Andy Chee

Course: Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical), 2012
Nationality: Malaysian
Current role: Group Strategy Advisor, Corporate Strategy & Portfolio, Shell

Why did you decide to major in Chemical Engineering?

I never really wanted to be an engineer. I took up engineering because I liked to innovate and solve problems, and I knew that this degree would generate more options for me in terms of career paths. I could go into various industries such as banking, oil and gas, consulting, and so on. The choice to major in Chemical Engineering was purely driven by the course modules that I was more interested in.

How have your studies at Monash helped to prepare you for the working world?

Generally, the Chemical Engineering course helped me to enhance my ability to solve problems and develop my thought process when I was a student. Certain jobs in various industries other than the conventional engineering-related jobs prefer engineering graduates not predominantly driven by the technical knowledge from their degree, but rather the thought process and the ability to tackle and solve problems.

The demanding course content definitely helped me to build my discipline and resilience as well. We have loads of lecture hours, lab slots, assignments, projects, tutorials, tests, exams and the list keeps going. In order to digest the learnings and deliver outcomes in terms of grades, while having sufficient time for non-academic activities with friends and coursemates, discipline and resilience were definitely required. There is this saying, ‘you grow more when you’re in an uncomfortable zone and if you’re well stretched’, I was definitely feeling stretched and I loved that intensity.

Did you participate in any student activities or opportunities while at Monash?

I was very involved in the student council activities and I took up several leading roles in various clubs/associations, such as the Entrepreneurship Society and Rock Climbing Club. That helped me in terms of providing the channels to meet new people, including friends from other schools and backgrounds.

From a development standpoint, I felt that I improved on my soft skills and interpersonal skills while developing my leadership attributes as well. Also, to ensure that I get the right balance between my involvement in all these activities and my studies, time management was essential. I picked up a series of useful experiences around project management, team management and more, in these various involvements.

When you were choosing a course and a university did you have a clear picture of your future and if so, what was it? How did that change during your experience at Monash?

To be honest, no. I didn’t have a clear picture of the future. However, I believed that we need to have an idea of the future, but flexibility and agility are key as we want to use that idea as a guide but yet be sensitive towards opportunities and macro environment changes that could shift the idea. Initially, when I was crafting my path before I chose Chemical Engineering and Monash as my university, the plan was to graduate with a Chemical Engineering degree and then pursue an MBA before starting my own business.

As I progressed through my years at Monash, I realised that I needed three things before I can be ready for business and they are ‘Experience’, ‘Capital’ and ‘Network’. Capital is debatable as there are ways to secure funding but ‘Experience’ was the key element for the ‘equation’ to do business (from my perspective).

There were three key moments that shifted my original plan. The first one was my internship with Accenture in the management consulting field and the second was with Technip in the process engineering field. These two internships helped me to self-validate my passion, reaffirming my decision to not pursue an engineering job when I graduated.

The third moment was when Shell came to Monash and shared the various career routes within the company through their management trainee program. I decided to apply for the Shell Graduate Program and took the leap when I received the offer. I started off in Shell within the contracting and procurement skill pool and now I am in a B2B commercial business development skill pool.

The development was amazing as challenges were always in the equation to keep me stretched and growing, coupled with the fact that I had great leaders along my journey. I was in a range of roles cutting across the upstream, downstream and integrated gas businesses, which included Senior Buyer, Contract Specialist, Planning Lead, Business Performance Lead, and now Sales Manager. In general, Shell is not going to mindlessly hand the carrot to you. This is a company where you need to show constant hunger and deliver. Now when I reflect, I genuinely believe that my experiences and the intensity when I was in Monash did one way or another cultivate my hunger and delivery mindset.

You were a high achiever at Monash. You graduated with first-class honours and was also inducted into the Golden Key International Honour Society. What would you say was your secret to success?

There isn’t any secret, but there were definitely building blocks that were key for me. I would summarise those into two.
The first one would be the mentors I had throughout my journey. That includes my parents, great lecturers, university seniors and friends. I have always been curious about everything and I continuously seek different perspectives. Curiosity comes with questions, and questions come with perspectives/inputs, which are a form of knowledge and knowledge is power.

The second would be mindset. My motto has always been around passion, competitiveness and hunger. You have to know what your passion is as that would be a key driver but if you don’t know what your passion is, I always believe that it’s possible to develop it as well. Competitiveness in this context is not about being the best in your group. It’s about knowing your strength and weakness while continuously striving to close your gaps in terms of your weaknesses and improve your strengths. It’s about self-development. Hunger represents your drive; if you’re hungry enough, you will get it done and you will excel.

Do you have any advice for current Monash students?

Find or develop your passion, which will lead to your sense of purpose. Make sure you’re competitive, get hungry and stay hungry if you want to excel. I genuinely believe that everyone has their own way of defining their respective paths and everyone can have their own definition of success as we all define life differently.