Student Spotlight - Miji Lee
Dejan Gajsek
Meet Miji
My name is Miji Lee, the Founder and CEO of a new XR software development startup Kore Meta Inc. Kore Meta is currently focusing on creating a Korean educational and cultural platform within the XR world.
How did you first get interested in XR?
I teach Korean, and during COVID, I started teaching it online. So I began researching ways to teach more effectively and make language learning more interesting and enjoyable for people learning virtually. I slowly understood the benefits of gamification in learning. Also, I kept hearing a lot about the metaverse, and that’s when it clicked. As the metaverse will be the future, I could use the metaverse, AR, and VR to create a learning platform for a more immersive and effective learning experience.
I came across Circuit Stream almost by accident. I was researching things like XR, the metaverse, blockchain, and other emerging technologies. I was scrolling through Facebook one day, and I came across the course Circuit Stream was running in partnership with the University of Toronto Continuing Studies program. That appealed to me because Circuit Stream is very well known in the XR industry and has instructors with a lot of expertise, and the University of Toronto would give me the qualification and the prestige. The partnership was just perfect for me.
What did you most enjoy about the course?
I had no background in coding prior to the Circuit Stream courses, so I signed up to take the C# course and the 10-week XR development course. Therefore, the learning curve was very steep; however, learning new things was exhilarating and gave me great self-satisfaction.
The most enjoyable part of the XR dev course was the team project, The First Encounter. We had to combine three people’s ideas: having an extraterrestrial setting, a nature walk and touching trees. While working on this eclectic project, I learned the process of project development, teamwork, applying VR program development skills that I learned from the courses, and the importance of trial and error. Pulling some all-nighters, feeling a sense of frustration as well as the joy of problem-solving, I found myself growing and was grateful that Circuit Stream provided the knowledge and support from the community to achieve my goal.
Moreover, the more I delved into the XR world, the more fascinating the XR world became. Anything was possible within this XR world. I was more encouraged to pursue my dream of developing a VR language app.
How have things changed since the course?
Immediately after the courses ended, within the Circuit Stream Community, I began to contact people who could join my team. I was able to find someone who could help me with creating 3D assets and began developing my VR language learning app. Meanwhile, I was expanding my network within XR communities.
Several months later, I reached the stage where I was ready to register my business Kore Meta Inc. Today, Kore Meta has expanded to a team of 7 people. Six of our team members are from the Circuit Stream Community.
The team is currently developing a Korean language learning app which will be submitted to a Korean learning Youtube Contest in October. I have been blessed with all my team members who have shown me their commitment and passion for the company project.
Furthermore, recently, I attended the Elevate Tech Fest 2022, one of the biggest tech festivals in Canada, on September 20-22. I was able to participate in a one-minute pitching competition and network with other startups and venture capitalists.
Without Circuit Stream, I wouldn’t have had the skills or the confidence to start building my business. Circuit Stream helped me to put the foundations in place.
What advice would you give to someone starting their XR journey?
Jump into it. XR has huge potential. It is the future. I believe that it will be everywhere before we know it. So jump in and learn about it, but also think about what role you want to play and where you would like to end up within the space. Knowing where you’re going will help you to focus on what you most want to learn and how you want to work.
Connect with Miji on LinkedIn
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