A Remarkable Labs

My name is Alfin Hidayat, but you can call me Alfin. Who am I? Nothing, just a final-year student who is still working on his thesis and being an internship as a laboratory assistant in a campus in Semarang city from October 2014.  That before I joining this company. Yes, a company named Ujuizi Laboratories.

I was very happy when one of my seniors in the Opensource Community on my campus recommended me as a new laboratory staff because he focused on his new startup. “Armed” with basic skills in maintaining computers, I tried an internship at university laboratory Dian Nuswantoro a.k.a UDINUS Semarang city. I do not have a basic network which is one of the skills possessed by a laboratory assistant. This is because the UDINUS laboratory is an integrated laboratory in which each lab is connected to each other. With great effort, I managed to maintain and ensure that my laboratory computer could be used by lecturers or anyone who wanted to use it.

The Beginning
Until one day in July 2016, one of my seniors offered me a job. He only said that it's just required Linux skill, enthusiasm in learning and can speak in English. Well, indeed I am a daily Linux user and I'm quite interested in things related to open source. But English? It seems to be a lack of my qualifications. He then gave me Mr. Budi Handoko's contact, one of the lecturers who became the liaison between the representation of Ujuizi Laboratories and UDINUS.

Bismillah, I ventured this opportunity, and on Friday, July 29, 2019, I met with Mr. Firman and Mr. Budi Handoko at DINUSTEK, a building that still in the same place at UDINUS. Mr. Firman asked questions about technical matters and experience. I was a bit nervous at the time, and I do not really remember the questions he asks. And surprise, he agreed to guide or train me. Till 4 August 2016 was the first day I started working at Ujuizi Laboratories.

As usual, I need to adapt to new workplaces, many things must be learned, and of course need to be noted or documented as good as possible. And I admit, this working environment is nice and homie, good to initiating a work experience. And what surprised me, the world of development, especially in Information and Technology is often not as simple as what was taught on the campus.

The Team and New Vision
At the office, I met some new friends. They are Firdaus. Wahyu and Dedy. Firdaus Kurniawan Zulqornain and Wahyu Anggara Raya are Android developers. Both of them had studied at the same campus where I studied. And Dedy Kuncoro works as a tester and comes from a different campus. They are good coworkers. I think this is a good environment to start my experience as a system administrator. There are several coworkers from the first time I joined up this company until I wrote this article, they are Guilherme Chagas came from Portugal, Sam Ubels and Albert van Mill from the Netherlands.

I began to try to communicate with my coworkers what was being done, what had been done and what would be done next. I did it by verbally, instant messaging or through issues documented in the git repository. For the record, its good thing to learn git and have a git repository like Github, Bitbucket or Gitlab. You will really need it if you want to be an engineer when you collaborate in teams. Not only when working in the same location but also when collaborating remotely.

And the most interesting thing is,  this is the first time I can interact a lot with people abroad. And of course this is a thrilling, exciting (or whatever you called it) moment for me because as I  mentioned earlier, my English is terrible. Thank you to Mr. Firman, who was very, very very patient and helped me in learning to understand conversations during meetings or telephone sessions with team members from other countries. And of course a big thank you to Mr. Valentijn Venus, he is the CEO of Ujuizi Laboratories. He was always able to understand what I was trying to convey. He also always gives the opportunity to learn more using the resources he has. And I admit, there are a lot of things that can be learned and in my opinion, it's very rare in Indonesia to discuss or do what we do at Ujuizi Laboratories.

From here my vision changes, I am more convinced that there is no need to fear for something new and big. Because all you need are more effort and enjoy the process to get better results.

New Tech, Knowledge, Experience, Friends
Don't ask how many things I gained while joining this “Laboratories”. Many things!! Bunch of techs and knowledge you can get here. Starting from the technology that is being used by many companies. For a start, cloud platforms such as Amazon web service, containerization for example docker, Multipath TCP kernel, map service, semantics technology and many more which may be very rarely discussed in my country, Indonesia. And again, I admit those knowledge and technology are very cool.

Not only that, Ramani, a subsidiary of Ujuizi Laboratories, is a company trusted by the European Space Agency (ESA) to be a support team when ESA Space Appcamp is held, an event held regularly by ESA to attract developers to develop applications that utilize satellite data owned by ESA. The event held approximately a week and was followed by developers who live in Europe. Of course this is not just an ordinary event. Many applications, ideas will emerge from this event. And this is where the very valuable experiences we can get. And of course new friends from developers who participated in this event.

The Bounding
While working in this company, I felt a close kinship. I still remember when I pursued my graduation at the beginning of 2017. Yes, at that time I had not graduated from college and tried hard to finish my thesis. My lecturer wants more than just what I've done. This makes me a little difficult to fulfill his wishes. But on the other hand, I do not want to delay any longer my graduation, so I can focus on working. At this time, Mr. Valentijn and Mr. Firman provided support so that I could finish my script immediately. Once again, thank you, sir, thank you, Pak Tyn. Your support is "Joss !!" (meaning cool, awesome, remarkable in Bahasa).  

When I was sick he also gave me a time to rest, he also asked how I was going at that moment. Or when I was going to get married, he gave me a week off and a wedding gift. That is very very kind of you, sir. Again, thank you very much.

Same with the coworker, when I haven’t arrived at the office, they will ask asked where I was and am I fine or no. This comfortable environment makes the bond between teams became strong and solid. And that is Cool.

Opportunity to Go to Europe and Work Directly with The ESA Team
That's true. By working at Ujuizi Laboratories, it means having the opportunity to go to Europe and directly involved with the ESA team during the Appcamp. That's very cool of course. And this opportunity does not always exist in companies in Indonesia, especially in the city of Semarang. Lots of experience and knowledge that we can get of course when working directly. Keep in mind, Prepare your mental and English, you will really need it later. And of course, you have to take care of your own visa and passport by yourself. : P

A Words From me
That's the story of my journey. From a Nobody with No knowledge became an experienced system administrator. Of course, I didn't go through everything easily, at the beginning of the year, I often had to go home late or even sleep at the office on weekends. Allocating time to study more after work from the office is also very necessary. But I went through it with pleasure, and once again thanks to Mr. Firman who allowed me to stay at his house. Thank you also for Mr. Valentijn, for establishing Ujuizi Laboratories. The best laboratory for learning no matter how novice you are.

Finally, I hope Ujuizi Laboratories is getting better and better.  :)