Growing up as a technology geek, I’ve always wondered: Why are people who are my age not so well-versed in technology? Whenever I assist others in technology, I wonder: Why does it take them so long to understand what I’m saying, when I only take less than 5 minutes to grasp a simple technological concept?
Until today, I have not found a reasonable answer to this question. Whenever I start a major project related to technology (such as gaming communities), I always have no way of giving that project to somebody else once I had other projects that started to take up my time. Having to find a successor to take over some of my projects related to technology has always been difficult and almost impossible. It felt like those people who were my age were not as well-versed in technology as I was.
Let me share more about why I’m well-versed in technology. Since kindergarten, I’ve always been fascinated about my mother’s laptop. I was exposed to various gadgets and devices such as mobile phones, laptops and even desktop computers. I went for typing classes when I was in kindergarten and to this day, I have a typing record of 255 words per minute. Since Primary 1, I have always been interested in technology. In Primary 4, I joined a Singapore company for an internship. I worked for them for 5 years until I was Secondary 3. To this day, I still run various projects, most notably the Pei Hwa Secondary School Minecraft Project, better known as Pei Hwa Minecraft.
Since I was in kindergarten, I have always had a strong passion for technology. I have tried my best to keep up with technological advancements. But technology is not the only thing that I have passion for. I have passion for leadership and music.
When I was in primary school, I never really received many leadership opportunities. My leadership opportunities mainly came from my personal projects back then, such as various communities that I ran with 100-200 members. It was only when I enrolled into Pei Hwa Secondary School when I actually received various leadership opportunities. In Secondary 2, I was the Treasurer of my Form Class. I started the Pei Hwa Minecraft project and to this day, I am extremely proud to say that I have been able to lead upwards of 40 members. In Secondary 3, I was the Class Chairperson of my Form Class. I was even chosen as the Vice-President of the Robotics Club in Pei Hwa Secondary School.
Technology and leadership – That just makes me sound like a geek, doesn’t it? Not really. I actually have other interests too! One of my interests is music. There was once I was discussing with a teacher about my Slice of Life (Slice of Life is a platform where students from teaching groups make speeches) speech, which was on the topic of art. She said I could talk about my music and how I came up with the lyrics of my songs in my speech. I asked her: “How did you know?” From what I remember, I never told her about my music. It turns out that there are many students in the school who know about my music. I heard that some teachers even mentioned it to one another.
Let me share more about my music. I produce music which can be found on Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music and almost every other major music platform (You can check my songs out here: https://linktr.ee/cogan.ng. Psst: I recommend “Bubble Joy” – it’s my most recent release!). To this day, I have 9 songs out on major music platforms. That is a lot of songs. In fact, my first song was released on the 15th of April 2022. Releasing 9 songs in 13 months is an amazing feat. My most popular song, titled “Back to the Season”, currently has upwards of 1,600 views on YouTube. Within 1 month, it became my most popular song that I have released so far.
Now that you know more about me, I should actually answer what is one thing I want to change about myself. I hope that I can share more of my knowledge with others. As I mentioned above, it feels like others who are my age are not as well-versed in technology as me. I also mentioned how difficult it is to find someone to take over some of my projects. Instead of finding someone with the exact same skills that I have, I should choose someone who has the passion to learn. From there, I should slowly impart some of my knowledge to them. One of the things I enjoy doing is to make a positive impact on others. I enjoy making speeches and sharing more about myself with others.
This year will not be easy for the Secondary 4 and 5 students who are taking their National Examinations. For me, that might require various sacrifices such as cutting down the time which I spend on my hobbies. However, this does not stop me from making a positive impact on others. I will continue to impart some of my knowledge to my juniors. A lot of seniors always feel that their juniors are immature. Some of the Secondary 4 students may find the Secondary 1 students annoying. They may even badmouth the Secondary 1 students. I hope that I can make the Secondary 1 students feel welcomed. This is what I tried to do last year, which I would say was a fantastic success. Since last year, many of the Secondary 1 students which I led under the Pei Hwa Minecraft project were given leadership roles. That aligns to the motto of Pei Hwa Secondary School, which is “Nurturing Talents”.
Some of the seniors in my school do not like their juniors. Some of the seniors may even feel that the juniors are getting more and more immature. As a result, the seniors may start to boycott the juniors or even avoid them entirely. I would like to believe otherwise. All of us come to the school to learn something new. We come to school to grow as an individual. I like to believe that the juniors come to school to do the same. The juniors do not deserve to be disrespected by the seniors. Just because the seniors may be older, it does not mean that they have more authority. In fact, the seniors should impart more of their skills to their juniors.
Helping our juniors can make us feel a sense of accomplishment and rightfully so, since helping others is a good thing. If we know a lot of things but we don’t share it with others, then it only benefits us. If we share it with others, it can benefit them. If they share what they learnt with others, it benefits even more people. This is the beauty of sharing. It is not difficult to share what we know with others. Think about it: A teacher would have learnt their knowledge from their teacher, before imparting their knowledge to his/her students. If his/her students help other students using their knowledge, of which some may have been obtained from their teacher, that student helps even more students.
Getting an O-level/national examination certificate with fantastic grades benefits us. We can get into the higher-level institute which will nurture us into becoming adults. But if we use what we have learnt as a secondary school student to benefit other secondary school students, then we can benefit others and help them to also get an O-level/national examination certificate with fantastic grades.
In conclusion, being a technology geek since 5 was not easy. Growing up, I had to go through many hurdles. Most of the time, I had to be independent. But maybe, just maybe, someday, things will get better.