In this article, you will get to know an Avinton member who recently joined us to become a Data Engineer. He’s originally from Taiwan and set out to become an IT professional in Japan. Read about his thoughts regarding the job hunt, why he chose to join Avinton, and how he prepared for his first project assignment.
Introduction to My Background
I am originally from Taiwan, where I studied physics at university. After graduating, I worked at a Taiwanese AI startup for about two years. My job was mostly about utilizing Python, NumPy, Pandas, and OpenCV for data and image processing tasks.
About one year after I started working, I took a trip to Osaka, and I felt very attracted by everything there. That was the moment when I knew that one day I wanted to live and work in Japan, and so I started studying Japanese very hard.
My Job Hunt & Why I Chose Avinton
Due to my experience in coding, I specifically focused on the IT industry when looking for a job in Japan. Before applying, I would consider what I would learn from the job, the company’s standing in the industry, and how I would be able to contribute to its growth.
There are three reasons why I chose Avinton:
- Avinton is very experienced in hiring foreigners. As a foreigner in Japan, I thought that it would be much smoother if I worked at a company that has such experience.
- Avinton not only provides engineering services at the customer sites but also develops its own solutions. That way, I think the company can gain deep insights into the market needs and simultaneously improve its business core values.
- Avinton has a good track record of deploying AI solutions, so I think I can learn practical AI knowledge here.
The Gap Between My Expectations and the Reality After Joining the Company
Everyone at Avinton is even friendlier than I thought! Before entering the company, because there was some preparation, I had some conversations with the company via text. But, naturally, text conversions tend to be very formal. So, after I had real conversations with people at Avinton, I realized that everyone is really friendly and easy to talk to.
Besides that, I was pleasantly surprised that there was no rigid route for the training of IT skills. In fact, it is more like you can choose the approach that fits your interests and goals best.
About the Upcoming Project, I’ll Be Involved In
Soon, I will start working on a new customer project in the field of data analysis. I noticed that there are quite some similarities between my university major in physics – especially the part of experimenting – and data analysis. They both revolve around how to collect data from the real world, and – once the amount of data is sufficient – how to generate insights into the data.
I am very excited to join this project and to discover something totally new.
The Path to My First Project Assignment
Before my project assignment was decided, I was studying basic coding, web application development, machine learning, and much more – all within “Avinton Academy”, our in-house training course. Although I felt that I could have handled an even higher level of complexity, I learned a lot of things from this course.
Besides learning IT skills, I also spend a lot of time updating my skill sheet and preparing for project assignment interviews. Since I’m not a native Japanese speaker, I was supported by other team members when preparing for the Japanese parts.
In total, I was introduced to five different projects before I decided to join the one focusing on data analysis. From testbeds of telecommunications to simulation of material, there is a wide variety of technologies and use cases. The reason why I decided to join the data analysis project is that I think I can get exciting data insights that I normally could not access.
Preparing for My Project Assignment
My upcoming project assignment has a strong emphasis on data analysis, so during my time preparing for it, I first focused on learning Tableau, which is the BI tool used in this project. When starting out with Tableau, I immediately realized why it’s getting so popular (despite being a paid tool). While being very easy to use, it is capable of creating high-level graphs.
I also plan on learning BigQuery, SQL, and how to make documentation.
Finally
As this is my first project in Japan, I feel some nervousness and anxiety, but I will do my best.
