About Me — Tan Han Wei

A self-learning enthusiast

I’m an enthusiastic individual who enjoys self-learning and content creation. The idea of being able to learn anything online never ceases to fascinate me. When I discovered the passion for video production during my undergraduate study, I just couldn’t stop watching online video tutorials. As a result, most of my content creation skills were learned online.

I also joined and became the president of the university’s video & photography club in 2012. As the club president, I conducted workshops and provided campus event media coverage for free. Then, I graduated from the National University of Singapore (NUS) with a Bachelor Degree in… Electrical Engineering, with a minor study in Film Studies.

Electrical Engineering and Film Studies?

I know, that’s an odd combination, but I couldn’t help it. You see, I enrolled as a student in Electrical Engineering, but I discovered my passion for video production.

On average, apart from my study commitments, I had to spend 80 hours of filming per semester. I was usually involved as the producer, cinematographer, and editor. Campus life was very vibrant, and I had to produce all kinds of promo and post-event videos.

Furthermore, I also took up several freelance video projects as a student to cover my living expenses (I studied abroad). Most of my clients were from the university.

Overall, I enjoyed the whole process of video production so much that I pursued a Minor Program in Film Studies (Yes, I’m also a film scholar). In those days, I had to watch many movies and write film analysis every week.

As a result, due to my club activities, freelance works, and film studies, my skills and portfolio grew dramatically within a very short period of time. After I have graduated, I continued taking video projects on a freelance basis. At the same time, I have been updating my showreel as well. Check it out:

Video Producer & Social Media Manager

In 2015, I joined a company and worked as a Multimedia Executive. The nature of my job was very similar to an in-house Video Producer and Social Media Manager. My primary responsibilities include online content creation and audience development.

Having a full-time job didn’t stop me from learning new skills online. To enhance my video production skills, I studied 3D animation, VR production, and visual effects. I also introduced the CGI production workflow to the company, and we’ve been producing CG commercial videos since then.

Product Manager

Apart from video production, I also learned how to build a website. I created an e-commerce website and an order management system for the same company. Reading and understanding various technical documentation was challenging, but I immensely enjoyed the process. In addition, I also worked with multiple stakeholders to understand the company’s business requirements so that the tools I built would be useful.

In 2020, I became the company’s Multimedia Manager due to my initiative and involvement in developing the e-commerce website. In less than a year, the team expanded, and I’m now managing the company’s mobile app development and social media content. Based on what I do daily, I would call myself a Product Manager because I’m responsible for the company’s product vision and strategy. It all started with the learning of web development and stakeholder management.

So, is my video production skill still relevant? Of course! Now, apart from building and executing product roadmaps, I also get to strategize and create contents that support our product strategies, which is awesome!

Writing on Medium

The goal of writing on Medium is not to impress anyone with my skills. My intention is to give back to the online community by sharing what I have learned.

Have you ever had those little moments when you realised that you finally understood and learned something new and awesome? And the joy that came after it? That’s my goal.

I want my readers to experience the joy of learning. That’s why I started a Publication in Medium called Micro Crumbs.

The idea is to break down topics into “crumbs” that is easy to understand and fun to learn. For tutorial articles, I do my best to write step-by-step guides with clear explanations. I would also use GIFs to demonstrate each step.

In addition, as a self-learning enthusiast, I have also written a series of articles on how to master anything quickly on your own:

Thank you for reading my stories, and I hope that you will enjoy my writings as well.

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