This certificate recognizes my role as a volunteer backend developer for the 2024 Student Orientation (PKKMB) and Startup Academy (SA) at the Faculty of Computer Science, Universitas Brawijaya. I contributed to the development and maintenance of backend services that supported event operations and coordination throughout the programs. Working with other developers and organizers, I helped ensure the systems remained reliable and responsive during one of the faculty's largest annual events, while gaining valuable experience in collaborative software development and operating production systems under real-world conditions.
It definitely wasn't an easy job. Maintaining a legacy codebase that had been around for years was much harder than it looked. You can never be completely sure whether a piece of code was intentionally written that way or if it was simply a forgotten mistake, and before long you find yourself questioning every change you make. There were moments when I stared at my screen for hours, wondering what I might break by refactoring a line of code that looked obviously wrong. I suppose that's just part of being a software engineer. The experience taught me to be more careful and deliberate when making changes, and that sometimes the best solution is knowing when to leave well enough alone.
Beyond the technical challenges, it was a genuinely enjoyable experience working with the team. We were a group of passionate developers, all committed to making the event a success. There were long nights, unexpected bugs, and plenty of moments where things didn't go according to plan, but we always managed to pull through together. Knowing that the systems we built were used by hundreds of incoming students throughout the event made all the effort worthwhile. It was the first time I truly felt the impact of software I had written being used at a meaningful scale.
I still don't like Laravel, though. Some lessons simply refuse to be learned.