Ade Yusuf Rahardian creates internal systems such as weather forecast accuracy monitoring systems at Weathernews and provides cloud computing solutions tailored to the team's needs. In addition to improving his skills in Japanese, he draws a further vision---

I've always been fascinated in computers since my childhood.

Years ago, I had the chance to participate in all kinds of competitions related to computers, and discovered the fun of analytical and logical skills. That is why I entered the Informatics department while studying at a college in Indonesia.

My interest in computers is also coupled with an interest in Japanese culture such as J-Pop music. So in addition to honing my IT skills, I also really enjoy learning Japanese so that I can continue my career in Japan. I think this is one of the intrinsic motives that led me to start a career at Weathernews.

There were two aspects I looked at when choosing which company to go to. First, to be able to use and improve my skills in software engineering. Second, the workplace environment provides opportunities to utilize my interest in learning Japanese. I think being able to enjoy the work environment is one of the important things when looking for a place to work.

I believe working in Japan will give me the opportunity to acquire valuable skills and knowledge for my career and also provide me with a pleasant cultural experience. Besides improving my IT skills, I can also improve my communication skills and grow to be a better person.

Based on this intention, I joined Weathernews for a couple good reasons. In 2018, I had the opportunity to participate in an internship program at Weathernews Inc. Though a short-term experience, I was excited to finally experience working in a global company in Japan.

Weathernews' corporate vision "I want to help out in times of need" fits perfectly with one of my values, which is to help others. In addition, the fact that Weathernews provides a wide range of services to various regions of the world also helped me decide to apply for a job there.

In 2020, after 3 months of onboard training, I was assigned to the Smart Development team in the WNI Forecast Center (WFC). Now in my second year, I am still in this same team. At first, I didn't know exactly what I had to do to contribute to my team. My desire to contribute sparked me to actively use Japanese in communication, so I also feel that my Japanese language skills have also improved by this effort.

I’m glad my leader lets me work on something and share my accomplishments with the entire team even though I was still relatively new at that time. I find this culture at Weathernews very interesting in that everyone is open to know what others are doing.

In addition, my leader also let me analyze the weather accuracy of various competitors. By knowing about our competitors, we can understand our position in the market, which helps in making decisions.

As time goes by, I am still trying various things which are mainly to make internal tools for the team.

For example, recently, forecast accuracy has become a hot topic, so I tried to provide a solution to the team to improve the accuracy of weather forecasts in the form of a system that can help the operations team monitor the accuracy of forecasts at the WFC (WNI Forecast Center) to achieve the team KPI. By this, the operations team will provide feedback to the development team so that it can help improve overall accuracy and services.

It's only been a short time since I joined the company, but I feel there is a gap. During college, I thought the workplace was a place where everything was clear, what problems had to be solved were neatly arranged, and we just had to work on them. But the truth is, we have to take sufficient initiative to get the information and other things you need.

A lot of details will not be explained to you - it's your responsibility to ask for clarification, find the information you need, etc.

We may not get many reminders that something important is going on - we may only get one notification and you need to pay attention to it and remind yourself. This was difficult at first, but over time I felt that my ability to manage information and take initiative had grown.

I think encouragement from the team and a culture of initiative and autonomy in doing things are really connected to my growth.

We’re the one who best understands what we are doing. Then we will also make continuous improvements to what we’re doing, this can be accelerated by sharing with others. Sharing with others what you've done will lead to other people's input and ideas that you may not have thought of during development.

I often try to share what I do with many others, not limited to a small team. This is the culture I found about Weathernews and trying to apply. I think that getting used to communicating in Japanese also made it easier for me to communicate with the team more smoothly.

In 2020, I learned and applied my engineering knowledge of AWS with the aim of being able to provide cloud computing solutions according to the needs of the team, in addition to making internal tools including the weather forecast accuracy monitoring system.

I feel that I’m doing valuable work in solving problems quickly and accurately to help others.
My core value is to do meaningful work that can positively affect and help others.

Right now, I’m interested in cloud computing, so I want to try to pursue becoming a professional Cloud engineer.

As technology advances, I want to be up to date with the latest technology. However, just understanding technology alone is not enough, it is important that I can apply it to my work.

Being in my twenties, there are still many things that I have not tried, and a lot to do. I hope that I can continue to learn and utilize my knowledge, including and beyond IT.