{"id":4526,"date":"2025-04-11T11:57:12","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T11:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/editorial.buluttan.com\/?p=4526"},"modified":"2025-08-20T07:26:39","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T07:26:39","slug":"ahmetmelih-afsar-small-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/editorial.buluttan.com\/?p=4526","title":{"rendered":"Small Talks with Ahmet Melih Af\u015far"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Next-Gen Weather Intelligence: AI Revolution in Forecasting\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6OA-YeuhKRI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Buluttan Small Talks \/ Ahmet Melih Af\u015far<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Today on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLdle4-17760RM8UjKL0Q0TqPi1KbHLFyb\">Buluttan Small Talks<\/a>, we\u2019re with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/ahmetmelihafsar\/\">Ahmet Melih Af\u015far.<\/a> Melih, who began his journey at Buluttan as a Computer Engineering student, has taken an active role in software development processes. We talked about how he contributed to his first experience in weather intelligence through his technical curiosity and problem-solving skills. We also listened to his advice for software developers who are unfamiliar with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buluttan.com\/glossary\/meteorology\">meteorology<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>G\u00f6kmen:<\/strong>&nbsp;Today on Buluttan Small Talks, we\u2019re with a member of our software team. He\u2019s been with us for about 9 months, is close to graduation, has developed himself, and contributed to the team. Today, we want to get to know him a bit better. Let\u2019s start with an introduction \u2014 can you tell us about yourself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Melih:<\/strong>&nbsp;I\u2019m Ahmet Melih, a 4th-year Computer Engineering student at Sabanc\u0131 University. I\u2019m also working part-time at Buluttan. I initially came here to do an internship around 9 months ago, but I can say I\u2019ve gained real work experience here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>G\u00f6kmen:<\/strong>&nbsp;So how did your path lead you to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buluttan.com\">Buluttan<\/a> and weather intelligence?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Melih:<\/strong>&nbsp;Our university has an internal job posting system. I applied through there. I also did a lot of research before applying \u2014 it wasn\u2019t a random decision. At first, the concept of weather intelligence was unfamiliar to me, but as I got into it, my interest grew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>G\u00f6kmen:<\/strong>&nbsp;We\u2019ve noticed that you\u2019re interested in some fascinating topics around the office. If we wanted to get to know you a little better \u2014 what kind of things do you enjoy working on?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Melih:<\/strong>&nbsp;In general, I enjoy watching sci-fi series. I\u2019m also very interested in artificial intelligence outside of work. I like exploring new large language models. This curiosity of mine occasionally spills over into the workplace. When someone mentions a new development, I find myself saying, \u201cAh yes, I know that one.\u201d I also love spending time with IoT devices and developing systems on platforms like Raspberry Pi. I enjoy building small solutions at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>G\u00f6kmen:<\/strong>&nbsp;We believe this kind of curiosity really lays the foundation for learning. The drive to learn, improve, and create value has brought you to where you are today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Melih:<\/strong>\u00a0Exactly. In a field like weather intelligence, to create value in areas such as safety, occupational health, cost, and investment, you need to model expected and unexpected weather events and translate that into sector-specific insights. Software development \u2014 both front-end and back-end \u2014 plays a key role here. It&#8217;s not only about what data we provide, but also how we present it. We deliver this data to our clients <a href=\"https:\/\/api.buluttan.com\/\">via APIs<\/a> or customized dashboards. Right now, we\u2019re focusing on the energy and transportation sectors. A company like Buluttan, which generates its own forecasts, collects and processes its own data, requires a large team. Among us are computer engineers, data scientists, and meteorological modelers. Software development is also a key part of this structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>G\u00f6kmen:<\/strong>&nbsp;As you mentioned, over the past decade, computer engineering education has evolved to include both data science and software. Based on the responsibilities you\u2019ve taken on so far, we can see your interest in cloud systems and modeling infrastructures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Melih:<\/strong>&nbsp;Yes, I\u2019m especially curious about how model systems work. These systems typically run on large-scale supercomputers, but when we run our own models, we use either cloud or on-premise systems. At that point, topics like system management, processing power, and optimization come into play. Problem-solving skills become crucial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>G\u00f6kmen:<\/strong>&nbsp;So, what advice would you give to computer engineering students considering working in this field?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Melih:<\/strong>&nbsp;They definitely shouldn\u2019t be afraid if they don\u2019t know meteorology. You learn it over time. It helps to do a bit of research beforehand, but you don\u2019t need to know everything right away. As you get involved, you improve. Anyone with problem-solving ability can succeed in this field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>G\u00f6kmen:<\/strong>&nbsp;In recent years, meteorology has gone through a major transformation. AI-based forecasts are on the rise, computing power is getting cheaper, and data is increasing. We can now run more powerful models that are updated more frequently. Even the biggest tech companies have entered this field. And we\u2019re part of that transformation too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Melih:<\/strong>&nbsp;Recently, we were invited to join a consortium funded by the European Union. Along with 16 stakeholders across Europe, we\u2019re working to reimagine weather intelligence through an AI engine similar to ChatGPT. We represent T\u00fcrkiye in this consortium. We\u2019re both a practitioner and a producer. This is why the discipline of computer engineering is more essential than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>G\u00f6kmen:<\/strong>&nbsp;We encourage anyone interested in this field to apply and try their luck. Our expectations are high, but we do our best to work with the right candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>And as always: May your weather be nice!<\/strong> (<strong><em>Havan\u0131z Yerinde Olsun!<\/em><\/strong>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today on Buluttan Small Talks, we\u2019re with Ahmet Melih Af\u015far. Melih, who began his journey at Buluttan as a Computer Engineering student, has taken an active role in software development processes. We talked about how he contributed to his first experience in weather intelligence through his technical curiosity and problem-solving skills. We also listened to&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/editorial.buluttan.com\/?p=4526\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Small Talks with Ahmet Melih Af\u015far<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-4526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","tag-en","entry"],"acf":{"h1_tag":"Small Talks with Ahmet Melif Afsar"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Small Talks with Ahmet Melih Af\u015far - Buluttan Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Today on Buluttan Small Talks, we are with Ahmet Melih Af\u015far, who has played an active role in software development processes.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Small Talks with Ahmet Melih Af\u015far - 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