[INDUSTRIAL VISIT 1] Reflection for CICT industrial visit.
The beneficial visit of CICT has given several reflection and inspiration which brought significant and great impact.
For a Computer Science student major of Data Engineering, the CICT visit has given insights upon our future goals. By witnessing the chronological development of technology, for example: from the mainframe technology, magnetic tape recorder, server racks to the modern computer technology of ours today, has been a strong evidence of perseverance of the modern pioneers in technology fields. Despite of hardships such as tedious workflow, high maintenance of hardware, these obstacles did not stop innovation and invention to happen.
Improvement in hardware has been so successful which can be seen in the significant decrease in the size of computers: from the mainframe to laptops, tablets and smartphone nowadays. Hence, our dream, is to match software’s development with hardware’s rapid pace. As a data engineering student, it’s safe to say that we hold the ability to contribute and participates in the next big thing of technology: the era of Big Data, and the Internet of Things (IoT). And we believe, with ability, there comes responsibility. Therefore, the goal is rather clear: to participate in the development and bring the change of IoT and Big Data to reality.
The visit has left meaningful impact to us: to understand and witness the whole process of function in a data centre ourselves is an amazing experience for us. To able to observe the hardware at such close distance is such a hard-to-get opportunity: the hardware that supported our software which we used every day. By acknowledging how CICT function in the olden days has given us motivation and inspiration: by taking accounts of local conditions, CICT had been functioning smoothly matching the demand despite of having a handful, limited technology resources. For then, we learned that, limited resources and constraints aren’t obstacles or excuses of success. Hence, we need to equip ourselves with creativity like the CICT pioneers, and grit that allows them to persevere in the difficult time.
Furthermore, there aren’t only motivation reflections emerged via the visit to CICT, but also reflections in improving in the aspects of practical implementation and daily practices. First of all, the complete, organized environment in CICT data centre had suggested a systematic way of organization is a crucial factor for success. In CICT, equipment is properly and systematically labelled, and display items which was being exhibited in the gallery was being taken care of in a tender manner: the display item was kept in the glass case for better preservation. Hence, we should also adapt, adopt, and practice this work ethic to ensure the project we are dealing didn’t ended up being too messy to deal with when the scale of the project increases.
Secondly, the collaboration and coordination skills displayed by CICT also inspired us in a meaningful way. CICT had been working closely with UTMKL data centre for all the years in many field of work. Nevertheless, it is the collaboration between UTMJB data centre and UTMKL centre had resulted the information technology systems to function as a whole. The speaker then mentioned that whenever we login to http://myutm.com.my, the data is being transmitted thru and fro between data centres of UTMKL and UTMJB. This remind us the idea of decentralisation computing, and in fact, CICT is already currently apply this key concept. Hence, we should also equip ourselves with innovative ideas like CICT in order to strive to success.
Thirdly, CICT scheduled regular maintenance and backup session. For a student, we often complaint about server breakdowns, and Wi-Fi downtimes. However, we should understand and be grateful that CICT is undergoing maintenance and regular update or backup session which ensure stability, security and efficiency of performance. According to our speaker, our personal data are being backup into several copies, to avoid accident such as loss of data. This safety countermeasure has granted all of us as a student peace of mind: for not having carry the risk of being a victim. Besides that, CICT had implemented numerous upgrades not only in hardware aspect but also the software aspect. The speaker explained about the history of UTM Wi-Fi, which started as a LAN room, Hotspot Area, to currently UTM Wi-Fi which is available with a wide coverage of area. The upgrade of such infrastructure had provide ease to students for internet access in order to complete each individual’s works. Not only that, CICT had provided software support such as http://myutm.com.my maintenance, software installation support. Development such as UTM VPN is also an innovative effort which enable users to access intranet services without physically in UTM campus area. The continuous effort of CICT portrayed by its regular maintenance and backups taught us to be better safe than sorry: an ideal approach and smart solution.
In a nutshell, the CICT visit has been one of the most meaningful experience: it has broadened our horizon, which created such an massive impact that would give us new ideas to improve our daily life.