The experiences journey through university
I was a university student in Indonesia majoring in electronics and instrumentation. Throughout my academic career, I tried many things because I have an eagerness to try something new. Not only that, but I also want to have connections and experiences with as many people as possible. So, while working on my academics, joined some projects with my college friends, became a freelance trainer for elementary students, learned new languages, and participated in robotic contests, etc.
During college, I dedicated most of my time to the robotic team. I joined the robotic team in my second year, and I love to spend my time there. I learned so much as a young electrical engineer in electrical divisions. I have a supporting and funny senior, interesting and challenging research, and the mentality to win the robotic contest. In my third year, I became the senior electrical engineer in the electrical division. I tried to support and help my junior just like my previous senior did to me. Not only that, I had to help manage my teammates and contribute to solving a problem in the team. Our team’s goal is to win the competition. The robotic competitions that we participated in had different rules and concepts every year. So, we needed to think and prepare something different every year depending on the rules. It trains our brain to understand the concept deeply and design our best strategy to win. In many international robotic contests, the winning teams were likely to be Japanese or Vietnamese representatives, so we sometimes took a reference from their design and combined it to improve ours.
My robotic team participated in The ABU Asia-Pacific Robotic Contest (ABU Robocon), which is a robotic competition to complete a task within a set of periods of time. This was an international competition but only 1 can be a representative team from each country to proceed to the international competition. So, we had to first win the preliminary rounds in Indonesia. That was competitive, and we won the regional level competition but lost in the national level one. It was sad, but I could learn many things about electrical engineering, and manage and work with people from different backgrounds. Before that, I was a little shy and could not make my suggestions or opinions openly, but since we had the same goal and vision, we could make good teamwork, which was a great experience for me.
Starting learning Japanese during COVID-19
When the COVID-19 pandemic happened, all shops and small food businesses were shut down. I had no option except to go back to my hometown. At that time, I discussed with my lecturer that all materials shops were closed and because of that I could not continue my thesis project. My lecturer agreed and allowed me to go back to my hometown. About 2 or 3 days after that, my lecturer sent me through WhatsApp information about Japanese language training. It is free, and he advised me to study Japanese because it may broaden my career opportunities in the future. I started studying Japanese through a recruiting company connecting Japanese companies and Indonesian students like ASIA to JAPAN.
In November 2020, I got accepted by a Japanese company whose business was renewable energy, but I could not make it to Japan because of COVID-19 and the conditions of my parents’ health got worse. So, I decided to decline the job offer and started a new job in Indonesia for about 1 year and 5 months as an Assistant Product Engineer. Being an Assistant Product Engineer is much different from what I had imagined. It was more focused on communicating with other employees about the client’s electronics products and assembling them properly to meet the requirements of the customer. I did not design and just followed what the customer gave. Then I realized I wanted to be an engineer at the time. I remember my university time when I could freely touch the design and make some changes to it missed it. So, I decided to change my job to become an electronic engineer and try to find that job in Japan.
Job-hunting process through FAST OFFER International
My friend got a job through FAST OFFER International and recommended it to me, so I applied for it in July 2022, but due to having a full-time job and pursuing job-hunting at the same time, I completed my profile for interviews in March 2023. Along the way there, I still had to study Japanese at night from YouTube videos and apps. That is how I could be still exposed to Japanese as much as possible for the interview.
I got a chance to take 3 companies’ online interviews in April. The first interviews were conducted on the same day for 3 companies. So, it was difficult to prepare for all of them. However, this was not my first experience taking interviews for a Japanese company, so I did not get nervous that much anymore. Before the day of the interview, I got training and advice from my mentor on how to handle those three interviews and answer briefly in Japanese. After the first day of the interview, only 2 companies pursued me to go to the second interview. The second interview was more like a conversation, so it was relaxing.
When I got an acceptance from one company, I was relieved and happy. However, I held myself back because of my previous experience with Covid-19 and there were so many uncertainties. So, I just hope that the process goes well, and I have the possibility to go and work in Japan. Now, I can go to work in Japan!
Vision and Message
I always designed electronic products as a university student, and it was my passion. So finally, I got a position to work as an electronics engineer. I hope to enjoy the job and do my best at the company. Also, I want to gain more knowledge through working with professionals and seniors as much as possible.
For the students who want to work in Japan, you must study Japanese first because you cannot work without language skills. Even after you get N3, which is the entry-level, do not hesitate to challenge yourself and take the opportunities you get through FAST OFFER International as much as possible. If you fail at first, it is okay you can try again. So do not be afraid to challenge yourself!!
