For a short period of his career at DBS, Alfian Sharifuddin had a secret second life that few at the bank knew about.
Away from the office, the current Head of Technology & Operations for Hong Kong and Mainland China had gained semi-notoriety as “alfcanada” – his gamer tag, and once one of the top Project Gotham Racing (PGR) players in Singapore.
At one point, alfcanada was so good that he was taking part in international competitions, while still working full time at DBS. In 2006, he was even invited to the Lamborghini factory in Italy to compete in a showdown against other top PGR gamers from around the world.
“I was at the peak of my gaming career, representing Asia against eight other contestants from North America and Europe,” he said.
A tech geek/banker’s origin story
By 2006, six years after he joined the company, Alfian was already the Head of Electronic Channels for the Consumer Banking Group (CBG) at DBS Singapore. In this role, Alfian was in charge of nearly every customer’s digital touchpoint with the bank, from ATMs to call centre systems to DBS’ internet and mobile banking platforms.
Alfian’s role at DBS at the time and his love for video games, and in particular racing games, both traced their origins from Alfian’s early interests in technology and fast things.
From a young age, the self-confessed tech geek enjoyed tinkering with radio-controlled cars. He also displayed an early affinity with tech, joining the computer clubs at both Saint Joseph’s Institution and Temasek Junior College.
“I was also quite lucky because my dad was always focused on encouraging my interests and would go out of his way to get me stuff that would allow me to stretch myself,” he said.
“When I was 13, he got me a computer, and this was in the late 1980s when PCs were still not prevalent in every household. It was really fresh and new, and it just really got me excited about coding and engineering,” he added.
Later, armed with a passion to learn more about “building complicated and fast things like planes and cars”, Alfian studied mechanical engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS). However, during an internship as a line engineer at a computer manufacturing firm, Alfian said he would find himself more intrigued by the “abstract side of engineering”, i.e. the coding and computing, rather than nuts and bolts of electrical and electronic components.
More at https://www.dbs.com/media/features/the-gamer-turned-banker.page
