Tamara Tjitrowirjo

What does an education content developer do?

As an education content developer, you can be involved in a new form of science education. Education content developers conceptualise and create content for online training and professional development courses for high schools, colleges and universities. You can create laboratory simulations for educators teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics students. Education content developers integrate real-world scenarios with 3D animations, combining curriculum theory and relevant quiz questions with hands-on virtual practices and animations that increase student engagement and learning. There is an international demand for jobs in this area with education companies and IT startups.

What do you work in and what is your specialty?

I work as a project manager and lead content developer with Labster in Copenhagen, Denmark. Labster develops virtual laboratories for science teaching. We allow students to conduct advanced experiments which would be too expensive, time-consuming or dangerous in a real lab. In my role I am developing a realistic, interactive 3D laboratory which provides multimedia content, quizzes and challenging exercises which enhance the learning experience. I am currently holding several hats including as a lead content developer. I am responsible for a content development team of eight people including content writers with science background, programmers, 3D artists and quality testers located in Indonesia, Denmark and Mexico. I manage key accounts and my role includes sales and marketing.

How did you become interested in this area and when did you first start?

My studies at UQ and my international experience gave me a competitive advantage for this position. I am working with science-oriented products, collaborators from academia, and I have a commercial focus (that is, generating profits and growing the company). UQ has an international reputation in the life sciences disciplines, which helped me secure this role, and provided me with a lot of great experiences while studying.

What study path have you taken to get here?

I completed a Bachelor Science (Developmental Biology)/Bachelor of Business Management (Marketing) from UQ and a Master of Medical Science (Biomedicine) from Lund University, Sweden. I really enjoyed the fact that I could complete two bachelor degrees at the same time. UQ was very flexible. They allowed me to take more courses than the full-time load. I also did the study exchange program where I completed one year of study at Lund University in Sweden. Not only did I enjoy the exchange program (I had a great time, learning a new culture and meeting new people) but it also led to my further studies (I ended up completing a Masters degree there and started a PhD study).

I love the fact that my teachers were very engaged and passionate about their subjects. In fact one of them was the one that motivated me to major in Developmental Biology and further pursued several research projects in embryonic stem cells. Since starting at UQ I had dreamed of working at UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience. I was so proud to be working among such amazing researchers and contributing to research into the mechanism of embryonic stem cell differentiation.

What do you like most about your job?

In my current position, I get to apply my marketing knowledge on the commercial side, my scientific knowledge on the product development and collaboration (mostly with universities) and use my international background as our technical development team is located in Indonesia.

Do you have any particular career highlights?

I received an undergraduate research scholarship from the Institute for Molecular Bioscience and was runner up for the Science Slam from Lund University, Sweden: This was a seven minutes competition where we needed to present our research project in a fun and interesting way to the general public. In 2014 I won the Elance Big Idea Competition, Copenhagen. This was a start-up company big idea pitch competition organized by the online Elance platform in Copenhagen.

What advice would you give to someone interested in working in this area?

Do it! My plan is to continue working in the intersection of life science and commercial business. I am hoping to go deeper into the marketing side of life science products. At the moment I am really enjoying my life in Copenhagen, Denmark but I am open to all the opportunities that are out there for me. To be honest, I have no idea where I will be in five years from now. But I know that my life will definitely be exciting and fun!

Name

Tamara Tjitrowirjo

Career

Education Content Developer

Current Role

Project Manager and Lead Content Developer with Labster