titik ini aku ngerasa hal tersebut kurang memuaskan. Karena ada perasaan ingin mengetahui banyak hal dan belum juga sampai selesai namun berpindah kepada hal- lain yang terlihat lebih menarik. Tidak menyelesaikan apa yang kita sudah commitment untuk melakukannya sehingga banyak ilmu yang kita dapetin itu masih parsial, tidak holistik.

Okay kita akhiri catatan akhir tahun ini yang tidak seberapa dalam ini. Dengan syukur masih bisa menikmati saripati dari pembelajaran dan perjalanan. Dan semoga Tuhan selalu melunakkan hati kita untuk agar selalu dapat belajar dari apapun mediumnya. Karena, sebaik-baiknya manusia adalah manusia yang selalu memperbaiki diri, dan semakin bermanfaat bagi orang lain. Cheers!

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