Putting knowledge to good use

NUS-ISS’s Graduate Diploma in Systems Analysis enables Mr Pay Han Yang to enhance his skills

Douglas Chew
August 12, 2018

DESPITE holding a double major bachelor’s degree in economics and finance from the University of Melbourne, Mr Pay Han Yang (right) wanted to give himself even more of an edge by further brushing up his skills.

Says the 26-year-old: “Banks are becoming more digitalised. I felt that equipping myself with information technology (IT) skills and knowledge would be essential to become a ‘digital banker’.”

Hands-on learning For a year, he studied for the Graduate Diploma in Systems Analysis programme full-time at the National University of Singapore’s Institute of Systems Science (NUS-ISS) last year.

Now in its 47th intake, the graduate diploma is suitable for those intending to chart a new career path in IT or related industries — even if they have little or no experience in IT.

The programme teaches students to code, test, implement and troubleshoot IT solutions for web and mobile platforms.

Apart from attending lectures, workshops, and laboratory sessions, students get to take part in projects and a five-month internship.

The course covers C#, Java and Python, along with web application languages such as JAVAScript, AngularJS and NodeJS.

Learning made fun

During the course, Mr Pay had his first shot at coding.

“Being able to create something from scratch is a very rewarding experience,” he recalls.

“I was able to understand both the business and technology sides of the business or project, which gave me a more holistic view on things.”

There were about 80 students in his class,with some hailing from countries across Asia, including Malaysia, Myanmar, China and India.

Mr Pay made new friends during the course of his studies, making his time at NUS-ISS a thoroughly enjoyable learning experience.

“We continuously spurred one another on to learn new things, even in areas outside the course material,” he shares.

Since graduating, Mr Pay has been able to put both sets of knowledge to good use in his new job.

As a business and technology integration analyst, he serves clients from the financial sector at Accenture, which provides services in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations.

“Having both banking domain knowledge and IT skills allows me to help businesses integrate technology into their operations more effectively,” he says.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Aug 12, 2018.