From user to programmer
The Graduate Diploma in Systems
Analysis offered by NUS-ISS trains people without IT background to
become IT professionals
Miss Puan (left) with a course-mate at NUS-ISS'
Commencement Ceremony. PHOTOS: NUS-ISS, MAYA PUAN
YULING
Miss Puan (in red sweater) with her team-mates at
Iras.
Eve Yap
Miss Maya Puan Yuling knew wthat studying for the Graduate
Diploma in Systems Analysis programme would be tough.
After all, Miss Puan - who has a Bachelor of
Science (second class honours) degre in Applied Mathematics from
the National University of Singapore - was doing a graduate-level
information technology (IT) programme when she had no IT
background.
But she toughed it out in the 13-month full-time
study because she wanted to learn everything from C# programming
language to coding application development - skills which she
now taps as an analyst in application development at Avanade Asia,
a company that provides business solutions using Microsoft
technologies.
"My only goal was to learn as much as possible so I
would be ready to work in the IT industry. I didn't expect to be
awarded any prizes," says Miss Puan, who did win the IBM Gold Medal
and Book Prize.
The Graduate Diploma in Systems Analysis (GDipSA)
is offered by the National University of Singapore's Institute of
Systems Science (NUS-ISS).
Established in 1981, NUS-ISS provides graduate
education and aims to develop infocomm leaders, among other
things.
For Miss Puan, the GDipSA programme, which she
attended from August 2013 to September 2014, was like swimming in
the deep end from the get-go.
She spent six to seven months boning up on the
basics, a month in an application development project, and five
months interning at the Inland Revenue of Singapore (Iras).
Tight deadlines
Just as in the working world, project timelines were
compacted.
"Completing every project was a challenge," she
recalls.
The shortest was three days for a programming
project and the longest, a one-month application development
exercise.
The latter involved students creating a stationery
management system (SMS) for a university. A web application, it
allows people to request for stationery and for back-end users to
manage the stock.
She experienced the application development life
cycle from requirement gathering to user acceptance tests.
But the rigours put her in good stead for her
five-month internship at lras, where she was involved in two
application development projects.
Choosing the GDipSA was not by a mere process of
elimination.
She says: "I decided to join the IT industry
because I didn't wish to be just a user. I wanted to be a
programmer and come up with new applications that are secure and
easy to use and navigate."
Those who do not have the knowledge or skills
should not be put off from joining the industry, says Miss
Puan.
Dr Esther Tan, chief of the GDipSA study, says:
"The programme transforms someone without IT knowledge into an IT
professional in a very short time.
"In fact, people who feel they have lost touch with
their IT knowledge can also take the programme as a refresher
course and update themselves with the latest IT knowledge."
More than 2,000 students have graduated from the
programme since it was introduced in 1981.
Graduate Diploma in Systems Analysis,
National University of Singapore's Institute of Systems
Science
Next intake: February and August 2015. Annual tuition fee:
$9,000 (for local students). For details, go to
www.iss.nus.edu.sg/GraduateProgrammes/GraduateDiplomainSystemsAnalysis
Special, Postgraduate Studies I, The Sunday Times, January 11,
2015, Pg 2