Goh Aik Lang

Life Took A Turn For The Better

Lee Kuan Yew Award
OCBC Prize

After working hard for his G.C.E ‘N’ Levels to qualify for the Polytechnic Foundation Programme (PFP), Goh Aik Lang was upset when he missed qualifying by one point. The Damai Secondary alumnus was upset but he gave himself only two days to cry about it before picking himself up and starting Secondary Five with a new goal to do well for his G.C.E ‘O’ Levels.

As Aik Lang took Principles of Accounts in Secondary Three and instantly fell in love with it, he decided to pursue a career in Accountancy. He applied to Singapore Polytechnic(SP)’s Diploma in Accountancy via the Direct Polytechnic Admissions exercise (now known as the Early Admissions Exercise) and qualified for it.

Just when Aik Lang thought that life was back on track, he was rejected from his dream course as he had scored a D7 for English and was not able to meet the minimum requirement of a C6 grade. Instead of feeling demoralised, he began flipping through the admission book to find the next best course.

Although accounting was his first love, Aik Lang was also amazed by how analytics can be applied to help improve businesses and processes. SP’s Diploma in Business Information Technology (DBIT) course caught his eye. Aik Lang successfully applied for it through the Joint Poly Special Admissions Exercise by tapping on his achievements in Handball.

In SP, Aik Lang excelled in both his studies and CCA. After joining SP’s Handball team, he rose through the ranks to become a management committee member and participated in the POL-ITE Handball championships from 2016 to 2018. Aik Lang proceeded to play a part in helping the team win first place for all three years.

The SP Sports & Arts scholar also represented Singapore in the International Handball Federation Challenge Trophy 2018 and Singapore Handball Open Tournament and helped the team attain third and fourth spot respectively. In recognition of his sports achievements, Aik Lang received the Sports Award (Honours) and Sports Award (Colours) during SP’s annual Excellence Awards.

During his 17 weeks internship at Nufin Data as a developer, the SP Outstanding Talent was exposed to the life cycle of a start-up. There, his passion in analytics bloomed as he was exposed to many challenges during his stint in the company. His diligence and hard work paid off as Nufin offered him a job even before graduation.

For his final-year project, Aik Lang analysed large amounts of data for SP’s Professional & Adult Continuing Education Academy. The project’s aim was to analyse data from Continuing Education courses to identify trends and make recommendations. For his all-rounded contributions, Aik Lang also received the SP Model Student Award.

Despite the many bumps in his academic journey, Aik Lang has shown great resilience to overcome all of them. He intends to further his studies before pursuing a career in analytics. He has accepted an offer to pursue Information Systems at the Singapore Management University. In the long run, Aik Lang hopes to work at a tech-giant such as Apple or Google to develop useful technology or products that will benefit mankind.