Getting a foothold in the IT industry

Obtaining a GDipSA at NUS-ISS was Mr Quan Junye’s ticket to a career switch

Jan 10, 2019

How does someone with little or no experience in information technology (IT) plan to join the sector?

Follow in the footsteps of Mr Quan Junye, 28, who made the career switch from the oil and gas industry.

A key enabler was enrolling for the Graduate Diploma in Systems Analysis (GDipSA) at the Institute of Systems Science at the National University of Singapore (NUS-ISS), which he completed last year.

Mr Quan tells us more about his learning journey:

Why did you enrol in this programme?

During my undergraduate years pursuing a Bachelor of Engineering in Materials Engineering at the Nanyang Technological University, I enjoyed the compulsory module on computer programming so much that I signed up for an online course in Python programming language on my own.

Although I worked in the oil and gas industry for two years after my graduation, I continued to be interested in software development.

It was a junior college friend who pursued the GDipSA and convinced me that a career switch to software development may be possible.

After obtaining the GDipSA, I got a job as a software engineer involved in developing a web application development.

Besides its focused structure, what sets the NUS-ISS GDipSA apart from similar courses?

Even for people who have some prior experience in IT, the fast-paced, compact structure of this course offers a challenge.

For example, I recall having to learn basic procedural programming concepts in five days.

A key highlight is the amount of knowledge imparted. Programming concepts are continually being instilled, and we are trained to think from a system analyst’s perspective. This training is useful for us to gain employment.

Another aspect is the industrial internship experience, which provides a good opportunity to experience different career roles in the IT industry.

At the same time, the GDipSA is being constantly updated to stay current.