THE GOAL / DREAM
Before I start telling what I think myself worthy to be called as an IT professional 10 years from, I am going to share my dreams when I was just a kid and how it came that I pursued Information Technology as a career and as a profession. When I was young, well when I was younger, I used to see myself just like my father. My father is a civil engineer and I can honestly tell that I was one of those kids who dreamed about following their father’s footsteps even though I did not know what a civil engineer is. Honestly I did not even know what an engineer was. As a kid I had many dreams in life. I wanted to become anything I want to be, anything that I can come to think of. When I was in primary school my dream of becoming a civil engineer faded. I wanted to become an architect instead of being an engineer. Still I did not fully know what an architect is and what an architect does. I just had a plain perception that an architect draws and designs buildings and during that time I was also hooked into drawing. Anyway during that time I was like an unguided missile, ready to launch but has no definite target.
When I got to secondary school my dream of becoming an architect remained as it is up until I got to third year high school. During this stage of my high school days I became addicted to music and at the same time an enthusiast of computer games. When I say computer games, I was not only in it for the game but I was in it because I admired the graphics. (The graphics at that time was not yet sophisticated and complex compared to now.) It was at that time when I realized that I wanted to integrate art with technology. I use to watch movies that use animation and frankly I had a green eye to those people who can actually make pictures move like it is real. Now from becoming a civil engineer to architect to becoming an animator or rather a graphic artist. By the time I got to the fourth year of my high school days my father already asked me of what course do I want to pursue when I go to college. I said I wanted to be a graphic artist, and then we started scouting for schools that offer this kind of course but sadly at that time there was none. After a few days of searching my father found a school but it is not located here in Davao City but in Manila. The University of Santo Tomas (UST) offers Fine Arts course major in Graphics. I finally found the school so during the fourth quarter of the school year I went to Manila to take the entrance exam. Fortunately I passed the exam and I was fit to enroll but guess what? My father decided that I needed to have a backup plan so he told me to take the entrance exam in The University of Southeastern Philippines (USEP). So enrolling in The University of Southeastern Philippines was really not my first choice but thanks to that backup plan I gained my bearing. My father withdrew in sending me to The University of Santo Tomas because there was no doubt that we could save a lot of money if I enroll in The University of Southeastern Philippines.
During that time my perception of pursuing Information Technology was not that clear. I was not knowledgeable of the future that I will have if I pursue this kind of career. Although I still did not lose my dream of becoming a graphic artist I learned from the presentation that Sir RSG gave to us during the freshmen orientation that Information Technology encompasses a large field and that the possibilities are endless. I could become many things as long as it is covered by Information Technology and by talking Information Technology it pretty much includes almost everything. I know now that I am not only limited in a single task when I finish this course but I am pretty much capable of many things.
Now getting to the main topic of what do I think of myself worthy to be called as an IT professional 10 years from now. When I was undergoing Human Resource Management I remember that one of the jobs that I wanted to have was to become a Graphic Artist, Web Designer, Database Administrator or a part of the team that leads the MIS of a big company. I have still got my dream in me but this time it has become specific and has a purpose. Ten years from now I would picture myself doing one of these jobs but I honestly cannot say that his goal is final because a lot of things can happen in a span of 10 years. Maybe 4 to 6 years from now Information Technology will have new possibilities to come up. I mean, technology is evolving faster than we can imagine. Who knows what could happen in a span of 4 to 6 years or maybe 10 years from now. However I do know that a part of me says that I want to become like Mr. RSG. I am saying that Mr. RSG is one IT professional that an Information Technology student can look up to. I mean I could not become what Mr. RSG exactly is but I do hope that I could follow some of his ways.
REALIZATION
During our second meeting on Management Information System 2 last November 16, 2009 our facilitator, Mr. RSG, asked us (well not all of us) about our dreams or rather what we answered in this assignment. Many of my classmates answered what jobs they wanted to have when they graduate and some answered that they wanted to graduate. Then our facilitator told us that we don't need an IT education to be able to land those jobs that we want and he told us we have to dream and set higher goals, one that is useful, life altering and one that could benefit a lot of people. Then I realized that I was not aiming that high or setting goals that could benefit a lot of people. I also realized that dreams are in fact "Free" and "Unlimited" but I know that a man does not have many dreams. If a man has a dream every other week then he or she does not know what a dream is. I heard this line from one of the Diamonds in Amway. A dream is a thing that you hold on to. You feel the urge to achieve that goal and you feel like doing every possible thing to get it. So now I came to visualize my self as an owner of a company somewhat like those companies who make technologies that could better the lives of people. A company that promotes green computing to better the lives of people but not at the expense of nature itself. As IT professionals we should be solution providers. Green Computing according to Wikipedia refers to the environmentally sustainable computing or IT. It is "the study and practice of designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers, servers, and associated subsystems—such as monitors, printers, storage devices, and networking and communications systems—efficiently and effectively with minimal or no impact on the environment. Green IT also strives to achieve economic viability and improved system performance and use, while abiding by our social and ethical responsibilities. Thus, green IT includes the dimensions of environmental sustainability, the economics of energy efficiency, and the total cost of ownership, which includes the cost of disposal and recycling. It is the study and practice of using computing resources efficiently." Our school promotes Green Campus Computing and as a student from this school I have to follow the things that my school has started. This is what I have visualized my self worthy to be called an IT professional ten years from now. This goal serves as my target and I hope that in the future I could reach it, besides dreams are free.
Moving away from discussion (I just want to share it), I also want to become a music teacher. I want to teach music to students who want to increase their knowledge in music. Of course I still need to study more about music so that I would be worthy to teach and someday when I actually become a music teacher focusing on bass guitar I could apply my IT profession so that teaching would be made easy. The reason why I want to teach music to other people because I learned from some show that I watched in the television (I cannot even remember) that music could stimulate the brain and there were also studies that found that students who are in to music are those who perform well and excel in class compared to those who have not. I am not saying that only those who are into music are the only ones who excel in class, it’s just that it helps.
STRATEGIES TO REACH THE GOAL / DREAM
I would not be enumerating the strategies but rather I will just write it as it pops out of mind. Well the first step of getting to that goal is to graduate. The first strategy would be to identify my priorities. Well if I am going to graduate from this course and university I will surely need to identify my priorities. There are many things that I could do while studying and it also means that there are many factors that could possibly retract me from my focus and distract me and if I lose my focus I would lose my bearing and delay me from reaching my goals. Enter only those opportunities that are essential and related to your chosen career and enter only those that can help you build your career. Discard unimportant matters because as what my parents use to say “Study now, play later”. It means that you could do everything you want after you graduate.
Study and be updated. That’s another strategy that I have in mind. This type of profession or career is not static. It could change anytime (that is why we need to have a strategy or a plan) just like what organizations or companies do at the end of a year. Organizations or companies have a strategic planning at the end of each year, it is where they evaluate their performance, identify strengths and weaknesses, and identify solutions to their problem(s). Be updated of the current trend or latest technology so as to be aware of the changes in the industry. In this career or profession being not updated is just like being uncompetitive. Right now I am doing my best to be more aware and be updated as to the latest trend being used in the Information Technology industry. I lack the funds to buy or purchase the latest equipments and gadgets but that does not stop me from learning about these new things and how to use them. Internet can also be a source of knowledge. The internet can be a powerful source of information if you know how to us it. Other than that, seminars and forums could also keep you updated with the latest trends and it costs less than paying someone who will teach. There are other ways of learning aside from paying or purchasing we just need to more resourceful.
Identifying strengths and weaknesses, by identifying my strengths and weaknesses I will have a better lookout on where I should give more focus to compensate my weaknesses and to even strengthen my strong points. I still need to learn a lot considering that right now there are many sophisticated and complex technologies in the market and considering that technology constantly changes and upgrades. Right now I starting to learn more about using other ways to make web based programs aside from using PHP. I got my fascination in PHP and CSS when I enrolled or rather took a crash course in PHP and CSS during the summer of 2008 to 2009 together with John David de Peralta, Roy Laurentino Cuevas, Jalil Paniambaan and Jan Ray Suriba at Amigoas (Come to think of it, our certificates are still in Joda’s hands). Taking that crash course gave me an advantage on our previous subject, Database Analysis and Design 3, which focused on PHP and MySql. I noticed that I lack the knowledge to make this kind of programs so I decided to join the group.
Gaining proper and sufficient experience is also part the steps to get me to my goal. As others say, experience is the best teacher. I have heard from numerous persons that what you learn from school is not always the thing that is applied when you land a job. Hearing from them gave me an idea that I should take or experience applying the theories that I have learned from school because when you practice applying what you have learned and you happen to master it, it is just like breathing. Experience is a vital part of gaining bearing, finding a job and becoming a worthy IT professional. By saying “gaining experience” it also means learning the proper and necessary knowledge to become competitive because whether you accept it or not there will be a lot of competition in this trade. It can also be your edge against your competitors in landing a job because employers would rather choose or prefer employing those people with experience rather than those who still have not.
Start building connections and building people skills. When I say building connections I am pertaining to building good relationships with people are “In” to Information Technology particularly IT professionals. Why do we need to build these connections? In time you will find that the people that you have known over the years have knowledge that you or I do not possess and connections that you or I have not established. These people can bridge us to other people not necessarily IT professionals, it can be businessmen, managers, CEO’s and the like who are pretty much in need of people who are knowledgeable in IT. In time that I graduate at least I already have some options. Anyway you will not lose anything. Its either you learn from them or work for them it is pretty much up to you and either of the two you have already gained a friend. It is giving without losing. Building people skills is very important in this field of work because there are jobs that you will not be working alone by yourself. There are jobs that you do as a team. For example, in a company that manufactures or makes programs, generic or customized, to their clients, making or developing the program cannot be accomplished singlehandedly. Maybe it can be accomplished but not in time. In developing programs or systems there is always a time frame. It can never be without a time frame otherwise it would be like a farmer waiting for rain, you do not know the exact time and date. Similarly, in the school scenario just like in the Institute of Computing, the teachers give projects and they give deadlines for the projects to be submitted. Of course the students should follow that deadline because otherwise their project would be rejected and they end up getting a failing grade. My point is that as early as now we need to build our people skills so that we could work harmoniously with the team. Just like Ms. Enriquez said about “Swapang Na Programmer” they never get the job done in time, then it is a software failure.
Control and Save. In time when you do actually get a job and you earn money from it, the next difficult part other than earning for a living is actually to maintain and control that money and keep it for the dry seasons or the rainy days or emergencies perhaps. I have seen people not in the IT profession who have acquired good jobs and a reasonable salary spend their money like there is no tomorrow because they have a big salary. You will never know if the job you have today is the job that you will actually retire in, that is why saving your money for the rainy days is very helpful. Anyway this is my opinion.
Pray for guidance and help. I do not know for the others but I consider praying as a good strategy. It never fails me. I mean if you possess great intellect and you happen to acquire a great job with a great salary but you do not have good relations with your religion that still isn’t enough. I am catholic, I pray to God for guidance and help and I always feel safe whenever I ask for guidance. As other say, money is a universal provider but not happiness. I believe that one our very goal is to become happy in life. You cannot be truly happy unless you put your religion as a part of your life.
Before I start telling what I think myself worthy to be called as an IT professional 10 years from, I am going to share my dreams when I was just a kid and how it came that I pursued Information Technology as a career and as a profession. When I was young, well when I was younger, I used to see myself just like my father. My father is a civil engineer and I can honestly tell that I was one of those kids who dreamed about following their father’s footsteps even though I did not know what a civil engineer is. Honestly I did not even know what an engineer was. As a kid I had many dreams in life. I wanted to become anything I want to be, anything that I can come to think of. When I was in primary school my dream of becoming a civil engineer faded. I wanted to become an architect instead of being an engineer. Still I did not fully know what an architect is and what an architect does. I just had a plain perception that an architect draws and designs buildings and during that time I was also hooked into drawing. Anyway during that time I was like an unguided missile, ready to launch but has no definite target.
When I got to secondary school my dream of becoming an architect remained as it is up until I got to third year high school. During this stage of my high school days I became addicted to music and at the same time an enthusiast of computer games. When I say computer games, I was not only in it for the game but I was in it because I admired the graphics. (The graphics at that time was not yet sophisticated and complex compared to now.) It was at that time when I realized that I wanted to integrate art with technology. I use to watch movies that use animation and frankly I had a green eye to those people who can actually make pictures move like it is real. Now from becoming a civil engineer to architect to becoming an animator or rather a graphic artist. By the time I got to the fourth year of my high school days my father already asked me of what course do I want to pursue when I go to college. I said I wanted to be a graphic artist, and then we started scouting for schools that offer this kind of course but sadly at that time there was none. After a few days of searching my father found a school but it is not located here in Davao City but in Manila. The University of Santo Tomas (UST) offers Fine Arts course major in Graphics. I finally found the school so during the fourth quarter of the school year I went to Manila to take the entrance exam. Fortunately I passed the exam and I was fit to enroll but guess what? My father decided that I needed to have a backup plan so he told me to take the entrance exam in The University of Southeastern Philippines (USEP). So enrolling in The University of Southeastern Philippines was really not my first choice but thanks to that backup plan I gained my bearing. My father withdrew in sending me to The University of Santo Tomas because there was no doubt that we could save a lot of money if I enroll in The University of Southeastern Philippines.
During that time my perception of pursuing Information Technology was not that clear. I was not knowledgeable of the future that I will have if I pursue this kind of career. Although I still did not lose my dream of becoming a graphic artist I learned from the presentation that Sir RSG gave to us during the freshmen orientation that Information Technology encompasses a large field and that the possibilities are endless. I could become many things as long as it is covered by Information Technology and by talking Information Technology it pretty much includes almost everything. I know now that I am not only limited in a single task when I finish this course but I am pretty much capable of many things.
Now getting to the main topic of what do I think of myself worthy to be called as an IT professional 10 years from now. When I was undergoing Human Resource Management I remember that one of the jobs that I wanted to have was to become a Graphic Artist, Web Designer, Database Administrator or a part of the team that leads the MIS of a big company. I have still got my dream in me but this time it has become specific and has a purpose. Ten years from now I would picture myself doing one of these jobs but I honestly cannot say that his goal is final because a lot of things can happen in a span of 10 years. Maybe 4 to 6 years from now Information Technology will have new possibilities to come up. I mean, technology is evolving faster than we can imagine. Who knows what could happen in a span of 4 to 6 years or maybe 10 years from now. However I do know that a part of me says that I want to become like Mr. RSG. I am saying that Mr. RSG is one IT professional that an Information Technology student can look up to. I mean I could not become what Mr. RSG exactly is but I do hope that I could follow some of his ways.
REALIZATION
During our second meeting on Management Information System 2 last November 16, 2009 our facilitator, Mr. RSG, asked us (well not all of us) about our dreams or rather what we answered in this assignment. Many of my classmates answered what jobs they wanted to have when they graduate and some answered that they wanted to graduate. Then our facilitator told us that we don't need an IT education to be able to land those jobs that we want and he told us we have to dream and set higher goals, one that is useful, life altering and one that could benefit a lot of people. Then I realized that I was not aiming that high or setting goals that could benefit a lot of people. I also realized that dreams are in fact "Free" and "Unlimited" but I know that a man does not have many dreams. If a man has a dream every other week then he or she does not know what a dream is. I heard this line from one of the Diamonds in Amway. A dream is a thing that you hold on to. You feel the urge to achieve that goal and you feel like doing every possible thing to get it. So now I came to visualize my self as an owner of a company somewhat like those companies who make technologies that could better the lives of people. A company that promotes green computing to better the lives of people but not at the expense of nature itself. As IT professionals we should be solution providers. Green Computing according to Wikipedia refers to the environmentally sustainable computing or IT. It is "the study and practice of designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers, servers, and associated subsystems—such as monitors, printers, storage devices, and networking and communications systems—efficiently and effectively with minimal or no impact on the environment. Green IT also strives to achieve economic viability and improved system performance and use, while abiding by our social and ethical responsibilities. Thus, green IT includes the dimensions of environmental sustainability, the economics of energy efficiency, and the total cost of ownership, which includes the cost of disposal and recycling. It is the study and practice of using computing resources efficiently." Our school promotes Green Campus Computing and as a student from this school I have to follow the things that my school has started. This is what I have visualized my self worthy to be called an IT professional ten years from now. This goal serves as my target and I hope that in the future I could reach it, besides dreams are free.
Moving away from discussion (I just want to share it), I also want to become a music teacher. I want to teach music to students who want to increase their knowledge in music. Of course I still need to study more about music so that I would be worthy to teach and someday when I actually become a music teacher focusing on bass guitar I could apply my IT profession so that teaching would be made easy. The reason why I want to teach music to other people because I learned from some show that I watched in the television (I cannot even remember) that music could stimulate the brain and there were also studies that found that students who are in to music are those who perform well and excel in class compared to those who have not. I am not saying that only those who are into music are the only ones who excel in class, it’s just that it helps.
STRATEGIES TO REACH THE GOAL / DREAM
I would not be enumerating the strategies but rather I will just write it as it pops out of mind. Well the first step of getting to that goal is to graduate. The first strategy would be to identify my priorities. Well if I am going to graduate from this course and university I will surely need to identify my priorities. There are many things that I could do while studying and it also means that there are many factors that could possibly retract me from my focus and distract me and if I lose my focus I would lose my bearing and delay me from reaching my goals. Enter only those opportunities that are essential and related to your chosen career and enter only those that can help you build your career. Discard unimportant matters because as what my parents use to say “Study now, play later”. It means that you could do everything you want after you graduate.
Study and be updated. That’s another strategy that I have in mind. This type of profession or career is not static. It could change anytime (that is why we need to have a strategy or a plan) just like what organizations or companies do at the end of a year. Organizations or companies have a strategic planning at the end of each year, it is where they evaluate their performance, identify strengths and weaknesses, and identify solutions to their problem(s). Be updated of the current trend or latest technology so as to be aware of the changes in the industry. In this career or profession being not updated is just like being uncompetitive. Right now I am doing my best to be more aware and be updated as to the latest trend being used in the Information Technology industry. I lack the funds to buy or purchase the latest equipments and gadgets but that does not stop me from learning about these new things and how to use them. Internet can also be a source of knowledge. The internet can be a powerful source of information if you know how to us it. Other than that, seminars and forums could also keep you updated with the latest trends and it costs less than paying someone who will teach. There are other ways of learning aside from paying or purchasing we just need to more resourceful.
Identifying strengths and weaknesses, by identifying my strengths and weaknesses I will have a better lookout on where I should give more focus to compensate my weaknesses and to even strengthen my strong points. I still need to learn a lot considering that right now there are many sophisticated and complex technologies in the market and considering that technology constantly changes and upgrades. Right now I starting to learn more about using other ways to make web based programs aside from using PHP. I got my fascination in PHP and CSS when I enrolled or rather took a crash course in PHP and CSS during the summer of 2008 to 2009 together with John David de Peralta, Roy Laurentino Cuevas, Jalil Paniambaan and Jan Ray Suriba at Amigoas (Come to think of it, our certificates are still in Joda’s hands). Taking that crash course gave me an advantage on our previous subject, Database Analysis and Design 3, which focused on PHP and MySql. I noticed that I lack the knowledge to make this kind of programs so I decided to join the group.
Gaining proper and sufficient experience is also part the steps to get me to my goal. As others say, experience is the best teacher. I have heard from numerous persons that what you learn from school is not always the thing that is applied when you land a job. Hearing from them gave me an idea that I should take or experience applying the theories that I have learned from school because when you practice applying what you have learned and you happen to master it, it is just like breathing. Experience is a vital part of gaining bearing, finding a job and becoming a worthy IT professional. By saying “gaining experience” it also means learning the proper and necessary knowledge to become competitive because whether you accept it or not there will be a lot of competition in this trade. It can also be your edge against your competitors in landing a job because employers would rather choose or prefer employing those people with experience rather than those who still have not.
Start building connections and building people skills. When I say building connections I am pertaining to building good relationships with people are “In” to Information Technology particularly IT professionals. Why do we need to build these connections? In time you will find that the people that you have known over the years have knowledge that you or I do not possess and connections that you or I have not established. These people can bridge us to other people not necessarily IT professionals, it can be businessmen, managers, CEO’s and the like who are pretty much in need of people who are knowledgeable in IT. In time that I graduate at least I already have some options. Anyway you will not lose anything. Its either you learn from them or work for them it is pretty much up to you and either of the two you have already gained a friend. It is giving without losing. Building people skills is very important in this field of work because there are jobs that you will not be working alone by yourself. There are jobs that you do as a team. For example, in a company that manufactures or makes programs, generic or customized, to their clients, making or developing the program cannot be accomplished singlehandedly. Maybe it can be accomplished but not in time. In developing programs or systems there is always a time frame. It can never be without a time frame otherwise it would be like a farmer waiting for rain, you do not know the exact time and date. Similarly, in the school scenario just like in the Institute of Computing, the teachers give projects and they give deadlines for the projects to be submitted. Of course the students should follow that deadline because otherwise their project would be rejected and they end up getting a failing grade. My point is that as early as now we need to build our people skills so that we could work harmoniously with the team. Just like Ms. Enriquez said about “Swapang Na Programmer” they never get the job done in time, then it is a software failure.
Control and Save. In time when you do actually get a job and you earn money from it, the next difficult part other than earning for a living is actually to maintain and control that money and keep it for the dry seasons or the rainy days or emergencies perhaps. I have seen people not in the IT profession who have acquired good jobs and a reasonable salary spend their money like there is no tomorrow because they have a big salary. You will never know if the job you have today is the job that you will actually retire in, that is why saving your money for the rainy days is very helpful. Anyway this is my opinion.
Pray for guidance and help. I do not know for the others but I consider praying as a good strategy. It never fails me. I mean if you possess great intellect and you happen to acquire a great job with a great salary but you do not have good relations with your religion that still isn’t enough. I am catholic, I pray to God for guidance and help and I always feel safe whenever I ask for guidance. As other say, money is a universal provider but not happiness. I believe that one our very goal is to become happy in life. You cannot be truly happy unless you put your religion as a part of your life.
(This post has been updated. I will still be updating this post)
1 comment:
i'm listening to some music right now, hoping that my brain will be stimulated and it will produce at least a 3000 word SENSIBLE entry. ♫♪
You've stated nice strategies in reaching your goal.. i hope that you can make it all happen.
Good luck! :D
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