One Sneak Peek Into A Journey of Grit, Tech and Community

I have always been curious about what others my age are working on.

Be it courses they are taking, side projects that they are creating, or their hobbies.

Which was why I really enjoyed speaking with Josef.

He’s a second year Electrical Engineering student from the Institute of Technical Education

Who has started ground-ups like SG Tech Tertiary

And possesses a wide range of passions, including tech, finance and volunteering.

I feel that he is very gritty and willing to share his knowledge with the world, and I hope our readers will learn a thing or two from our short conversation together today.

Here are the pointers from our conversation:

1. His ground-up initiatives

“I started my first ground-up initiative SG Tech Tertiary to help fellow Singaporean youths learn more about technology. We will be releasing a Python course this September to expose youths to code which they can apply in their daily lives. I personally feel that technology is gradually getting more important but schools don’t really teach much about AI.

At Google developer events, I have always been one of the youngest. My friends would ask me how I gained access to these events. They wanted to attend these free courses that they had no chance of learning in school. We currently partner with different companies who want to give back to the community and I have a Telegram channel where I disseminate these events to my followers. Whenever I come across any exciting events or am hosting any, I will send the details of these events to my telegram channel.

My second ground-up was founded to help migrant workers. I taught them the software AutoCAD and am now pivoting into giving Microsoft Excel lessons.

Us Singaporeans have access to SkillsFuture, a government-sponsored platform that allows us to up-skill should we choose to. But for these migrant workers, they do not have this luxury. So I decided to explore ways to help them learn new skills in order to get better jobs to feed their families. A lot of them are in debts of up to thousands. It is a very sad situation.

They may have helped to build the Marina Bay Sands (MBS), but many have not stepped foot into MBS themselves. I think we should lend a helping hand to them as they have helped to build Singapore. To accomplish my goals for this movement, I partner with It’s Raining Raincoats, an established non-profit. I told them what I hoped to do, and they would partner me with the migrant workers.”

2. What got him interested in networking

“During the pandemic, I found out that I have a hole in my heart after receiving the first dosage of the vaccine. This led me to think that life is extremely short, so I wanted to experience working life at a younger age.

I have always found it hard to click with peers of the same age, but networking events allowed me to make friends, most who were slightly older, around 20 to 25 years old.

The first person that I met at an event was in finance, and the second was in tech.”

3. Advice to fellow youths

“If you have a good idea but never try it, you will never know if it will succeed. I started my projects because I felt that life is short. You may regret if you start what you truly want to do too late. Therefore, I always look for opportunities to go overseas to educate myself by being exposed to the host countries’ schools and organisations. I truly think it is very important to know the ASEAN countries and developing nations.

Lastly, I would like to give the advice that no one is an island and it is very hard to do anything alone without a community to support you.”

Connect with Josef here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josef-tan

SG Tech Tertiary’s Telegram Channel: https://t.me/sgtechtertiaryspace

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.