The Pinpoint Asia Podcast (pinpointasia.com‪)‬ Pinpoint Asia

Today on the podcast, we have data expert Oliver Graeser who is the Head of Data & Insights at Parcel Perform.

Our goal today is to give everyone a 101 on Data and to dissect the difference between Data Modeling/Analytics, Data Lakes and so on.

Questions for Oliver - background

1. Could you please talk about your background? What got you interested in technology and in particular data analytics?

2. You transitioned from the banking/quant world into a pure tech role. What inspired this change?

Data 101

3. Can we start off with a basic 101 on Data? Could you please break down all of this for us or put it into context? What is the relationship between Data Science/Data Analytics/Data Modeling/Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning?

4. Could you paint a rough flowchart on how data progresses from one stage to another? We hear of terms like Data Lake, Data Buckets and so on. For the average person who does not know much about how data is collected and processed, could you give us an overview of this?

5. We know what a relational database is (like SQL Database). Why would one need a non-relational database? Also, what is No SQL?

6. We also hear about technologies like Hadoop, MongoDB, etc. What are the applications of these kinds of technologies?

Data Science and Predictive Analytics

7. Could you give a real-world example of the application of Data Science?

8. What does Parcel Perform do? How do these concepts relating to data apply to Parcel Perform's workflow?

9. What is the difference between good predictive analytics and AI?

10. On the subject of AI, what is LLM and where are the situations in which one would need them? How does data science tie into LLMs?

Future of AI/Data

11. In your opinion, how much of what we hear about AI is a fad vs something to be seriously considered and concerned about?

12. How is AI shaping your line of work?

13. What can engineers do today to not be replaced by AI in the future?

Advice for budding technologists

14. What is your advice to budding technologists graduating from universities and wishing to pursue something in data science?

We had the incredible privilege of hosting Brian Wong on The Pinpoint Asia Podcast! As the 52nd employee of Alibaba and the author of "The Tao of Alibaba," Brian shared invaluable insights into the company's journey from a startup to a global e-commerce giant. Our conversation covered his unique experiences at Alibaba and the principles that fueled its phenomenal success. Brian's stories and wisdom provided a fascinating glimpse into the inner workings of one of the world's most influential tech companies. It was an enlightening and inspiring episode that you won't want to miss!


Background


Career Choice: Why English literature over medicine?
Early Career: Information asymmetry between East and West in 1997 and the opportunity at Alibaba.
Decision Making: Recognizing Alibaba as the right opportunity.
Tao Components: Path, harmony, and embracing contradictions.

Mental Strength


Leaving Comfort Zones: Moving from Palo Alto to Hangzhou.
Purpose and Ambition: Balancing mission-driven life with financial needs and materialism.
Continuous Growth: Cultivating ambition and taking on new challenges despite past achievements.


Personal Reflections


Evaluating Opportunities: Deciding when to say yes to career roles.
Proudest Achievements: Highlights from a career with Alibaba.

Insights on Alibaba


Innovation Spirit: Learning from China's entrepreneurial spirit.
Mistakes and Learnings: Key errors on the path to success.
Leadership: Jack Ma's charisma, dealing with self-doubt, and maintaining staff well-being.
Company Culture: Mission, vision, values, and performance reviews.
Improvisation: Managing frequent changes without causing frustration.
Data Utilization: Leveraging data to drive business.
Growth Initiatives: Alibaba Global Initiatives and Leadership Academy.
Growth Factors: Right timing vs. hard work and strategy.


Leadership Insights


Leadership Development: Inherent traits vs. acquired skills.
Building Culture: Establishing company culture.
Morale Management: Keeping morale high during tough times.
Motivation: Rewarding process vs. results.
Strategic Thinking: Balancing strategy sessions with everyday work.
Humility: Staying humble despite accomplishments.


Future Outlook


China's Evolution: Changes since 1997 and pitfalls of growth.
Future Challenges: Opportunities and challenges for Alibaba and the tech sector.
Geopolitical Impact: Adapting to maintain a competitive edge amidst geopolitical shifts.

Abel is an accomplished technologist with several years of experience in the DevOps space. He has been the DevOps lead for many high-growth firms such as Xendit, Cake Group, and Foodpanda.

Today, we are going learn about DevOps and Cloud from him. We will also talk about his background and try to understand what made him the tech guru that he is!

Abel's background

You've been to many parts of the world like China and Africa and are now in Singapore. Could you talk to us about your background? What got you interested in technology and what keeps you interested in tech?

The 101s

Let us start off with architecture. Perhaps we can start with the basics.

Could you tell us what architecture is and how it has evolved? We have heard of two-tier and three-tier in the past. What are they? As far as applications go, there are other architecture terminologies that are being used these days. For example, microservices architecture and monolithic architecture. Could you please tell us what they are? Also, what would be a real-world example of this?

DevOps, SRE, Platform Engineer, DevSecOps and PaaS

Moving onto some 101 about DevOps, could you please define what that is? What did tech people do before DevOps was in practice? What makes someone a good DevOps practitioner? Is there a difference between Application and Infrastructure DevOps?We also hear the term SRE being used interchangeably with DevOps. What is the difference between the two? What about DevSecOps and PaaS? What are they?

Cloud 101

Moving onto the basics of the Cloud, the basic premise is that the infrastructure that was on the premises in a company can now be shared through combined computing power in a data center which is called the Cloud. Is that description somewhat accurate? There are so many Cloud providers like AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Alibaba Cloud and so on. What are the differences between them? Other than pricing does the Cloud matter much to a developer? We hear about terms like Kubernetes, Containers, and so on. What are they?

Leading people

You have also lead a large number of people and we have some questions relating to this. The first one is which one do you find more enjoyable? The leading people bit or the tech bit? How should a hardcore techie learn to people manage? What are some of the challenges you have encountered with this? At some point, the general perception is that if you do not manage people, your career tends to stagnate. How much truth is there to this?

Trends in the industry

How will DevOps evolve in the future? Is AI/Predictive Analytics really going to disrupt industries in the future or is it more hyped?

Advice to budding technologists

What sort of advice would you give to budding technologies these days? Is a degree as important as it once was? Or, can one self learn the most pressing topics which universities don’t exactly teach? Would you have any other comments or anything else you want to share?

Our guest today has extensive experience as a CIO with large banks. He has successfully set up and managed 3 sizeable Technology Development Centers in the mainland and has played a key role in the initiation of 2 startups including one in the FinTech space in the mainland. Let me welcome Greg Au Yeung to the Podcast!

Today on the podcast, we are going to ask Greg about how his career trajectory and we are also going to delve into his experience setting up development centers in China and the future of technology there. Greg has recently started his own YouTube Channel called Inspiring China (https://youtu.be/JyrVpCGc5Ug) 

Intro Questions:


Greg, could you please give us an intro of yourself in your own words? Are you from Hong Kong originally?


Can you talk about your experience as an IT person - how did you rise to the level of being a CIO and did you always want to become a CIO?


According to your LinkedIn Profile (https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregauyeung/), you started getting involved in building Technology Development Centers as early as 2005 when you were with State Street. Why the interest in China?



More questions about China:


In 2005 many people were not entirely sure about moving to China whereas you seemed to have embraced the chance of building your experience and expertise in China. Why is that? What was your motivation? Was it a career-driven move?


What challenges did you face in setting up a development center in China? Can you speak to the talent available in China?


One of the problems with offshore development centers tends to be that it is harder to integrate a Mandarin-speaking tech center with an English-speaking front office business in Hong Kong or in other parts of the world. What are your thoughts on bridging this sort of language barrier?


Some say that China is becoming more expensive and the offshore centers would now have to move to places in South America. What are your thoughts on this?


How do you see the trend of offshore centers in China developing over the next few years?



Technology Questions:


There is no doubt that clear winners are emerging from China. Like DJI, BYD, TikTok, BitMain and so many more. How would you compare the landscape of mainland-based tech unicorns with their Silicon Valley counterparts? Do you think the government in China is very encouraging of the development of new tech startups? Is the legal system conducive to building a good environment for these startups to mature?


From a data standpoint, given China has less stringent rules on privacy, do you think they have an advantage when it comes to Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence as these technologies need more and more data to become better?


What do you think are the roadblocks when it comes to the development and progress of technology in China?


Can you talk about the startups you've been involved with? How did you choose them and what has your role been in them?



YouTube Channel:


What inspired you to set up your YouTube channel Inspiring China?


Could you talk about who your target audience is and why they should subscribe?



Personality:


You've been working for a while now and have achieved quite a bit in your career. Do you still have the same drive to learn and grow as you did at the start of your career?


What career advice would you give to young ambitious IT professionals who want to be CIO one day?


Has there been any particular mentor who has been instrumental in your career development?


What books do you read? Is there a pattern and what are some of the top books you'd recommend?


How do you manage stress?


Has there been a key mentor or a significant person in your life who has enabled you to achieve the success you have had in your career?


Knowing what you know now if you could travel back to when you were 25 years old, what advice would you give yourself?


Is there anything else you would like to say that we ha

Today we are grateful to be talking to the Deputy Chief Product Officer of PwC's Digital Products Group.

Sarah Johnson comes from a unique background. She used to be the Operations Manager for the Polar Challenge / South Pole Race and spent 3 months in Antarctica for this. After a few more roles in technology, she is now the Deputy Chief Product Officer of the Digital Products Group arm of PwC.

Today on the podcast, we will ask her a few questions about her current role and try to glean some wisdom from her. After that, we will also talk to her about her personality and her contribution to society and to women in particular. So let me extend a warm welcome to Sarah and thank her for agreeing to do this!

Questions:


If you were to introduce yourself in three sentences or less, what would you say?


Let's go back to the beginning of your career. We just need to talk about your experience in Antarctica. How did that come about and what was it like living over there for 3 months?


Can you talk about the trajectory of your career and how it helped you get to where you are today?


Has your experience in seemingly unrelated jobs like the one in Antarctica helped you with your current job? If so, how?





Digital Products Group:


Can you talk about what Digital Products Group is?


Why was there a need to start Digital Products Group to begin with?


How old is Digital Products Group and can you talk about some of the successes so far that this group has achieved so far?


What have been some of the challenges of delivering these products?



Personality:


You seem to have a 'giving' and a charitable side to you. You are a mentor for HandsOn Hong Kong and sever as a mentor in the Women's Foundation of Hong Kong helping women advance in their careers. Why do you feel the need to give back and help develop women?


In your opinion, what can be done to promote more women in technology?


How ambitious and determined have you been to rise to the top of your profession and where does this ambition come from?



Final questions:


How do you think technology will evolve in the next 10 years or so?


What career advice would you give to young ambitious IT professionals?


Do you have a special routine that you follow that has enabled you to achieve success in your career so far? 


What books do you read? Is there a pattern and what are some of the top books you'd recommend?


Is there anything else you would like to say that we haven't asked you?

Today on the podcast, we have Ricky Lui who is a Security Consultant with SailPoint which is a company specializing in Identity Access Management. This topic of Identity Access Management is becoming increasingly important in today's world especially as internet connectivity everywhere is getting deeper and faster.

We will be talking about this topic in depth with Ricky today so first of all, let me welcome Ricky to the podcast.

Questions


Please introduce yourself in your own words


What is the relationship between Accenture and Sailpoint?


Can you please also talk about your background and how you ended up specializing in IT Security / Identity and Access Management



Questions on our topic:


What is the difference or relationship between IT Security and Identity Access Management?


Can you give us an overview of IAM? Provisioning / Entitlement


What is IAM so important? Especially, why now?


As databases grow, how does one protect private data / prevent outside attacks?


What kind of problem does Sailpoint solve in particular?


Can Sailpoint's solutions be applied to Cloud-based CRMs like Salesforce?


Can you talk about cases where companies have lost money due to bad IAM?


Is this important for small companies and big companies?


Can you talk through a couple of examples of implementation of IAM?


Is IAM mainly deployed on the Cloud? Is IAM mainly deployed on the 'Application' side or the 'Infra' side?


What are some of the mistakes companies make when it comes to IAM and how do they fix it?


Do the latest concepts like Machine Learning and AI also interact with IAM?



Future of IAM


What is the future of IAM and how is it changing?