How i became an Engineer!
Singapore Polytechnic, 17 Nov 2016
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Michael Cheng
@coderkungfu
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Digital Technologies Team
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My Origin Story…
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My Journey
• Got interested in computers & Internet when i was in National
Service (1996-1998)
• Studied History and Political Science in NUS (1998-2001)
• Taught myself web design
• Worked part time as a web designer (HTML, CSS)
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My Journey
• Co-workers were IT graduates from Temasek Polytechnic (3 girls)
• They taught me programming in Cold Fusion
• Picked up PHP in 2001 on my own
• Client only had Linux server (not Windows)
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My Journey
• Ran my own web hosting business after university
• Joined a digital agency in 2006 (Comwerks Interactive)
• Started the Singapore PHP User Group in 2006
• Organised the first PHP Conference Asia in 2015
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My Journey
• Worked in startups: Foound (2010) and mig33 (2012)
• Worked as a Software Engineer / Consultant:
• Neo Innovation Inc. in March 2014
• Pivotal Labs in Feb 2016
• Singapore Power (Digital Technologies) in Aug 2016
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My Journey
• Co-founded iOS Dev Scout in 2012
• I know PHP, Ruby, Objective-C, JavaScript, Go Lang, Java (little
bit)
• Started Engineers.SG in 2013
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About PHP
• Created in 1994 by Rasmus Lerdorf as a collection of CGI scripts
written in C
• In 1997, Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski of Tel Aviv, Israel started a
complete rewrite of the parser - first steps to becoming a real
language
• Released PHP 3 in 1998 - Changed meaning to “PHP: Hypertext
Preprocessor”
• Currently version PHP 7.1
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Michael Cheng with Rasmus Lerdorf
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With Matt Mullenweg, creator of WordPress
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http://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/
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PHP Job Prospects
• Full stack / website development
• Digital agencies - building microsites for brands / marketing
• CMS - WordPress, Drupal
• Average salary:
• Entry level: ~$2000+
• Intermediate to Senior: $3,500 - $5,000
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What you should focus on?
• Be curious, ask questions, find out how things work
• Learn about Web Technologies (PHP is a good starting point)
• Learn about Mobile App Development (iOS, Android)
• Learn other programming languages
• Develop a product mindset
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“Hmm one think I will wish I knew
is Java is a very important
language to learn OOP concepts!
So put effort in it!
I used to think Java is crap in Poly,
but then I realised the benefit of
OOP and how Java does it in Uni/
work and realised it is important!”
Lester Chan
Singapore Polytechnic (2001 - 2004)
Head of Engineering at Tech In Asia
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“I think attending conferences +
meetups like PHP ones had
helped me understand tech a lot
more. Also, taking interests in
building useful projects can help
spur greater interests in what we
do. When we see projects
getting used, it reinforces our
learning.”
Sam Mauris Yong
Ngee Ann Poly (2009 - 2011)
Undergraduate at NUS School of Computing
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Why grow as an engineer?
• Better understanding of how products are build
• More experience, can give better advice to business owner
• Understand limitations & improve your BS detector
• Be able to recommend better user experiences
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Join the tech community
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Singapore
Grassroots
Tech
Community
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https://data.webuild.sg
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https://data.webuild.sg
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Curated list of FREE
community events and
open source projects
from Singapore
http://webuild.sg
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http://devfest.asia
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http://2016.devfest.asia/community/
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Tech Ladies Tech Talks
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React JS Meetup
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Talk.JS + Talk.CSS
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Too many tech events!
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Engineers.SG
Engineers.SG is a
not-for-profit community
initiative created to help
document the Singapore
tech and startup scene.
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•1200+ videos
•19k page views / month
•19 conferences recorded
so far
Engineers.SG
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We need volunteers!
Training on 19 Nov 2016 at HackerspaceSG
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How about *real* tech conferences?
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http://phpconf.asia
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http://geekcamp.sg
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http://reddotrubyconf.com
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http://iosconf.sg
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http://jsconf.asia
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http://cssconf.asia
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So what if i just want to be social?
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GeekBrunchSG
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http://kopijs.org
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PHPConf.Asia After Party
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WordCamp Singapore After Party
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How about women groups?
$
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PHPWomen.Asia
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• Singapore Geek Girls is a local
initiative for females to connect,
share, contribute, mentor and
learn from each other.
• We want to empower the next
generation of women in
technology through fun, informal
and interactive activities.
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CodingGirls is a Singapore
registered non-profit
organization to empower
more girls to code and
achieve their ambitions in
the technology world.