Ng Jinsheng is a “marathoner” – he is of the mindset that education should be a marathon of lifelong learning rather than a sprint to get a degree.
Having graduated in 2008 with a BSc in Statistics and Applied Probability and a minor in Business Management, Jinsheng’s career began in training and consulting in statistics and data mining. From there he moved to consulting work related to big data, machine learning research and artificial intelligence.
“I have always been in the technology space since my graduation and with the rapidly changing environment, I found myself needing to upgrade my skills, competencies and knowledge”, said Jinsheng.
As an alumnus, he seized the opportunity to take a
Graduate Certificate in Internet of Things (IoT), as it included modules directly relevant to his field of work. He found the course highly enjoyable and enriching.
“We were given the freedom to elect our own theme, within specified boundaries of the learning outcomes”, he recounted, “and it was most interesting to see how everyone in the class came up with different applications of the same knowledge.”
While the content was rich and relevant, the challenge for him, as a working professional, was balancing the assignments, projects and exams with work and family commitments. He remains grateful for having a very supportive team of professors.
In the hands-on practicum, Jinsheng was able to apply the concepts he learned to a real-life business problem and solve it in ‘real time’.
He feels that NUS offers an excellent platform for Continuing Education and Training (CET), and he is committed to pursue further courses relevant to his work. Technology and digitalisation are at the forefront of what he does, and he sees lifelong learning as a mainstay, not only for his chosen field, but for all professions.
In the pursuit of CET, his advice is simply “carpe diem” – seize the day. In our fast-evolving environment, “the best time to plant a seed was yesterday; and where time and tide is concerned, they wait for no man”, he said, as he encourages people to “seize every moment to reskill and upskill, no matter how small a step that might be.”