Kent Choi
Kent and I met at a professional network (EGN). I found his career transition interesting and we kept each other. He was to be interviewed when I started writing my book. It was not easy for him to move from one industry to another. His story shows that with enough grit, curiosity and determination -- anything is possible!
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You can connect with him on LinkedIn.
Kent Choi's Story
From semiconductor equipment sales to private banking for family business
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After graduating from the National University of Singapore with an engineering degree, Kent joined a U.S. company selling equipment to the semiconductor industry. It was a solid technical role and a sensible first step. Two years later, the business went through a downturn, and he was retrenched. It was early in his career, but instead of treating it as a major setback, he treated it as a transition.
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Through his Japanese boss, Kent was introduced to his next role — again in semiconductor equipment sales. This time, he approached the job differently. Although he was technically selling wafer-cleaning equipment, he didn’t want to be just another salesperson. He wanted to understand the entire semiconductor manufacturing process and be useful beyond his product line.
Kent went into what he later described as “mastering mode.” He read widely — chemistry, electrical circuits, upstream and downstream processes — anything that helped him understand how fabs actually worked. His aim was to become a trusted advisor rather than a transactional seller. He stayed in the industry for six years, building deep technical knowledge and credibility with customers. He hoped to move into one of the large global semiconductor companies, but the opportunity never came.
By then, he knew he wanted to explore something different.
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Kent’s first exploration was intellectual property (IP). At the time, Singapore was actively developing its IP ecosystem, and with his engineering background, the path made sense on paper. He enrolled in a part-time Graduate Certificate in Intellectual Property Law at NUS, interned with an IP law firm, spoke to practicing IP attorneys, and went for interviews.
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After six months, he made a clear decision. The journey to becoming an IP attorney would be long, and more importantly, he didn’t feel strongly about the work. He stopped the program and moved on.
Finance came next. Kent evaluated different MBA and master’s programs before enrolling in the MSc in Applied Finance at Singapore Management University. It was an 18-month part-time program. Academically, he did well. Practically, he ran into a problem: breaking into banking without relevant experience was difficult.
At SMU, he noticed that students in the MSc in Wealth Management program were consistently securing internships with top banks. Kent extended his runway and enrolled in the second master’s program. This led to an internship at ABN Amro.
The internship was humbling. He was starting from zero in a completely new industry. He has described the experience simply — he felt like a nobody. Although ABN Amro offered him a full-time role at the end of the internship, Kent chose to join OCBC Private Bank as a graduate management associate in 2007. The program was designed for mid-career switchers and offered a structured path forward.
Progress came steadily. OCBC Private Bank was rebranded as Bank of Singapore in 2010. Within two years, Kent became an investment counsellor. He later moved into a relationship manager role and, after nine years, was appointed Team Leader. He spent 12 years with the same bank, building trust with clients and developing younger bankers.
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In 2019, he moved to Credit Suisse. He later joined Julius Baer, where he continued as a Team Leader. By then, Kent had spent more than a decade in private banking and had built a reputation for calm judgement and long-term client relationships.
Alongside his banking career, Kent became an ICF-certified coach. In 2023, he completed the Executive Master in Change, Personal, and Organisational Psychology at INSEAD. This was not an academic detour, but preparation.
More recently, Kent stepped out of banking to start his own business. After building two distinct careers — first in semiconductor sales, then in private banking — he is now shaping Career 3.0 on his own terms.
Kent’s story is not about getting it right the first time. It is about being willing to stop, reassess, and begin again — quietly and deliberately.