Lexon Li on his Exciting Journey from International Student to International App Developer

One of the most rewarding aspects of preparing Student Success Stories is not only hearing the inspiring stories of young scholars from across the globe taking the leap and achieving their education dreams, but also the many ways in which these same people give back to their fellow international students. For Lexon (Lex) Li, who travelled from Hong Kong to Melbourne, giving back to his fellow international students involved helping them make friends and build connections as soon as they arrived at their new campus. Lex did this by developing a brand new app – Deckle, which is currently used by over 800 organisations across the globe. As part of our Student Success Stories, we chatted with Lex about his journey, what inspired him to develop Deckle, and what’s next in store for this tech wiz. 

Hi Lex. How did your journey from Hong Kong to Australia begin? 

After my local secondary public exams in Hong Kong, I was going to different overseas university fairs hoping to find a university that would fit my goals and ambitions. I went to an IDP University fair and was lucky enough to come across the University of Melbourne. Originally, they weren’t on my radar, but I was excited to find out they have top notch computer science research, as well as alumni that have gone on to create amazing software and games such as Crossy Road. 

Prior to starting your international education journey, were you familiar with IDP? If not, how did you find out about us? 

I was familiar, since I had taken the IELTS . I really became engaged with IDP when I started my application to the University of Melbourne. 

Growing up in Hong Kong, were you always interested in travelling overseas and exploring other parts of the world? 

Absolutely. In high school I participated in exchange programs to Tsinghua University in Beijing and went to an art school in Italy. I always love spending time in foreign countries and learning their culture and lifestyles. A lot of what I learned from my trips shaped the person I am today, allowing me to develop skills that help me stay comfortable and to thrive in difficult or foreign situations. 

What was it about Australia, and Melbourne that made you want to come and study here? 

The University of Melbourne’s a great computer science faculty was a huge factor, but I was also looking forward to a relaxed culture which would allow me to spend time on personal projects and get involved in the Australian community. This proved to be correct. When I started Deckle, I had tremendous support – not only in terms of sharing experience, knowledge sharing and funding, but I secured the University of Melbourne as my first ever client to build an app for their orientation activity. There are some real gems of people at UniMelb that really support innovation. 

What surprised you most about Australia when you first arrived? 

I was pleasantly surprised at how Australians care about health and fitness – this country really takes it love of sport to heart! I’d considered myself as quite athletic, but I realised that compared to Australian, I realised I was slightly above average. 

How did IDP counsellors help you settle into your new life in Melbourne? 

I remember being genuinely blown away by how my counsellor helped me every step of the way, and how she was always just a call away ready to help. The application for my course required a calculus course as part of admission, as well as the usual paperwork. If we were to meet again, I would thank her profusely for the support she gave me. Even a year in or so into my course, I had a couple of questions around my visa, and she was still very happy to answer my queries. That’s the kind of service I wasn’t expecting – it was so very personal and kind.  

Why did you choose to study Computing and Software Systems? Growing up, had you always had an interest in these areas? 

I always loved computers as a kid, but software engineering wasn’t the top of my priority until my late high school years. I was only one of two students in the entire school that decided to pursue the programming course in my penultimate high school year. What solidified my path was joining a fintech startup in Hong Kong as an intern. We were tasked with data entry jobs and parsing data which was quite manual and laborious. But with programming as a skillset, I was able to automate a job that was supposed to take three days into something that only required two hours. This was the turning point where I decided I wanted to pursue a Computer Science degree. 

Tell us about your weekends. What do you like doing in your spare time in Australia? 

I love playing soccer. I met a very good friend who was a previous colleague and now every weekend we go to Monash to play soccer. I always enjoy cooking and going out to the great variety of restaurants Melbourne provides. I also enjoy working on my startup, Deckle on the weekends! 

So far, what’s been your favourite part of studying in Melbourne? 

My favourite part of studying in Melbourne is not the actual ‘studying’ part, but the vast opportunities to interact with people of different cultures. I was lucky enough to be in a residential college, as well as different clubs, which meant the people I met every day and the conversations I had were vastly different. It’s a new experience every day in Melbourne! 

Since graduating, you launched the app ‘Deckle’, which is fantastic! What motivated you to create this? In my final year of university, I developed a mobile app for my peers to share what tasks they’re working on, like a more productive social media. The University of Melbourne’s Head of Events saw what I was doing and mentioned they were paying a lot of money for a scavenger hunt app that wasn’t hitting the mark. For context, University of Melbourne’s Orientation Week (O Week) was running a challenge event for the thousands of students joining the campus. I jumped at the opportunity to build an all-new app capable of grouping up students in a fun way using emojis, generating trivia quizzes about themselves, and then also implementing our ‘amazing race’ game that students embark on.   

The experience was so good that the university staff organising the event was awarded and recognised at the annual UniMelb awards ceremony!  Making friends in a new university, let alone a new country, can be really hard! And I could see I could solve that through technology. I wanted to create the best experience and maximise the opportunity for students to meet people of different cultures on their very first day, and in the shortest amount of time on their new campus!  

What are your next plans for Deckle?  

Uptake has been great, and we’ve grown organically! In late 2024 we rolled out the app to over 100 conference delegates which was our largest audience yet! Furthermore, 50 education institutions globally as well as 800 companies using Deckle across 30 countries. People are using Deckle for team building, onboarding, conference engagement, student engagement, education and even tourism, there’s so many great applications!  We hope to continue our incredible journey of being the go-to platform for engagement activities for any event in the world. We are also releasing our AI features this month which allow our users to pick an objective for their amazing race and we generate all the activities for them. It’s exciting to see what’s next!  

What’s some advice you would give to other prospective international students who aren’t sure how or where to start their overseas study journeys? 

My advice would be to be open to experiences as much as possible. Throw yourself into the clubs and communities at your university and the city you’re based in. It’s a great time in your life where you can meet people not just from Australia, but all over the world. Go on exchange, build a side project with your mates, join a weird club, go to an orientation event – even if you’re feeling nervous, it’s likely others are too!  

This interview was part of our ongoing series, ‘Student Success Stories’. Check out our previous entries below: 

• Varsha Devi Balakrishnan 

• Anika Kalalo 

• Sean Fernando 

• Cheshna Boolaky 

• Jaspreet Gill 

• Manisha Shrestha 

• Sarbjeet Singh 

• Ratih Arruum Listiyandini