A qualifier: I wrote this article with the help of ChatGPT, as I believe lifelong learning is about adapting to new tools and making them part of your skillset.
I am grateful to be working as a solution developer in Norwegian software company Eye-share since 2022.
It is a very different role from my previous engineering jobs as it involves quite a bit of coding and getting used to the software behind it.
Eye-share develops intelligent “purchase-to-pay” automation software which handles everything from buying and receiving, to paying and accounting for goods and services.
On a day-to-day basis, I work on Eye-share’s software suite using my newfound technical skills such as debugging and computer vision to fix issues for clients much faster than if I tried to do it myself.
Truly, the first step to start typing code was the hardest and I had to push myself to start.
To overcome this, I broke down the programming tasks into smaller, more manageable ones and focused on making incremental progress.
I find that taking small but meaningful steps was the way I became more confident, and this translated well into my career.
My next move is to learn more about AI-powered language models such as GPT and Bard, and how they can help make software development processes more efficient.
If there are new skills you have been interested in but never had the courage to start, I encourage you to start now.
Nothing is beyond you if you set your mind to it. You will be surprised at what you can be capable of achieving.
ABOUT THE WRITER:
Mr Benjamin Quek, 28, is an engineer turned software solution developer. He enjoys collaborating and designing meaningful solutions for technical or social needs. He is also a long-term volunteer who has had various stints such as befriending patients at Ren Ci Community Hospital, teaching coding to kids from disadvantaged backgrounds at Saturday Kids, and has recently started serving as a youth mentor at Suncare SG.
If you have an experience to share or know someone who wishes to contribute to this series, write to voices [at] mediacorp.com.sg with your full name, address and phone number.