Shanghai: Stopover of a lifetime

Batch 30 concludes their NOC journey as they leave Shanghai with a heavy heart.

Here is what they have to share after a year in Shanghai….

Q: What is your greatest takeaway from NOC?

“My greatest takeaway for NOC if I were to choose would most certainly be the close friends that I’ve made in this one year or so without any doubt. But most will definitely say the same, so I shall offer a slightly different opinion. My second biggest takeaway is my growth as an individual. I feel that I have grown to see things from many different perspectives, including areas such as what my passions are, my skills, my purpose in everything that I do. I’ve learnt so much about China and from the people that I’ve met that have shaped me into who I am today. Pretty sure it’s a large change from when I first arrived. If there’s any advice I can offer, is to strive to add value wherever you go. You determine your own NOC experience :)”

— Si Jing

Q: What will you miss the most?

“I’ll definitely miss my house and batchmates the most. We’re in a unique situation where we’re in a foreign land together, living together and going through the same joys and struggles. No one else will be able to fully relate and this has made us into a mini community and support system that I wouldn’t have been able to survive without. To my housemates and batchmates: It’s been a good year, goodbye and good riddance!!”

— Joy

Q: Any regrets / things you have not done but wanted to do?

“My greatest regret is not exploring Shanghai from the perspective of a more local lens. Only towards the end when I started going out more with my local Shanghainese colleagues that I realised, Shanghai has more to offer than the glitzy cosmopolitan city people see. For example, I didn’t know that the building Waldorf Astoria hotel sits in used to house Shanghai’s first KFC. All these are small nuggets of history that you’ll only know if you hang out with locals. To a great degree, I see much similarities of Shanghai with a Singapore, even though 网红 exhibitions and 打卡 places are nice to visit, after all they’re pretty empty (lack depth).”

— Candice

Q: What did you gain the most out of your internship?

“Be fluid, like water”, as my supervisor always told me. I was the Community Manager of Le Wagon, a coding school that brings technical skills to creative entrepreneurs. Naturally, my role required me to constantly engage with different stakeholders of the tech community. For an introvert, this wasn’t easy. However, this opportunity taught me the importance of playing the chameleon and adapting myself to different social situations. I learnt to adopt different personas when interacting with different people and this will be vital for an entrepreneur who will very often be wearing different hats on different occasions.”

— Darren

Q: What was your favorite memory of NOC?

“Best memory: The 2 late night K with the whole batch! I think there’s a lot of stuff that I can takeaway but the best things are always the people”

— Jolies

Q: How did your entrepreneurial self grow in the past 1 year?

“ Before the NOC program, I always had crazy ideas but not the mindset of a rational entrepreneur to decide what’s really feasible. Along the way in the past one year, I was able to learn to think like an entrepreneur by observing how other startup founders pitched as well as how my boss ran the company.”

— Xuan Hui

Q: What was your greatest achievement in NOC Shanghai?

“My greatest achievement is completing NOC itself. Before coming for the program, I thought it’ll be a piece of cake juggling school and work… but when I realised the demands of the NOC curriculum and with so many things on my plate, I was honestly shocked and was preparing my heart to be sent back to Singapore. But I’m thankful for my batchmates who were in this together and doing it alongside each other, encouraging one another. I was even able to travel quite a bit on NOC. So, to me, completing NOC is my biggest achievement…”

— Randall

Q: As a VP, what have SHEN done and how do you think your NOC experience is different with SHEN?

“As the SHEN VP, I do external liaison work alongside Cordilia (B30 SHEN President) most of the time! Liaising with external groups such as FUSSA, NENG, OSG, SGN and finding opportunities and entrepreneurship-related events that would be beneficial for NOC Shanghai batches to attend. I am also known as the walking calendar of the batch. As a whole, SHEN has planned for a hackathon on digital innovation (Digital InnovaSHEN hackathon), partnering with InnoSpace and the Shanghai Makers Chapter and also a portion of Singapore Day that happened on 13th April.

It has been a cool experience interacting with people from all walks of life and learning immensely from them!”

— Li Xian (SHEN VP External)

Q: Is there advice you would give to your juniors?

“I think the most important thing in NOC and Shanghai is to adopt an open and inquisitive mindset. Being curious about the entrepreneurship community and to not be shy about networking with others really opens a whole new world of perspectives and we really can learn a lot from it. I mean since you are already in Shanghai, why not step out of your own comfort zone and try new things, talk to new people and don’t be afraid to fail!

Last but not least, I think the most important thing is to bond with your batchmates and to learn from one another, after all your batchmates are from different faculties and people do have different skill sets and knowledge! So tap into that! Go for more hackathons! Go for more workshops! Shanghai is a place to learn and discover yourself”

— Jin Kheng (SHEN VP Internal)

Batch 30 learnt and grew together. The year in NOC Shanghai has been a fulfilling one. The friendships forged and memories formed will be deeply engraved in their hearts, lasting a lifetime.