ABOUT

Welcome.

I hope you find the things here informative and useful for your learning or for your discovery about my learning process.

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Hello there!

My name is Cora Liaw Bei Le.

Presently, I am participating in the Boston Consulting Group’s RISE programme in the Business and Data Analytics track (2021).

I am an ex-KPMG Senior Auditor with approx 2.5 years of audit work experience in the Big 4 firm and also a Nanyang Technological University (NTU) graduate with a Bachelors’ degree in Accountancy (Honours, Distinction).

Before 2021, I largely specialise in finance / accounting / auditing, and am proficient in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook, etc. In KPMG, I had the opportunity to learn audit softwares like IDEA and eAudit, and to import, sanitise, transform and analyse financial data using KPMG CLARA data analytics platform.

This year, 2021, I am seeking to gain tech/ data analytics skills and learn more about coding. My endeavours and the skills I have gained are detailed below.

WHY I LEARN PROGRAMMING:

Creating Value:

Digital skills are getting increasingly relevant in today’s world, and knowing about programming languages and how to use them are some of the most sought-after tech skills which employers value and that are essential in problem solving, increasing productivity, creating products and generating solutions.

Upskilling & Fulfilment:

As my previous course of study and work did not require coding skills and knowledge, I felt that I had missed out on learning how to program.

Being a reflective individual, I was very much self-aware that I should upgrade myself in terms of learning how to code and use the different types of programming languages.

My favourite subjects in school were Math and Physics. As a highly analytical and detailed individual, I love problem solving.

The adrenaline and satisfaction when a program runs correctly without any bugs in the end keeps me motivated to learn. The aha moment when I learn how to program more efficiently also inspires me to learn how to write efficient code.

Being able to problem solve and create/ build something tangible like an app or website, or provide solutions to business problems by analysing and modelling data sets, gives me a high sense of achievement and fulfilment.

MY GOALS:

I hope that by embarking on this learning journey, I can hone my programming & business skills.

Eventually, I want to become a more effective problem solver who can create useful algorithms & solutions such as web automation, mobile apps, websites and games etc., as I become more proficient and confident in programming.

I also hope to be able to generate insights and provide solutions to solve business problems using data analytics and problem solving skills.

Programming skills I gained:

Hope you have a great time reading my blog posts about my programming journey that I embarked on this year.
It has been and is continuing to be tons of fun learning coding and building programs!

Digital & Business skills I gained:

Jan 2021:
Attended a Scrum course and learnt about Agile methodologies and how Agile helps to create effective teams.

  • Attained the ScrumMaster certification issued by Scrum Alliance.
    • Learnt to apply scrum practices like sprint planning, planning/inserting/shifting tasks in product backlogs, setting definitions of ‘done’ for tasks, sprint review and sprint retrospectives.

Feb 2021:
I enrolled in a 6-month digital upskilling program called RISE by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in the business and data analytics track, to build my business and digital skills. The course ongoing and expected to end in early Aug 2021.

  • Gained business skills including creative problem solving, modelling and analysis, story lining and slide writing.
  • Completed a case project and presentation on how to increase A. Co.’s consumer electronics revenues, in a team of 6 members.
    • Examples of problem solving skills applied includes SCQ (Situation Complication Question) framework, basic data modelling involving use of assumptions and based on relevant historical or projected datasets across the different years (e.g. revenues by products, revenues by country, product price comparisons, technology brand values & more), story lining and slide writing.

Mar 2021:
In RISE by BCG:

  • Attained human centred design (HCD) skills involving the 4 main phases of research, synthesise, produce & evaluate.
  • Completed a case project and presentation on how to improve the customer journey for a non tech-savvy S. Co. mobile phone and plan customer, in the same team of 6 members.
    • Examples of the design thinking principles and practices applied during the project include: user interviews, stakeholder journey mapping, persona mapping, Crazy 8s, Creative Matrix, Concept Poster, Evaluation.
    • Methods used involved Affinity diagramming, DVF Analysis, Impact/Difficulty Analysis, Storyboarding, Wireframing, Product Metrics.
  • I also took up a 2-day online PowerBI course by DigitalBCG Academy, did multiple hands-on PowerBI practices using sample datasets including COVID data (confirmed cases, deaths, countries, across time) and Sales data (manufacturers, products, across time).
  • Further, I took another PowerBI course on LinkedIn Learning.
    • Now, I am confident in using PowerBI, a data visualisation tool.

Apr 2021:
In RISE by BCG:

As it had been 3 months of working within the same team, we learnt to adapt to one anothers’ working styles and contributed to the project in different ways.

We had contrasting views on ideas at times, but we were able to sound out one anothers’ opinions and learn from one another, and agree to go with the majority in case opinions still stood strong.

We played to our strengths in the project and presentation, as all of us had strengths especially in different areas: (project management and keeping the team on track in terms of goals and timelines; meticulousness and critical thinking/ devil’s advocate role; good speaking & answering skills; great design skills; people and network resourcefulness; informational resourcefulness) - all these contributed to a great team outcome.

May 2021 to Aug 2021:
In RISE by BCG: