Hi, I am Kai

I have 9 years of experience solving problems hands-on for companies in the Financial Services and Public Services industry. I have worked on topics such as data, analytics and helping companies through change, through both short term projects lasting one to a few months, and long-term projects lasting one to two years. Depending on projects I worked on, the stakeholders I had to align with range from a small team to multiple business and technology workstreams. Over the course of my work from Singapore, I have also worked with people from Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India, the Philippines, Japan), Europe (Finland, UK) and the United States. I am looking to help companies understand data science use cases and implement these solutions to solve business problems.

What am I learning and exploring

Featured Projects

1. Classification of Flowers Using Tensorflow

I am currently working on this project as part of my week 8 assignment in the AGI Safety training where I want to deepen my understanding of a deep learning algorithm applied to a problem. I wish to explore:

  1. How tensorflow works for a classification problem
  2. Does solving for an imbalance of class labels improve model accuracy
  3. What features are being detected at different tensors at a particular layer
  4. What abstract and granular features can be linked after being detected by tensors at different layers

2. Rocket Academy Basics

I completed the Rocket Academy Basics training from February to April 2022 to improve my computational thinking using JavaScript. We has pre-class readings and practices, lectures and in-class practices where we practised pair programming with a fellow classmate. We also completed some short projects on our own, and reached out to our instructors or fellow classmates if we needed help. These projects include:

  1. Scissors, Paper Stone - Single-player game against the computer. The intention of this assignment was to become comfortable with writing if-else statements in JavaScript and refactoring code into smaller, maintainable functions. Refer to the code and webpage
  2. Beat That - Two-player game where each player has 2 random dice rolls, choose their first and second numbers, then compare which player's number is the highest. The intention of this assignment was to become more comfortable working with mutable (let) and immutable (const) variables, and continue practising on if-else statements. Refer to the code and webpage
  3. Blackjack - Single-player game against the computer. The intention of this assignment was to become more comfortable working with (1) customising for different stages/modes of a game based on a user's action, (2) showing relevant buttons during the game, (3) customising the background colour, font and adding images. Refer to the code (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) and webpage

3. DataCamp Data Analyst Case Study

As part of the DataCamp Data Analyst certification assessment, I completed an interesting case study to increase readership by 75% in 1 year for the marketing department of a fictitious company - 'Nearly New Nautical'. This was a case study with analysis performed using Python in a Jupyter notebook, a slide deck and a recorded presentation (accessible only by the DataCamp assessors). The case study was interesting as I got a glimpse into the different boat designs while creating the slide deck. Please reach out to me personally (links are available at the end of this page) if you would like to view the Jupyter notebook analysis and slide deck.

Writing Samples

Work Experience

Specialist - Accenture - Singapore

  • Specialist (Jun 2021 – Present)

    1. Post-Merger Integration (Planning)
      March 2022 - Present (more than 6 months)
      • This is a post-merger integration project for the buyer where the buyer is acquiring the seller's retail banking operations across Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, and decisions keep changing or take a long time to get approved
      • Supported Operational Day 1 planning for Malaysia (budget has been approved) and Indonesia (approval process is in progress)
      • Supported a MD in assessing the customer journey impact across assisted and digital channels based on a (1) banking then cards, or a (2) cards then banking approach
      • Listened to and actioned on data mapping workshop concerns raised buyer's workstreams and the seller's project management team

    2. Palantir Foundry Hackathon (Build)
      February 2022 (1 month)
      • Learned about components on the Palantir Foundry platform
      • Data preparation using Python in Palantir Foundry
      • Technologies Used
        • Language: SQL, Python
        • Software: Palantir Foundry

    3. Master Data Management (Requirements, Design, Build)
      June 2021 - January 2022 (8 months)
      • This project required us to gather requirements and create POCs to validate the feasiblity of functionalities and receptiveness with users, before iteratively refining the components we developed
      • Helped out with gathering business requirements, simple configuration and business rules, translation of POCs and final build into design for the Equities Data Selection track of the NeoXam team
      • Reverse engineered existing Oracle Stored Procedures to interpret and clarify user requirements for the Equities Data Derivation track
      • Helped to create business rules (of simple and medium complexity) for the Equities Data Derivation track
      • Scoped out business requirements, designed and configured components for the Fixed Income Data Selection track
      • Became the SME for the Data Selection track which involved (1) teaching other Fixed Income team members, (2) contributing to discussions where Data Selection was impacted along with the inbound interface tracks, and (3) guided the Derivatives Data Selection new joiners from our India Delivery Centre
      • Technologies Used
        • Language: SQL, NeoXam proprietary object-oriented language to write business rules (the syntax has some similarity to JavaScript)
        • Software: NeoXam DataHub data dictionary, lists, business rules, data selection, inbound FeedProc interface, user interface customisation modules

  • Senior Analyst (Jan 2019 – May 2021)

    1. Master Data Management (Requirements, Design, Build)
      May 2021 (1 month)
      • Transition phase to learn about the NeoXam DataHub MDM platform
      • Helped out with understanding requirements for the Equities Data Selection track of the NeoXam team
      • Technologies Used
        • Language: NeoXam proprietary object-oriented language to write business rules (the syntax has some similarity to JavaScript)
        • Software: NeoXam DataHub data dictionary, lists, business rules, data selection, inbound FeedProc interface, user interface customisation modules

    2. Master Data Management (Planning)
      February 2021 - April 2021 (3 months)
      • Helped out with detailing activities (e.g. data masking, data quality) for the non-NeoXam stream project plan
      • Helped out with Informatica Test Data Manager data masking POCs
      • Helped out with iteratively defining project-level data masking roles and responsibilities, process flows and UAM to satisfy the client architects' preference to explore options at every step of the way
      • Technologies Used
        • Software: Informatica Test Data Manager

    3. Data Migration (Design, Build, Test)
      March 2020 - January 2021 (10 months)
      • Created data mapping specifications, migration ETL and reconciliation components, simple SimCorp Dimension (SCD) data import tool configuration
      • Exploratory data analysis of source files, static data files and investigated data quality and reconciliation breaks
      • Focused on intercompany SPV loans, bank accounts, cash collateral, fund pool, GL transactions
      • Data migration into SimCorp Dimension
      • Technologies Used
        • Language: SQL
        • Software: JIRA, Irion EDM, SimCorp Dimension Data Import Tool & General Reconciliation Module

    4. Integration (Design)
      January 2020 - March 2020 (3 months)
      • Designed how systems would integrate for a SimCorp Dimension implementation at an Asset Management firm. Notable data entities worked on include: FX rates, Portfolio static data
      • Updated existing integration specifications based on feasibility challenges and knowledge gaps uncovered during the Build and Test phases. Notable data entities worked on include: Cash Dividend Corporate Actions, Party static data and Positions data for risk calculations

    5. Master Data Management (Test)
      July 2019 - January 2020 (7 months)
      • For a Markit EDM Master Data Management engagement, I learned ETL concepts from data import to matching, validation, transformation, mastering and export.
      • Prior to test execution, I assisted in co-creating the ST, SIT, UAT and Security Test Approach documents with multiple stakeholders. Subsequently, our ST team performed end-to-end QA on the Markit EDM components, Web UI and the underlying Microsoft SQL Server.
      • Technologies Used
        • Language: SQL
        • Software: JIRA, Markit EDM

    6. Integration (Design)
      January 2019 - July 2019 (7 months)
      • Designed how systems would integrate for a SimCorp Dimension implementation at an Asset Management firm
      • Notable data entities worked on include: Calendar reference data, Party static data and Positions data for risk calculations

  • Analyst (Jan 2017 – Dec 2018)
    • My first two years at Accenture was with the Wealth Management arm of a Banking client. My focus was on project management, data cleaning, data analysis, reporting and visualisation for the client project manager I supported
    • Beyond client work, my project supervisor gave me opportunities to help out at the client account level and with the Singapore Financial Services practice. I was also given the chance to organise and prepare event logistics when organising events for the Accenture team on the project, besides chasing the team for time sheets every week and helping out with onboarding Accenture new joiners on the project. I loved the guidance and autonomy my supervisor provided me during those two years
    • Technologies Used
      • Software: JIRA, Confluence

  • Side Projects at Accenture
    On the side, I found out more about the different services Accenture offers to clients to explore where I could be a best fit, and also explored ways to grow my skills outside my daily work. Therefore, I participated in:

    • Growing My Skills or a Community

      1. Accenture Coach and Be Coached Program
        • I practised how to coach someone, while getting coached by someone else from an Accenture office outside of Singapore over 2 cycles

      2. Accenture Singapore Liquid Studio Proof of Concept
        • I developed process flows as part of a proof of concept using the IBM Blueworks BPM platform
        • Technologies Used
          • Software: IBM Blueworks BPM platform

      3. Accenture Mental Health Ally Singapore Community
        • One of 5 co-founders (Stephanie Gault, Pavan Sethi, Leong Jie Min, Daniel Flynn, and I) who launched the Mental Health Ally Singapore Community in 2018 customised for an Asian context to create a supportive community and fill the gap in resources to support mental wellness in the Singapore office
        • Then I planned and executed events as part of the marketing and communications team since 2018
        • Our efforts were recognised by Accenture awarding us the 2019 ASEAN Greater Than Award (Community category)
        • As we extended the community to the Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand offices in 2021 and 2022, I helped out with gathering content to update the design of their internal Mental Wellness webpages. This required me to work with the comms lead, a Singapore webpage designer, the Mental Health Ally committee from the respective countries and WordPress developers from the Philippines and Buenos Aires

    • Data and AI Side Projects

      1. Non-profit Client in the UK
        • I worked on this project over weeknights and weekends (Singapore time) with core team leads coordinating out of our UK office
        • We selected the teams we wanted to learn from and contribute to regardless of our level of experience
          • Data Engineering team - I learned and tried implementing data engineering components using Google Cloud Platform, focusing on data ingestion, data warehousing and backup to another region
          • Machine Learning team - Created and trained a weighted average logistic regression predictive model which served scores back to the data warehouse
        • Technologies Used
          • Language: Python
          • Software: Jupyter, PyCharm, Google Cloud SDK
          • Google Cloud Components: Cloud Storage (data lake), BigQuery (data warehouse), Cloud Functions (to run the data ingestion Python script), Cloud Scheduler, Cloud Source Repositories (store and maintain version control for our data engineering and machine learning work)

      2. Accenture Development Partnerships Non-profit Client in Africa
        • I cleaned web browsing history data, classified and visualised customer interests for a customer segmentation case study
        • Technologies Used
          • Software: Tableau, Qik Sense, Power BI, Excel

      3. Accenture Development Partnerships Case Competition
        • I researched and proposed exploring partners which could work together to solve the problem of malaria, from engaging medical centres in rural areas on the ground, to secure ways to share data with teams running machine learning models to speed up diagnosis and treatment of malaria

      4. Accenture Digital Skills UKI Artificial Intelligence FutureLearn Course
        • I mentored 2 cycles of learners in 2020 and 2021 by helping them with questions they asked, giving them readings to improve their understanding of what AI can do, and understanding and discussing with them after they share their concerns about AI. This was a way I could give back to the community after learning what I learned about AI within and outside of Accenture

      5. Accenture Responsible AI Practice
        • Desk research on the Responsible AI narrative in Singapore to help 2 US Responsible AI Co-Leads prepare for their sharing sessions in Singapore at a financial services client, a General Assembly event and media outlets

      6. Accenture Responsible AI Practice
        • Desk research on the Understandable AI narrative across governments globally to support Accenture's thought leadership

      7. Accenture Singapore Financial Services Practice
        • Did a 1-year desk research to support business development on the use of reinforcement learning for customer analytics in banks. Within the team of 3 (a manager, another analyst and myself), we co-created the value driver tree, solution architecture and comparative analysis of software vendors which could fulfill the use case through readings and calls

      8. Accenture CIO Data Visualisation Guild
        • Received a honourable mention in the Talent Diversity Analytics Data Visualisation Challenge for my Power BI dashboard enriched with publicly available, external geographical data
        • Technologies Used
          • Software: Power BI

      9. Accenture Data Science Training Program (Practical Training Component)
        • My current POC looks at storing and retrieving data in a denormalised form within HBase
        • I set up a Linux VM in Virtualbox and the pre-requisites to work with HBase (e.g. the right version and configuration of HBase, JDK, etc)
        • The challenge I am trying to solve is to programmatically make successful reads from and writes into HBase
        • Technologies Used
          • Languages: Python
          • Packages: NetworkX, Plotly, HappyBase
          • Software: Jupyter Notebook, Virtualbox (to setup Linux VM), HBase (and HBase Shell), PySpark (within the Linux Terminal)

Student Project - Hanken Open University - Singapore

  • 22084-V Strategy in Practice Course Project (Oct 2020 – Dec 2020)
    • Scoped out the business problems to solve based on planning and discussions with three Finnish team members and the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at a Finnish non-profit
    • Performed desk research and delivered the Dynamic Pricing strategy and implementation roadmap to the CMO
    • Presented our findings and recommendations to the class, and gathered feedback
    • To view the CMO's testimonial, please visit the recommendations section of my LinkedIn profile

Senior Officer - United Overseas Bank - Singapore

  • Senior Officer (Apr 2016 – Jan 2017)
    • Planned the test approach for SAP change requests assigned for me to test under the guidance of an AVP or VP
    • Created and executed user acceptance tests for SAP ECC6 (used by other countries) and 4.5B (used solely by Indonesia) change requests in parallel
    • Topics include: Data reconciliation, Accounts Receivable workflow, duplicate invoice validation, monthly batch jobs, user interface, general ledger upload template, etc
    • Reduced business risk by discussing prudent resolution options for defects and ambiguous requirements with developers
    • Technologies Used
      • Software: JIRA, SAP ECC6 and 4.5B FICO (Finance and Controlling) & MM (Materials Management)

Content Management Intern - Wallstreetoasis.com - Singapore

  • Content Management Intern (Dec 2014 – Jan 2016)
    • Rewarded users with Silver Bananas for insightful comments or posts
    • Read, sub-edited, formatted and published posts from contributing authors using HTML
    • Identified quality posts to bump onto the front page
    • Created a few compilation of the best posts to help people easily access the best tips
    • Technologies Used
      • Language: HTML

Survival Jobs - Multiple Employers - Singapore

  • Part-time Fitness Trainer - Sport Singapore (Nov 2012 - Apr 2016)
  • Full-time Fitness Trainer - CERTIS Cisco (Oct 2011 - Jul 2012)
  • Part-time Customer Service and Flyer Distributor - Mobile Phone Roadshows

Education

University of London - Singapore

Bachelor of Science, Accounting and Finance, 2012-2015

Singapore Polytechnic - Singapore

Diploma in Biomedical Science (Medical Technology), 2006-2009

Relevant Trainings and Certifications

Links will be added in future!