The COVID-19 pandemic has badly hit the job market in Singapore, causing layoffs, pay cuts, as well as hiring and salary freezes.
Many Singaporeans are clamouring for a job, and the government has rolled out plenty of initiatives to boost employment and help the retrenched.
If you are looking for a job, the tech industry is one thriving sector that is steadily growing and hiring despite the pandemic.
This is not surprising, considering that Singapore has been dubbed a “miniature Silicon Valley”, emerging as a prosperous technology hub in the heart of Southeast Asia.
As a testament to this, many global tech giants have flocked to our island-nation to set up their businesses here, and American firm EPAM Systems (EPAM) is no exception.
Meet One Of The World’s Fastest-Growing Companies
Founded in 1993, EPAM has grown to become one of the leading software and product engineering software companies in the world.
According to EPAM, it has achieved a 10-year revenue CAGR of 31 per cent between financial years 2009 and 2019.
EPAM describes itself as “consultants, designers, architects and engineers” who help their customers to be competitive and disruptive in the marketplace through innovative technology solutions.
In 2020, the company received several industry recognitions, including the Daimler Supplier Award for Innovation, the Microsoft Health Innovation Award and the Asia Recruitment Award.
EPAM is one of only four technology companies to appear on Forbes’ 25 Fastest Growing Public Tech Companies list every year of publication since 2013, and ranked as the top IT services company on Fortune’s 100 Fastest-Growing Companies list in 2019 and 2020.
With more than 25 years of commercial software product engineering expertise, EPAM truly understands the challenges of change. It brings together a range of capabilities across multiple domains and technology areas to help companies navigate complexity and optimise their growth.
“We are a global team of technologists and thinkers united by our values and passion for technology. Agile product engineering is at our core,” said Yushan Tien, Marketing Manager and Talent Acquisition Marketing Lead of EPAM APAC.
To date, they have helped over 120 Fortune 1000 companies across various verticals solve their most complex technology challenges. Some of the partners they have worked with include Adobe, SAP, Google, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services.
If you’ve played or heard of Fortnite, you will be surprised to know that EPAM and Epic Games delivered a digital ecosystem that provides the infrastructure and services needed to power games for more than 350 million Fortnite players, revolutionising the way players and developers create, publish and consume gaming experiences.
EPAM also helped transform the technology system for Bacardi — the world’s largest privately-held spirits company — to enable them to accelerate the launch of innovative, connected e-commerce solutions, while enhancing the customer’s search-to-checkout experience.
Earlier this year, UNICEF ECARO and EPAM partnered to build the trusted ‘HealthBuddy COVID-19’ information platform, designed to protect children and families across Europe and Central Asia during the pandemic and beyond.
Besides ‘HealthBuddy COVID-19’, EPAM also assisted global and local communities during this pandemic with the launch of the GENTL mask and its COVID-19 Resistance App, which helped it win the 2020 Pandemic Tech Innovation Award.
“We are a long-term, trusted solution provider to many of the most reputable and stable names in the financial, insurance, banking industry and have developed many healthcare innovation solutions globally,” said Yushan.
Making Its Mark In Singapore
In around 2012 to 2013, EPAM was the first company with Belarusian engineering roots to go public on the New York Stock Exchange.
EPAM subsequently expanded into Asia Pacific as the company felt that the region was opportunity-driven, and set up their first APAC office in Hong Kong.
From there, EPAM grew its presence to include China, Singapore, Vietnam, Australia and Japan.
“We are fully in line with supporting Singapore’s Smart Nation drive and preparing Singapore to be the global hub for tech talent,” said Yushan.
“For instance, EPAM Singapore has been running our Emerging Engineers Academy to develop youth talents fresh out of school, where they undergo a three-month rigorous programme to build all-rounded tech skills … that will accelerate their future careers.”
Sharing more about its movements in Singapore, EPAM announced that it has recently moved into a new Singapore office at The Co., Arcc Spaces, opposite Funan Digital Mall.
According to the company, remote working and virtual teams have always been a big focus for EPAM — even before the COVID-19 pandemic — so shifting to a coworking space is a natural transition.
“With some of our Singapore-based employees being attached to client sites, and most of our other employees thriving in multi-function/diverse teams, the co-working space is a good balance for employees here,” reasoned Yushan.
“While we do have large delivery centres in China, India and other parts of the world, EPAM Singapore is really about supporting the global MNC clients that we’ve developed a relationship with throughout the years.”
Moreover, the co-working space will further propel the company’s remote working ambition. Employees can conveniently book their seats or meeting rooms, booths and other amenities anytime on the go through their internal app.
EPAM stressed that many of their projects are successful because of their ability to adapt and a strong focus on partnership with clients.
“We are so proud of our remote working solutions that we even design such systems — from consulting and design, to engineering and managed services — for customers, allowing them to deploy a very quick work-from-home strategy for their employees and customers during and beyond the pandemic.”
“We make working from home ‘work’,” quipped Yushan.
True to this sentiment, when the pandemic struck, EPAM was able to quickly pivot 98 per cent of its global teams to a remote work model that is secure, reliable, productive and collaborative.
That said, EPAM’s remote working solutions have helped deliver immediate value for its clients in today’s new market conditions.
How To Be An EPAMer
With a global presence in more than 35 countries, EPAM now has more than 38,000 employees under its wings.
According to EPAM, they are always on the lookout for talented people to “engineer the future” with them.
When asked to describe the company culture, Yushan said that they scout for “smart, humble and hungry” individuals to join EPAM.
“Candidates need to show all three qualities to be our ideal team player.”
Basically, if you’re a problem solver, are quick to connect the dots, and thrive on teamwork and collaboration, then you might just be the perfect candidate.
Their job interviews typically begin with a general interview with one of its Talent Acquisition specialists, who will seek to understand the candidate’s career aspirations, background and personality, to ensure relevance and a good job fit.
The next stage of the interview will be a one-on-one with the manager(s), which may sometimes include technical tests to gauge the candidate’s practical skill sets.
EPAM’s team of talented recruiters interview for job fit and skill sets, and the company is known for having one of the most sophisticated technical interview processes in the industry.
Keen candidates will be pleased to know that upskilling is a norm at EPAM, which offers plenty of continuous learning and development opportunities to empower the individual.
“Apart from internal and external courses, academy programs, webinars, coaching sessions, tech meetups, one interesting annual conference is our global ZED Conference. (It) brings together the software and technology community and offers them a unique opportunity to exchange ideas, learn from each other, and gain powerful insights from industry thought leaders.”
“The extensive self-learning platforms and development tools keep us right at the forefront of the latest technologies and solutions, (and) are also extremely attractive to EPAMers, who are always focused on growing and upskilling,” shared Yushan.
Some other employee benefits — though it differs across different countries — include global advancement opportunities, working with market-leading clients, undertaking challenging and innovative projects, as well as a slew of other “world-class” corporate benefits.
EPAM Singapore is currently looking to hire 60 to 80 technologists in the year ahead. Some key roles include software engineers, software testing and automation engineers, project managers, product managers and business analysts, as well as solution architects.
For the full list of job listings, you can check out their career page here. If there aren’t any suitable roles for you, but you know of someone who fits the bill, you can refer them to EPAM and stand a chance to win some attractive cash referral bonus.
“EPAMers join the company because they know that they can quickly make a (positive) difference at this hyper-growth stage. Plus, EPAM really values the individual but works as a team, so we don’t have a stifling, ultra-competitive environment,” said Yushan.
“Especially in Asia where the digital and tertiary sectors are growing by leaps and bounds, it’s a no-brainer to join a tech firm during this time. For EPAM in APAC, we’re still relatively young so now is the time (to) join us — create a legacy, and help us spike our growth!”
This article was written in collaboration with EPAM.
Featured Image Credit: EPAM (Photo taken before COVID-19)
