What my 6 years in the Navy taught me about entrepreneurship.

In my “previous life” back in the late 90s, I served a 6 year stint in the Republic of Singapore Navy. The work was fulfilling knowing that my mission was to keep the waters of Singapore safe. But the more fulfilling bit what that it inculcated in me a spirit of never ending learning. I was a radar technician on board one of the missile gunboats handing mechanical repairs, fixing circuit boards and working with various hardware. But I did not graduate from Nanyang Polytechnic with a diploma in electrical or an engineering degree that vaguely resembled what I did in the Navy.

When I was nearing the end of my 6 year stint in the Navy. I decided to enter a career in IT and computer engineering and I applied the same learning mindset that I gained in the Navy to learn about programming. So while my buddies were sleeping away, I was huddled up in my cabin reading programming books and writing C++ and Visual Basic programs on pieces of paper without even knowing if they would compile successfully.

Once I left the Navy, I joined a few companies doing Java, ASP.NET, PHP applications for various companies. Then I stumbled upon mobile development using J2ME and Symbian (There were no iPhone and Android phones in the early 2000s). And since then, I have continuously applied my learning spirit to focus on learning iOS and Android development and today, I am a founder of my own mobile and web development house Azukisoft with my team of great developers supporting me.

Now, I still attend networking events, give tech talks and hang out with people smarter than me so that i can learn a new thing every day.

Continous learning is essential for any entrepreneur and my entrepreneurial journey would not have been possible if I had not manage to gain a learning spirit during my 6 years in the Navy.

As Steve Jobs said “Stay hungry, stay foolish”. So a hunger for learning should always be a part of you.