How this self-taught coder paved his way from startup to all-star engineer

Working as a clerk during National Service (NS), Michael Cheng developed an interest in computers. He never imagined he would one day become one of the most prominent names in Singapore’s software engineering scene.

In Michael’s previous job, his main tasks were to “fix computer hardware and software and provide technical support [in the] MINDEF computer center.” This was the beginning for him.

My dad saw my interest in computers and bought me a desktop computer (an Intel Pentium 133) and a 28.8 kbps modem. The first thing I did when I got my internet account was to download Microsoft Front Page and Image Composer and build my own home page that same night. Eventually, I was tasked to build an intranet website for my NS department.

Despite his early interest in the space, he was unable to enter the NUS School of Computing because he didn’t learn C Maths (now defunct) in junior college. He ended up majoring in political science and history and, in fact, did not graduate with a bachelor’s degree—his CAP score was too low.

In any case, Michael figured it was for the best. “I felt that a formal education in IT would kill my interest,” he explained.

Michael (third from right, purple shirt) is a member of Singapore Power Digital’s engineering team.

Today, Michael is part of Singapore Power Digital’s engineering team (one article refers to them as the “Avengers of engineering”), a new group within the Infocomm Technologies Division of Singapore Power Group. As the name suggests, the entity owns and operates the country’s power and gas supply.

Here’s the story of how he got there.

Self-taught

While he was in university, Michael decided to pick up web design and offer his expertise in HTML and CSS to companies on a part-time basis. “I have always had a keen interest in design,” he said. “In fact, I almost pursued a course in product design at Temasek Polytechnic but decided to pursue a university education instead.”

During this period, he worked closely with three other IT graduates from Temasek Polytechnic, who taught him programming in Adobe ColdFusion. From there, he taught himself PHP as well.

“I attribute my continued progress to my sense of curiosity,” Michael explained. “I was always curious about how things worked. That curiosity led me to ask many technical questions and opened up my mind to how things work.”

Still, not having formal education in computer science did hold him back—at least in the initial stages. He explained that there were times, particularly when dealing with optimization and other complex computing tasks, that he felt handicapped.

However, Michael added that most of these issues were few and far between. He got by simply by “asking the right questions on Google or having smarter colleagues.”

Trying out the startup life

Startup vs agency vs consultancy

Advice for software engineers