Sixteen years ago, Alvin Khoo was part of the pioneer Master of Technology class specialising in knowledge engineering run by the ISS. He counted himself lucky to be part of the class.
“ISS was the first institute in Singapore to push out a knowledge engineering programme,” reveals Alvin. “It was the in thing then and everyone wanted to get in on it.”
Today, ISS remains the only institute in Singapore to offer a Master of Technology programme and the only one to offer knowledge engineering as a specialisation.
Throughout his study, Alvin’s goal was simple: To survive the programme. Alvin recalls that for a start, it was a tough programme to get into as one would need to meet the adequate requirements before successful enrollment. And then the real struggle started when he had to juggle both study and other commitments and manage and face the stress of exams. Tough as it was, Alvin made it through.
“The course was tough, very tough because it covered a lot of content within a short period of time. We had researchers and vendors coming in to teach us, so it was current and prestigious. I remember the lecturers joking that we would know more than them after the course.”
Alvin is glad he managed to stick it out.
The programme not only expanded Alvin’s professional perspective, it gave him an edge in the business world. “For instance, when my managers at DSM were looking at certain software to maximise our company’s manufacturing process, I knew what they were talking about and I could offer them suggestions.”
The management electives he took as part of the course also gave him a foundation that he relied and built on.
He certainly leveraged on those foundational management classes. In his eight years at global science-based company DSM, the regional IT director (Asia Pacific) built a high performance IT team that has enjoyed great success rolling out huge projects at low cost for the entire Asia Pacific region. Under his helm, the team grew from a force of 10 to 30.
Alvin takes great pride in knowing that he brings value to his company. He felt this most recently when he was at DSM Taiwan to witness the rollout of an SAP (Systems, Applications and Products) project. He said, “Seeing how I’ve helped the business - that brought me a lot of satisfaction.”
The IT industry is a fascinating and exciting industry to be part of, in Alvin’s opinion.
“Things keep changing so fast, and in today’s world, most work is collaborative, so you almost always need a team. Certainly good leaders are needed but what is equally important is a team that can be trusted to perform. That is why at work, I value my sensitivity and the value I place on others. I am proud of the fact that I am professional in all I do, without losing the human touch.”