A tribute to Mr Lee Kuan Yew – 3 quotes from LKY that inspire me in my pursuit of my career in Information Technology

Image of Mr Lee Kuan Yew - 1923 to 2015
(Photo by Tara Sosrowardoyo, National Museum of Singapore Collection.)

Singapore's founding father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, breathed his last on 23rd March 2015 at 3.18 am. As a Singaporean, the demise of our founding father had spurred inspirations amid sadness in me.

Without a doubt, Mr Lee Kuan Yew had played a crucial role in Singapore's prosperity. As my tribute to Mr Lee Kuan Yew, I pen some of his quotes that inspire me in my pursuit of my career in information technology.

You know the Singaporean. He is a hard-working, industrious, rugged individual. Or we would not have made the grade. But let us also recognise that he is a champion grumbler.

In the early days, most Singaporeans had nothing but themselves. Just like most early Singaporeans, I started pursuing my career with nothing: no money to buy awesome gadgets and no technical skills to sell.

Yes, I can grumble about difficulties and challenges in a career in Information Technology, but as long as I maintain my diligence to better myself, I will be able to make the mark. Who knows, I can even come up with something from my grumblings to help move people forward.

And because of Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his team, there will always be opportunities in Singapore - as long as I am the hardworking, industrious and rugged Singaporean, I will find opportunities to thrive.

As long as you keep that, at the back of your mind, this place is what it is because of our effort. You cease to make that effort, you cease to be like this.

Singaporeans should not linger on past achievements, especially when those achievements belong to others who come before us. Even if we have achieve something for ourselves, as long as there is complacency, we will probably not take effort to create new achievements.

Indeed, I should not linger on past achievements. Instead, I should look forward and do things to better myself in my career; especially when Information Technology is a field that is constantly evolving.

You begin your journey not knowing where it will take you. You have plans, you have dreams, but every now and again you have to take uncharted roads, face impassable mountains, cross treacherous rivers, be blocked by landslides and earthquakes. That’s the way my life has been.

A journey in Information Technology would be uncertain. That could be many dilemmas on which tool to learn or which framework to build products upon. If I spend too much time in analyzing instead of taking real actions, I would not advance.

At the end of the day, does it really matter what I do or not do? Well, if I stay on the same ground, I would be much worst off than picking a skill that I may never need or reworking the foundation of that system that do not perform well. At the very least, the process of learning and acting will definitely shape my thoughts and ideas for greater goals.

Thank you Mr Lee Yew!

May you rest in peace.

About Clivant

Clivant a.k.a Chai Heng enjoys composing software and building systems to serve people. He owns techcoil.com and hopes that whatever he had written and built so far had benefited people. All views expressed belongs to him and are not representative of the company that he works/worked for.