Chee Min Hao

Name: Chee Min Hao
Nationality: Malaysia
Current Role: Master of AI student at Monash

Why did you choose to study at Monash, and has it met your expectations so far?

The main reason I chose to study at Monash is due to its curriculum. Through my research back during college, I realized that Monash IT’s curriculum really dives deep into the barebones of Computer Science as compared to the curriculum of other universities.

Overall, Monash has indeed met my expectations through the university experience held by MUSA and various Clubs and Societies, along with the teaching team’s commitment to provide high quality education for their students despite the difficulties that the faculty may face in terms of manpower.

We understand that you’re currently on a student exchange to the Clayton campus. How is it going so far? Are you having a memorable time?

Currently, my experience in Melbourne, where the Clayton campus is stationed at, was fantastic and extraordinary. I was able to meet a lot more like minded students in various fields and was able to be involved in a few events organised by MSA and its respective Clubs and Societies as well. Due to my unit choices, I was able to have time to venture to different places in Melbourne including Formula 1, AFL, Victoria State Library, etc. Such trips and experiences were what made my whole experience so much more memorable up until now.

You were the 2022 MUSA Rep and were very active in leading extracurricular activities for your peers. What did you learn from this experience and did you develop useful skills? Would you encourage future students to get involved in extracurricular activities/clubs and societies?

Being a MUSA Rep for 2022 was indeed not easy, moreover given the fact that I was a School of IT Representative which involves organising events and also admin work. However, I believe that my soft skills won’t improve as much if not for MUSA, and that I learnt a lot from the past year itself as compared to my whole course period. The one main thing I learnt is communication and people managing which is crucial when managing a large group of people alongside communicating with stakeholders. These two could also count as the most useful skills that I’ve developed and will definitely be using them a lot in the future.

In my opinion, being involved in extracurricular activities in general, be it joining a club, helping out for an event, representing the university in competitions, would greatly benefit everyone out there. University is the golden period where students can freely express their talents and get the most out of their university experience, hence it is the time to get active within the university and be steps further from your peers.

While at Monash, did you go for any internships or work placements? If so, where? And did the experience help you in terms of career preparation/what have you learned?

While at Monash, I did an external internship at MYC! after my first semester while having all my projects and an internal internship (TeaMWork) done under Monash itself. These initiatives have inspired me greatly to pursue Computer Science even more. The main thing that I’ve learned from these internships is perseverance, which is something that all of us should equip ourselves with. By mastering perseverance, it will make things easier to cope with when it comes to pursuing your career after graduation.

What do you enjoy most about your student life at Monash?

The main thing I enjoyed most was the freedom I get to explore different things in Monash. Throughout my journey here, I was able to get involved in both IT and non-IT related activities which expanded my horizon significantly. Furthermore, for the majority of it, guidance will always be available to me while having room to do things that have never been done before. While doing so, the friends that I made along the way became my pillars that had helped me endure through difficult times in university, while also being able to share like minded thoughts with each other. These friends were also people that I’ve gone to competitions with, hosted events with, had major discussions with, the list goes on. In the end, we all were able to improve ourselves more and strive to shine brightly when we start working on our own path after graduation.

What is your biggest career goal, or what is the difference you’d like to make?

My biggest career goal is to have a commercial IT project under my belt being made available to the public, and being able to see a lot of people adopting my technology. This is something that not everyone can achieve as the process in achieving it is very tedious, but having gone through similar experiences the feeling of it happening is definitely something that I will keep yearning for.