Speaker 1: Now CNA 938 rewind.
Speaker 2: If you could learn any skill, Haiyan, what would it
Speaker 2: be and why? I know you've done your skills future
Speaker 2: bit already, uh, good citizen there.
Speaker 2: What have you, what would you want to do next?
Speaker 2: I want to learn how to cook. I mean, but
Speaker 2: you hate cleaning up. Let it be known on national
Speaker 2: radio that this guy wants to learn how to cook
Speaker 2: but doesn't want to clean up. Exactly right. So which
Speaker 2: is why I want to learn to cook meals, you
Speaker 2: still have to clean up.
Speaker 2: OK, so, so something like a one pot menu of sorts,
Speaker 2: one pot recipe. So that means I just have to
Speaker 2: clean one pot. Yes, actually that's a very good strategy. Uh,
Speaker 2: that one pot could also be a one pan. It
Speaker 2: could also be a one rice cooker, rice cooker. So
Speaker 2: that is what I, yeah. What about you?
Speaker 2: Uh, I have said this before. I still haven't registered
Speaker 2: for it. I'm going to go learn Mandarin. Um, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's basically it. I want to also go and learn
Speaker 2: how to do stand up paddling, but I don't need
Speaker 2: SkillsFuture for that. I do need SkillsFuture for, uh, Mandarin lessons,
Speaker 2: but yeah, um, check in again in May when I'm
Speaker 2: a bit more free uh to to take that out.
Speaker 2: Well we're we're talking about this because we found out
Speaker 2: that there was someone.
Speaker 2: Uh, who has used his skills future credit to do
Speaker 2: something that has absolutely nothing with his job. Basically, he,
Speaker 2: our next guest, he kind of learned how to DJ
Speaker 2: using his credits. So not, not DJ in a sense
Speaker 2: like like us, right? Radio.
Speaker 2: Presenters, radio DJs. This is really the turntable scratching and
Speaker 2: producing that is a tough skill. Exactly. So he is
Speaker 2: Imran Jory, marketing director at Big Thunder, and he joins
Speaker 2: us now. Hey, Imran, a very good morning. Thank you
Speaker 2: for joining us right here on the Morning Report on
Speaker 2: CNA 938.
Speaker 2: So there's a notion that SkillsFuture credits can only be
Speaker 2: used for work-related courses. You said you were one of
Speaker 2: those who took a while to finally sign up for
Speaker 2: a course. Talk us through what the deciding factor was
Speaker 2: for you.
Speaker 2: Good morning guys. Thanks for having me on the show.
Speaker 2: Um, so essentially I'm one of those Singaporeans who for
Speaker 2: the longest time logged on to my SkillsFuture credit screen
Speaker 2: or dashboard.
Speaker 2: And just goes wow, so much and did absolutely nothing
Speaker 2: and just let it accumulate because um I was of
Speaker 2: the impression of mindset that if I was OK at
Speaker 2: work doing what I did to do, all the skills
Speaker 2: I needed, I would just learn on the job. So
Speaker 2: the SkillsFuture credits didn't really sort of was um an
Speaker 2: applicable avenue for me for as long as I can
Speaker 2: remember and then
Speaker 2: So among other things, I have a lot of ridiculous hobbies.
Speaker 2: I indulge myself in a lot of frivolous things and
Speaker 2: um I'm I'm also a very keen constant learner on
Speaker 2: skill sets that are not necessarily practical. OK. So here's
Speaker 2: the thing, so you said that you felt.
Speaker 2: Like the skills you needed for your work or to
Speaker 2: be better at your work, you'll learn on the job.
Speaker 2: But given how there's this narrative about how to futureproof
Speaker 2: your career, you think that you don't, you won't need
Speaker 2: sort of a professional upgrade in that sense, which is
Speaker 2: what uh some of us received that $4000 extra for. OK,
Speaker 2: what I just said just now does sound a bit
Speaker 2: of a I mean I don't mean to call you out.
Speaker 2: I mean I'm I'm in the same position too. I mean,
Speaker 2: I know that the skills that I need for my
Speaker 2: current job, I can just learn on the go, but
Speaker 2: you know, there's always that what if nagging at the
Speaker 2: back of my head, right? There's AI, there's data, there's
Speaker 2: stuff like that, right? I mean, should we think about,
Speaker 2: didn't you think about futureproofing your career? We still have
Speaker 2: 2030 years to go. I'm being generous there.
Speaker 2: Well, you're right, you're absolutely right. Here's the thing, right,
Speaker 2: just as a caveat, I've had 150 jobs across 4 industries,
Speaker 2: and I really have kind of restarted my career a
Speaker 2: few times over. I've been in production, I've been in publishing,
Speaker 2: I've been in recruitment, I've been in a VC, I've
Speaker 2: been in a FinTech. I'm right now working with an
Speaker 2: investment platform. I'm selling a finance bro my 50s. So
Speaker 2: it's always so you have pivoted many times. I have
Speaker 2: so many times, right?
Speaker 2: And and to be fair, a lot of the earlier
Speaker 2: career choices I made were purely again out of frivolity
Speaker 2: and fun because I just wanted to do stuff that
Speaker 2: I enjoyed. It's only later on mid-career day like, OK,
Speaker 2: I got to make some cash. I have I have
Speaker 2: a family, I have 3 kids. Oh no, let's go.
Speaker 2: So to me, starting from scratch is almost like a
Speaker 2: second nature. You do what you got to do to
Speaker 2: make ends meet, right? So on top of that, I
Speaker 2: do find a lot of uh I need.
Speaker 2: To expel my creative energy if I could, so that's
Speaker 2: why a lot of other things that I do are
Speaker 2: relatively frivolous, like, you know, running D&D games, uh, upgrading
Speaker 2: arcade systems, collecting 90s. You weren't kidding when you said
Speaker 2: they were really nerdy, super nerdy. I'm a hyper geek, right?
Speaker 2: And I'm also really big into music history because I
Speaker 2: have a vinyl record collection that just started because my
Speaker 2: wife bought me a turntable.
Speaker 2: And so I've been looking at music history with my
Speaker 2: daughter who's also very keen on music history, and then
Speaker 2: one day just so happens as we was looking through
Speaker 2: a lot of the history of hip hop and I
Speaker 2: was explaining to her the evolution of Kylie Minogue from
Speaker 2: Pop Princess to diva. If we were going through the
Speaker 2: whole process, then I realized, hey, you know what, there's
Speaker 2: a lot of stuff here that I really do want
Speaker 2: to mix together for my own, you know, personal, yeah,
Speaker 2: and so I was thinking to myself, hey.
Speaker 2: There's one big mystery that I haven't really looked into
Speaker 2: like how do these professional worldwide touring DJs raise their
Speaker 2: hands dancing and blowing whistles while mixing music sounds almost impossible.
Speaker 2: There's got to be. That's a real workout. There's got
Speaker 2: to be a huge skill set behind that, right? So
Speaker 2: the ever vigilant, ever listening.
Speaker 2: Um, entity in my house that always listens to whenever
Speaker 2: we say something, AKA social media, you say, hey, maybe
Speaker 2: I should try learning to be a DJ, but of
Speaker 2: course the next thing I see is my Facebook feed
Speaker 2: filled with ads about how you didn't turn off the mic.
Speaker 2: You did not turn off the mic you switch it
Speaker 2: off or on, you'll always listen.
Speaker 2: Curious, how was the course like then? Did you have
Speaker 2: to attend classes every week, purchase your own equipment? Was
Speaker 2: it online? Yeah, it feels like DJing is such a
Speaker 2: casual skill to learn and then you go for classes,
Speaker 2: you know. So how was that like? Guys, not only
Speaker 2: is that classes, but there's an exam just like.
Speaker 2: It's an exam. There's no getting away from it, right?
Speaker 2: Singapore Singapore. I mean skills future credit. It's a government subsidy, right?
Speaker 2: So let's not kid ourselves here. OK, so you obviously
Speaker 2: graduated from DJing. So what do you do with that now?
Speaker 2: Um, just absolute self-gratification at home with my kids playing
Speaker 2: music that I like and then dancing maniacically that's the reward.
Speaker 2: That's true. Do you feel like you kind of miscalculated
Speaker 2: a little bit taking a course that kind of doesn't
Speaker 2: earn you a side hustle money kind of thing? Or
Speaker 2: do you feel like, you know, maybe it has helped
Speaker 2: you in your
Speaker 2: Job, not so much directly, but perhaps you know, the
Speaker 2: kind of like soft skills that you learned from it, perhaps. OK,
Speaker 2: that's a tough one, right, because for me, I think
Speaker 2: I do find joy in just learning new things. That
Speaker 2: to me is one of the things that I, the
Speaker 2: reason why I do a lot of frivolous things, I
Speaker 2: do a lot of weird hobbies, niche stuff that nobody
Speaker 2: cares about. I actually love finding out things that are
Speaker 2: really unique and really niche, right? So in this case,
Speaker 2: I would say there could be, and I'm just discovering
Speaker 2: it as I go along, a lot of impact to
Speaker 2: be as a person as I spin the music, as
Speaker 2: I mix the songs, I find a lot of joy
Speaker 2: in it and it helps me decompress after work. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so really on weekends.
Speaker 2: Sometimes I set it up and my wife has generously
Speaker 2: allowed me a space in the home you the thing
Speaker 2: she did she did she generously allowed me the space
Speaker 2: to do it for me, right? So do you think
Speaker 2: that you're gonna, I don't know, explore the possibility of
Speaker 2: Being a DJ on the side, you know, with this
Speaker 2: professional certified skill. OK, to be honest, I wanted, OK,
Speaker 2: after the exam, which was nerve-wracking. I can't believe there's
Speaker 2: an exam, but I think my instructor just barely smiled
Speaker 2: and said, OK, you're competent.
Speaker 2: Shout out to my instructor. I love you, Zul. Absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 2: But um I think after that, I actually tried to
Speaker 2: do a set at a friend's gathering recently. I'm, I'm
Speaker 2: hearing a sense of apprehension now from start to finish, absolutely.
Speaker 2: So I tried to make.
Speaker 2: my friend's party, get together, and to my, well, not
Speaker 2: to my surprise, nobody really cared that I was doing it, right,
Speaker 2: but the core people that kind of sat around me
Speaker 2: and asked me what this was, what are you doing,
Speaker 2: what music is this were mostly the teenagers and the kids.
Speaker 2: So maybe kids' birthday parties. Is 0. OK, I, I
Speaker 2: have to ask, what about the music wise, you know,
Speaker 2: what is the genre that you are inclined to, I suppose, mix? OK,
Speaker 2: so I'm big on hip hop and R&B, but the
Speaker 2: one thing that I challenged myself when I signed up
Speaker 2: for this class, and I said it right at the
Speaker 2: start to my instructor, to everyone in class to my
Speaker 2: own folly, was that I wanted to make 60s.
Speaker 2: Pop with recent 90s hip hop. I wanted to put
Speaker 2: Piram up against and I mix a mesh up Saloma
Speaker 2: and I tried it, it is so hard. So I
Speaker 2: went for a little gathering slash party and the DJ
Speaker 2: did exactly that. I think there is a genre for
Speaker 2: that there is a market for it where they mix uh.
Speaker 2: Oldies and, and we're talking about vernacular oldies like you said,
Speaker 2: P R, Saloma and all that with current hits. For
Speaker 2: those who do, for those listeners who don't know who
Speaker 2: Pli and Saloma are, they are legendary, uh, Malay actors
Speaker 2: and singers from back in the day, from the Shore
Speaker 2: Run Run and run me show era. Um, I have
Speaker 2: to ask you, Imran, about this exam. Uh, what was, what,
Speaker 2: what is a DJ?
Speaker 2: What does the DJ exam entail, please tell us. OK,
Speaker 2: so it was a 2 day full on course and
Speaker 2: the weekend course was Saturday and Sunday, 9 to 6.
Speaker 2: So it was right into the flames, get ready guys.
Speaker 2: The the instructional was fantastic. We were all given a
Speaker 2: a pretty much basic mixer DJ console for us to
Speaker 2: kind of start with and essentially we had to at
Speaker 2: the end of the second day.
Speaker 2: Perform in front of the whole class, uh, uh, the
Speaker 2: ability to make at the bare minimum 2 songs and
Speaker 2: as many songs as you like as a maximum. Of
Speaker 2: course I was me being the foolish person I said
Speaker 2: I'm going to mix like 5 and 6. A lat
Speaker 2: foolish ambitious ambitious. Have you used all your credits or
Speaker 2: do you still have some spare left? And what are
Speaker 2: you going to do with that spare?
Speaker 2: So much. I'm actually worried whether I can finish using
Speaker 2: my credit, yeah, because I had so much and that
Speaker 2: this was just this particular cost, this was just a
Speaker 2: drop in the ocean for it and I'm so grateful
Speaker 2: because I literally didn't have to pay anything at all
Speaker 2: and the sign up was so seamless. I was really
Speaker 2: very surprised, guys, because I really thought, oh man, this
Speaker 2: is a government initiative. There'd be a lot of hoops
Speaker 2: of fire, but no, I signed.
Speaker 2: Um, the rep from Hustle SG called me and made
Speaker 2: it very simple. I was in there like underwear by
Speaker 2: the by like 2 or 3 calls, good to go,
Speaker 2: signed up, and essentially I have so much more credits
Speaker 2: that I'm looking, OK, what's next? It's a super deep
Speaker 2: rabbit hole, right? If you guys haven't been on the
Speaker 2: SkillsFuture credit page and look at the dashboard, paralysis there.
Speaker 2: Oh my God, there's like something around like 300.
Speaker 2: types of stuff you can learn everything from cooking, cooking
Speaker 2: cleanliness and I know you want to get that one
Speaker 2: pot meal going, you know, you can do it and
Speaker 2: they'll even teach you how to clean, uh, properly afterwards. Alright,
Speaker 2: so the two of you might be classmates soon. I
Speaker 2: won't be signing up for that one. Maybe I'll conduct
Speaker 2: the class to teach that one.
Speaker 2: Imran, always fun to chat with you, man. It's, uh,
Speaker 2: it's really fun and thanks for inspiring us to, you know,
Speaker 2: not just look at skills future from a job's perspective,
Speaker 2: but just do some be a learner. Just be a learner,
Speaker 2: learn new things every day. You don't have to pigeonhole
Speaker 2: yourself and pigeonhole your skills credit future skills future.
Speaker 2: Credits, uh, to do, uh, just worky stuff. Thanks very much.
Speaker 2: And you go have fun. I will see you at
Speaker 2: the next kid's birthday party. Let's go. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: That's Imran, marketing director at Big Thunder. He just took
Speaker 2: his SkillsFuture credits to learn how to DJ. You can too.