{"id":35032,"date":"2022-05-02T12:00:49","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T10:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmguide.nl\/?p=35032"},"modified":"2023-03-27T15:44:39","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T13:44:39","slug":"lmmg-mitchell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmguide.nl\/nl\/lmmg-mitchell\/","title":{"rendered":"Life @ MM Guide: Mitchell Sitohang"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hello Mitchell, it’s a real pleasure to have you here today!
Please, tell us a little bit about yourself:<\/span><\/h6>

Hello everyone!\u00a0 <\/span> \"\"<\/span><\/p>

My name is Mitchell, 33 years old and I`m currently living in Almere. My dream is to relocate back to Amsterdam once the conditions allow it, I miss the air of the capital! I am a huge fan of Super Smash Bros and many other video game series and other geeky stuff!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

I started my collaboration with MM Guide 4 years ago, but my path was far from orthodox. My education was not about software development or engineering, or any IT-related area: I studied international business at the University of Amsterdam, followed by a master\u2019s in business administration.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

During this period, I realized that the topics I was learning were simply too broad: marketing, management, finance, languages, and regulations. Remarkably interesting, but I felt that everything was on a superficial level. As a further specialization in the master\u2019s path, I chose digital business, and here I get in touch with many developers and IT specialists who gave presentations to the students to better understand the digital business aspect. Back then, the hot topic was Alibaba and its growth and development into Ali Express. During these meetings, I quickly realized that I found way more interesting the technical side of how things were achieved, rather than the business side itself. Don\u2019t get me wrong, I enjoyed the business part; however, I was fascinated by what those people were able to create with the software.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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\u202fAt that moment I made a decision: I chose to quit my premaster just before the end and I started to look for opportunities to move into IT from a technical aspect. In short, I realized that \u201cI wanted to build stuff, rather than guide stuff\u201d. I like the idea of logic used to build things. Translating that logic into code and seeing how that code can do something for all of us.\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u202fLuckily, I found a program from Amsterdam university called \u201cMake IT work\u201d dedicated to people with a bachelor\u2019s degree that wanted to change their career to IT. This was a very specialized course, with only strictly tech-related software engineering courses. The program required me to find a sponsor beforehand to be directly in contact with the IT job market. It was at that time that I met MM Guide and started my internship with them. After several months of challenging work, I got hired and here I am!\u202f\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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This is indeed a remarkable experience!
Could you please tell us what your current assignment is?<\/span><\/h6>

Currently, I`m collaborating with a major Dutch insurance company. They are working on implementing the IFRS 17 protocol: this regulatory reporting standard was implemented to standardize insurance accounting globally and to improve comparability and transparency.\u202fHere I work alongside the development team, which consists of mathematicians who create models that uphold the standard I previously mentioned, and 3 to 4 software developers who translate the model into an application.\u202f\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Our goal is to create an application that will assure that the predictions of different scenarios based on the mathematical model will uphold the IFRS 17 reporting standard. This project really shows the difference between a developer and a mathematician: sure, the developer should be able to crunch some numbers, but this model is so much way out of what I`m able to handle, that it really seems like another language!\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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What is the most valuable thing you have learned on your current assignment?<\/span><\/h6>

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>

I think the most valuable lesson I learned is how well a project can run when it is properly structured.\u202fIn previous assignments, I felt like there was some uncertainty regarding the requirements and the client\u2019s desires. Many things were vague, including what the application should do!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

So, the main task was to find out what was expected to be done, rather than doing it. For instance, during a migration project, all we knew was that it was a legacy application that needed to be updated to current standards for security and performance reasons. However, the process of development and review was very swampy; we wanted to move forward but it was quite difficult to make some steps.\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

In my current assignment instead, there are various and defined levels: it is clear who are the people who make decisions, people talk openly about their needs and obstacles, and there is a process of review that allows us to go back and fix those errors in an iterative way.\u202f\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The process is:\u202f\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>