Challenge to Opportunity: The Power of Community

MVP Mijeong Jeon's journey into development began with creating iOS mobile applications. Around the same time, the emergence of AlphaGo sparked her interest in artificial intelligence. She started wondering -- what if AI could be implemented on mobile devices used every day? The possibilities seemed endless. However, diving into AI with only Objective-C knowledge was daunting. Mijeong tried working with TensorFlow several times but found herself overwhelmed by complex theories and challenging code. She repeatedly hit a wall and abandoned her attempts.

Everything changed when she attended an event hosted by the Keras Korea community. There, she attended a session on how to use Keras to simplify TensorFlow, presented by a Korean Regional Director (RD). His session was truly inspiring—he broke down complex concepts into easy-to-follow steps, blending theory and practice seamlessly.

Motivated by what she learned, Mijeong went home and immediately started experimenting. She created training data, trained a model, and eventually built an app that embedded a deep learning model directly into a mobile device. What had once seemed impossible for her to achieve on her own became possible thanks to that community event.

She shared the code and model she developed on GitHub, along with a note of gratitude to Keras Korea for providing the knowledge that made it possible. At the time, on-device AI implementation wasn’t common, so her post attracted attention. This led to several invitations to speak at various events and even an opportunity to join the Keras Korea team as an organizer.

As someone naturally introverted, Mijeong hesitated at first. But the positive energy she experienced at the community event stayed with her, so she decided to take the leap. That decision marked the beginning of a transformative journey.

Over the years, Mijeong had the privilege of meeting passionate individuals from universities, industry, and other communities. Sharing knowledge and exchanging ideas with people who share the same enthusiasm has been incredibly fulfilling. Just as she benefited from their support, she tried to give back through her community involvement, gaining invaluable insights along the way.

One of the most meaningful experiences was forming a team within the community to contribute to the Keras open-source project. They worked on improving the codebase, contributed to the GitHub repository, and translated the official documentation into Korean. Every week, they gathered to brainstorm ways to enhance the project and make Keras more accessible to users worldwide. It was physically and mentally demanding for Mijeong to balance this work with her full-time job, but the sense of accomplishment when the project was completed was unmatched. Not only did she grow significantly during this time but strengthened her collaboration with teammates who shared a commitment to advancing open-source software. They weren’t just collaborators—they became an integral part of each other’s growth, which made the experience even more special.

During the pandemic, in-person gatherings became difficult, so Mijeong sought new ways to share knowledge. She launched a YouTube channel called Kind AI, where she posts videos to help anyone learn AI concepts and practices easily, regardless of location or time. The channel has grown to nearly 10,000 subscribers. While preparing and editing videos is time-consuming, the comments from viewers expressing their gratitude keep her motivated.

When she first decided to become a developer, Mijeong thought it was all about writing code in front of a computer. But through her experiences with communities, she learned that connecting with others, setting shared goals, and growing together are far more impactful.

Everything she knows today exists because others shared their knowledge first. Just as she received so much from the tech community, she wants to contribute in her own way. Moving forward, the key themes of her journey will be share, connect, and contribute.