HTX Intern Stories: Reaching the masses with tech

Graciela Wangshyanata spends up to five hours each week tinkering with video editing applications on her mobile phone, learning about pacing and transitions.

But this isn’t because she’s an aspiring content creator. Rather, she’s driven by her insatiable sense of curiosity.

And it was this inquisitive nature of hers that also led her to participate in last year’s HacX!, a hackathon organised by HTX in collaboration with Microsoft Singapore.

The event empowers students to use science, technology and engineering to address pressing public safety challenges.

Graciela, who is now a second-year National University of Singapore (NUS) Data Science and Analytics undergrad, eventually secured a place in the semi-final and an internship with HTX thanks to HacX!.

Hey Graciela, you’re graduating from university in a couple of years. What kind of career are you looking at?

I would like to specialise in software engineering and data analytics in the future, and that was why I signed up for HacX!. The problem statements were closely related to what I hope to work on.

What convinced you to join HacX!?

I take part in hackathons regularly to challenge myself and grow my skillset. Along the way, I’ve met amazing like-minded people. One of them was a finalist from another competition, who shared how he placed third in a previous edition of HacX!, which then led to an internship with HTX.

So, I thought, if I participated and did well, I might also get a shot at an internship with HTX!

What was taking part in HacX! like?

It was so fun! Right from the start, you could tell everyone was full of enthusiasm.

I thought that the event was really meaningful because we got to engage directly with mentors from HTX and the Home Team Departments (HTDs) to solve challenges faced by real users.

For the challenge statement my team chose, we worked with the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) to generate tailored Preventive Drug Education (PDE) materials in different formats. The aim was to leverage generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to create customised PDE with a user-friendly interface, with as little editing as possible.

What was your proposed solution?

My team built a full-stack solution that allows users to create educational materials for CNB in just a few clicks.

This solution would help Drug Free SG Champions, which is a group of volunteers assisting the CNB to educate communities on staying drug-free. Such audiences include students, National Servicemen, athletes and even medical professionals.

We made sure our solution, which leverages prompts for AI models – one for text generation and another for images – is easy to use. You simply input your target audience, select a theme, specify the desired content and a poster will be generated!

We also made sure the content is always relevant to the local context by using a GenAI technique called retrieval augmented generation (RAG).

What were your key takeaways from HacX!?

Firstly, the importance of being confident and pitching well. On pitch day, you can’t change your prototype anymore. So, having confidence and being able to sell your product’s story really matters.

My second takeaway? It’s important to network. I didn’t just connect with my own teammates, I also networked with other teams at the hackathon who were working on different challenges.

Plus, staying in touch with my mentors was essential. I think showing your eagerness and willingness to contribute opens the door to more opportunities!

Why intern with HTX?

My goal was to deepen my technical skills and improve my capabilities at a technologically advanced agency.

Unlike internships in other fields, we’re focused on creating a complete product here that will make an impact on real users and improve their day-to-day work.

The quality of our product is highly valued, and there’s a strong focus on accuracy and meeting the user’s needs.

During the internship, I really enjoyed learning from my teammates about a host of topics, including machine learning, web scraping and data parsing.

Has your time at HTX been fulfilling?

I’ve now been a part of two teams within HTX’s Q Team CoE, and I dare say I’ve learned quite a bit about software engineering and machine learning processes!

Have you encountered any challenges so far?

At first, I wasn’t that confident in my coding skills due to a lack of real-world experience, but I stayed resilient and kept an open mind.

On top of that, when I first started the internship, I was the only female in the team. The dynamics took some getting used to, but once I overcame that, I made an effort to befriend the team, learn from them, and be confident in my own skin.

I work pretty well with my team now. We enjoy lunches together and help each other out all the time – we’re pretty close-knit!

What other aspects of HTX do you enjoy?

Do you know that HTX has a game room? It’s the perfect place to de-stress with my colleagues when times get tough! I’ve also tried the sleeping pod in the office – it’s so important to recharge and stay refreshed to tackle the problems that lie ahead.

HTX has an abundance of welfare events, my favourite being a pop-up gym event I attended once!