BANCNET Company Visit

Last April 5, 2013 We went to the last trip for the IT-EXPO course which is Bancnet. My friends and I rode a cab going to the place. We easily arrived at Makati even though we were running late.

The company as of now is considered to be one of the most powerful and successful company in the field of Automated Teller Machine (ATM) Consortium in the country. The speaker discussed how powerful their system are, to the point that the people can easily transact through ATMs anytime and anywhere. The Point-of-Sale (POS) technology was also discussed.

For me, this is an interesting company to work with. But due to its very professional working environment I don't really think that I would work to this company as a fresh graduate because I notice that most of the employees in the company are very experienced in their work which makes me intimidated.

Here are some of the photos taken during the company trip:

I'm glad I was able to sit with my friends/ groupmates.

JP Morgan Chase & Co.

Last March 26, 2013, We went to JP Morgan & Chase Co. I was really excited because this is one of the company that I am really planning to work for. 

At first I thought that commuting to JP Morgan was going to be hard since we have to ride the LRT and MRT then afterwards taking a bus. I found out that it wasn't really that hard but it's kinda hassle because I was wearing business attire going there. Adding the humid weather, I really perspired that time.

When we arrive at JP Morgan I already felt relieved since we are already there but when we asked the guard he said we are on the wrong building and he pointed to the other JP Morgan building, this really made me very disappointing, thus I sweated more.

I was also disappointed about the guards, they were not so hospitable. I didn't like the tone of the lady guard who approached us because my friend took a picture. Although it is understandable that she was just doing her job, we still found it a little bit of harsh. She should've said it in a nice way.

After that we had our bags inspected and walk through the metal detector. We proceeded to the career hub hallway, there we saw several vending machines that offers free drinks!! I had a hot chocolate!!

I was amazed of the speakers, they are all fluent in English. I learned that the company is existing for about 200 years. The company currently have 2.3 Trillion US Dollars in Assets and they earn about 19 Billion USD per year. The company houses over 240,000 employees around the globe.

The company also has a tagline "First class business in a first class way." - this really inspired  me

JP Morgan Chase & Co. is comprised of JP Morgan which is a banking corporation and Chase & Co. which is more focused on products and brands.

The company started in the Philippines in the 1960s.  But their main office in Asia Pacific is located in Hong Kong.

Some of the interesting facts I gathered is that JP Morgan funded the construction of Titanic and the Pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. Here in the Philippines they are also the one advised SM to acquire Makro (chain grocery shops) and also funded and advised Cebu Pacific to offer Piso Fare Promos. 

I found it funny and amazing when the speaker said that the famous icon on the Monopoly game was actually  Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan, the game was dedicated to him for saving the US stock market during his time. He is also a well-known gem collector during his time.

The company at present is helping out to the community as a matter of fact they are considered to be one of the most Philanthropic companies in the Philippines. They have also been awarded for being one of the most Energy Efficient Structure not only in the Philippines but also in all of South East Asia. They also received several recognition from  by Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).

After the talk, we went around the company for a tour around the facilities. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures. Upon reaching the rooftop you can see a fantastic view (overlooking a golf course).

HIS Seminar - GOX Edition

As part of the IT-EXPO requirement and alternative class, I attended a class which is a video taken at Asian Institute of Management (AIM), Makati. The topic of the seminar is about Health Information System (HIS).

The quality of the video was good however the audio is somewhat distorted because of the echoing voice of the speaker but still we were still able to understand it.

The first speaker was Mr. Alberto Romualdez, M.D. who talked about Reforming the Philippine Health System for Universal Health Care. He said that there is an inequality of healthcare in the Philippines.

Currently, the Philippine government doesn't have an Information System that covers the health department. So, Mr. Romualdez hopes that someday the government will implement a National Health Information System.

He also said that, as of now, the Philippine Government has no existing Health Information Systems or a system that encompasses that health department. He said that someday, the government should implement a National Health Information System so that the the problem even not be completely solved but at least it can help lessen the problem.

The second speaker was also the last, Mr. Alvin Marcelo tackled about the ways to establish a responsive national Health Information System. He added that there are 5 elements important when implementing such systems. These factors are the: Governance, Regulation, Financing, HR, and services.

The seminar was ended by conducting an open forum for audience which majority I think were students.

According to my friends who attended the seminar said that they were offered food after the seminar. They said that they had their fill because the food was abundant and delicious. I was also supposed to attend the said seminar, however there are some conflicts on my schedule during that day which made it impossible for me to attend.

NetworkLabs Company Tour

Last March 15, 2013, Friday, We went to NetworkLabs, Inc which is located in UP-Ayala Land Technohub, Diliman, Quezon City. It is a computer solutions company. It is a joint venture of Nokia Siemens Network.

At present, the company has more than 400 employees. The company’s workforce are mainly software engineers which comprises around 95% and the other 5% of the workforce are the HR, Documentations, and other non-technical personnel. I was surprised that 15% of the company’s software engineers are Lasallians.

I'm really wondering if I can work here because most of the jobs done here are more on the programming which I don't that I'm really good at. 

I was somewhat enlightened when the speaker said that they would be offering jobs that are related to our course. Since our course is not really focused on the high-level programming which I think the company is focusing right now.

I was also impressed when I heard that NetworkLabs, Inc. is the premier R&D site of Nokia Siemens Networks in Southeast Asia.

The company practices ranking in their work. As a matter of fact, they have a poster of ranking so that the employees would know their current level. (The rankings are based on the medieval period.)

Network labs maintains a pleasant and less pressure working environment, where the ranks and positions is not really that much of an issue. So that new employees may not be intimidated with their other colleagues that have been working in the company for quite some time.

Network labs has several lounges where the employees can relax from their stressful work. The said facilities even have karaokes, Xbox, and other entertainment systems.

Since NetworkLabs main job offering are programming related, I don't see myself in the future working for this company. But who knows, might as well try... :)

Brady Corporation Company Tour

Last March 1, 2013, a Friday, our IT-Expo course had a tour on Brady Corporation Philippines which is located at Shaw Boulevard. Going there is not really much of a hassle for me since I live in Pasay and MRT  Taft station is just one jeepney ride from my home.

I was really excited when I heard about our field trip because this is my first time to enter inside the office of a reputable company. As a matter of fact, my friends and I were one of the early birds.

The manager and the employees are very hospitable, most of them had smiling faces when talking to us. They even offered us doughnuts and refreshments while waiting for the guest speaker.

During our arrival in the office of Brady Philippines, I noticed that the setting of the office was like in a school they have many bulletin boards which contained different information such as volunteering on activities, reminders, job openings, etc.. According to the manager, the company wants to maintain a classroom setting environment not a typical work environment so that employees may not feel to uncomfortable and stressed.

I have also proven that there are really sleeping quarters in call center offices which enable agents to rest/sleep since the call centers are known to function 24/7.

The manager showed us the entire office, including the employee lounge, call center stations, sleeping quarters, and the data center. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos inside the data center due to confidentiality issues which is definitely understandable.

We had a talk about the Brady IT Infrastructure, which was conducted by Mr. Allan Goth, an IT Infrastructure Manager, APAC, and IT Manager in Brady Penang, Singapore and Brady Manila, Philippines. The discussion was mainly about the Evolution of IT Infrastructure, why should companies adopt  IT, and the trends on the modern IT.

Over all, the talk was very enlighting, knowing that there are thousand opportunities for us students, especially in the IT field not only here but also abroad. I am not really planning to work out of the country. I think, Brady Philippines would be one of my options in starting my career after I graduate.

Strategic Approach to the Future

Last Saturday, February 24, 2013, a seminar was held at the De La Salle University-Manila, Yuchengco Hall, Y507-Y509 seminar room. I attended a seminar entitled Strategic Approach to the Future: Knowledge Creation and Exchange Propagated by Technology, the seminar was divided into two parts, the first part was a talk on two speakers namely Dr. Adrew Lian and Dr. Marcus Bussey both an Australian. The talk was divded into two parts, the first one was discussed by Dr. Andrew  Lian.

The first topic was about The Reflection on Intellectual and Strategic Educational Development in an Exponentially Expanding Technological World. He opened the seminar by talking about Google. The speaker asked the audience if one day Google will stop the flow of information, some said no but most said yes.

Dr. Andrew Lian discussed a lot of topics such as Social and Intellectual trends, the Great Change in the modern ICT World, the Moore's Law on Technological Growth Rate, 21st Educational Paradigms, the Rhizomatic Approach, etc. The topic that really got my attention was about the "Google Effect" and the Asian/ ASEAN Century.

The “Google Effect” is the tendency to forget information due to the easy accessibility in search engines such as Google, which can be found in the Internet. People tend to look for information in the Internet because the Internet offers a lot of information they need on a faster time. Information availability and accessibility is convenient, with just a stroke of a person’s fingers on the keyboard, all of the information they need is their which makes people more reliable and comfortable in using search engines to the point that he people think that they need not remember it.

The Asian/ASEAN Century talks about the present period where the Asian countries strarts to dominate the world in terms of business growth. Countries in Asia such as Japan and China are some of the tiger economy in Asia. Philippines is also predicted to rise in the next few years.


The next speaker was Dr. Marcus Bussey who talked about Education, his topics are Scholarship and Biography, Sustainability as Co-creativity, Kim and Dator's Second Law of Futures, etc. The topic that made me interested was the Utilization of Strategic Foresighting.

           Strategy Foresighting is the practice of creating a functional view of the future, events, opportunities, possibilities, and adversities in such a way that a person or an organization can harness its advantages. Establishing a certain response to a certain event, will make a person or an organization to be more effective since they are prepared on most cases especially when things go south. For example, in terms of business, if an organization utilizes strategic foresighting then they may be able to forecast and detect adverse market conditions, as well as identifying new potential products or services as countermeasure. 

      The second part was the Panel talk, which involve the two speakers, Dr. Andrew Lian and Dr. Marcus Bussey, and the Panelist which are professors from different universities in the Philippines such as Mr. Glenn Sipin from De La Salle University. The discussion was cut short because of the lack of time. Over all, the seminar was very helpful to us students since the topics that have been discussed is very applicable and is undoubtedly happening in the real world.

My Valentine's Day

On Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14, 2013), instead of giving my girlfriend gifts, I just opted to take her out on a date like I normally do. We both decided to dress up and look our best, unfortunately, we forgot to take pictures to show you. Haha. I guess we had too much fun. Hahaha. Well anyway, we had lunch at one of our favourite restaurants, Piadina. We ordered pizza, pasta and others. After we finished, we thought we’d watch a movie but as we were about to buy tickets, we decided otherwise because we couldn’t agree on which film to watch because we had limited time. I needed to go to a class that I couldn’t miss ON VALENTINE’S DAY!

Anyway, we settled on playing billiards, one of our hobbies. We played for about an hour, and of course, I won. My girlfriend was a good player but that day, I was better or luckier, according to her. Hahaha, she’s competitive most of the time which I think makes things more fun for both of us. We walked around the mall too but I’ll spare you the details so you won’t get bored reading. LOL. All in all we had loads of fun doing things we normally do, because I think the fact that we were able to spend most of the day together was the best thing about that day and not gifts that I could’ve given her ‘cause she’s not the type of girl who expects surprises or gifts during Valentine’s Day although I felt kind of guilty when I saw girls holding bouquets of flowers but my girlfriend didn’t seem to care. Hahaha!