Victor Tan

Name: Yan Choong Tan (Victor)
Nationality: Malaysia
Current Role: Senior Business Intelligence Analyst at YTL-Sea Digital Bank Project

Please tell us about your role in your current organisation.

I'm a Data Analyst in Shopee Malaysia. Responsibilities of this role include setup, maintain and automate reports & dashboards. Furthermore, manage and work with large amount of data to provide actionable insights to help drive high-impact business changes.

Why did you choose to study [your degree/area of study]?

I felt that computer science offers endless exciting opportunities with unlimited possibilities. Furthermore, the feeling of being able to solve challenging problems and making a positive impact in the world through coding is simply exhilarating.

How has your studies at Monash University Malaysia helped to prepare you for the working world?

Studying at Monash has trained me to be an independent problem-solver, and honed my critical thinking skills. Rather than purely focusing on drilling students with frameworks, the course is structured to provide students with a strong fundamental and grounding in theoretical computer science. With that, I’m able to be self-sufficient to learn and adapt to any new advancement in technologies.

While at Monash, what type of opportunities did you participate in? (E.g. student exchange, clubs and societies, field trips, conferences, competitions, etc.)

Some notable opportunities I participated in while at Monash are as follows. I had the opportunity to partake in the Industry Based Learning (IBL) program with Photobook Worldwide as a Database Engineer. Furthermore, I was a PASS (Peer Assisted Study Session) leader for three semesters, leading FIT1047 for two semesters followed by FIT2004. Lastly, I took part in the student’s apprenticeship program supervised by Dr Ian Lim Wern Han during my year 2 summer break doing data analysis.

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?

While at Monash, my work placement (IBL) was at Photobook Worldwide. It helped  me to gain a solid understanding of how an e-commerce company’s tech stack operates. Additionally, I got to apply what I learnt from the university (technical and non-technical knowledge) in a practical setting. With the exposure gained from the placement, I’m able to return to my final year of studies with a better awareness of my strengths and weaknesses.

What did you like most about your student life at Monash? 

A supportive learning environment, with passionate lecturers. The university actively listens to student’s feedback every semester to improve the learning experience.

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

Providing accessibility to everyone by having the ability to use or run powerful applications from the web browser. This in return, will grant equal access and opportunity for anyone to experience intensive applications for learning or working without the need to own a capable device or downloading the applications.