My NOC Journey: Merci, À Bientôt

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Sep 10, 2023

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my-noc-journey

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Public

About NOC

NOC is an entrepreneurship-focused program established by NUS Enterprise in which students are sent to innovation hubs around the world to intern at startups in various industries. As of August 2023, there are 18 NOC destinations, with either year-long (Silicon Valley, Shanghai, Stockholm,…), 6-month (Munich, Israel, Shenzhen,…), or a mix of 3-month and 6-month (Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur,…) program.

Apart from the full-time internship commitment, students have a chance (and are expected to) explore and engage in the startup ecosystem in the host countries. In addition, the program is integrated with the academic curriculum with entrepreneurship-related courses at NUS and the partner universities.

A lot of NOC Alumni became successful entrepreneurs, including founders of PatSnap, Casousell, and ShopBack (If you come from other parts of the world, you might not have heard of these companies, but they are really big in Singapore and South East Asia). If you want to know more about NOC, check this out.

Applied, and Being Rejected… Twice

If you want to apply for NOC, remember this one thing: “Don’t try to show interviewers that you are a good employee, instead, prove that you are a good entrepreneur.”

I first applied for NOC in semester 2 of my second year at NUS. Before applying, you need to satisfy certain academic requirements. That is why people often go NOC in their second or third year of studies.

Back then, I simply thought of NOC as an overseas internship opportunity. I had good academic performance, built a lot of school and personal projects, and did Orbital, which is the NUS School of Computing’s first-year summer self-directed work course and is commonly considered a huge plus for NOC. I did not have industry experience nor entrepreneurship-related extracurricular activities, but I worked as a teaching assistant for a Master’s course at NUS, and I thought I was, well, qualified.

I applied for both 6-month and 3-month programs (I never considered year-long programs due to my academic plan although the year-long destinations are more attractive). Applicants have to fill in a form with their personal information and experience, one or two personal statements, three desired destinations, and at least two testimonials (do maintain good relationships with people you work with so that they can say good things about you). I have one testimonial from the Orbital program, one from the professor of the course I helped teach at NUS, and one from one of my Master's students, who is a quantitative trader and has years of experience working in the industry. I had another recommendation letter from my Orbital advisor, but it was rejected because he was considered my friend.

Every applicant will get into the interview round, and this is when things get unpredictable. From my own and my friends’ experiences, most of the time there will be three people interviewing you, and you will get annoyed by at least one of the interviewers. Even if you get friendly and likable interviewers, you may not be lucky because high chance you will get rejected anyway as the competition is very high.

That year, I had 2 separate interviews for the 2 applications. I did extremely badly for the first one. I crafted a “good” introduction and prepared to tell them that I was capable and willing to learn and that I would be a good addition to any tech company. But, they just didn’t care about it. They asked about my entrepreneurship experience, whether I worked for a startup or started something on my own (purely technical projects didn’t impress them), and kept telling me that my abilities and experiences were not valuable for NOC.

The second interview was much better, but the one-month duration between the two interviews was not enough for me to change too many things. Eventually, I received the rejected letter for both programs on the same date.

Slip In

Being rejected twice didn’t kill my NOC dream. I ended up interning at a startup in Singapore as a Machine Learning Engineer during my year 2 summer, and it was a huge boost for my next NOC application. NOC interviewers care about your entrepreneurship aspirations, so it will be a lot easier to get in if you started a company or worked for a startup before applying. Being a member of startup-related communities, such as the NUS Entrepreneurship Society, also helps, but it’s not my thing.

I applied again in semester 1 of my third year at NUS, with Munich, Israel, and Paris on the list. I wanted to go to either Munich or Israel since they are the most well-known tech innovation hubs among the 6-month destinations. I ranked Paris the third since the other 6-month programs are not attractive to me.

And with the lesson learned from the previous interviews, I prepared better and presented myself differently. I decided not to submit the Orbital testimonial and get another one from my boss from the internship instead.

During the interview, I didn’t try to demonstrate my technical abilities but rather exhibited my entrepreneurial intention, and I did quite well this time. Here are some takeaways:

Repeat these keywords: startup and entrepreneurship

The interviewers may question your technical abilities, and how you can contribute to the company. It wasn’t a problem for me because I did quite well in the previous internship and my transcript was good. However, I know NOC mates who had not done any internship before or did not have very high GPAs (fka. CAPs). Just be confident since it’s not a differentiating factor (I disagree with this, but it is what it is).

They will ask whether you started any business or have any startup ideas. If you answer no to both questions, your chance of being selected is near zero. However, don’t makeup something that you have not done and think about your idea thoroughly, because they will ask many questions about it.

If you feel that you are being attacked and the interviewers are being mean to you, don’t worry, and don’t take it personally. My friends and I experienced it. They may just want to see how you deal with stress and pressure.

“Don’t try to show interviewers that you are a good employee, instead, prove that you are a good entrepreneur.”

A few days later, the NOC Europe program manager contacted me to schedule another interview, which was less formal than the previous one. At that time, I was quite sure that I would be selected and she wanted to know more about me to put me into a suitable destination. And guess what, I got Paris.

But it was not the end. After being selected by NOC, students have to find the companies that are willing to take them in to secure a slot in the program. The acceptance rate of this stage for the whole NOC program is more than 90%; however, as we are the first NOC Paris batch, things were a lot more difficult.

NOC Program Managers helped us re-write CVs and cover letters and sent our profiles to startups in Paris. We were also allowed to self-source companies our own but the companies needed to be approved by NOC. Then, companies interviewed the people that they were impressed with. I was lucky to get 3 interviews during the first week our profile was sent out; all companies invited me for a second interview or sent me a technical assessment, and I got an offer a few days later. However, among 27 students selected for Paris, which was a lot (normally each destination has 4 to 8 students), there were 8 who chose to drop out or couldn’t find a job, and a lot of my batchmates only got a job more than 2 months after the result was announced.

The administration stuff for those who secured a job was also a mess, which made the start working date for most of us delayed for a month. Nonetheless, I believe things will get better in subsequent years.

The amazing 6 months

After 3 times applying, 1 month of waiting for the visa, and 15 hours of flight, I finally made it to Paris. I had an amazing 6 months there that cannot be fully covered in this article, so I will try to mention a few key points to help you know if NOC Paris is the right option for you.

Work

I worked as a Data Science Intern at Science Feedback, a scientific fact-checking company. It is not a tech company with less than 10 working on the tech side, and I was the third member of the data team. My main objective is to build machine learning (ML) models to determine web domains’ credibility and quality based on connections between domains. Over time, my work leaned towards building the ML pipeline and establishing the data infrastructure as a lot of components were not in place when I needed them to develop the ML models.

From left to right: Manu (CEO), Bastien (my direct boss), me, and Quan (Software Engineer)

Although I had experience with ML in the past, graph ML was something new to me, and luckily, my boss gave me time and freedom to learn it on my own. He, along with other colleagues, was also very supportive and respected my decision, even something that could affect the long-term strategy of the team and took a lot of engineering effort like building a whole new data infrastructure. I also had a chance to get involved in the non-technical aspect of the project, and somewhat become a project owner myself.

Science Feedback is not an early-stage startup trying to find a product-market fit but rather has a stable revenue stream in a niche market, so the working style was quite chill, compared to my previous internship in Singapore (most of my batchmates feel the same about their companies). That is perhaps the general working style of French people, as a Chinese guy I met at a networking event said: “People here have more work-life balance and are generally more interesting than people from China and Singapore”.

Academic

Before departure, all NOC participants have to attend a week-long workshop in Singapore. The focus of the workshop changes over time. For our batch, we had to do user surveys for some Singaporean startups and present the results to a panel. For year-long and NOC Singapore programs, there are some additional requirements that count towards their grade.

In Paris, aside from working full-time, we took New Venture Creation classes at PSL University. We learned about the end-to-end process and different aspects of starting a company, from ideation to IP strategy, developing business plans, financing, managing teams, and many more. We also had a chance to participate in networking sessions and testimonies to learn from entrepreneurs in Paris, which perhaps was the most interesting part of the module.

The course took a hands-on approach where we were grouped into different teams and developed a business plan that was presented to a jury at the end of the program. I would enjoy it more if they required us to execute the idea instead of just conceptualizing it. To be fair, we did not have a lot of time while we were working full-time and did not take it too seriously.

Additionally, you are required to attend or organize entrepreneurship events and keep a weekly logbook of what you do at and outside your company. It will be helpful for your reports and presentations, so remember to do it every week to avoid burning out when the deadline comes.

Finally, we need to work with other NOC mates on some ideas to be presented to a panel. If they like your idea, you will be awarded the Venture Initiation Programme (VIP) grant, which is worth 10,000 SGD, to work on it. My team did not win by the way.

The startup ecosystem

I ranked Paris last on my list because I thought its tech scene was not as vibrant as that of Munich and Israel, and to be honest, I was disappointed when I got Paris. However, it turned out better than I thought and I was surprised by the startup ecosystem here.

There are a lot of startup accelerators and incubators in Paris, including Station F, one of the largest startup facilities in the world, with thousands of startups working in different industries such as AI, Fintech, or GreenTech. Paris is also the home of some of the hottest startups right now such as BeReal or Mistral AI, which was founded a few months after we came. The connection between academia and the industry is very close with a lot of ideas coming out from the labs as investors like to give money to researchers to implement their ideas. I had a chance to talk to a lot of Ph.D. graduates starting their own companies, (the CEO of my company also has a Ph.D.).

There are many entrepreneurship and tech-related events happening every week. I had so much fun listening and talking to people at The Jam (formerly CTO Forum) organized by Scaleway or the Paris Computer Vision Meetup.

The highlight of our 6 months there was Viva Technology, which is the biggest European startup and tech event. There were thousands of startups and big corporations all over the world coming to Paris for 4 days. PSL University gave us entrance tickets, which cost a few hundred euros each. Elon Musk was there (the queue for him was insane), and I attended a talk by Yann LeCun, one of the founding fathers of AI.

Traveling

I traveled quite often when I was in Europe. During NOC, I visited 7 European countries, a few cities in France, and went on a tour around Doha when I was transiting in Qatar. From the camels in Doha to the beaches in South of France, raw herring in Amsterdam, the fresh air of Lake Como, the mountains in Bavaria, the churches in Vienna, chocolate and pork ribs in Brussels, and the beauty of nature in Switzerland, it was an eye-opening experience for me.

It was astonishing to see new people and new places and learn about their differences and similarities, and my mindset grew a lot after those trips. It was fun to travel with different people and on your own, too.

Paris

Paris deserves its own subsection.

My expectation before coming to Paris was very low. I heard a lot of things about how dirty and dangerous it was or how rude the people were. Yes, Paris may not be as clean as Singapore and Parisians may not be friendly to you if you talk to them in English. However, it’s the best place I have been to so far.

On the first day in Paris, I got really emotional just by seeing people strolling on the street. Although it was not my first time in Europe, it was a different atmosphere that I had gotten used to. The architecture, the restaurants, the clothes people wear, and the way they walk and talk to each other,… just bring a unique vibe to this city.

Paris never gets boring, and I think it’s hard to find a better place to live when you are young. French people really did a good job building the capital with the money they brought back from all over the world. Museums, churches, and gardens are gorgeous, and most of the museums are free for European residents under 26 years old. When I was not busy and did not have any plans for the weekend, I just picked a (or some) random museum that I had not been to and spent a few hours there. Just walking on the streets of Paris makes me feel better, and listening to music at Trocadéro with the Eiffel Tower in the background is perhaps one of the best things I have experienced.

And because there are people from all over the world coming to Paris, you can easily find any kind of food there. I never miss Vietnamese food in Paris since there are so many Vietnamese restaurants and the food tastes pretty much the same as what I have back home. And don’t forget the French food. Baguette, croissant, éclair, crêpe,… are simply amazing.

However, not everything was great. I saw pickpockets several times, and I lost my bag once in a supermarket (luckily the person who stole it just took the coins inside and left the bag with my keys and passport). Protest is quite common, and can affect public transport and garbage disposal systems. Before we left, there were even riots when people attacked police, burned cars, and destroyed government property with fireworks. But if you know how to stay away from trouble, you should be fine.

And, remember to say hi to French people in French!

The people

As we are the first batch in Paris, our cohort was huge compared to other NOC destinations. There were 19 of us flying over. Everyone is very nice and talented. I guess not all people are into startups or entrepreneurship (I wasn’t when I first came either), but everyone has something for me to learn from. It was very nice living, studying, working, traveling, and having fun with them.

The staff and lecturer from PSL University were very kind. Without them, we might not even make it to Europe, and their support made our experience in Paris a lot better.

Being in new places made me more outgoing. I was more open to talking to strangers on the streets, at the co-working space where my company was located, at the events I participated in, and in the places I traveled to, which taught me a lot.

Last but not least, I had a chance to meet my secondary and high school friends studying in Europe, some I hadn’t met for half a decade. It was always good to see your old friends again, and I had a wonderful time with them.

Hiking with Hoang (left) and Duc (middle) in Habkern (Switzerland)

Personal development

Before coming to Paris, I did not like people describing themselves as entrepreneurs, perhaps it was because I had not met “real” entrepreneurs back then. I didn’t like people who were always talking about how innovative their ideas were, how much money they would raise, and how many customers they would have without executing or building any product. I still don’t like them now. But, my view on entrepreneurs has changed a lot.

Having 6 months without stacks of assignments and projects from NUS gave me more time to read and learn about entrepreneurship. Guy Kawasaki and Peter Thiel became 2 of my favorite authors, and I learned so much from Y Combinators just by reading their blogs and watching their videos. I learned about starting a company the hard way, realized how startups and innovations are so important to society, and understood that failure is not always a bad thing.

So if you think entrepreneurship is not for you, maybe just because you haven’t given it a chance.

I also participated in a hackathon with some of my NOC mates. It was fun (and tiring) working non-stop during the weekend instead of traveling or having fun somewhere else in Paris. We didn't win but it was a good experience, and I learned a lot from the feedback from the jury.

Finance

This is a huge concern for some people when considering overseas programs at NUS. NOC aims to be a net-zero program. However, our salaries are capped (everyone receiving the same salary regardless of your company or position) for almost all of the destinations with some receiving additional NOC top-ups, which is good for some programs (for example, with the top-up, NOC Vietnam people receive much higher salaries compared to fresh graduates from Vietnamese universities) and bad for the others.

The base salary was only enough for me to pay rent. However, my company paid me extra money for food and public transport, and with the NOC top-up, I rarely needed to worry about money in Paris. Nevertheless, take note that your expense depends a lot on your lifestyle. If you eat in restaurants a few times a week in Paris, that amount of money is definitely not enough. I ate frozen food (check out Picard) and cooked quite often, which saved me a lot of money. And if you want to travel on a budget, FlixBus and Student Beans could be your best friend.

Additionally, NOC paid us a one-off amount for the Visa application and flight ticket. You can also apply for several grants and bursaries from NUS Enterprise for extra money. Previously, there was no bursary available for international students. Fortunately, from my batch, there is the NOC Alumni Bursary, which is meant for financial-need students regardless of their nationalities. You need to submit a personal statement along with your financial details. There is also one interview, which is not as intense as the NOC interview, but do prepare before coming.

What’s next?

Students are expected to continue their entrepreneurship journey after coming back from NOC, either by starting a company or helping the company they interned at expand their business to Singapore. Of course, if you realize this startup thing is not for you and you don’t want to do such things, no one actually cares.

NUS Enterprise and NUS School of Computing have accelerator programs and grants to support students who want to build their own businesses. It will be easier to get into those programs or win the grants if you are an NOC alumni.

You can also apply to stay in N-House, an entrepreneurship-themed residence at NUS, which “brings together like-minded students who have recently completed their NOC program to provide them with a stimulating and supportive environment that serves as a potential testbed for new ideas and initiatives, nurturing an active community of student entrepreneurs” (taken from NUS Enterprise website). I don’t stay in N-House, but I participate in some of their events, which are quite cool.

At an N-House event I attended, photo taken by my friend Eugene

Finally, without accelerator programs, grants, and N-House, you can still start something on your own. A note to myself: It’s good to apply what you have learned in the last 6 months to create something to benefit people, and it’s okay to fail too.

Final words

To me, NOC was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I learned so much from it. If you are interested in startup or entrepreneurship, consider applying. If you apply and get rejected, it’s not the end of the world. I failed twice, and I know a lot of amazing people who couldn’t get in.

If you want to know more about me and my experience, feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn or head over to my website!

I will write more.