One Sneak Peek Into Surviving Poly and Chasing Big Dreams

This is a guide for surviving poly, pursuing a dream career and discovering a passion for tech. 

When Amir was in Secondary Two or Three, he attended a lesson that involved using a microbit for his project and it required the use of Javascript to programme it. 

The microbit is a small computer with sensors, buttons, and an LED display that’s used to teach students about coding and computer systems. 

This sparked his interest for coding, and he started to teach himself Python because of this. 

In polytechnic, he chose to study Applied AI and Analytics and is currently serving his National Service with the Singapore Police Force. 

He approached me a week ago as he would like to share his experiences in polytechnic with my audience at OSPI, 

in hopes that perhaps his story would be able to help fellow youths who read this article. 

Especially with decisions like choosing a course in polytechnic or university, and whether to go to university. 

1. Life in Polytechnic

“I am always up for a challenge, regardless of how tough it is. But sometimes difficulties can arise because in group projects, you have to work with people. It did work out for me in the end, but you have to know how to work with a team, by utilising everyone’s strengths and make sure that all group mates are happy with their grades at the end of the project. The curriculum in general is not that hard, but the group projects can be tough. 

I think one good thing about Junior College would be that you only have to deal with one big exam at the end of the two-year journey. Poly grades are cumulative, however. That means that you need to do well in every quiz and test that leads up to the final examination. If you screw up some of the minor ones, it might not be that complicated to fix, but if you screw up the major ones, it will drag your GPA down. The consistency in your results must be there. 

For School of Computing, to maintain the consistency in your grades, the lecture notes and practices that are given in the student portal can be utilised. Don’t rely on lecturers too much. More often than not, we would go for independent learning. We use the notes and exercises provided by the lecturers to study and practice the content. Do sure you are polished for all the assessments that are coming up as well. 

Group studying helps as well. I made a group of friends in my class that got along well with me and understood me. It was not so much about how well they understood the content, but more of how well they understand me, so that we can study together easily. Planning way ahead is highly recommended. I had to learn this slowly myself as well.” 

2. Deciding between JC and Polytechnic

“My advice to O Level graduates would be that you should know what you are interested in for your career and university before you decide to enter polytechnic. In poly, the course focuses on just your specialisation. For myself, I entered through Early Admissions Exercise as I already knew what I wanted to do. I personally think that JC would be a safer choice for those who don’t know what they want to do. JC is more stressful but it is still a generalised study environment and students there can directly use their A Levels for university admissions. 

If it so happens that your grades are not enough to enter Junior Colleges/the Junior College of your choice, I think you can try to narrow down what you are good at from your O Level curriculum subjects.” 

3. Coping with poor study environments

“It’s all a matter of self-discipline and self-focus. It requires training. You have to work with what you got and you have to know what helps you. Studying in a library works for some, while others can study well in a noisy environment. Some study well with background music playing. It depends on the individual. It’s more of having to control where your mind goes to and opting to study over choosing to engage with or in distractions.”  

4. Should I go to university?

“After poly, I updated my LinkedIn. I am more active on LinkedIn than I am on Instagram now. In about a week or month after I updated my LinkedIn, I got job offers. Permanent job offers at reputable companies. This told me that if I had wanted to, I could go to work after National Service if I had chosen to. But I wanted to get my Bachelors before I started work. Degree certifications are important for my industry, so a diploma alone might be too weak for a job application. 

I think having a LinkedIn profile helps a lot. You can get recruited on LinkedIn. This is a good option for people who don’t want or can’t go to university. I am willing to mentor those who have trouble making these decisions about poly and university and about their lives after O Level. I can mentor on the topics of resume creation and poly education as well.” 

Connect with Amir here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amir-rahman-462512176/

Follow our telegram channel: https://t.me/onesneakpeekinto

And that is all for today’s One Sneak Peek Into.

Stay tuned for more insights from our interview series as we continue to explore the stories of trailblazers breaking barriers and redefining success.