WorldSkills_Dossier.exe

Name: Jackie Soon

Institution: Nanyang Polytechnic

Skill Area: IT Software Solutions for Business

Date: 3 April 2025 - 5 April 2025

Award: Gold

My Thoughts

It was an honour to be able to represent Nanyang Polytechnic for ITSSB in WorldSkills.
This experience has also given me the opportunity to make new friends and connections like Dan Lai, Favian Koh, Brandon, Ian, Kah Jie and Wei Rui.

There were of course times where I felt hopeless and lost, but also times of learning, friendship and excitement. The stress was no doubt one of the most I have felt in life, and has also taught me how to better handle it in future. Sometimes, stress does get to you and you do end up breaking down, I myself broke into tears during Day 1 of the competition after misinterpreting the first paper.
However, I am not alone in this, me and my teammates have each other, as well as our fellow competitors in other skill areas. We have suffered together, played games like Mobile Legends together, enjoyed meals together, and of course thrived together as learners.

Training for this competition was no easy feat. It was extremely rigorous and mentally draining. Yes there may have been modules exempted and replaced with training sessions, but this also has the downside of added stress and reduced time with my lovely classmates. Though I might not use all the technologies learned here in practice, it was still an amazing learning opportunity, to be able to prepare myself, condition myself for such a rigorous competition.

Regardless of the result of the competition, I believed that I had put my best foot forward in the execution of the various complex test projects, and given my 110% in all of them.

Finally, I would like to thank Nanyang Polytechnic for the opportunity, and my coaches for their wonderful guidance throughout our extensive training.

Find out more about my coaches and the competition below. :)

The Competition

[Results]

[About]

WorldSkills Singapore is held every 2 years, participated by youths mainly from Polytechnics and ITE.

Skill areas are set and judged by industry experts from various sectors and companies. Top medallists in the Singapore competition will advance to ASEAN and International WorldSkils competitions. Also dubbed as the "Youth Olympics of Skills".

I participated in the skill area IT Software Solutions for Business.

This area mainly focuses on creating or modifying systems to fit the requirements of businesses.

These can range from creating desktop applications for employees use, to mobile applications for end-users. We also develop analytical applications that allow businesses to make informed decisions based on real-time information.

WorldSkills Singapore 2025 Website: www.worldskills.sg

IT Software Solutions for Business: www.worldskills.sg/skills/it-software-solutions-for-business

ITSSB Competitors: www.worldskills.sg/events/worldskills-singapore-2025

All Results: Here

Skill Experts

• Chief Expert: Mr Christopher Kwok Siew Wah - NUS Information Technology
• Deputy Chief Expert: Mr Jack Chiam - MLION Corporation Pte Ltd
• Deputy Chief Expert: Dr Tan Wee Kek - National University of Singapore
• Expert (Industry): Dr Boyd Anderson - National University of Singapore
• Expert (Industry): Mr Lo Weng Chew - Vanguard Healthcare / Synapxe
• Expert (Industry): Mr Alvin Ang - Vanguard Healthcare / Synapxe
• Expert (Industry): Mr Favian Koh - Netflix Pte Ltd
• Expert (Industry): Dr Grandee Lee - Singapore University of Social Sciences
• Expert (Industry): Mr Ben Ishiyama-Levy - Xamariners
• Expert (Industry): Mr Uantchern Loh - Black Sun Pte Ltd Asia Pacific
• Expert (Industry): Mr Hazlami ZAWAWI - Personal Capacity
• Expert (Institution): Mr Yupinto Ngadiman - ITE College East
• Expert (Institution): Mr Willey Tang - Ngee Ann Polytechnic
• Expert (Institution): Ms Leow Zhen Zhen - Nanyang Polytechnic
• Expert (Institution): Dr Sathish s/o Sritharan - Temasek Polytechnic
• Ex-Officio: Mr Philip Lee - Ngee Ann Polytechnic
• Secretary: Ms Ng Swee Noi - Ngee Ann Polytechnic
• CIS Officer: Mr John Lim - Ngee Ann Polytechnic
• Workshop Manager: Mr Deshpande Anand Ravi - Ngee Ann Polytechnic
• Workshop Manager Assistant: Mr Thomas Kok - Ngee Ann Polytechnic

[Familiarization Day]

Today is mainly for us competitors to test our workstation computer to check that all software and tools are properly installed. This is also the first time physically meeting our competition. However, we didn't interact with each other today as we were focused on testing. I had also gone to the library afterwards for my final revisions and preparations.

[Day 1]

Our skill area is 1 of the earliest to start and latest to end. Reporting at 7:45am till 6:30pm+ when marking finishes. Our 1st paper was System Analysis and Design. For this paper, we were supposed to design database diagrams, wireframes and recommendation algorithms.
Originally, I thought this was a Desktop Winforms paper due to how the paper was phrased and coded about 70% of the whole application. Skipping wireframing and ERD design as well as algorithm suggestion. It was only after finishing and talking to my fellow competitors did I realise it was actually an analysis and design paper and I had messed up. Despite this, and crying in the corner during lunch. I went into desk marking trying my best to get as much marks as possible from my coded out designs and showing as much as possible of my database. I then pulled myself together for the following papers.

Our 2nd paper was Desktop Winforms. This paper was to make an application to help evaluate suppliers. With supplier update, sustainability score & pairwise comparison matrix and project score analysis.
Started strong with setting up the database, importing data and coding out the supplier update page. But struggled with question 3 on supplier assessment algorithm. It had a industry sustainability pairwise comparison matrix with complex calculations to get the sustainability score for the supplier. I did try to clarify my doubts by asking the invigilator but with little help. After about a hour spent experimenting with calculations, I skipped to question 4 on the project reporting dashboard. It too had a hard feature where we had to calculate the sustainability score from supplier ratings and project usage. It was then I went back to qn 3 and after a little more experimenting, understood the task and what we needed to do. The pairwise matrix was meant to be an input that we could update in the database. Then we could request an update to recalculate the sustainability ratings of all suppliers according to the matrix. I quickly coded it out and went back to qn 4 to finish the project sustainability score calculations. Finishing everything just in time despite the struggle at the middle. During marking, I managed to get the results correct for the pairwise matrix calculation and was given a new set of test data to input into the matrix. Since the matrix was 5 by 5, I had to manually input 25 cells. But eeach cell's data was 3 decimal places. I struggled to key in all the data, worrying that I keyed something wrong and lost marks. (I will remember this for a long long time, Favian.)

Only after both papers was where I got introducted too Dan Lai, WSS 2020 Gold Winner who had been watching me throughout most of both papers. And throughout the competition, would be there to support me and my teammates fully through all papers. During dinner, Dan and my coach Mr Roy had comforted me and gave tips & tricks for the following day. Encouraging me to keep pushing on.

[Day 2]

Our 3rd paper was also Desktop Winforms. Where we had to make a employee application for XYZ Supermarket. With features for cashiers, sustainability officers and management.
The execution of this paper went much more smoothly, with constant progress in developing features and minimal struggle. However, I missed out on some colouring of tabs and buttons. During marking, there were some bugs on refreshing data after updates and miscalculation for 1 of the reporting dashboard tables. But overall, still a good attempt.

Our 4th paper was on Android Kotlin. This was interesting as we had to make a Pest Management App for farms. It was kind of a farm game simulation with pests.
Took a long while to read through and fully understand this paper. We were accustomed to mobile papers like inventory management and booking apps during training, so it was a shock that this paper was a simulated game. But beneath it, it is still logic that runs the game. So I first coded out the UI, the Database, and the API server. Then I proceeded with the game logic where I struggled with the daily crop growth rate calculation as it didn't add up to the expected yield. This struggle continued on for about 30 minutes, with Dan watching over intensely (as shared after the paper), but eventually I realised my mistake was forgetting to implement the max crop cycle length input properly (it was hardcoded accidentally). I finished up the game logic, did the history page. Rushed through wireframing, generated the ERD diagram and tidied up the UI. Marking went pretty well with the marker saying "Cool" multiple times. I had also noticed the marker and many other skill experts watching me intensely throughout the paper. (Quite intimidating)

Again, we had our day's debrief with our coaches and Dan. Going over the day's progress and mainly focusing on tips for the last day on data analysis and presentation.

[Day 3]

Our 5th paper was on Data Analysis. Originally, everyone thought it would be fully done in Python on Jupyter Notebook. As the previous international paper was analysis done in Jupyter. This paper type was also added recently. The paper ended up being data analysis, but it had to be displayed in a desktop application. The data was regarding the sustainability scores of countries over multiple years. With analysis & dashboards based on the scores and the country's performance.
Since the paper was a complete 180, we were shocked. But it was now a desktop application that required calculations for analysis. Desktop is indeed my stronger area so I quickly dove into it. There were all sorts of filtering, sorting and calculations required, as well as trend and outliers analysis. However, I struggled in qn 2 where we had to recalculate the SDG Index score by finding out the score weights given the country's goal scores and the final result. Marking went smoothly and I think I did quite well except for qn 2.

The 6th and final paper, Presentation. We were given 3 hours each for the previous papers, but only 1.5 hours to prepare our slides for the presentation. The topic was on sustainability and we could reference our previous papers.
Internet was allowed for the full 1.5 hours of this paper. Since we had previously gone through sustainability presentation training, we reused our presentations. Modifying it to meet the requirements of this paper and improving on it. We then waiting for a long while to present. I think my presentation went quite well, but it can be improved as I sped through it due to my nervousness. We were finally free to explore other areas of the event. Yippie.

We had a group briefing and photoshoots with everyone. I then met up with my friends from Yes But No whom had hosted 2 separate events throughout the 3 days of WorldSkills in the ECG Fair and YCEP CCTF. There were also other friends in Yes But No who competed in Worldskills for other skill areas. We relaxed, chatted, took many more photos and went home.

[Closing Ceremony]

We were invited to Singapore Polytechnic on 7th April for the WorldSkills Closing Ceremony. Before the ceremony, we got to say hello to the other competitors and enjoyed ourselves. The prize ceremony had Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman, Second Minister for Education as the guest of honor, who had delivered an inspiring speech valuing skills-based excellence. We didn't know the results till we were called up on stage, so we were very anxious. When we got called up, it felt so sudden and shocking... After the ceremony, we took pictures and celebrated our success with our coaches and other competitors.

My Fellow Competitors

Over the 3 days of competition during breaks, we got to know each other. We also found that we are actually quite connected as we had many mutual friends. Like Ravin and Samuel from Ngee Ann Polytechnic, and Yes But No CTF. We also enjoyed chatting about school and life. I hope to see them around again. (PS: During internship in the coming week, I found even more mutual connections between me and my fellow competitors.)

Friends Competing in other Skills

• Cloud Computing - Andrey Wiedarta - Medallion for Excellence
• Cloud Computing - Hayden How Zong Han - Gold
• Cloud Computing - Liu Yanzhao - Bronze
• Cyber Security - Shum Hoe Yeong - Gold
• Cyber Security - Yang Yongjun Eugene - Gold
• Cyber Security - Hu Bowen (NP) - Bronze
• Cyber Security - Tay Hestia / Kairos (NP) - Bronze
• Mobile Applications Development - Yi Jiaxin - Silver
• Mobile Applications Development - Pang Shi Qing Christabel - Bronze
• Mobile Applications Development - Seng Kay Kang Jerick (SP) - Medallion for Excellence
• IT Network Systems Administration - Pek Joon Yin - Medallion for Excellence
• IT Network Systems Administration - Noah Feng Xiang Al-Soodinay - Medallion for Excellence
• 3D Digital Game Art - Jade Bousquet Jing Yu (SP)

Supporting NYP Seniors

• WSS 2023, Ashlee Tan (Gold)
• WSS 2020, Dan Lai Kai Yi (Gold)
• WSS 2018, Yong Kai Qi (Silver)
• WSS 2006, Koh Nai Wen Favian (Bronze)

Our Lovely NYP Coaches

• Ms Leow Zhen Zhen
• Mr Roy Ng
• Mr Zhang Joey (WebAPI)
• Mr Kee Li-Ren (Android)
• Mr Boon Seng Meng (Data Science)
• Ms Novita Kho (Winforms)
• Ms Teo Bee Wah (Database)
• Mr Chan Yuen Loong (C#)
• Mr Sudesh Dharmaratna (Pitching)

LinkedIn Posts & Links

• Zaobao News Article
• Nanyang Polytechnic
• Nanyang Polytechnic - School of IT
• NYP Expert - Ms Leow Zhen Zhen
• NYP Coach - Mr Sudesh Dharmaratna
• NYP ITSSB 2020 Competitor - Dan Lai
• NYP ITSSB - Terrence
• NP ITSSB - Brandon
• NP ITSSB - Wu Enjia
• NP ITSSB - Tan Jon Ian
• NYP Cloud - Hayden
• NYP Cloud - Yanzhao
• NP Cyber - Bowen
• NP Cyber - Kairos
• YCEP Central CTF - Supported by Yes But No

Training Overview

Moments

Welcoming to our training room which housed ITSSB, MAD & Cloud.