The Singapore students with Mr Bill Gates (centre) in Redmond.

18-year-old Lim Jiunn Haur had always been keen on infocomm as a career, and a recent trip to Silicon Valley has helped reaffirm that choice.

Mr Lim was one of 39 students from 18 schools who took part in the study trip to Silicon Valley. The week-long stint, organised by the schools' Infocomm Clubs, included visits to top infocomm companies such as Adobe, Cisco, Google and Oracle, as well as universities such as Stanford University, University of California Berkeley, University of California Los Angeles and the NUS Overseas College. In addition, the students visited the Intel Museum and the Computer History Museum and were introduced to the IT industry's Wall of Fame.

Said Mr Lim, "I had intended to apply for the National Infocomm Scholarship. Not only did the trip reinforce my decision by showing me the numerous opportunities available in the industry, it also highlighted the inner workings of companies and the recent trends in infocomm employment." For the Victoria Junior College student, the visits to tertiary institutions such as the NUS Overseas College and Stanford University also helped him better plan for his future, he said.

Fellow participant William Chandra Kusuma, 16, from St Joseph Institution, also found the study trip very informative and exciting. "We saw for ourselves how this fast-growing industry works," he said.

In a separate trip, another group of students visiting Redmond found that the experience helped dispel some misconceptions surrounding infocomm as a career. "I realised that being in infocomm does not mean you have to be a programmer," said Ms Olivia Chiu, who studies Information Systems Management at the Singapore Management University. "You can do a lot of things. For example, I like marketing and in Microsoft, they offer a lot of such positions as well," added Ms Chiu, whose Redmond trip was part of her prize for winning the reality television game show iWhiz.

The group, which also included winners of the National Infocomm Competition, met with Microsoft's Bill Gates for an exclusive session at the Microsoft campus. Mr Chen Wei Jian from Raffles Institution said the talk by Mr Gates opened his eyes to a side of Microsoft that he had never seen before. "He spoke of how Microsoft revolutionised computing by making the personal computer what it is today," said Mr Chen.

Sponsored by Microsoft Singapore, the trip also included a tour of the Microsoft Home of the Future, the Microsoft Center for Information Work and the Microsoft Museum. For more information on Singapore's infocomm manpower initiatives and programmes, visit www.infocommtalent.sg .