- Gamuda’s AI Academy trains job-ready software builders through real-world engineering projects
- Malaysian-built software, now powering tunnelling in Singapore, Australia, and soon Taiwan, showcases local innovation globally
Malaysia’s next productivity leap will come from two moves in tandem: train more ´builders´ who can code, and prove they are globally competitive by building software that runs hardware and systems globally.
You are allowed to do a double-take, wondering if you read this wrong. But Gamuda is an engineering and construction company, you will be thinking. And some may know that it has a global reputation as a world class tunneling company that differentiates itself with a suite of Tunneling Boring Machine (TBM) software, built and enhanced in-house since 2004, that is being used by customers in SIngapore, Australia and soon, another country in East Asia.
So why is it talking about creating builders in the world of software? Talk that it has backed up by launching its Gamuda AI Academy in Oct 2024 in Kuala Lumpur with a second location in Kota Kinabalu in Sabah that just graduated its pioneering cohort of 30 trainees.
Big picture-wise, Gamuda’s push offers a working template: an AI Academy producing job-ready developers, backed by a construction and engineering group which has enough challenging roles to provide the trainees with internships.
Mission, not slogan
“Our north star has always been our mission statement, which is to lead the region in innovative, breakthrough solutions,” says John Lim, group chief digital officer at Gamuda Bhd. “Once upon a time, our innovations were physical in nature, but today a lot of the innovation is shifting towards the digital space.”
“We built the software from scratch here in Malaysia, made by Malaysians,” he says of Gamuda’s autonomous TBM controls. “Now that technology is exported to Australia, Singapore, and soon, Taiwan. It’s a very proud moment for us as a company, representing the country on a global stage.”
.jpg)
Talent engine with inclusive reach
Gamuda is backing its digital push with free, full-time training. “It’s totally free, open to everyone. The KL campus recruits around 50 students every three months, with cohorts that run for three months. Sabah runs at 30 for its pioneer batch,” Lim explains. He has just attended the graduation for the batch. It was a proud moment for him.
“We’ve already started hiring graduates from these programmes,” he shared.
Lim talks like a software engineer from the Silicon Valley when he explains how Gamuda runs its software team, framing the internal culture as a builder’s cadence. “We eat our own dog food, meaning we build a lot of our stuff (software) internally. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad, but that’s okay, that’s the nature of innovation.” He points to one tangible outcome: “If you go to Gamuda Land’s GL Connect, you can actually buy a house using AI today,” he says, delighting in the reaction that elicits from people.
Why it matters
Malaysia will not keep talent by exhortation; it will keep talent with hard problems, shipped products, and pay-offs that compound locally. As Lim puts it: “We want to be the pride of Malaysia when it comes to building great technologies and servicing customers.”
Future-proofing talent plus shipped software, not pushing out press releases hailing how great it is. Train people who can build, prove it in production, and compound the wins at home and abroad. That is the goal for Gamuda and its ambitions for Malaysia.
Related Articles
Keyword(s) :