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Category: 2015
Week 2
Week 2 lesson:
We were introduced to the job scope of programmers and non-programmers in a working team and I must say that the programming side looks really challenging. I feel that each department have their own challenges and it might be difficult to understand the situation on either side. As they say, the grass is always green on the other side. However, for the first assignment, the workload is surely heavier on the programmers’ side and the boys have been putting in lots of hours; even burning the mid night oil. Thus, I got to do a good job in terms of user feedback and marketing when the application is near to its launch date! And not to worry as marketing is actually already on-going 😉
Framing up key features and validating concept idea with users:
For this week, my focus is on validating the idea with users. The problem we want to solve is to help exchange students find other exchange students who are going to the same university. Thus, I have done face to face feedback with ~20 students on whether this is an application that they would use before their exchange.
I feel that face to face feedback would be better than online surveys at the start so that we can understand what customer really wants (for the features) and build an application that will suit their needs. The response has been positive thus far with all interviewed students wanting to use the application when it is launched.
Looking forward to more developments this week and once we are functional, it’s time to get hands on!
Week 1
The journey begins.
It all started with an introduction by Dr Collin about his life moments and his near death experiences. He is an adventurous young man and it reminded me about my Exchange Program adventures when he talked about his unique travel experiences, except that I did not get charged and ramp by a bull.
Following which, we formed groups and I was in a group with 3 other year 2s. They might only be year 2s but they have years of coding experience and I admire their determination to pick up and follow through these sophisticated language during their free time.
Biz kids never felt so wanted before because most of the startup competition that I joined were full of non-technical people unlike this course where non-technical people are like the endangered animals.
We met up soon after our group is confirmed and discussed about the ideas that we could work on. Knowing that I was involved in a project that aims to improve the lives of exchange students around the world, my group thought of creating a Facebook App to further improve the lives of exchange students. We came up with a lot of ideas and thought about its feasibility of completing it in 4 weeks before deciding. Want to know more? Keep a lookout for our updates and join us in improving this application. Let the new application do the talking J.
As I could not help much in the back-end and the technical aspect, I will be heading the project management role, research and test the features and do the documentation so that the guys can focus on building the app that gives values to exchange students.
That’s all for this week folks, Ciao!
Glimpse of 2015
Before the end of 2015, I would like to thank everyone who has supported me. Family, friends and sometimes lady luck. I’m extremely grateful to all of you and I cherish every memory.
2015 is a year filled with juicy juicy juicy experiences. Time spent with family and friends, achievements and disappointments. Certainly there’re good times, but it hasn’t been smooth. There’re times when life gets overwhelming. Problems hit. Ouch. But it’s okay, we’ll just have to learn from it and move on.
Sometimes, the outcome isn’t favourable despite the effort. Sometimes, what we thought isn’t what others think. Sometimes, we try, we try to get things right, but trying isn’t good enough.
My three biggest takeaways from 2015 are Gratitude, Attitude and Priorities. Looks like CAP but its GAP. I’ve learned to be more grateful to the small actions that we receive. Be it from our loved ones or strangers. I’ve learned the importance of attitude. How it changes our perception and its effectiveness in driving us forward. I’ve learned that everyone have different priorities. Be it commitments or relationships. Through these all, I hope to fill up the GAP to become a better person.
However, I’m lucky. I’m fortunate to have experienced the rocky side of the road as it has taught me much. Everyone’s experience is unique and how these experiences turn out depends on us. There are people out there who got it worse, but that doesn’t mean that they’re worse off. It’s only worse off if they leave it as it is instead of looking at the positives of these situations. Let’s take what we’ve experience in 2015 and learn from it.
Here is a glimpse of my life in 2015! There are certainly more than this and I’ll be digging them out for my reference!
Thank you everyone and 2015 for the amazing experiences. Looking forward to a more exciting and better 2016!
The Marathon Experience
“Guys let’s go for a marathon!”
“No way!”
“Siao ah!”
“I don’t wanna waste money to pay for a run”.
These are some of the responses we might get when we invite others to join a marathon. My marathon experience wasn’t pleasant, but it has definitely taught me a lot and I hope to share my experience so that others can be better prepared, or get to know how it was like attempting one. Not only will it test our physical and mental endurance, it will allowed us to understand ourselves better, develop resilience and allow us to appreciate the compassion of others.
I used to think that all we need is mental endurance to complete a marathon. It isn’t entirely wrong but proper training would have made the journey less painful. Many a time my mind would shout “let’s go” yet my body “please give chance”. Till now, the back of my knee have been aching since the run 2 months back which might be due to over exertion. Thus, proper training would have accustomed our body to withstand the fatigue and prevent injury.
Apart from fatigue, the most challenging part was from the 10 to 18km stretch.
The calling of my stomach that it was “business time”. During that eventful stretch, I was praying for a portable toilet but unfortunately there wasn’t any nearby. It was so bad to the extent that I wanted to let it go in the bushes along the route but had second thoughts because it’ll leave me overly exposed. Without any choice, I endured with short jogs and walked till I reached the 18km mark. Step by step, a portable toilet finally came into sight and my morale got an extra boost as I would finally be able to discharge. The medic worriedly attended to me when I reached the portable toilet. I guess my facial expression exposed the painful process. To add-on to the epic event, there were no lights in the toilet and had to settle a “big business” based on instinct. “Phwee”.
Understand ourselves better
During the run, I’d ask myself ” Why did I sign up for this?”, “How long more?”, etc. Self doubt arises during certain parts of the run. These thoughts can be quite demoralizing, however, we should use this opportunity to understand ourselves better by finding out the reason which made us doubt ourselves. The experience differs from individuals and I’m glad to have undergone this process. By thinking about the end state in mind, it gave me confidence and made me optimistic about the run. For instance, the image visualization of the satisfaction for completing the run reinforced my determination to complete it as compared to the negative thoughts of ” Why did I sign up for this?”, “How long more?”, etc (complaining thoughts). This is applicable to life where we should picture the end goal in mind and not let short term hurdles dampen our confidence.
Mental Resilience of Singaporeans.
During the run, I came across Singaporeans of different age and sizes. I’m a guy of average fitness and it’s expected that participants my age will be faster than those in their 40s or above. However, that was not the case. Many times I was overtaken by older participants. This highlighted the determination and drive our fellow counterparts possessed and it’s an attribute that we could work on.
Compassionate people
There are many touching moments throughout the run. There was a foreigner carrying a speaker on his back and blasting music to motivate other runners. Furthermore, there were numerous pit stops where Singaporeans stationed themselves to cheer the participants on. The most memorable would be the 21st and 36th km mark where Singaporeans distribute isotonic drinks, food and cold spray on their own accord and expenses.
” Is it worth it?” Well, it definitely is. Not only did I get to understand myself better, it reminded me about the little kindness which we might have overlooked everyday.
“Will I attempt a marathon again?” Well, probably not anytime soon but we’ll never know about the future!
Life is like a marathon, there are challenging and down moments, but along with them, are successes and joy. Embrace it and we’ll lead a life filled with fulfillment!
Life of a Singaporean Boy 