With more than 20 years working in the technology industry, teaching was a natural progression for Chuk.
Now leading the StackUp Programme team, Chuk enjoys working with students on their projects/workshops and helping them to bring their ideas to fruition.
“Sometimes, I get very insightful questions from students that stump or challenge me. That’s when the student becomes the teacher, and I learn something from them instead,”’ said Chuk.
INNOVATE@ISS speaks with Chuk to learn more about what he enjoys most in his work.
1. Please tell us about your professional background
I started my career as a systems engineer - that was in the early 90s. Unix was getting popular and there was a lot of demand for Unix-based systems. I was part of the service team that did the installation, services (network, terminals, printers, NFS, email, DNS, disk volumes), configuration and integration with other systems like the mainframes.
I then moved on to Sun Microsystems at around 1996. At that time, Java was getting more popular, so I was asked to support Java. I loved writing software, so I jumped at the opportunity. Java opened new doors and opportunities for me. I was helping software vendors with their applications, in particular, Java-based applications. I would help them with software architecture, debugging, performance tuning, and with integrating their software framework to with their tools.
I was also part of the Technology Evangelism team. Every so often, I would get the opportunity to speak at conferences and run workshops, which was fun for me.
When Oracle acquired Sun, I then moved on to a product management (PM) role. As a PM, I helped with partner enablement and developed training materials. I also built prototypes/proof-of-concept for bids and projects.
I joined NUS-ISS after leaving Oracle.
2. Could you share more about the modules/courses which you teach at NUS-ISS?
I teach mostly software development courses. The courses that I teach covers the client-side, middle tier and persistence layers.
For the client-side layer, this is the part of the application that a user interacts with. I also teach the server tier, where the business logic resides. For example, if you are developing an application for a logistic company that handles “last mile delivery”, then the middle tier will process the delivery receipt once the courier has successfully pass the goods to the customer. The persistence layer is where the data is stored and queried.
There are also orthogonal concerns when one is dealing with applications, such as security, caching, notification, offline access, and scaling. These sub-topics are also covered in my modules.
You can see the list of the course that I teach here (https://www.iss.nus.edu.sg/about-us/staff/detail/532/LEE%20Chuk%20Munn) .
3. Why did you choose to teach at NUS-ISS?
I sort of stumbled into teaching. An ex-colleague, who is now a lecturer at NUS-ISS, asked me if I'd like to teach. Throughout my career, I’ve always been a kind of a ‘lecturer’, helping software vendors and partners to develop and deliver their product by teaching them how to best use it. I guess this is just a natural progression.
4. What do you enjoy most about your work?
I enjoy working with students on their projects/workshops. For me, helping them to bring their idea to fruition is very satisfying.
Teaching also gives me the opportunity to explore new areas. I think it is mandatory in this day and age for a lecturer, especially if I’m teaching technologies, to keep abreast with the leading and bleeding-edge trends.
One other thing that I enjoy is getting challenged by students. Sometimes I get very insightful questions from inquisitive students about certain aspect of their application or on whether they should adopt certain trends. Some of these questions stump me. Others challenge my belief on certain topics. For example, how a certain API should be used. This is when the lecturer becomes the student.
5. How do you keep up with the industry?
To get a sense of general technology trends, I catch up on technology-related news daily. I also read forums and blogs to try to figure out if certain technologies are being adopted, how they are used and what the issues are. I also try to read some research papers, on reinforcement learning, for example, to improve myself in the area that I’m interested in.
As a developer, you need to keep yourself sharp. I find that if I don’t programme, my software development skills, especially my debugging skills, deteriorate. I look for personal projects (usually 1 to 2 weeks in duration) to work on.
6. What are your favourite activities when you are not working?
I enjoy jogging, playing the guitar, reading and watching detective series on TV.
7. Tell us something about yourself that very few people know.
I've always wanted to become a comic artist, and I still do...:)