Hardik Shrestha: 07-24-2025

Today was a milestone for me. After weeks of refining, testing, and troubleshooting, I demoed SwimGuide GigaFlow v3 (SF3), an automation pipeline built with PowerAutomate and Excel that consolidates water-quality updates from regions in four major datasets: GLG, LOW, Main, and Blue Flag. This simplifies tedious manual tasks into a streamlined system: beach safety status updates can happen quicker and with more reliability.

However, the heart of this accomplishment is not the technology. It’s the relief and optimism I felt after seeing way too many paper-and-pen scribbles finally come together into a beautiful, working, and helpful automation. Conviction, persistence, and plain hard work paid off. 

At one point, after losing more than an entire day’s worth of work due to an unbelievable technical glitch, I found myself taking deep breaths, pushing through frustration, and ultimately rebuilding SF3 into something even better than before. It was a humble reminder of two things 1) that time well spent on planning can be more powerful than time spent building and 2) that setbacks may be detours to better solutions.

Looking forward, there’s still much work ahead. Version 4 is on the horizon and I’m hopeful, largely due to the warm environment here. I want to thank Megan who supported me through this journey, she was the best. Megan, your encouragement and patience truly made all the difference, thank you for being in my corner.

Planning and implementation bits of a small piece of the black diamond, Beta.