Hi! My name is Aditya Banerjee and I’m a software developer at Activate Interactive.
I graduated from the National University of Singapore in July 2023, with a Bachelor’s
degree in Computer Science. When I’m not coding or working, I like to go for long runs
and play music with my band, Pencil Battery. I’ve played the drums since I was 3, although I
primarily sing and play the guitar now.
I started my coding journey in high school, having taking Computer Science as
one of higher level subjects in IB. I grew fond of the subject very fast, and
eventually decided that it was the way forward for me. This interest, combined with
the internships I pursued later on were effective catalysts to my journey as a developer.
My first internship was at Strive Education, a Y-combinator backed education technology start-up
that provides one-on-one coding and mathematics lessons tailored to the interests and skill levels
of students. In my time at Strive, I worked primarily as a backend developer. I was responsible for
integrating and automating a large number of business processes and systems, including but not limited
to payment automation, analytics, and quality control.
In 2021, I applied for NUS Overseas Colleges, a program allows students to work at a startup
abroad, while also pursuing entrepreneurship classes at a partner university in the same
location. I applied for the NOC program with Israel as my number one choice,
having read extensively about the birth and journey of the “startup nation”. I
was thrilled to secure my spot in the program, and began to search for internships that I
could pursue in my time there.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, our NOC program was set to be remote. I applied to
ByondXR, an XR-powered e-commerce startup that enables the creation of immersive online
retail experiences. My job at ByondXR involved the creation of plugins that added the
interactive layer to the 3D environments that serve as the base for the e-commerce experiences,
or supported other plugins in doing so.
In the time before and during my interviews, I took up independent projects to
enhance my skill-set to make myself a more viable candidate for the role. I implemented
a self-initiated project called “Classmate”. The project was a React application
to display NUS modules, and allowed students to plan their semester by selecting
the modules they wanted to enrol in. The project was not officially affiliated
with NUS in any way, and though it was not a very complex project by any means,
it demonstrated moderate proficiency, and more importantly, a willingness to
learn new things. This in turn allowed me to secure an internship with ByondXR.
My time at ByondXR was extremely transformative for me, and played a large role in
making me the developer I am today. I exposed myself to a large number of tools and
frameworks, and sharpened my ability to learn quickly. In addition, I received invaluable
mentorship and training from my senior developers.
I have always considered myself a creative person, and often have ideas that I want to
make something out of. In improving my software development skills over time, I empowered myself
to act upon my ideas. As a result, I have pursued a couple of ventures outside
of my academic and occupational pursuits. These ventures included OURFinals, an education
technology startup that aimed to enable ad-hoc on-demand peer tutoring for university students,
and FNSHR, a task management application that aimed to enhance productivity via monetary and social
accountability. Although both of these ventures failed, they provided me with invaluable opportunities
to sharpen my technical and non-technical skills which I have brought forward with me since.
I’m often described as a very outgoing and approachable friend and colleague. I pride
myself on my ability to adapt to and communicate in different environments. I’m always
willing to try and learn new things. I’d like to conclude by thanking you for taking
the time to read this, and I hope to connect with you soon.