Bachelor of Computer Science, International Undergraduate Programme Indonesia – Aug 2019 to Feb 2025

Studying Computer Science UGM across two labs

Studying Computer Science UGM, I expected it to be mostly about writing code. Instead, it turned out to be much more about how to structure a problem before opening an editor. I split my coursework between the Software Engineering & Data lab and the Business & Entrepreneurship lab. As a result, the degree covered a wider range than a typical CS track. Half of it was technical. The other half was about how technology actually gets adopted by organizations and people.

• Grade: 3.30/4.00, Very Satisfactory Predicate
• Thesis: Investment Touchpoint Development as An Omnichannel Strategy for Microfinance Institution
• Lab: Software Engineering & Data, Business & Entrepreneurship

Why microfinance became my thesis focus

The thesis pulled both halves together. Microfinance institutions in Indonesia sit in an odd spot. Their customers are often underserved by mainstream banking, yet the institutions themselves usually lag behind commercial banks on digital touchpoints. My Computer Science UGM research therefore looked at how an omnichannel investment touchpoint could work for that specific context. Instead of simply porting a banking app experience over, I rethought what “convenient” and “trustworthy” mean for users who may not have grown up with digital finance the way I did.

Five years, many detours

Five and a half years is a long runway for one degree. I kept stepping away for internships and international programs along the way, so the timeline stretched. Looking back, that back-and-forth between classroom and workplace was probably the most useful part of the whole experience. Theory from the software engineering coursework kept getting tested, and sometimes contradicted, by what I saw in actual sales, product, and data roles. The reverse was also true. That back-and-forth eventually carried into later work, well beyond Computer Science UGM itself.