From spreadsheets to understanding codes with NUS-ISS

Former accountant Zachary Chua never lost sight of his career goal

By Michelle Chin

July 7, 2019

An introductory module to Information Systems sparked his interest in the Information Technology (IT) industry. At that time, Mr Zachary Chua was studying for a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance.

He earned the bachelor’s degree awarded by University of London from SIM (Singapore Institute of Management) in 2016 and became an accountant.

But the nagging feeling that he should be working somewhere else grew stronger.

Mr Chua quit his accountant job last year to enrol in the Graduate Diploma in Systems Analysis (GDipSA) offered by National University of Singapore’s Institute of Systems Science (NUS-ISS).

This one-year, full-time programme caters to non-IT professionals looking to enter the industry.

The minute he attended the first lesson, he was convinced he made the right decision.

“I vividly remember my first class in ISS when I was first taught the programming language C#. I was very excited and already felt like I am a programmer, fiddling with codes and debugging the console app. It was the most impactful moment I had in ISS that spiked my interest in programming.”

During his internship that was part of the GDipSA coursework, Mr Chua developed and tested an autonomous smart security robot.

Using sensors and artificial intelligence programmes such as facial recognition, the robot can conduct patrols, and detect and report sightings of unauthorised personnel and suspicious objects.

After completing the course earlier this year, Mr Chua, 28, clinched a job in another company as a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) business analyst who translates business requirements into CRM business solutions. He gathers, understands and analyses the user or business requirements, and works with developers to develop solutions for these requirements.

“My course equipped me with knowledge and skills for design thinking, user requirements gathering and various software development methodologies such as Agile and Waterfall. These are essential for a business analyst.

“I am also versed in programming languages such as C#, Java, Python, HTML, CSS, JS and SQL. This narrows the gap in technical knowledge between myself and the developers.”