Tieming Yuan

Upon completing his Master’s degree in Marketing and Business Analysis at the University of Edinburgh, Tieming made a deliberate choice to enlist in the Singapore Police Force. His decision stemmed from a highly positive experience during his two years of National Service in Singapore, where he consistently excelled and earned accolades. At that point in his life, he wanted to contribute to Singapore’s vision of becoming a Smart Nation and believed that Smart Policing—powered by data and technology—would be a meaningful way to do so.

During the waiting period before his police force enlistment, Tieming took on a market research role. In that nine-month stint, he worked on projects for global brands such as Unilever and was indirectly involved in shaping marketing slogans for Cristiano Ronaldo’s Clear Shampoo campaigns across Indonesia, Thailand, Russia, and China. The experience gave him early exposure to how data and insights influence large-scale commercial decisions.

Once in the police force, however, Tieming gradually realised that the reality did not fully match his expectations. While he aspired to drive digital transformation, he saw that meaningful change would take far longer than anticipated. The organisation was cautious, and opportunities to work deeply with data were limited. Over time, it became clear to him that staying in the police force would significantly slow his goal of becoming a data scientist.

Rather than give up on that ambition, Tieming decided to act. While continuing his demanding role as a police officer, he committed to an intense self-study routine. He woke up at 5 a.m. every day to study before starting work at 7 a.m., putting in between 15 minutes and two hours daily, depending on fatigue and shift patterns. Weekends were reserved for longer study blocks—often up to eight hours a day.

His wife was supportive during this period, understanding the importance of his long-term goals. When Tieming eventually decided to resign from a stable and respected job, however, many family members disagreed with his choice. From their perspective, he was walking away from security into uncertainty, without any guarantee of success.

Undeterred by the skepticism, Tieming relied on mental techniques he had developed during his years as a competitive squash player. Visualization played a key role. He learned to focus on the end state rather than the discomfort of the process. Applying the same discipline to his pursuit of data science, he pushed through exhaustion, doubt, and resistance.

After leaving the police force, Tieming fully committed himself to a three-month intensive program with General Assembly, a tech education provider. Even then, the transition was far from smooth. Lacking formal work experience in data science, he faced repeated rejection. Over six weeks, he applied to more than 1,000 roles and went through over 60 interviews. Persistence eventually paid off—he received five job offers.

In December 2020, Tieming joined the Toyota Tsusho Group as a Data Scientist, marking the start of his new professional chapter. At the same time, he began developing himself as an Enterprise Agile Coach, recognising that data alone is not enough—organisations also need new ways of working to unlock its value. About one and a half years later, he moved into an Agility Coach role at bp, where he worked with teams undergoing large-scale transformation.

Today, Tieming operates at the intersection of data, AI, agility, and enterprise transformation. He is a certified coach and continues to deepen his capabilities in transformation and applied AI. True to form, he still invests at least 30 minutes every day in learning something new—seeing renewal not as a phase, but as a permanent discipline.