Engineering to inspire

Just Who is: Ho Wuiyee of LucasArts

While compatriot Ian Pang works at LucasArts in California, Ho Wuiyee works at LucasArts Singapore. Besides location, his role is also somewhat different. His main role is to ““program and fix the graphical glitches and inconsistencies” as a software engineer.

Within the context of a game, he thinks it’s important to…

…find new ways to engage the player. It is a continuous learning process with new hardware being announced and interactive entertainment moving to new platforms in the form of handhelds and mobile phones. The processing and graphical capabilities of some of the latest handheld gadgets are simply mind blowing!

But really, he wished that someone had invented a time machine! Why? “I believe everybody at some point in time would have wished for the ability to travel backwards or forwards in time!”

As do we all.

Just who is: Ian Pang of LucasArts

Ever dreamt of being a Jedi and fighting against the Dark Forces?

Here’s something even better: making this dream come true for millions of fans and gamers around the world.

Ian Pang, Associate Producer at LucasArts in California, does it on a daily basis. To him,

“Games are about fulfilling dreams and fantasies. If you want to feel like a Paladin, a Fighter Pilot or a Jedi, playing video games can bring that experience to you. Not many careers allow you to touch lives all over the world the way game developers are able to.”

His next big ambition is to work with Shigeru Miyamoto, a man who has made some of Ian’s favourite games and never fails to amaze him with his designs. Give him a shout-out if you can make his dream come true!

In the meantime, Ian tells us more about what goes on behind the games…

Young Developers: Lim Ding Wen (Doodle kids)

Lim Ding Wen is the iPhone’s youngest app developer. He wrote his first iPhone app, Doodle Kids, when he was 9 years old. At that age, most of us were still swinging from our playground’s Monkey Bars!

What’s even more impressive, his app has clocked over 700,000 downloads since its release in Feb 2009! And he isn’t resting on his heels, the boy had just released Doodle Kids on the iPad. We catch up with the now 11-year old (he’s a veritable granddad in Internet time) to find out more about what he did and what’s next for the iPhone whiz kid.

Just who is: Terence Swee of Muvee

This is a day in the life of Terence Swee: the “deal-seeking missile” (aka CEO) for Muvee.

“…getting on calls, preparing presentations, reading blogs/news, playing with our products, facebooking, talking with colleagues in the US office and customer meetings during the day. This could start as early as 7am as it will already be 10am in New York. I then try to hit the gym or cook dinner in the evenings to de-stress and get some thinking time in before getting online again at 8pm (which is noon in Singapore) where emails and calls from my Singapore headquarters will start pouring in. I typically stay online till about 2am (6pm in Singapore, 10am in Germany) with a little TV + wine + chocolate breaks in between.”

Whew!

Of course, he wasn’t always a businessman, Terence is actually an engineer cum jazz pianist dosed with curiosity. It all came together when he designed beat detection and emotional index algorithms to map the emotional strength of music. Those algorithms ultimately became Muvee in 2001.

But how does it all gel together for him? That’s what we’re here to find out…

FYI, the man took part in the Langkawi Ironman where he swam 3.8km, biked 180km and ran 42km. Why? “Cos I enjoy eating but still need to fit in an economy class seat…and also for lifetime bragging rights.”

Just who is: Sung Peir Fen of ExxonMobil

Don’t bluff. We know that you don’t think women can do engineering.

We can read minds. You’re probably thinking: “most engineers are guys, it’s all about maths and science, and it’s about ‘nerdy males who design weaponry in the movies’.”

Hrmmph. Have you met Sung Peir Fen?

Woman, process engineer at ExxonMobil, and interviewed on 938Live in December 2009.

And you know what? Peir Fen’s just as sceptical when we spoke about perceived limitations for women engineers:

“Contrary to public perception, there are many female engineers in the petrochemical industry. In ExxonMobil, there are numerous women role models in management positions, for younger engineers like myself. They hold key posts in technical, operations, engineering, logistics and even construction management.”

If you think that she sits in a cubicle all day long… think again, because she…we’ll let her tell you about it herself.

One last bite – Steve Jobs, if you’re reading this post, Peir Fen would like to invite you to dinner ‘cause you are “innovative and constantly challenging norms”.

Just who is: Andrew McGlinchey of Google

“Hey, what’s an ornithopter?”

“I don’t know. Just google it.”

Now look up “ornithopter” without using a search engine. Hard isn’t it? That’s why we’re thankful for search engines like Google, and Google’s thankful to its engineers.

Engineers like Andrew McGlinchey, product manager at Google, who:

“Causes Googley things to happen in Southeast Asia. I am the bridge between the software engineering teams and the users, as well as the other parts of Google (like marketing, business development, and marketing). I figure out what the products should be and work with the engineering team to make that happen.”

This is Andrew’s second appearance on our blog (read his five things to know about engineering). This time it’s all about him and his views on engineering.

Before we let him loose, if you’re “right now in a university dorm room, or a garage or somewhere, creating the next amazing innovation that we’ll all be using five years from now” drop Andrew a line ‘cause he would love to be in your shoes.

Interview with Create 2010 Winners: Great Ideas Association

We hate them. We really do.

It costs a ton of cash to fly to Munich, doze in Hilton, and munch on Bratwursts, Schnitzels, and Pretzels. But these boys get it all for free!

The trio from Raffles Institution, collectively known as Great Ideas Association, won over our Create 2010 judges with the GDome – a “greenhouse that could transform coastal regions into arable land and efficate sustainable farming” (read it on Scribd). It came out from their motivation to “reduce world hunger and secure our food for the future.”

The project addresses very real problems. Hopefully it’ll get turned into reality some time soon. (Remember you heard it here first!) Until then, they’ll just have to make do with a trip to Munich.

Ahhh… Bygones. It’s water under the bridge.

But questions bugged us. How did they win Create 2010? And why did they even sign up in the first place? So we caught up with Great Ideas Association and jawed over coffee, rain and travel plans.

PS: Create 2011 is just round the corner. Check back for more details!

Just who is: Justin Chiam of SIA Engineering

Creator of Tomorrow - Justin Chiam Justin Chiam’s got a hand in the passenger jets that fly from Changi Airport.

Well… Not literally, but he is part of the team that oversees the redelivery of aircraft that goes to SIA Engineering for servicing (located within Changi Airport).

He describes his work as:

“I look at continuous improvements of our operational processes. In the aviation industry, everything is highly regulated. Operational tasks must be carried out smoothly, efficiently and with clockwise precision. This is only possible if the SIA Engineering improves the efficiency and effectiveness of their processes. At the moment, my section looks at the running of aircraft maintenance checks – from start of negotiations until redelivery of aircraft to our customers.”

But we’re after more, so we asked:

Just who are the Creators of Tomorrow?

Yes yes, we know that the spiel’s on UCreatechange.com.

But really, who is a Creator of Tomorrow (or CoT)?

Let’s count their characteristics:

Engineers who band together because engineering makes the world go round.
Believers that engineering is a creative endeavour.
Promotes engineering.
Leaders in their respective industries. (Y’know reeeally big companies like Google, BMW, SIA Engineering, Exxon Mobil amongst others.)

But other than those bits, we don’t really know them.

Or why they’re CoTs for the matter.

So we had tea with them and talked and talked and talked. And we found a bunch of interesting things to share with y’all. That’s how we came up with the “Just Who is” series where every month, we’ll post up our talks with a different CoT… until we run out of CoTs. Hopefully, these interviews will give you insights to why these ordinary folk became engineers, and how they got to the top of their industries.

Now on to the first Creator of Tomorrow: Justin Chiam!

“What is Engineering [about]?”

Two weeks ago, I’ve had a bunch of questions on “What’s engineering?”

That discussion (right fine, it was an argument) got me thinking about the nature of engineering and what’s it about. Is engineering really just making stuff like cars, buildings and mp3 players? Is it a way of improving our lives? Or is it a way to view the world?

I figured that I’d might as well ask an engineer on it’s all about. Good thing that Creator of Tomorrow, Justin Chiam from SIA Engineering, stepped up to the plate and gave us an answer (or eight of them) to the “what’s it about?” question. Some of his answers, most of us would instinctively know. The rest perhaps, not so. But in all, it’s a good list to get a feel of how engineers see engineering.

Students' take: Is engineering, business, or medicine cool?

We love coolness.

We pick the coolest handphones and the funkiest fashion; and for students in their final year of junior college – perhaps coolness is a factor when choosing a course and career.

But what’s cool as a course and career? Is it engineering, business or medicine or something else? Is “coolness” even a factor for students?

938Live’s radio show hosted by DJ Dave Martin at Anderson Junior College featured the topic “that probably factors into every student’s mind at one point or another – ‘what do I want to do with my life? How do I decide on a course of study?”’

And the responses from panelists and students, très interesting.