Insights on Infocommunication Technologies

By Michelle Yap

Discovery+ is a series of online industry panels which gives students the chance to interact with working professionals and learn about the careers they aspire to enter. These panels provide youths and working professionals with the opportunity to better understand industry trends, hear first-hand perspectives from industry professionals, and gain valuable advice on entering or navigating these industries.

On 15 August 2023, Advisory hosted Discover+: Infocommunication Technologies, the 74th edition of the Discovery+ series. Speakers on the panel included:

• Ng Kaijie (Moderator), Director, Open Innovation Platform and PIXEL Innovation Hub, IMDA 
• Binny Peh, Head of Partners & Alliances, Singapore Public Sector, Amazon Web Services 
• Ashish Sharma, Director, Singtel 

Attendees included students at various levels of education with a desire to know the different career paths in ICT, and how to best position themselves for such roles. Below are some key points shared during the session:

How does one identify what career he/she wants to do in life?

By trial and error, whilst juggling the different commitments in our lives and balancing tradeoffs. Our priorities and motivations will change across different seasons of our lives. For example, fresh graduates may be able to better afford the “lower opportunity cost” of chasing experiences instead of money at the early stages of their careers and have more energy to work for longer hours. This is opposed to parents of newborn children, who may choose to temporarily or permanently cut back on their working hours. Meanwhile, others may choose to dedicate significant amounts of time and energy to hobbies and passion projects outside of work. Thus, our means of optimising the 24 hours in each day will also likely change and evolve across different phases of our lives.

Furthermore, one should leverage the highly accessible online resources (e.g. courses, certifications, YouTube videos, LinkedIn for networking, etc) to better ascertain his/her career interests.

What would the panellists have done differently in terms of career progression?

Firstly, asking to rotate their job roles every 2-3 years, regardless of whether it involved vertical or horizontal career progression. Next, learning the art of networking earlier, which entails proactively approaching others and speaking up, and not only speaking when spoken to. Lastly, maintaining meaningful connections or relationships and reciprocating them.

What are the available roles in the ICT sector?

As every organisation requires a wide variety of roles to function (e.g. human resources, finance, legal, sales and marketing, etc), it is a misconception that the ICT sector only consists of ICT companies or ICT jobs. In fact, the following four quadrants may comprise the ICT sector — tech company & tech jobs, tech company & non-tech jobs, non-tech company & tech jobs, and non-tech company & non-tech jobs. Furthermore, one does not necessarily have to possess a “tech background” to enter the ICT sector.

What skill sets should a fresh graduate possess to enter the ICT sector?

While there is no “perfect candidate”, 3 important factors may influence hiring decisions. Firstly, the “attitude” of the fresh graduate — does the candidate demonstrate interest, curiosity and a willingness to learn about the ICT sector through formal or informal education? This can come in the form of undertaking courses, certifications, extra-curricular activities, volunteering projects or internships to learn more about the ICT sector and proactively networking with ICT professionals on LinkedIn. Secondly, the “aptitude” of the fresh graduate — do they have the ability to learn quickly about the ICT sector? Thirdly, their “soft skills” — does the candidate possess robust transferable skills, such as communication skills, people management skills and emotional intelligence?

How does career progression look like in the ICT sector?

Career progression often varies from person to person and is not linear in nature. For example, although vertical progression (i.e. promotion with pay increment) may appear more beneficial in the short term, horizontal progression (i.e. rotation across different roles without pay increment) may be more beneficial in the long run. As the employee not only gains more skill sets, knowledge & expertise through his/her exposure to different roles, they are also given the opportunity to expand his/her network which will better ascertain their genuine career interests. Furthermore, while some people enjoy being specialists in one particular area, others are more keen on being a jack-of-all-trades. Overall, one should not fret too much about career progression, but should simply give their best in whatever work that they have been assigned, and trust that their efforts will be recognised in due course if the work has been well-executed.

Is there work-life balance in the ICT sector? Is it very stressful?

The answer to this question varies across the ICT sector – it depends on the company culture, company size, team in question, etc. Overall, as there is only so much “pain” that one can endure for money, one should not optimise his/her career decision purely to maximise earnings, but should also seek to find meaning, satisfaction, fulfilment and happiness in his/her job.