In Primary 2, I played a Minecraft Education game where you had to write simple commands to move a character around a grid. It seems simple now, but that moment — realising that you could tell a computer what to do and it would actually do it — was the spark that started everything.
Motivated by my growing curiosity in technology, I joined the Robotics CCA at Aitong Primary School. This was my first real hands-on experience with hardware and programming working together — building and programming robots using platforms like LEGO Mindstorms NXT and EV3, and learning how to make them behave the way I intended.
All the hours put into the robotics CCA paid off — our team took first place in a robotics competition. It was one of my earliest lessons that putting in the work and believing in what you're building leads to results. A memory I still carry with me.
During the school holidays, I took the initiative to pick up Scratch through online courses. Scratch introduced me to proper programming concepts — loops, conditionals, events — in a visual and approachable way. It was the bridge between Minecraft logic and real code.
In Secondary 2, I started using Mimo to learn proper programming languages — Python and HTML. This was the point where coding stopped feeling like a game and started feeling like a real skill. Writing actual syntax, understanding data types, building simple web pages — it clicked in a way nothing had before.
All those years of self-learning, robotics, and genuine passion for tech helped me secure a place at Nanyang Polytechnic through the Early Admissions Exercise (EAE). I enrolled in the Diploma in Information Technology — and for the first time, coding was my full-time focus.
In Year 1, my team built FloralHaven — a web application for a flower shop that allows users to browse and purchase flowers online. Built using Flask and SQLAlchemy, it was my first experience building a real, full-stack application as part of a team. Managing a database, handling user sessions, and delivering a working product taught me more than any tutorial ever could.
In Year 2, I joined the SIT Club — NYP's student club for the School of Information Technology. The club focuses on building friendships and a sense of belonging among IT students through a range of activities, enrichment programmes and competitions. Being part of it gave me the chance to connect with like-minded peers outside of lectures, experience the SIT Orientation that welcomes freshmen into the NYP community, and enjoy a more well-rounded polytechnic experience beyond just academics.
In my final year, I completed a one-year internship at the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) as a Cloud Migration Specialist. Working in a real government agency gave me invaluable exposure to enterprise-level systems, cloud infrastructure, and professional software development practices. It was where classroom knowledge met real-world responsibility.
From moving a Minecraft character in Primary 2 to graduating with a Diploma in Information Technology — the journey has been anything but straight, but every step was intentional. Now I'm ready for the next chapter: finding my first full-time developer role and working towards my dream of building things at scale in big tech.