Taking the plunge into the infocomms sector
They switched careers to join a booming industry
Despite her childhood passion for investing, Ms Amanda Oh, 28, was unsettled in her job as a wealth management advisor at a bank after five years.
The business administration graduate quit her job and picked up programming, despite not having any prior knowledge, to join the infocommunications industry.
She enrolled in a three-month boot camp with coding school General Assembly and is now a software developer at global technology consultancy ThoughtWorks.
She is among the 13,000 locals who joined the infocomms sector over the last five years.
Last month, Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say said the infocomms sector was a high-priority for Singapore's future economy.
Singaporeans now make up two-thirds of the infocommunications sector here, but more are needed for the future economy, said Mr Lim.
On the job switch, Ms Oh said: "It wasn't without challenges but the most difficult thing was my changing mindset in wanting to join an industry that I thought was male dominated and filled with geeks or nerds."
The Straits Times reported in May that official projections showed that by this year, the infocomm technology industry will require 15,000 more workers, particularly in cyber security, data analytics, and development and network infrastructure.Another ThoughtWorks software developer, Mr Jesstern Rays, a former teaching contract staff member in his late 20s, also made the leap despite not having any qualifications.
Like Ms Oh, he enrolled in the General Assembly programming course and later applied to ThoughtWorks at a job fair organised by the company.
He said: "I hope to see more companies taking the chance on people like us who want to join the industry but lack the experience or even qualifications.
"It's the only way we can solve the talent supply issue."
ThoughtWorks head of professional services Anshul Garg said: "Amanda and Jesstern are among the young promising tech talent that we are fostering at ThoughtWorks, and they bring valuable perspectives and skills to the team.
"Tech companies looking to drive innovation could benefit from hiring diversely, as it has been proven that diverse teams deliver the best results."
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