Monday, July 27, 2015

The MetroDBITan student series : Issue #046 - Jena Lim

Welcome back to another issue of MetroDBITan folks! :)

Our cover girl for this issue is DBIT Year 2 student Jena Lim who is a July baby born on the 19th day of the 7th month in the year 1997 under the horoscope of the Cancer with sensitive emotions and zodiac of the hardworking Ox.

As a lecturer who has worked with Jena on several projects since she was in Year 1, I personally think she is indeed like a very industrious Ox who toils steadily to fulfill her responsibilities and also a girl with rich emotions and a nurturing spirit that is typical of Cancerians.

A gal with such a deep inner world is definitely worth getting to know more, so join me and peek into her thoughts below!


Hi Jena! Your birthday was just a couple of weeks ago. How did you celebrate it? What is your most memorable birthday throughout your life?

This year, I got my wish of spending a normal day out with my close friends for my 18th birthday.

People may wonder why I chose a day out with my friends instead of something grand or extravagant for my 18th birthday – but I’m the kind of person who treasures time out with my friends more than big parties, so it was really great for me when I could finally spend a day out with my close friends and just forget about school for a moment.

In addition to that, I also gave my parents a simple treat to lunch and bought a handbag for my mum just to thank them for everything they’ve done and sacrificed for me.

The most memorable birthday throughout my life, so far, was last year because I had the opportunity to celebrate with my polytechnic friends. This is especially memorable for me because I spent most of my birthdays with my family – so I end up with no time to spend with my friends on my birthday.

However, my polytechnic friends planned a birthday surprise for me, and even pranked me into thinking that they were all too busy to turn up before the actual surprise.

Memories from my birthday last year


Jena, how well do you think you fit into the profile of a Cancerian?




Image taken from
Cafe Astrology
I feel that the Cancer profile can be considered to be an accurate reflection of myself.

The thing that surprised me most about the profile is how it accurately depicts the relationships, fashion style and financial aspects of my life.

For example, it is quite true that I am a rather sensitive person who does get moody often and can get affected by others' comments quite badly. When this happens, I often retreat into myself as a form of self-protection as it feels very painful to be hurt and I want to hide away from everything to prevent myself from getting hurt again.

I’m a “horoscope fanatic” myself, so I like to look at the personalities, quotes (and basically everything I can get my hands on) with regards to the horoscopes of my friends and I. It amazes me to see that all these profiling of a Cancerian is the equivalent to my life – and how I share similar thoughts to other Cancerians around the world, to know that you’re not the only one who thinks a certain way.

Do a MBTI Personality Test and tell us what MBTI personality type are you!




Image from 16personalities.com
According to the personality test, I am an ISFJ-T.

I agree COMPLETELY to the analysis of my personality type, it almost felt like I was reading something that was written based on my life.

As the analysis mentioned, ISFJs are the epitome of "Defenders" - people who like to be the care-takers of other who need to be protected or helped.  I think I am really like that.

Just as what was described, I have strengths such as being supportive, reliable and patient. I love to share my knowledge, experience, time and energy with anyone who needs it.  When I commit to helping someone, I will steadily and patiently stick with the tasks required, and often do more than what is required.  The weaknesses of ISFJs are also very accurate for me - overloading myself, repressing my feelings, taking things too personally and so on.

I really liked how the test shows the strengths and weaknesses for your personality type as I’ve never been able to open my eyes to seeing that overloading myself and taking things too personally were actually things that was related to my personality – and not just something that I felt like I was doing on my own.

From the personality test, I also learned to see that I do have strengths as an individual – and that being altruistic and supportive can be part of my strength as a person too.


What are 2 traits you like about yourself? Why?


I like that I can consider myself to be well-rounded. Even though I can’t say that I’m 100% self-reliant or well-rounded, I feel that I am at least able to depend mainly on myself without having to get much help for most of my projects, and life in general.

I also like that fact that I’m “defined by the way I use my strengths”. According to the personality test, I belong in a personality type where many of my qualities defy the definition of the individual traits that make up my personality type. I believe that everyone has strengths, and that strengths can be used in a variety of ways – to help or to put someone else down.

For example, being imaginative and observant are some of the strengths within my personality type. You can choose to either put those qualities into destructive and selfish use, or you could use those qualities to make a positive impact on someone else’s life – I’d rather choose the latter.

Share stories and photos about your babyor childhood days

Contrary to most people, I did not spend my childhood days with my parents as they were busy working to earn sufficient income. Therefore, I was under the care of my aunt from the moment that I was born – until I was in Primary 1.

My mum and I at the playground

My dad and I at my aunt’s house

As a result of my parents’ busy schedule, I only got the chance to see them on weekends – and sometimes I won’t be able to see them for 2 to 3 weeks in a row. I feel that it impacted my life in terms of the fact that I have many things that I wished I could have done with my parents when I was younger, and that little doubt in me that my parents were never proud of me because they never really knew how to express that to me – especially with the fact that they were hardly around.

Me in Kindergarten


Malay Dance Performance in Kindergarten


Share stories and photos about your school days in primary school


I was in Zhenghua Primary School in Primary 1, then I transferred to Kranji Primary School after moving in with my parents.

My favourite subjects in primary school were Music and Art, because they were a platform to relieve my stress and to express myself. I was never good in art that required you to draw people or objects, but I found the freedom and ability to express myself in abstract art.

I took up Indian Dance and Choir when I was in primary school. I represented my school for the Singapore Youth Festival 2008 in Indian Dance, and achieved a Gold with Honours for our performance. I always had a passion for singing, but I never thought that I was any good at it. Joining the choir made me feel like I found another avenue to express myself, and I never stopped singing ever since.

My mum and I (Indian Dance SYF)


My best friends in Primary School

Share stories and photos about your school days in secondary school

Before coming to Singapore Polytechnic, I studied in Unity Secondary School.

My favourite subject in secondary school was Literature. In particular, I loved annotations and literary analysis! We had a project whereby we had to choose a song and analysed it, which is somewhat similar to what we had to do in General Education 2. I feel that it was really interesting to me as music was a way for me to express my emotions – so it was almost natural for me to do a song analysis and I enjoyed doing it.

I devoted all 4 years of my secondary school education to Choir as a Soprano 2, where I was appointed the Event Head in Secondary 3. I’ve took part in Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) for Choir in 2011 where we managed to get the Gold Award.


Choir Buddy in Secondary School


Share your likes and dislikes


My hobbies are singing, blogging and contributing back to society.

I don’t have a specific genre of music that I like, but my favourite music revolves around songs that have actual meaning in them – and to me. My friends and I started our own singing group when we were in secondary 1, called Bittersweet – where we would spend hours after school together just recording song covers on our mobile phones. However, we had our own fall-outs and we eventually ended things there – but that did not stop my passion for singing so I went on to SoundCloud, a platform where you could record your song covers which could then be shared and liked by others.


Image credits to the owner of the picture!

I started blogging when I was in upper primary, but changed several blogs after that. The longest period of time which I stayed within a blogging platform is for around 2 years, where I used Blogger to blog about advertorials, thoughts on various topics and things about my life in general.

I now changed to using Wix after using it for a module in SP, and I’m working on creating a professional blog which doubles as an online portfolio at www.jenalxy.wix.com/blog.


Share an event which is memorable to you

I think that the most memorable moment of my life occurred when I was in Secondary 4 – where I was diagnosed with depression, irritable bowel syndrome and bipolar disorder.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a condition where you would basically get recurrent abdominal pain when you get stressed, and it’s often associated with stress, depression or anxiety. In short, my stomach would hurt whenever I get stressed. Having IBS on top of bipolar disorder made me stayed home for a majority of the days when I was in Secondary 4, mainly because I was too upset to get to school.

It wasn’t a pleasant experience for me because it affected my O Levels and relationships, but it was the most memorable for me because I learnt to understand and accept myself for who I am – and it drove my passion to help others who were struggling themselves.


Show off yourself in three of your favourite clothes and tell us why you like them, where you bought them


Graphic Shift Dress from TEMT
I like the simplicity of the dress as well as the graphical prints on it




White Crop Top from H&M
Black Skater Skirt from Periwern
I like monochrome outfits a lot! Black and white can never go wrong.



White Skater Dress from Carousell
Grey Knitted Cardigan from Blogshopping
Black Sandals from Kiki
Plain dress coupled with a knitted cardigan!


Three people that you want to thank or shout out to


My parents, several years ago

I’d like to thank my parents, of course – for everything that they have done & sacrificed for me.

I’m not the kind of girl who easily expresses her feelings and thoughts to people, so I don’t know how to show my parents that I love them. As I grow older, I spend more time at school and lesser time at home.

I’m really grateful to my parents for everything that they have done, especially for giving me the best in all circumstances.

My Choir conductor, Mr Francis Liew

I started off being afraid of my conductor because he would often pick on me for my mistakes and relationship during in secondary school. However, when I reached Secondary 3, I started realizing that he only wanted to show me what I was capable of – and to push me to my potential. He was no ordinary conductor who would come in, correct your mistakes and leave on time – he taught us life skills and values, and he cared for us even out of our curriculum when he felt that things weren’t right.

I’ve learnt a lot from him, both in life and in vocal skills, and it has made me the person that I am today.

Probably the only photo with full strength, DBIT/2A/02

Every class is unique and different in their own way, and I’m really thankful that I’m in the class that I am in – because we can always count on one another to have our backs.

Would like to shoutout to Siuk Geok, Dhilla, Elward, Yong Han and Yi Qi for always being there – and celebrating my birthday with me, and staying by me even though I may not be the best friend at times.


If there is something you can change about the world, what would it be?


If there is something I could change about the world, I would change the way people define beauty.

I feel that the way the world perceives beauty is flawed. We used to ask around for one another’s ideal type, and many of the guys would typically reply something along the lines of she has to “look pretty in contact lenses and make-up”, or that their ideal girl “must have a nice figure”.

Whether we realize it or not, the perception of beauty has been affected by mass media – how the “beautiful women” in commercials and media are all portrayed as women who are of a certain size or look, and how some companies even put the way their staff should look into their branding guidelines.

The link below would redirect you to an article that I’ve written about defining beauty under StarHub’s Youth Community Blog.
http://community.starhub.com/t5/The-Fashionista/What-Defines-Beauty-SPBlogs-HiSocial-TheFashionista/ba-p/118035 

Have you travelled anywhere before?

I’ve only been out of Singapore twice – to Tanjong Piai for my secondary school camp and Genting for a choir competition.

Choral Exchange – Uniqvoices (Unity Secondary Choir)

I liked the trip to Genting, Malaysia the best because we were not allowed to bring our mobile phones with us during that trip. It was a different experience for me because we experienced 4 days and 3 nights without our mobile phones – so the only entertainment we had was our friends. It was a time with no projects or concept of time, but more of a relaxation trip away from school to us.

Why did you choose DBIT course? 

Honestly, DBIT was my fifth choice when I submitted my application. Even though it was not my most ideal course, I chose to put it within my choices because I really liked courses related to business – and it happened to cover two of the biggest industries in the world.


What do you like about DBIT course? What would you want to improve about the DBIT course?

I like the fact that I found a “hidden potential” in IT when I joined DBIT. When I first enrolled into the course, I had no confidence in myself with regards to the IT-related modules that we have in DBIT – but it was a surprise to me that it wasn’t that difficult for me as I was able to pick up the concepts rather quickly.

I feel that DBIT is one of the best courses that you could take if you want to be prepared for the world since it prepares you for two industries which are never short of demand in the world.


What do you plan to do after graduation from SP?


Ever since I graduated from secondary school, all I wanted to do was to complete my polytechnic studies and go out to work. I remember that on the first day of school, Ms Dora asked my class during our Social Media Marketing (SMM) module, “How many of you wants to go to university after graduation?” – I was the only one who DID NOT raise my hand.

To me, I feel that university is not as important to me as it is to my peers who believe that getting a degree in university is the minimum that we should have to get a good job. However, that didn’t matter to me because I was fine with a lower-paying job if I am able to do something that I’m interested in.

If I were to work after graduation, I would probably look for a job that’s related to marketing or designing – which are skills that I’m more confident in. I also aspire to be a sociopreneur one day.

However, I’ve been considering both options as I have several peers who have urged me to take up university after graduation because they felt that I would be able to do well there.

What are your favourite modules in SP? 

My favourite modules in SP are Social Media Marketing (SMM) and Business Opportunity (BOPP).

I like SMM because it allowed me to expand my knowledge of how industries operate. We see companies all over the world, but I was interested to find out how these companies operate internally. Through SMM, I was able to get a better understanding of how the real-life industries work as well as to learn how skills that I learnt in school could be applied in corporate situations.

I like BOPP as it showed me another side of the world, a side that most people would shy away from – the entrepreneurial world. I’ve had an interest in being an entrepreneur since I was in primary school when I started selling my preloved items in school to my friends, which I then moved on to having my own blogshop for the past 7 years or so. BOPP allowed me to think about generating ideas on the spot, and that our ideas could turn into a business opportunity if it is practical and relevant to the needs of the targeted consumers.

Where do you hope to see yourself in 10 years’ time?

In 10 years’ time, I’d be 28 years old.

By the time that I’m 28 years old, I hope that I would have had a successful career in something that I have a passion for – as well as a family of my own.

Do you have a CCA in SP?


I am the Publicity Coordinator for SP Infocomm Club (SPIC) and my main responsibilities are to manage publicity in SPIC, contribute to SPIC’s blog as well as to create collaterals for publicity of workshops or events.

Do you work part-time while studying? If you do, share your experience

I currently take up two part-time jobs that allows me to work from home – SP’s Work on Campus (WOC) Scheme and a part-time job to help a training center with web development as well as social media management.

During my semester breaks, I look for temporary full-time jobs since we do not have any assignments for that 6 weeks of break. Some organizations that I’ve worked for during my semester break includes 99.co and Dough Culture.

99.co is a property site that bases itself on a map search instead of the usual list view of properties. In 99.co, I worked under their Customer Support where I learnt valuable skills about online customer service – which is really different from retail customer service as you’re not able to physically see your customer online.

Dough Culture is a Food & Beverage (F&B) company in Singapore which sells traditional oriental snacks. In Dough Culture, I helped with the events management where I had the opportunity to help plan their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) event as well as to oversee the social media marketing that Dough Culture had on social media platforms like Facebook.

Please share 3 pictures of your past projects / assignments 




Poster for Social Media Marketing (SMM)


Personal Website for Web Client Development (WCD)


Flyer for SP Infocomm Club

Are you currently attached with a partner? What are the qualities of the boy/ girl you would like to partner with?


I’m currently single!

The qualities that I’d like my “ideal man” to have? A loyal man who looks average (I don’t like the thought of other people stealing away my man), loves me despite my imperfections, spends time with me and makes me smile even when I’m having the worst days.

Please share more photos of yourself!



Secondary School friend and I


Dhilla and I


Exchange Programme with Korean Students



Senior and I





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