#RealTalk: The

public slidesBene Garcia, C2T4

Forward from the Bene

I don’t have the usual profile of a speaker.

I’m pretty left field.

I have removed a lot of details and side

comments compared to the original. I

welcome honest feedback, it would be

much appreciated. My details are at the

back, reach out to me if you want to.

Last, I trust that you’ll use sound judgment in

distinguishing, good advise from jokes.

Disclaimer & general factsThese are all my two cents worth of personal advise and insights. Feel free to either follow, object, disregard, whatever. I don’t have experts to back up everything I said. My intended audience are undergraduates in IT.

If you have the urge of becoming a psycho serial killer just because you feel like it, or think that I’ve influenced that… You need help.

That’s not on me. I’m tolerant and accepting but I’ve got my own issues.

Dedication

Some people are early bloomers, some are

late bloomers. But beware that some don’t

bloom at all (UP graduation speaker).

Intro: Bene’s big pictureManila has changed. Opportunities for IT locally and globally has also increased. Globalization has a negative connotation, but the Philippines got the long end of that stick; primarily because of the BPO industry. It is now recognized as a huge dollar earner. It’s not just about the voice side, but IT jobs like programming are also on the table. That is the opportunity for the country, and we need to continue to prove that we are a great venue for these technical jobs. Manila has won a hard fought battle over voice… we are now the clear choice for English speaking services.As for programming and other analysis/ knowledge based jobs, we’re a long way from number one. That’s where everybody comes in. Manila offers what the world is hungry for: talent. And the best paid crowd is the IT crowd

Misconceptions and

conflictsLet’s explore some scenarios and whatever…

Academic vs Job specific skillsI disagree with the notion that a university degree is outdated by the time you graduate.

You’re not just a programmer. Your time at college gives you a venue to explore IT at a very deep level. It’s how you get the flexibility that will be valuable to you. That’s what you should be after in a university degree. If not, get a short course and certificates… seriously.

You will learn job specific skills on the job. My opinion: it’s your future company that needs to teach you those skills. Your superiors and predecessors made tons of job manuals to show you the procedures.

If they didn’t, accept that life is unfair, then you be the person who’ll take the high road and start the manuals.

The soft-skills vs hard-skills

Soft skills was traditionally attributed to a

management career path and sales. And

technical skills to technical people… be

both, be well-rounded enough.

It’s not a challenge, it’s a reality. Even if you

are technical, you deal with people.

Inversely, even if you are a people

person, you need technical skills in your

chosen field.

A degree vs certifications

IT made certifications popular, and there

are uses for it. Certifications provide a

segmented and gradual proof of a person’s

competency. In fact, certifications was

intended for people in the US who can’t

afford the expensive US college degree.

My advise, combine it. After you have

picked a specialization later on, get

certifications for it.

Why do I need this subject?Think of your subjects as career paths… what you learn in 4 years (or more… not judging) is what a non-computer science person goes through in 4-10 years to prove their stuff.

Real Example:

Some Computer Science graduates start at the bottom. One entry level IT job is the “data encoder”. But those guys, 15-20 years later, are now the big bosses.

Experience vs Potential vs

Credential

There is no conflict with these three. You will

continue to feature your

experience, potential, and credentials

through out your career… even CEO’s and

Board members are selected.

You haven’t worked before, so your grades

would stand-in for your experience.

Graduate school: early, late,

never?

Let me change my answer: the earlier, the better.

Most graduate level degrees would look for some years of experience. They’ll be better at evaluating you, than me. But if you can get in tomorrow, go for it. It is becoming competitive in the job market, so an edge would be great.

The people who don’t want a grad degree are usually concerned about giving up a great job. I’d tell them to do something part time. As for price and time/commitment, it is an investment.

Tough questionsAudiences are usually shy, so let me ask the

challenging questions

Talk numbers, how much?I’ll make this non-public

The tax effect and the 30K

mark

While your salary range is below 30k, the increase in your salary is dampened by taxes until you break through 30K. It’s a tax thing. As your salary increases, so does your tax.

Philippine income tax system has not changed its brackets. Minimum wage gets less tax, 30K (more or less) already gets the maximum! So when your taxes becomes static, you’ll then appreciate the further increase in your salary.

This is why HK and SG is so attractive: higher pay, much lower taxes. Flipside: cost of living.

Globalization in IT

Globalization also means you’re gonna

compete with the best schools in all

continents. You may not feel it, cause you’ll

focus on your work and company. But your

company fights tooth and nail to get the

juicy projects.

Quality commands premium, but quality is

constantly measured. Don’t rest on your

laurels

IT is too hard!There are other promising and hard career paths: Medicine, Law, Rocket-Science, selling fishballs…

Any job/role/ career would have it’s own difficulty. Pick the hard choice that’s acceptable to you. Your work is not your life, but it will affect your life.

Tip:

Those harder career paths also pay well…. But we are all governed by salary brackets. For IT, the ceiling on that bracket has been moving higher; because demand has been increasing. When there’s demand on other careers their ceilings also go up.

Is there another IT bubble?My opinion: no. The IT bubble of the 2000’s was a stock price issue. It affected the US job market, cause some start-up companies closed and opening your own company became a bad idea. As an industry, IT suffered from perception issues after the bubble.

From what I’m seeing, large corporations are constantly updating, because of the edge it gives them. That drives internal or external IT projects. Start-ups are also more innovative now and less focused on the IPO. More importantly, both streams are discovering Manila.

I want the IT promise. But

what’s the path of less

resistance (easy way out)?

Get a programming certificate, or any IT

certificate; graduate from any degree.

Practice your IT certificate

What you won’t get:

A network that knows how good you are

The deep technical view of computer science.

Less job and grad-school credential for CV

It doesn’t need to be this hard!

Tough luck, it is. Any “marque” program of a

university is meticulously constructed to

churn out the best practitioners.

Bad grades after graduationFast track: get a marketable programming job, stay a few years.Java – great general platform, but try to specialize in EE or ME.

SAP – still in-demand for large organization

Mobile – this is a new field with a few practitioners… demand is high

Other technical but non/less-programming options:

Network admin, System admin, Security, Database, Business Analysis, Project management, Testing…

They lead to a great IT career.

Technical last resort : (opinion is non-public)

Is programming the only path?

No. A lot of Computer Science graduates

from my time are no longer programming.

It’s a great start, it’s a great option, but it’s

not the only option. Saw the non-

programming option in the previous slide? A

lot of us are doing that. We’re still

technical, still using com sci concepts here

and there. Still understand code.

Company man vs

Entrepreneurship

If you’re up to it, why not do both? It’s not

easy, but it’s not impossible either.

Is it all just money?That’s up to you.

What you want, and what you prioritize will change. At this point, you don’t know what you don’t know. It’s natural. Also, chances are, you still don’t know what you want.

You don’t have to decide now. Life will give you chances to change your decision. It always does. But life will ask you to pay with time.

Me, I see that my life becomes easier when I have more money. Of course I also factor in how hard it is to get bread.

Survival techniquesUndergrad living would be better if you only-

Mange upwards- prof relations

Your prof is your boss in the subject. Follow

their lead in the X weeks of the term. Ask

questions. It’s ok if you don’t get it, just ask

the right way. If you have a different

opinion, it’s ok to express it. But get a feel if

the crowd is up for a debate. It’s ok to have

a difference of opinion.

Hone your skills:

Practice, practice, practice

If it takes 10,000 hours to polish talent, you

have a lot of time during college.

Programming is not the only skill you have.

Find you top 3 or 5, then enhance that. Talk

to profs and talk to seniors (meet them

through orgs), ask them for tips.

I want out!Let’s do the flip side. Let me recommend some

other promising paths… these are not the only paths

to success

The regulated, traditional

professions, core science

CPA, Law, Medicine, Engineering… others.

When you’re government certified to do something, it pulls attention. Strategy for success here should come from a practitioner, not me. Also, if ASEAN integration pushes further, more of these certificates will be recognized in the region.

Math, Physics, Stat, Chemistry

These are fundamental sciences, which make them flexible to different career paths.

How I cope with existential

problems and my Ramon

Bautista inspired answer:

Kung tutuusin, wala pa akong napatunayan

tungkol sa life, love, liberty, and property.

Thankful na lang ako na pinanganak akong

gwapo on the inside kaya nalalampasan ko

ang mga pagsubok ng buhay

More optionsPsychology, education,

What about HR work? There was a boom in HR demand, not just in Manila but in SG and HK (Jobs are also moving there… the more technical analytical jobs). Adult education is becoming popular in Manila as well.

Business ManagementIf you don’t know what you wanna do, but know that you’ll work for a big corporation. Business Management is the most portable degree that I know of.

AdvertisingIt’s actually becoming more technical. They’re now relying more on hard data, large data. What’s the state of it in Manila? I’m not sure, but Google and Linkedin are here for that market.

Building values, behaviors

and skillsOptimize your undergraduate experience, practice

and learn these things now.

Self mastery/ self leadership

This is a popular buzz word in the corporate world, but it’s true and valuable.

For now, observe and learn your styles… your communication, learning, teaching, leading, analysis. Then you can learn how to do other styles later on. Adaptability is a great weapon in your tool kit. It’s also a sign of maturity/ development since you’re taking on the challenge of adjusting to others.

Join orgs.Effective communication, leadership skills, project management, team management-all of them are skills. They can be learned. Some people are born with it, but everyone is challenged to enhance it.

You don’t learn ridding a bike by reading a book. Practicing will get the skills. Interact with people. Get some tasks in the orgs and these skills will come out.

Remember, even if you get a technical role, you’ll still interact with people.

You start at zero

I got this from Charles Barkley. Transitioning

from one stage of growth to another

requires that you reassess yourself, and re-

tool yourself.

After getting into an org/company/ect…

people pay attention to your contribution.

There’s rarely a super-fit role for anyone.

Everyone adjusts and it’s a big reason why

learning never ends.

Motivation and supportFind it, get it.

Everyone goes through a hump. Everyone has their own special way of dumping and dealing with emotions. What matters is how long you stay there.

Learn the distinction between what you can control, what you influence, and what is beyond you. Beyond the quality of your work, it directly impacts the quality of your life!

Perception directly affects your life experience, so it makes sense to be positive.

Save

This is one of my personal advocacy.

In the Philippines, saving is highly influenced by

family values. Some families don’t practice it.

They say it’s impossible, and I disagree with that.

A straight how-to-save answer is not enough.

Your needs will change, but try to practice 80-20

on your money. More complicated and

targeted methods would come in later.

Contact details

Linkedin

ph.linkedin.com/pub/bene-

garcia/17/1b8/37a/