SITizen Bryan Choo took a long shot when he applied to Rapsodo Sports for his Integrated Work Study Programme, and scored a full-time role in the company after graduation.
Bryan Choo at Rapsodo Sports. (Photo: Rapsodo)
Software Engineering student Bryan Choo was hunting for a work attachment position in 2022 when he came across sports analytics company Rapsodo Sports. Recognising the brand from following American Major League Baseball (MLB), the avid baseball fan jumped at the chance to apply.
Although Rapsodo was looking for a full-time engineer, the company saw promise in the 26-year-old and offered him an internship. “They wanted a C++ developer, which was what I had learned at SIT and DigiPen Institute of Technology Singapore,” recalled Bryan.
Fast forward a year, and with a degree in Computer Science & Real-time Interactive Simulation under his belt, Bryan is now a fully-fledged engineer and a permanent addition to Rapsodo’s headquarters.
Engineering Manager Saurabh Garg, who was his work attachment supervisor, shared, “Besides the hard skills which he brought, what we liked about Bryan was that he was a team player. We saw the energy he brought to his work, his initiative in raising issues, as well as his proactive attitude in tackling them even when he was not familiar with the domain.”
A Steep Learning Curve
The four-year degree programme at SIT and DigiPen (Singapore) features a 12-month Integrated Work Study Programme (IWSP) under the current joint degree offering.
University life was no walk in the park for Bryan. Despite being armed with some programming knowledge from his Temasek Polytechnic diploma course and mentally ready for a rigorous academic education, he still found the learning curve a steep one.
“It was a lot more intense than what I had prepared myself for mentally, especially in my third year when COVID-19 hit. But it gave me a good taste of what the actual game development process was like,” said Bryan. “At SIT, we had to develop a game project every year. You come to realise how many features and functionalities are required just to get a simple game up and running.”
However, there was an unintended benefit to his rigorous SIT learning experience. “Compared to the intensity of my degree programme, I actually found the demands of work quite manageable,” he said.
A Whole New Ball Game
Bryan (top row, second from left), together with his multinational team at Rapsodo Sports. (Photo: Rapsodo)
Still, Bryan faced a variety of challenges working in a multinational and multicultural company like Rapsodo, which has offices in the United States, Turkey and Japan. As one of two software engineers in his team of 13 specialising in Diamond Sports1 analytics, he had to work closely with colleagues from all over the world. Many of them were considerably more senior and experienced than him.
“Working with people of various nationalities exposed me to different ways of thinking and opened my eyes to other ways of solving problems,” he explained. “You learn very quickly not to make assumptions, to always clarify and to communicate effectively so that there is little room for misunderstanding.”
As Rapsodo builds technology products that collect and analyse data for athletes to improve their performance, Bryan’s role in using algorithms to optimise their system’s capabilities was crucial in bridging the hardware component with software solutions. The team of computer vision engineers he works with relies on him to ensure that data collection goes without a hitch, so that they can crunch it to deliver cutting-edge solutions to their customers.
“It’s just like a professional sports team – you trust that everyone will do their job and do it well,” he said.
Pushing Boundaries, Growing Capabilities
Working in a lean, performance-oriented organisation like Rapsodo means that opportunities for learning and growth are aplenty. One such opportunity arose when the company dispatched him on a 19-day work trip to Australia as part of its partnership with the Australia Baseball League.
Bryan (right) with his supervisor, Saurabh Garg, who also leads Rapsodo’s Diamond Sports product development. (Photo: Rapsodo)
As his supervisor Saurabh puts it, “Bryan contributed to various legacy projects in different platforms and programming languages during his internship period. Because of his strong hands-on knowledge and familiarity with field-testing our products, we were confident to send him to Australia to conduct product testing with our customers”.
Flying and travelling solo for work came with its own challenges. For Bryan, it meant thinking on his feet and solving problems on the go. His cultural naivete also resulted in him wandering into some sketchy areas on his own. “But fortunately, nothing happened,” he quipped.
The Next Inning
Now that he is fully part of Rapsodo, Bryan has moved on to bigger tasks and greater responsibilities. He is currently working on developing a new product variation of the company’s key sports analytic technology – an easy-to-use, consumer-friendly version of their baseball training product targeted more at recreational players.
Hoping to continue growing his technical skills, he has set his sights on becoming a Principal Engineer and a chance to work in Rapsodo’s overseas offices.
“My company has given me a lot of opportunities and responsibilities to excel. They were taking a chance when they took me on as an intern, but they believed in me. I hope to continue growing with them and be an active contributor as they expand their operations internationally.”
1Diamond Sports refers to sports played on a diamond-shaped field, baseball and softball. The infield is commonly denoted as a diamond due to the geometric configuration formed by connecting the bases (first, second, and third base) with imaginary lines. This diamond-shaped layout is a foundational aspect of the field structure in these sporting disciplines. Both baseball and softball involve teams taking turns in batting and fielding, aiming to score runs by hitting a ball and running around the bases.
