Michelle Adeline

Name: Michelle Adeline
Nationality: Indonesia
Current Role: Machine Learning Scientist at MoneyLion

If you’re currently working, please tell us about your role in your organisation.

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Why did you choose to study [your degree/area of study?

I didn’t grow up in a very safe neighbourhood so as a kid my parents would often forbid me and my brother from leaving the house without parental supervision, naturally this led to us finding our entertainment at home. Video games were my major source of enjoyment, starting from consoles and eventually to computers. As I spent a lot of time on computers growing up, I naturally picked up quite a few things and became quite technologically competent. I was also quite used to sitting down in front of a screen for many hours which many people have trouble with.

When I joined a Computer Science course in high school, I found myself enjoying it quite a lot. I took to programming like a fish to water, I love that programming is both regimented and structured, but the problems were incredibly open-ended. It’s like playing a board game – you have the pieces, you know the rules, now how are you going to beat your opponent? You could do it in a million different ways and the same applies to solving programming problems. They were a puzzle and endlessly captivating. I was always learning new things and weirdly enough I found it to be quite a creative outlet as I often had to think outside the box.

What type of opportunities did you participate in at Monash? (E.g. student exchange, clubs and societies, field trips, conferences, competitions, etc.)

Admittedly, since I joined in the height of the pandemic, most of my student life was online, I had not even stepped on campus till my last year. But nevertheless, I did join multiple hackathons held by MUMTEC and SoIT which was super fun and really allowed me to explore and apply my knowledge with unbounded creativity.

Other than that, I have also had the opportunity to become a PASS leader, and it was a joy to teach students. It was fun for myself because in constructing the questions and problems I learnt a lot more than I would have had I been on the other side answering the questions, plus I think that a lot of students enjoyed my brand of teaching, I didn’t use slides, everything was hands-on and demonstrative.

Did you go for any internships or work placements? If so, where and did the experience help you in terms of career preparation?

Yes, I’ve done two internships now. The first was voluntary and right in the middle of my second year as I wanted something productive to do during the long year-end break. I was fortunate enough in my search to be contracted as a Data Science contractor in INMAGINE, a media-based group of companies, where I learnt the types of technology and tools used by modern companies in managing their tech stack and generally improving my proficiency in analysis. My second internship was the mandatory internship at HILTI, which is where I finally got exposed to company culture, communicating professionally to my team and managing work responsibilities.

What did you enjoy most about your student life at Monash? 

I enjoyed the people I met. From the friends I’ve made along the way, to the people I’ve only had conversations with once, to a lot of the amazing teachers, I’ve always found people to have something interesting to say, and I love being around people who are passionate, competent and reach for the stars, it really inspires and motivates me.

I also love how active and full of life Monash is. The campus is always bustling with energy and there always events on top of events for people to enjoy, but if it all gets a bit too much then you can easily find a nice quiet corner, sit in an outdoor seating area and decompress, it’s a nice change of pace from the stress of the semester.

What is your biggest career goal, or what is the difference you’d like to make?

I’m immensely passionate about AI, I’m currently pursuing my honours year and have plans after that to continue my research interests. I’ve worked on applying Computer Vision to automatically detect violence in surveillance cameras which would massive implications on security systems and civilian safety, and I’m looking to apply AI to the field of robotics. I think that AI has boundless potential and I’m eager to apply it in many domains and to play a small part in furthering humanity’s technological progress.