From listening to his students to spending time with his family, Aaron enjoys sharing about his agile journey and experience. Find out more about Aaron and why he enjoys his work at NUS-ISS!
1. Hi Aaron, please tell us about your professional background:
.tmb-medium.jpg?Culture=en&sfvrsn=5b03ba5f_1 "Aaron Chua (NUS ISS)")
I graduated from NUS with a degree in Science (Information System and Computer Science) back in 1999. Upon graduation, I spent a year working as a IT system analyst with Jurong Town Corporation before moving to Hewitt HR delivery services for the next 7 years, building a human resource system and progressing from a programmer to a project manager as well as operation manager. At this point in time, I decided to switch career paths and spent 3 years as a programme manager with Kelly Outsourcing and Consulting Group, managing their contingency workforce outsourcing program for Motorola.
These 3 years in programme management actually rekindled my passion in the IT industry. I went back to the IT industry to work for a startup company, and this is where my agile journey began. I became an agile practitioner, working as Scrum Master, Product Owner and Agile Coach in the startup as well as various companies like IBM, Viseo Asia and Singapore Pools.
2. Could you share more about the modules/courses which you teach at NUS-ISS?
I teach mostly agile related short courses:
- Business Analysis for Agile Practitioners
- Coaching for Agile Teams
- Essential Practices for Agile Teams
- System Thinking and Root Cause Analysis
- Agile Fundamentals (for corporate clients)
- System Development Lifecycle (for corporate clients)
3. Why did you choose to teach at NUS-ISS?
I was once a student for several Executive Education Programme (EEP) courses enjoyed the course delivery style of NUS-ISS, which is essentially practice-based instead of just theory. Coupled with NUS-ISS' vision “Always Learning Always Leading”, I felt that this is the best place for me to coach and share my agile experience with the adult learners, helping to ease their agile journey.
4. What do you enjoy most about your work?
I enjoy sharing my agile journey and hearing from students about their own agile experience in their current workplace. Every agile journey is unique and every agile journey has its own learnings.
5. How do you keep up with the industry?
Joining meetup groups, reading new articles and books on related topics and also catching up with my ex-colleagues who are working in the industry in different agile roles.
6. What are your favorite activities when you are not working?
When I am not working, I like to spend time with my daughters, playing mobile games with them and bringing them out for a walk or jog. I also like to read. One of my favourite book to read is “First, break all rules” by Marcus Buckingham.
7. Tell us something about yourself that very few people know.
I once taught physical education in Hong Kah Secondary School for a year as part of my secondment from SAF during my NS days. It was my first taste of teaching more than 25 years ago and I still remember having to conduct warm up exercise on my very first day of secondment to the entire school population during the morning assembly. Almost a thousand students attended! It was both nerve-wreaking as well as an unforgettable experience.