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 military conscription (National Service) in Singapore, where he consistently excelled and earned accolades. His ambition was rooted in the desire to contribute to Singapore's transformation into a Smart Nation through innovative Smart Policing.

During the waiting period before his police force enlistment, Tieming took on a market research role. This position gave him the unique opportunity to indirectly advise Cristiano Ronaldo on marketing slogans for Unilever Clear Shampoo advertisements in Indonesia, Thailand, Russia, and China – a role he held for nine months.

Regrettably, Tieming found that his actual work experience fell short of his expectations. Although he aimed to spearhead digital transformation, he realized that the process would more years than anticipated. Knowing that staying in the police force would slow down his goal of becoming a data scientist, he decided to do something about it.

To pursue his dream while maintaining his role as a policeman, Tieming committed to waking up at 5 AM every day for dedicated study before beginning his workday at 7 AM. Regardless of fatigue, he consistently invested between 15 minutes to 2 hours each day. On weekends, he studied for 8 hours. 

His wife was very accommodating during that period as she knew his ambition. When he decided to quit his stable job, most of his family members didn’t agree. He was walking away from a stable job and venturing into new territory.

Undeterred by the skepticism, he persevered through the challenges by visualizing the ultimate outcome, a practice he had honed during his competitive squash days. Applying the same visualization techniques to his pursuit of data science, Tieming overcame resistance and pushed through the pain.

Upon leaving the police force, Tieming fully committed himself to a three-month intensive study with General Assembly, a tech education provider. Yet, securing a data scientist job proved to be a formidable challenge due to the lack of relevant work experience. Over six weeks, he diligently applied to more than 1,000 jobs and participated in over 60 interviews. Eventually, he received five job offers.

In December 2020, Tieming embarked on a new chapter as a Data Scientist with the Toyota Tsusho Group. Simultaneously, he sought to develop as an Enterprise Agile Coach. One and a half years later, he took on a role as an Agility Coach at bp. Today, Tieming is a certified coach. 

His career transition journey was far from easy. I was impressed by his dedicated effort and focus. Tieming continues to invest at least 30 minutes every day to learn something new. His success demonstrated that with perseverance, strategic decision-making, and a clear vision, achieving one's professional dreams is indeed possible.