It has been exactly 2 years ago in Mar 2020 that we started to shut down because of Covid.
It will be no April fool’s joke on 01 Apr that our country is finally telling the world that we are reopening for business and pleasure/vacation now! With a pre-flight negative test result, a totally vaccinated visitor can come to S’pore without quarantine requirements anymore.
Last week, further restrictions on easing were announced. 10 people will be allowed to gather for meals outside instead of 5. Mass gatherings for events will start to happen and masks need not be worn outdoors anymore. Some sense of normalcy is finally coming back after more than 24 months of lockdown limbo.
It seems just like yesterday in Mar 2020 when we were wondering what the Covid situation will develop into. I had started to wear a mask outside at the wet markets and some friends thought that I was being overly cautious. Mask prices shot up and I had to scramble to buy a box at $25. It is now back to less than $3 and even given out free if you buy a certain amount at the supermarket.
We know much more about the virus now. Vaccines came almost a year in Jan 2021 later. Most of us are well into our booster/3rd shot by now. Test kits are also easier to buy and use nowadays. Compulsory quarantines for all initially when you return to S’pore. You are even allowed to isolate at home now if you tested positive and it’s just for a few days.
We went through the alphabet for the virus variants, each became scarier than the previous one. Just when it seems that we have overcome Alpha, Beta came along. Gamma was thought to be less severe, then Delta came for the encore which really smacked the world upside down with its deadliness. We could literally see the Delta waves sweeping across the world as deaths piled up everywhere.
Everyone was scrambling to roll out the vaccinations even as the anti-vax voice came out in strong resistance. There were heated debates of both sides trying to call out the other. Are you for science or against it? Is there a long term effect? Too many opinions and not enough data history to show the effectiveness of the vaccines. Do you want to roll the dice and take a chance, or do you just want to improve your odds to survive the next mutation with the shot?
Omicron was the last to arrive late in 2021. All of us were surprised at how mild it was, given that it was 7 times more contagious than Delta. With version 2 BA2, it was spreading even faster. By now, we now have seen some relatives or immediate family members getting Omicron. There isn’t a stigma anymore and one just needs to isolate at home for a couple of days until the contagious period is over.
Getting used to ever-changing situations kept us on our toes and isolated at home most of the time. Over time, we adapted and trained to stay and work from home while trying to keep fit. Nightlife means watching Netflix and sleeping by 11 pm. Hopefully, Mother Gaia had a chance to repair herself during this time as travel was minimized. But evidence on Climate Change says otherwise.
Just as we thought we would get out of this mess, mankind has a way to maintain the tension. Putin decided to start a war. Tightening supply chains via sanctions will cause stagflation worries in the coming months. It is like getting out of the kettle into the fire… 1 month into the invasion and the fighting continues.
I like to remain optimistic that we are at the tail end of Covid, that the virus has mutated into a milder form like the flu in order to survive. Hence we should not be afraid that a newer and deadlier variant might emerge anytime soon.
The western world is trying to drag things out for Putin. The longer he remains in this no-win invasion of Ukraine, his resources will be depleted. Even as he might have miscalculated, this does not mean that he may not do something crazy as he gets more desperate. Hopefully, sane minds will prevail and he might find a graceful exit out of the mess he created.
I am into the final leg of my 3 month NUS FinTechSG course by the School of Computing. The first module was relatively easy with Design Thinking. I struggled badly with module 2 as a non-IT person trying to learn 3 programming languages within weeks – HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
Then I jumped off a cliff trying to learn DevOps front, middle to back end integration. There were projects that I struggled with and had to seek help. But at the same time, it was refreshing to deep dive into new knowledge and concepts which I might not have been able to do on my own without the push from a structured course program.
The final module is the one that attracted me to this course originally. We will get to know how Algo-Trading works and learn how Smart Contracts are created. They will introduce me to practical tools I can hopefully use to enhance my investment strategies and better understand blockchain technology.
Finally, the course will also help us network into the FinTech space via e-speed dating interview sessions. Some of the fintech companies looking for people will present job opportunities to us. We will then connect if both sides are interested to explore further.
My goal over the last few years was to pivot my banking experience into a consultancy career. I now hope to do another pivot into the FinTech space based on the knowledge I have picked up in recent years via the courses I had completed. This will make me stay relevant in the fast-changing world as I embark on my next halftime journey. Where this will lead me, I do not know. I just am certain that I need to proactively plan ahead because if I do not plan, I will plan to fail.
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