Tan Wee Joe - 2023 Graduates

Tan Wee Joe
Diploma in Computer Engineering (DCPE)

Awards:
Toh Chin Chye Gold Medal

Keep calm and pursue your passions

Since he was young, Wee Joe always marvelled at how gadgets work. From cameras and clocks to remote controls, his inquisitive nature saw him dismantling simple household items to understand the functions of their different components and how they worked together. His father, who is also an engineer, would further pique his interest in simple electronics to tinker with.

With the wide array of specialisations available, the Victoria School alumnus decided to pursue his passion by enrolling into Singapore Polytechnic’s (SP) Diploma in Computer Engineering (DCPE). During his time there, his abilities and skills shone through as he led his teammates and represented SP at various international and regional competitions.

Always keeping his cool, he knuckled down and battled through rigorous training sessions and countless late nights in preparation for two competitions that occurred during the same period - the 13^th NAPROCK Programming Contest 2021 and WorldSkills Singapore (WSS) 2021. For the former, Wee Joe led his team to clinch the Special Prize by implementing a coding game, RacerHack, that aimed to provide learners with an enjoyable experience while levelling up their coding proficiency at their own pace. These opportunities allowed him to grow as an engineering student, as he was challenged to think outside the box to come up with innovative solutions. He also learnt the value of perseverance and was quick to tackle any obstacle he faced.

An all‐rounder, Wee Joe excelled outside the classroom, contributing actively to his school. Apart from planning events as part of the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) Student Ambassadors Committee, he was also responsible for organising tutoring sessions and managing peer tutors as the chairperson of the Peer Tutoring Clinic in 2021. For his outstanding contributions to EEE, he received the SP Excellence Award in 2022 and 2023.

Wee Joe completed his internship at the Centre for Strategic Infocomm Technologies (CSIT), where he was involved in an exploratory, full‐stack software engineering project, and researched the use of gamification and interactive components to promote product adoption in a work setting. Given the autonomy to plan, recommend and implement his solutions made him more confident, self-directed and creative. Overall, the 22-week stint, which was his first taste of an actual working environment, shaped his current aspirations and reinforced his interest in software engineering.

Wanting to give back to the community, the Toh Chin Chye Gold Medal recipient volunteers his time at Engineering Good (EG), leveraging his interpersonal skills to have meaningful conversations with persons with disabilities (PwDs) to address the problems they face. For example, as children with autism required constant monitoring by their caretakers, Wee Joe worked with his counterparts at EG to devise a portable tracker which enabled their movements to be tracked through a mobile application.

The soft-spoken and humble leader intends to further his studies in computer science at university. He shares that he is never satisfied with simply following the status quo and hopes to push the boundaries of what is possible when it comes to creating something truly remarkable. When asked what kinds of projects he would like to contribute to in the future, Wee Joe said, “I would like to work on products which are accessible to any user even if they have visual disabilities or are unable to type. I want to be able to help people in terms of improving their standard of living and making their lives easier.”