Virtual Visit to Radica Software Company

Speaker: Thomas Yip
Time: 3pm - 5pm
Date: January 29, 2021

According to Thomas Yip, who is the founder of Radica Software Company, the Ipoh-based company created the world first electrical CAD cloud software which is utilized by over 50 countries including US, Japan, Korea, etc. It also provides services to some giant bodies such as Apple and NAZA. This company creates various types of software including award-winning Electra, Vecta.io and NANO, becoming one of the main industry players in software development. During his two hours sharing section, he not only had given us a brief introduction and history of his company background and achievement, he also shared with us some important philosophies which brought him so far to those accomplishment. In addition, he also presented some helpful tips as listed in the following to us, the young generation. I found most of the suggestion are in fact very relatable, and critically hit the point which gave me a strike of electricity flow across my whole body when I heard them.

Lesson #1 - Always have a goal

1. Dare to dream, anything is possible.
2. Have passion in what you do.
3. Do it well, or don't do it at all.
4. Be humble, but audacious.
5. Tell others about your goal, commit to it.

Lesson #2 - Be patient

1. Success takes time, a long time.
2. Prioritize long term over short term gains.
3. Remember the 10000 hours rule.
4. Work hard, the critical time is what you do between 5pm until 11pm
   

Lesson #3 - Don't be too clever

1. Don't assume too much.
2. Don't over analyze.
3. Be positive.
4. One step at a time, make progress.
5. Action rather than reaction.
   

Lesson #4 - Learn to think independently

1. Do not follow blindly.
2. Understand when and why the majority are usually wrong.
3. Learn to see and think differently.
4. How you see things and your attitude determine the outcome.

Lesson #5 - Strive for integrity

1. Everyone stands on someone else's shoulder.
2. Have high integrity even when no one is looking.
3. Lack of integrity have an extremely high opportunity cost.
4. Do not forget to contribute to society when you have the ability.

I would like to elaborate a little bit more on the aforementioned 10,000 hours rule. This rule was actually first introduced in a book written by Malcolm Gladwell in 2008. This simply states that in order for someone to be an expert (or to be very good) in a specific field, he/she needs to invest at least 10,000 hours of a combination of works, study and practices into that field. This 10,000 hours effort translates to 4 hours in a day, 5 days in one week, then continues for around 10 years. One can become an expert after this 10 years of continuous hardwork.