Uncover the real “you” to highlight a fascinating future

What comes to mind when you think of a dream job? One might imagine that it’s a high-paying position with great benefits and perks. In fact, finding the right career trajectory is about much more than just money. It's about finding a position that matches your interests and passions as closely as possible, while offering opportunities for growth.

For SMU Master of Science in Innovation (MI) graduate Jérémy Koch, the better you know your true self and values, the higher your chances for success.

Having spent his entire life in France, Jérémy felt the need to explore what life might be like for others around the world. This desire for global exposure was further ignited by a near-death experience which took place just years after he graduated with a degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, while he was working as an engineer.

“I was in a bad accident, almost died, and could have ended up in a wheelchair for life,” reveals the former manufacturing engineer for Airbus.

However, while recuperating in the hospital, he met three other patients, aged between 70 and 80 years old. There is much that older adults can inspire younger people with, given the different life experiences they have had. The trio shared with him their experiences and stories, as well as their passionate attitude to life.

“They were able to say, ‘we tried everything we really wanted to try’. When I’m that age, I want to be able to say the same thing.”

Driven by a newfound carpe diem mindset, Jérémy gave his boss half a year’s notice and began budgeting and planning a world tour to experience other cultures. This journey of self-discovery began with a bicycle tour through Europe, before hopping through Asia.

“Originally, I planned to spend just five days in Singapore, but was enamoured with the country, its history, and how fast it had developed over the years,” relates Jérémy, who had not initially planned to visit our city-state.
“I had the opportunity to meet people from China, India and Malaysia, and experience how folks with different cultures and religions can work well together.”

In between visiting India, Nepal, Malaysia, Japan and Australia, he found himself repeatedly returning to Singapore. He met his partner here, managed to obtain a work pass and spent five months selling chocolate products at a local dessert chain. However, the wave of COVID-19 caused countries to lock down. While he was back in France, Jérémy began to explore returning to school, and furthering his education in Singapore.

Making the choice to include innovation skills

Hailing from a close-knit family of entrepreneurial and “maker” types, Jérémy was naturally drawn to the SMU Master of Science in Innovation (MI) programme.

“Innovation speaks to me. It allows me to complete my skillset; with engineering, I already have the technical aspect. Understanding the big picture – of when we implement our new technology or new project or new services wherever on the market – I wanted to get a global view,” says Jérémy.

He relished the practical, applicable skills that he was trained to use in the MI programme, especially the understanding and practice of using the entrepreneurial mindset. He cites his MI Academic Director, Associate Professor Reddi Kotha, as constantly reinforcing this.

“Assoc Prof Kotha said to me that an entrepreneur is someone who will never give up, who will be willing to do the work necessary and go for it. He was pushing us constantly and reminding us to ‘go further, go further, go further'!”

During the programme, Jérémy learned to fast-track the process of launching a business, from getting an idea to talking out the concepts with customers and suppliers, to getting data about its feasibility. In fact, he was able to apply his training immediately after finishing his MI course, when he went back to France: his family was launching another business and he jumped straight in to help with all his skills from SMU, taking over many of the customer interfacing presentations and so on.

Focus on the people you work with

One of the great things about working with a diverse group of people is that you're constantly exposed to new and interesting ideas. Having a variety of different perspectives at your disposal can help you see problems in a new light and come up with solutions you would never have thought of on your own.

“Through their diversity of experience and SMU’s active learning techniques, I relished how my classmates delivered great value to our discussions,” says he.
“We learned a lot from the professors, but we also learned a lot also from our other classmates – which was an amazing experience.”

SMU encourages its students in active learning – meaning rather than sit back and wait for information to be given, students should contribute to discussions and enrich them with additional information, as well as share different viewpoints to illuminate truths. Further, the course includes networking opportunities with government and business leaders, as well as projects such as the SMU-X practical sponsorships with companies.

How a company’s “culture” promotes its growth

His SMU experience also showed him how to properly value a company’s culture and its people. For some, such “culture” can be seen very cynically as being just window-dressing – having a snack-packed free pantry with unlimited beer and video-gaming area with nap-pods in the office – very hip. But those may not really equal the value of solid health benefits, good work-life balance and detailed, company-backed plans for developing each member of staff.

“Before SMU, I didn’t value ‘good company culture’ – I thought it was just marketing, some ‘paperwork’ to [advertise how the company is] innovative and nice,” says he. But in his SMU MI course, he had to work through case studies and see how they could really be put to use to help companies grow even in times of poor economic outlook.

With the twin threads of his engineering training and his new Master of Science in Innovation (MI) in hand, he decided to keep looking for his next job, he wanted to be a business manager for a consulting engineering company. There are dozens of them, but one stood out for him: TMC in France, a company that works with recruitment for high-tech firms.

He studied the company and learned that it really put the budget into the concept of ‘company culture’ and manpower. He felt that it also invested in tools necessary to maintain this culture.

Says Jérémy, “I was like ‘I need this one. I don’t care about all the other jobs anymore.’” He put in a massive effort in preparing for his interview, and the company noticed – and hired him.

Not just the facts, but how to use them

So what was the most valuable point that he felt SMU taught him?

“What I valued most from what I learned in SMU was really the mindset,” says Jérémy. Facts, information and book knowledge can be found online, he points out, or may need constant updating. What SMU emphasises rightly, he feels, was the entrepreneurial mindset and the chance to use it repeatedly – both in classrooms and in project work such as with SMU-X or the many entrepreneurial CCAs that SMU has, which include SMU Real Business.

In fact, he had percolated a start-up idea with an SMU classmate, and another family friend, to help other firms with technical knowledge/skills teach their skillsets to others who would like to upgrade.

Citing the teaching of Associate Professor Kotha, he emphasises that a business concept should not be that daunting or full of over-elaborate plans.

“First thing is if you have an idea, you go out right now and to talk – to your potential customers, suppliers and you get true data,” he says.

This, then is what you can take as “real data” which can show you, in real-time, if your idea can work, which leads you on to planning and launching your business – you just need to keep going further. Just as SMU taught him.