What do you want to be when you grow up?
I think we all remember this composition topic right? It's like one of the most basic topics during primary school where our teacher would make us write a compo on. On hindsight, I suspect it's also the day when the teacher forgot to do her lesson plan and just wanted us to be occupied with some work so she won't get into trouble when the principal walked past.
What are the jobs that most kids want to take on? Police? Soldier? Doctor? Lawyer? Soccer player? Superman?
I remember writing something like wanting to be an owner of a mama shop so I could have unlimited snacks and candies. I can't remember how I scored for that compo but I sure remember getting an earful for being silly. Hello? FairPrice? Sheng Siong? Who is silly now?
In my teenage years, I thought I would make a good engineer simply because I wrote a few scripts for my computer. That plan didn't go well after I landed myself a diploma in computer engineering. Painful part was I only found out after 2 years and 6 months into the course after I did my internship. I was telling myself, "this time siao liao lor. Wasted so much money on the diploma and now I've no career ahead."
It's true that we do not need to know everything to get a job
I am sure many people feel this way and not just for fresh graduates. Truth is, we do not stay in one industry all our lives and in fact even if you do stay in the same industry, your skills will probably take you to other roles in the company. Just take a look at some mncs, not everyone worked their way up from the bottom, and not everyone knows everything in the whole pipeline.
I mean look at it this way, not everyone at Grab is a private hire car driver or started out as one, right? I have this friend who works in the marketing department, I've a friend who is doing HR stuff there, and we have the programmers and also the poor people at the customer service help desks who get screamed at more often than we know. My point is most of us possess some skills that are actually portable across many industries. So long as we make sure our skills remain relevant and updated, we can bring our skillsets with us from one industry to another. Like you know.. SMRT CEO.. It's the management and leadership skills that SMRT needs and not someone to drive the train right?
I hope I don't sound like I'm showing off but I guess that's one thing great about where I am now. We help clients with their marketing and content creation. Practically every industry needs us. And that's basically what attracts me to this work. We are always learning something new and doing something new. When a client comes to us with computer parts? We learn. When a client comes to us with F&B-related businesses? We eat. A travel client? WE TRAVEL! So far one of the most challenging clients I ever gotten was this fire protection equipment for shipyards. And my favourite? It has got to be my lingerie client that I serviced years ago. :x I don't think I need to explain right?
Actually I kid perhaps a little too much. While there’re obviously some perks and fun factor in my job, there’s a lot of learning new things and picking up new skills on practically a daily basis too.
Get yourselves prepared and ready for tomorrow's job
Remember I took this course with NTUC LearningHub some months back where I kinda went back to school and picked up Photoshop formally? Remember I also mentioned how they have a wide range of courses? So recently I was looking at some of the other courses that they are offering and I saw this "Fundamentals of Cloud Computing" course. You know this whole cloud computing thing is like one of those career buzz words these days right? Truth is cloud has been around for so many years. You’re probably thinking about iCloud, or Dropbox, or even Google drive but those are not even some of the earliest applications of cloud computing. You know ATM? You draw money over at an ATM and it's updated immediately on the bank system around the whole island instead of having to wait for 3 working days before your account gets updated? MIND BLOWN YET?
Anyway, NTUC’s Future Jobs, Skills and Training (FJST) Unit has also identified cloud computing as a key technology transforming the digital landscape across all sectors. Employers have also singled out cloud computing and solution development skills as the skills that will be hot in demand. Don’t @ me but I really do see a lot of buzz and jobs coming from this sector. So why not be prepared right?
To help address the demand for these hot skills, NTUC LearningHub (LHUB) approached Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform, to develop a programme to raise cloud computing literacy amongst Singaporean adults, and to build competencies amongst those who require deeper cloud-related knowledge and skills.
And ta-da, the course “Fundamentals of Cloud Computing” was born!
The course for "Fundamentals of Cloud Computing" might not have listed pre-requisites but you do need basic computer knowledge . I mean it's something to do with technology after all right? I'm sure we do not expect someone who doesn't even know how to start the computer to jump in and start learning about cloud.
This course is suitable for most working people, regardless of whether you’re in the ICT field already or are considering a change of career. If you are worried that the whole cloud computing thing might be a little overwhelming, they actually have this course which I thought it's rather useful for beginners as well as more mature workers. "Fundamentals of Internet of Things (IoT)". I've been seeing this IoT term quite a bit these days but what is it really? It's actually just a very sexy word to describe the billions of devices around the world that are now connected to the Internet, collecting and sharing data. And of course, how people can apply it at work and in everyday lives.
Really got use meh?
Look, this is a 2-day course that totals all of 14 hours. I’d be kidding if I told you one can be a cloud computing expert after this and score a technical job. Seriously, like how can I become an expert with only 14 hrs of lessons right? How am I going to be a coder in just 14hrs? I'm not Chuck Norris you know?
As much as I'm a big fan of picking up new skills and learning new things, I've to be realistic about such situations. I guess it's pretty much true that you ain't going to become a cloud expert or a programmer just after a 2-day course. Let's not forget that this industry is rather new and it's really booming and I'm sure they need more than just the programmers. Like I mentioned earlier about the pipeline of work. I'm guessing that this course might not allow you to become the next Kevin Ashton but I'm sure it's good enough to land in a job somewhere along the pipeline where you probably have an advantage over other candidates since you already have basic knowledge of how such things work. Sales? After sales support? Technician? Helpdesk? Customer Service? Project Manager? Yes, while this 2-day course may not be able to land you a job as a cloud computing expert, it can give you an upper hand when applying for a job in a cloud computing company doing what you currently do in a different or adjacent industry. Remember, not all who work at Grab is a Grab driver?
How? How Much?
Sign up! Simply check out NTUC LearningHub's website. And these courses that I mentioned actually fall under WSQ-funded courses so it pretty much means you are gonna be heavily subsidised. If you’re an NTUC member, you can also use your $250 UTAP subsidy. Link is here and screenshot below!
So anyone wanna do this together?
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