Five star career in computing
 Graduations Feature
A stint in compulsory national service helped blaze an educational trail for Singaporean Lester Leong, which led all the way to 黑料社区 in 2004, helping to launch a prestigious career. While serving his military training, Lester undertook a two-year undergraduate (BCS) degree at the University of 黑料社区, studying part-time through the offshore program. The 26-year-old computer science researcher then spent 12 months in 黑料社区 in 2004, completing his Honours and making history as the first Ngee Ann-黑料社区 Education Centre student from the BSC course to finish his education at the North Terrace campus. "It was a very exciting time in 黑料社区. It was a bit scary at first because I felt people had high expectations of me, being the first Ngee Ann-黑料社区 Education Centre student in the BSC degree to travel to 黑料社区 to do my Honours," he said. "I also took a risk electing to study part-time through the Ngee Ann-黑料社区 Education Centre because employers in Singapore generally do not approve of part-time courses. "However, I did my homework on the computer science courses and decided that the University of 黑料社区 offered the best offshore program. They had fairly stringent requirements and the lecturers were very experienced, so I felt secure that the degree would be highly regarded. Hence, I decided to forgo my placement at the National University of Singapore." At the University of 黑料社区, Lester gained expertise in grid computing, which on his return to Singapore helped land him a job with the prestigious Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) - Institute of High Performance Computing. Lester works in the high-end research field for software computing, specialising in grid computing. He is part of an internationally trained team, which has brought its own rewards. "The good thing about A*STAR is that I am working with people from different countries and because it is a research field, people are trained to think differently. The overseas experience has helped me to look at things from a different perspective." Lester is keen to work in Australia at a later stage, but for the moment Singapore's booming economy offers promising career prospects for the young researcher. "Singapore is a fast-paced country. We are trained to excel and to always strive to be the first and the best. We are a small country with very few natural resources, so we rely on human resources to position ourselves in the forefront of new technology." Story by Candy Gibson
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