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Bet You're Not Aware - Here's An Engineer with A Glamorous Background.
You always hear of engineers being the 'bookwormish sort' with an erudite image to go with. But with most things, there're always exceptions. Working in a motoring related Industry, LTA traffic.smart systems engineer, Augustine Goh, 27, has to deal with traffic information everyday to give you - the motorists - first-hand traffic news. With an interest in graphic design, it's almost an ideal job for him, mixing engineering with designing websites.
Interestingly, belie all that is a modeling background and a Female magazine 50 Most Gorgeous Male Winner accolade. As a part-time model for less than a year, he had media friends who led him into joining the Female Magazine Competition. But just getting pass the first round of the interview took him by surprise, not to mention winning it. If you find him a little familiar, you have probably seen him in Her World, 8 Days and The New Paper as well.
How's that with a difference for your everyday engineer?
Interested to know more? Let' find out from the man himself.
Are you more of a creative person or a facts and figures sort?
I see order in chaos, rationality in the midst of irrationality. A little mix of both. Art form never fails to intrigue me and at the same time, maybe due to the conditioning from an engineering and science background, logic and facts form the basis of my decisions most of the time. There is this delicate balancing point, which I am still trying to figure out.
What has led you into trying out for modeling when your work is so far from it?
There are several friends I have who work in the entertainment industry and they have played a part in alluring me into the line. Thinking that I am still young and knowing that there is not much time to wait (of course, not after my 30s), I tried for my audition in one of the modeling agencies. The rest of it is history. Of course, the money that seemingly comes easy, merely from posing, is a great enticing factor. And, so I thought.
You always hear of engineers being the 'bookwormish sort' with an erudite image to go with. But with most things, there're always exceptions. Working in a motoring related Industry, LTA traffic.smart systems engineer, Augustine Goh, 27, has to deal with traffic information everyday to give you - the motorists - first-hand traffic news. With an interest in graphic design, it's almost an ideal job for him, mixing engineering with designing websites.
Interestingly, belie all that is a modeling background and a Female magazine 50 Most Gorgeous Male Winner accolade. As a part-time model for less than a year, he had media friends who led him into joining the Female Magazine Competition. But just getting pass the first round of the interview took him by surprise, not to mention winning it. If you find him a little familiar, you have probably seen him in Her World, 8 Days and The New Paper as well.
How's that with a difference for your everyday engineer?
Interested to know more? Let' find out from the man himself.
Are you more of a creative person or a facts and figures sort?
I see order in chaos, rationality in the midst of irrationality. A little mix of both. Art form never fails to intrigue me and at the same time, maybe due to the conditioning from an engineering and science background, logic and facts form the basis of my decisions most of the time. There is this delicate balancing point, which I am still trying to figure out.
What has led you into trying out for modeling when your work is so far from it?
There are several friends I have who work in the entertainment industry and they have played a part in alluring me into the line. Thinking that I am still young and knowing that there is not much time to wait (of course, not after my 30s), I tried for my audition in one of the modeling agencies. The rest of it is history. Of course, the money that seemingly comes easy, merely from posing, is a great enticing factor. And, so I thought.
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Appearing in a few ads, have you gotten any reactions from your colleagues at work?
I just appeared in prints and really, there is no deep impression to start with. Colleagues naturally will feel odd to see someone they get contact with daily to appear in magazines or papers and initially, some teasing and hoohahs went on. It is human nature, I guess. But, very soon, the freshness died off and now nobody talks about it. I am keeping my fingers crossed after this piece of article goes out.
How is it like looking at the traffic information everyday?
Intriguing. I find it even more intriguing to find means to get every worth out of the traffic information our Authority is getting. After our recent integration of the backend Intelligent Transport Systems, I believe that motorists can now have the chance to have more reliable data for them to plan out their daily itineraries and hopefully, our website (onemotoring.com.sg) can roll out some mobile services which can bring on the new meaning to motoring in future. As PDAs and mobile phones are getting prevalent, it is good to have information disseminated on the fly.
Can that be fun/creative in a different sort of way?
Brainstorming for ways to disseminate traffic news is fun and requires creativity as well, as it requires the empathy of the users and understanding the general public's needs, managing their expectation, doing forensic studies after getting feedbacks and satisfying customers in all possible ways is a fine art. A lot of facets of things have to be thought through well and neat, especially when we are offering public service.
How is it like switching from informative and all the nitty-gritty details about traffic to the creative side of modeling?
Haha... it is a rare sight to see engineers doing poses and that aspect is definitely hard to decipher. Well, initially, when fellow model friends asked me about my profession, I replied deadpan, they thought that I was kidding. Posing takes time to get used to and I took a while to get cosy with the camera. I have never thought that lensman can be so strict and they have the eyes for small deviations of position and once they see we are a bit off, we will have to correct them, inching forward or backward. For a single shot on a bad day, we may have to take a hour or so. On top of that, we have to keep the beaming and vibrant smiles, not forgetting the OTs we had the previous nights.
I just appeared in prints and really, there is no deep impression to start with. Colleagues naturally will feel odd to see someone they get contact with daily to appear in magazines or papers and initially, some teasing and hoohahs went on. It is human nature, I guess. But, very soon, the freshness died off and now nobody talks about it. I am keeping my fingers crossed after this piece of article goes out.
How is it like looking at the traffic information everyday?
Intriguing. I find it even more intriguing to find means to get every worth out of the traffic information our Authority is getting. After our recent integration of the backend Intelligent Transport Systems, I believe that motorists can now have the chance to have more reliable data for them to plan out their daily itineraries and hopefully, our website (onemotoring.com.sg) can roll out some mobile services which can bring on the new meaning to motoring in future. As PDAs and mobile phones are getting prevalent, it is good to have information disseminated on the fly.
Can that be fun/creative in a different sort of way?
Brainstorming for ways to disseminate traffic news is fun and requires creativity as well, as it requires the empathy of the users and understanding the general public's needs, managing their expectation, doing forensic studies after getting feedbacks and satisfying customers in all possible ways is a fine art. A lot of facets of things have to be thought through well and neat, especially when we are offering public service.
How is it like switching from informative and all the nitty-gritty details about traffic to the creative side of modeling?
Haha... it is a rare sight to see engineers doing poses and that aspect is definitely hard to decipher. Well, initially, when fellow model friends asked me about my profession, I replied deadpan, they thought that I was kidding. Posing takes time to get used to and I took a while to get cosy with the camera. I have never thought that lensman can be so strict and they have the eyes for small deviations of position and once they see we are a bit off, we will have to correct them, inching forward or backward. For a single shot on a bad day, we may have to take a hour or so. On top of that, we have to keep the beaming and vibrant smiles, not forgetting the OTs we had the previous nights.
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Taking a break from work and the portal.
Any interest in cars since you are well...sort of working on a motoring website?
Owning a car is always a luxury. With the good and accessible network of public transportation, I will rather invest my monthly expenditure of 1K elsewhere. Despite that, there is no reason not taking interest in looking at cars. Beemers (BMW Z4 in particular) are always sleek and appealing. It is a dream car I've always fantasised about since young. But, it is going to stay as just an object of desire, at least for the near future.
Did you try out for Singapore Idol? What do you think of it?
Nope. Being a Singapore Idol is just too pressurising as you are the icon and identity of the nation. It is too heavy a load to carry.
Any future plans to go into full-time entertainment or modeling?
I will see myself working as hard as now...as part of a 5 year or 10 year agenda. The place of work does not matter as long as the work is gratifying.