Rejected from computer science for his maths grade, he found another way in

The maths grade that closed a door

Jia Hao was interested in software long before he ever studied it. But he believed computer science needed a credit in SPM mathematics, and his maths at the time was weak. So the door felt closed, and he enrolled in a diploma in logistics and supply chain management instead.

By the time he graduated, he knew it wasn't for him. "I found out that I'm no longer interested in working in the logistics career field," he says. Fresh out of his diploma, he was left asking what his next career path should be.

A Google search and a two-day decision

One day he searched Google for a short-term IT course. Sigmaschool was the first result. He clicked in, read the whole page, and thought it was actually quite good. During his consultation call, he was told the thing he feared didn't really matter: "You don't really need that much mathematics. As long as you have problem-solving skills, you'll be fine."

The decision took him one to two days. "This is the chance. I just go for it, put in 100% effort, and see whether it's worth fighting for." His parents backed him, including on the fee: if it was something he really wanted, they told him, just go for it.

“You never try, never know. The thing I'm more worried about is that if I never try, I will be regretting it later. So just go for it.”

No spoon-feeding

The course matched what he expected: online classes with guidance available, but the real work was his. "You can't expect your teacher to spoon-feed you. You still need to find your own way to do things. I think that's how I really learned — by doing it."

The batch kept each other going. Everyone was new, everyone was positive, and the support went both ways. "If others can do it, I can really do this," he remembers thinking. The modules were challenging but never beyond him.

His capstone was a badminton court booking website. The court near his house had no online booking at all — he could only phone the counter or walk in to ask if next week's slots were free. So he built the site he wished existed.

One month to prove himself

His batch ran from August to November. He spent two weeks afterwards going back over the fundamentals to make sure they were solid, took December to keep learning, and started applying in earnest from January to March. There were plenty of rejections along the way, and some take-home assessments he failed.

In March, IPS Software — a software house building web-based systems and mobile apps — offered him a one-month internship rather than a job. The tech lead was blunt: he wasn't sure what Jia Hao could do, so he'd give him one month to show it. Put in 100%, and he'd convert him to full-time.

On his first day he was handed a state management issue in React — a stack he'd learned at Sigmaschool. He recognised the problem immediately and fixed it the same day. "That moment I realised, hey, I actually learned this before and I can straight away apply it." After the month he was converted to full-time, then passed a further three-month probation. "I was relieved. I finally proved I'm able to work as a full-time employee."

Small team, nowhere to hide

IPS Software runs on a team of eight or nine, some of them interns, with only a few experienced full-timers. The seniors were busy, so help came as pointers — look at this part, see whether it's that — and he had to work out the rest himself.

The doubt hasn't fully gone. "Even until this day, I sometimes still doubt myself," he admits. But the record keeps proving otherwise: "Every time, I did pull it off. When I look back at the start, I think — I'm actually able to pull it off every time." He's 23 now, and his goal for the next few years is to become a senior developer, keep up with how fast AI is moving, and eventually lead a small team.

Never try, never know

For a while he felt lost, picking things up without seeing how they connected — until one day at work the whole flow suddenly made sense, and he could look at an issue and know how to solve it. "Suddenly one day, everything just makes sense all together."

His advice to anyone considering the same pivot is the same thing that got him here. "If you are really interested in tech, just go for it. You never try, never know." And the biggest lesson from the past few years: "Never give up. Whether you are old or young, the things you wanted — just go for it, work hard, and try to get it."