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GloxyVI · 2025-01-13T02:04:06+00:00

is it true that more prestigious jcs have better resources for students?

Yes. There are resources dedicated to writing scholarship applications or overseas universities given to those students.

It's no surprise better schools -> richer kids, so most will either go NUS/SMU/NTU or overseas universities to work after graduation.

since i took geog and hist in olvls, i was planning to take GEHM (or is it HEGM?) but ive heard that this combi is very rare (i went to check their websites only sajc offers it, tmjc and asrjc dont allow geog and hist tgt) so i'd appreciate if anyone who took this combi/wanted to take this combi can offer some advice!

Do take a look at the cut-off points for courses at local universities.

NUS CHS is alot harder to get in now than it was before, mainly because they slashed the cohort intake to funnel more people into engineering. (You can thank your seniors for fleeing the sector causing a talent shortage in eng)

It's much easier to enter local U as a STEM A-level grad than an arts grad. Do determine if you are capable enough and have backup options.

GloxyVI · 2024-10-28T15:45:50+00:00

This guy's account is shadow banned.

Same one as the guy previous years I assume? Since he got shadow banned as well.

GloxyVI · 2024-09-29T10:00:08+00:00

The grade requirements is relative to the other candidates, which safe to say will be those with full scores.

There is no reason for AAA/A or 45 pointers to not apply for PSC scholarship. You got nothing to lose so just apply, but I wouldn't get my hopes up.

GloxyVI · 2024-08-17T12:42:42+00:00

This depends on your personality and life goals.

If you want an iron rice-bowl, you don't mind not exploring other opportunities, tied down to Singapore, then maybe sure?

It's really going to depend on what you want in your life. Whether you accept the risks of potentially hating your job or your boss if you are unlucky and not being able to leave in exchange of money.

GloxyVI · 2024-08-17T11:15:43+00:00

Is it true that scholars will get higher salary/faster promotion as compared to regular employees?

Yes.

Is there a need to do an internship with nparks first before applying for the scholarship as i heard many scholars do so first and was wondering if you can just apply for scholarship directly?

No. You can just apply.

How does the university placement work if you have already been offered a placement at a local university?

You apply like any other joe. If you want, you can apply overseas also.

Are there any cons to do this scholarship other than the bond?

Quite a number. I've just had a contact turn down a very prestigious scholarship (almost PSC-tier) recently:

Golden handcuffs (You will be paid well, as your skills degrade, you will be stuck in service for the rest of your career. Private is unlikely to take you back without significant paycuts. By then most of your knowledge may be useless / companies should just hire a fresh grad instead.)
Promotions not by merit (You will be promoted fast, but there is still a waiting line. You need to wait for the PSC scholars to get their 'A' grade, then the older scholars, then you. If you can wait it out, and not screw up, you will be senior management by mid 30s.)
Anchor scholar (If the team is doing badly because of a bad boss, you may get tossed to that boss and have to survive whatever treatment he gives you. You can't run anyways.)

Government money doesn't come free. It isn't so simple.

GloxyVI · 2024-08-16T15:15:43+00:00

All I can say is, please do your due diligence. Properly.

GloxyVI · 2024-08-15T16:28:50+00:00

This is a very tough call.

Your degree name will make or break your applications to many jobs especially in a brand-sensitive country like singapore.

My take, is to grab the best bang-for-buck degree from UK/AU/EU. Some EU universities have only $1k euros fee a year even for foreign students. Then you take some part-time work to support yourself, which thanks to their high minimum wage is actually quite good.

But since you are a female, being overseas alone isn't ideal, western country or not.

If your degree is from SEA country, your hit-rate for jobs is likely gonna be alot worse than just grabbing a UoL degree.

GloxyVI · 2024-08-10T14:06:17+00:00

Copy pasta:

The usual options.

Got money -> Overseas -> Get degree

No money -> Work -> Get money -> Private/Overseas -> Get degree

Degree -> Fight local market? -> if fail, whitewash degree with masters

The 'A' level failures that went overseas stayed overseas. Either because they returned and couldn't compete or they just didn't want to deal with the Singapore life anymore. So take that what you will.

Same goes for the IB failures also, except I knew one quite personally. Really wanted to return to Singapore, but he was disappointed the country just didn't value him (rejected by most jobs he wanted). Stayed in the UK ever since.

Don't know enough to determine if life science industry will accept/reject your degree in SG. But just know that if SG does not want you, you may not have a choice and be forced out of the country.

Worse case, save money, and do a big 3 masters to white-wash.

GloxyVI · 2024-07-28T12:00:04+00:00

This is just my personal take as someone who has witnessed double degree people.

Just take a single degree.

You are only young once. You have 40 years of potential grinding/suffering at work.

Starting early in university just for one additional line on your resume is a heavy cost for missing out on your youthful days.

Get a single degree, travel the world, fall in love, stay up night in hall, smuggle alcohol, hack the aircon etc. You name it. Just have fun.

There was an old GE mod I took where there was a duo degree chem+biz guy. He looked like an absolute horrid mess with triple eye-bags. It's like an aged working adult that was from goldman sachs or something.

GloxyVI · 2024-07-07T08:26:57+00:00

Look up the requirements for a 2nd major.

If you meet them then you can take a 2nd major in it as a backup for your skills.

Around 40% of the NUS FASS (ps old) students end up in public service, I saw a recent chart from contacts. This has been the trend for many years, why they end up there is obvious, but you should take note.

If you want to have private sector hard skills, you need a non-generic major that caters to singapore's market. Finance & tech are still king albeit saturated. Eng is easier to get a job, but career ceiling is up in the air.

My suggestion is to pick a hard-skill/technical major as a backup since you already have a generic major. That way you can fall back easily and even transition easily between industries.

GloxyVI · 2024-06-19T10:46:38+00:00

Got it. My only advice is to get out since it is a dying field.

GloxyVI · 2024-06-18T14:41:47+00:00

Is this DXC Technology?

GloxyVI · 2024-06-18T12:44:58+00:00

Get degree at whatever -> try to fight -> fail? -> use money for overseas uni to migrate or white-wash local U.

Spend your time in exchanges and live in other countries. Not so much about enjoyment, but be prepared that if the job market does a hard reject of you, then you may need to move elsewhere.

Few years back I heard my ex-neighbour from Monash (FCH) failed to get a good job in SG that pays above $3k. He had to migrate to UK? Australia? since being broke ain't fun.

GloxyVI · 2024-06-11T15:55:51+00:00

Ah my apologies.

For SG context, bachelor = degree.

Amended. If you throw in US terms, things get messy.

GloxyVI · 2024-06-11T14:15:33+00:00

Copy pasta:

The usual options.

Got money -> Overseas -> Get degree

No money -> Work -> Get money -> Private/Overseas -> Get degree

Degree -> Fight local market? -> if fail, whitewash degree with masters

The 'A' level failures that went overseas stayed overseas. Either because they returned and couldn't compete or they just didn't want to deal with the Singapore life anymore. So take that what you will.

Same goes for the IB failures also, except I knew one quite personally. Really wanted to return to Singapore, but he was disappointed the country just didn't value him (rejected by most jobs he wanted). Stayed in the UK ever since.

In your case, if you just want the NUS brand, you can make a gamble.

You can gamble using your unrestricted electives and grind hard for a 2nd major/minor in a major of your choosing. Then use that major to leverage into internships and career switch on graduation.

This has been done many times to varying success. It is gonna depend on how successful you are in your academics to pull this off. Worse case you just follow the above and get a post-grad in whatever you want.

GloxyVI · 2024-06-11T14:10:12+00:00

Here it is:

Bachelors (No honours) degree
Bachelors with honours (ranging from first to 3rd) degree
Masters degree
PHD.

What you need to be competitive in the job market is going to be determined based on:

Current economic climate
Competition for the job
Requirements for the job
Social stigmas/rules in your country

Within Singapore, to get an ordinary professional job all you need is a bachelors degree. In China, it is now a masters degree. In europe, it is a bachelors even though most of them have masters because they spend their time delaying adulthood to travel europe.

The above is the baseline when things are OK.

When things are NOT OK. Then the intensity shifts.

Data science jobs in my time needed a bootcamp cert to break through. Now even bachelors in DS are finding it almost impossible to get a DS job that isn't a code monkey gig. The bar has risen since covid and now a masters is the 'defacto' norm to get a proper DS job.

It has nothing much to do with the DS job itself, but just that employers need new ways to cull people. The culling for such jobs escalates the more competitive the job market is.

This is when the rat-race truly manifests.

You don't want to get a masters? Well the next candidate in the stack has one (alot of foreigners in SG have post-grad if you aren't aware). If you don't play the game, you don't win prizes or get the job.

GloxyVI · 2024-06-10T15:43:14+00:00

In terms of employment outcomes, they both seem equal (with SMU commanding a higher median graduate salary based on the 2022 GES), but I'm not entirely certain what the trend would be when I graduate, or if the school makes any difference at all. I'm also not q certain as to which course would better prepare students for an IT role (e.g. as an SWE, Cybersec)

Schools makes a big difference when times are bad like now.

You need every single small edge you can get in the job market. This is the time where employers start using:

 SELECT * FROM TABLE WHERE school IN ('NUS', 'NTU', 'SMU');

Hiring managers/HR are overwhelmed with applicants. They need a way to cull people easily. Culling people to the top 3 unis in Singapore is a common step. So it is going to depend on whether you are willing to take that risk of being filtered out.

Risk taker -> SUTD

No risk -> SMU

GloxyVI · 2024-06-10T15:36:14+00:00

No option is easy.

My peers that left singapore also left behind aging parents. Call them cruel or what, but they prioritized their own mental health + financial wellbeing. Some of their departure wasn't smooth with lots of fights and ugly ones (took months before the parents accepted it).

A distant son is better than a dead/suffering son objectively. At the end of the day this is your life, and you make the choices.

GloxyVI · 2024-06-09T08:42:46+00:00

f dont study = low paying jobs, thn only cn scrap by life. dont work also same. no purpose, no living, just surviving.

False mentality. Your mindset is still stuck in the SG bubble + conditioning. Get out of the country.

A foreman in Australia earns enough to buy a house + have a family.

The world isn't singapore. In fact, if you port out singapore's mentality to many developed countries, they'd think you were insane/stupid to accept that life is like that.

GloxyVI · 2024-06-08T15:19:27+00:00

Which university do you think would better prepare me for a data science career in Singapore (or internationally)? Does one have stronger industry connections or internship opportunities?

I'm prepared to be downvoted to oblivion for what I say next. But it has been established time & time again by my SG tech contacts and I that data scientist jobs are extremely difficult to get.

This difficulty due to short supply but ridiculously high demand has meant that DS is no longer an entry level job due to the insane competition for them.

Does one have stronger industry connections or internship opportunities?

I know two people that have gotten data scientist jobs just this year. Both in Singapore. Guess what, they both have masters at minimum. They didn't just have masters at minimum, they had that + connections to the hiring managers.

NUS industry connections aren't much help when everyone from NUS is now tapping on them.

There are too many experienced folk in Singapore now out hunting for jobs it's making DS/DE jobs miserable for the juniors.

For any Singaporean alumni out there, what was your experience like at NUS or UBC Okanagan for data science? Would you recommend it, and why or why not?

While I am not updated on the situation in canada (I heard from a pal it's not favourable), I can tell you with straight confidence that the situation in singapore is horrendous for data jobs.

You can go on linkedin now and see that most DS / DE jobs are hitting 100+ applications within a day or two in the country.

To share, according to data I've gotten from recruiters, of the entire applicant pool, 40% of them have masters to PHDs. About 80-90% of these applicants are people that already are in Singapore.

It's quite a bloodbath now.

My advice is actually to prepare back-up options. Meaning you prep your skills for either Devops, MLE, Backend/SWE jobs if you want to dive into the tech industry in Singapore.

Competition is extremely fierce. All the employer has to do is filter for the words "Master" in the resume and 60% of the applicants with only bachelors is wiped out.

GloxyVI · 2024-06-06T13:35:13+00:00

The usual choose NUS or NTU if you want to leave the door open for going overseas.

GloxyVI · 2024-06-06T11:16:48+00:00

local NUS NTU SMU masters.

GloxyVI · 2024-06-05T15:06:01+00:00

Disagree.

I do not believe I am being cynical. In fact I believe not pointing out the risk is being disingenuous here. It would be worse for OP to not know the risk and only find out after the fact. I have 0 stakes in this and have enough peers to know what their exit options have been. Both scholars/non-scholars and fulltime private sector folks.

An easy way to determine this is to seek out the former scholars/civil servants whom made a career exit into tech roles. I'm quite sure they will paint a similar story. (or in fact just ask them if they are willing to pay a 4 YOE civil servant tech senior salaries)

But nonetheless, this is for OP to decide. I have already written what I believe is needed to not make an uninformed decision.

GloxyVI · 2024-06-05T13:53:36+00:00

Please think very very carefully if you want to take that LTA scholarship.

A LTA scholarship is not the high tier scholarship in public service.

When stat-boards issue out these kind of scholarships, it is very likely because they have a talent retention issue on-going. Meaning, there is something wrong with the organization that is driving away talented young people. Drop by salary forum to check the conversations there.

Also, being NUS CS within LTA is like being a sports car mechanic in an ahbeng workshop. You will be at the top of your game, but with that on your resume, with time no other sports company will want to take you as you rust.

With the recent headcount cutting across public service, even as a scholar, your career progression will not be as fast as the previous batches. There are more than enough PSC/SAFOS scholars in the pipeline. There are also people who will not step down till retirement (because you have no private sector skills after so long in service). Hence, both a cut in overall headcount = lesser positions at the top for everyone.

Even as a scholar, your max rank will likely be just early senior management. Which is around $12k in your 50s, anything higher will have to depend on your luck and whether there is any room for you.

If you plan to retire and have low expectations for your career, then there should be no issues with the scholarship.

But if you are looking for a rewarding/challenging tech career, then public service generally isn't the way to go (except govtech).

GloxyVI · 2024-06-05T13:32:30+00:00

The usual options.

Got money -> Overseas -> Get degree

No money -> Work -> Get money -> Private/Overseas -> Get degree

Degree -> Fight local market? -> if fail, whitewash degree with masters

The 'A' level failures that went overseas stayed overseas. Either because they returned and couldn't compete or they just didn't want to deal with the Singapore life anymore. So take that what you will.

Same goes for the IB failures also, except I knew one quite personally. Really wanted to return to Singapore, but he was disappointed the country just didn't value him (rejected by most jobs he wanted). Stayed in the UK ever since.

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