Two of the well-known giants in the IT industry, Microsoft and Lexmark, gathered a thousand attendees in the pilot episode of the I.T. Career Summit webinar series of the College of Information Technology of SWU PHINMA on February 11, 2022.
The two guest speakers, Janet Uy and John Acebes, shared their personal experiences in the field of IT with emphasis on their passion and growth mindset that fueled their success.
Uy, Senior Customer Engineering Manager – Data and AI of Microsoft Asia Pacific Region, joined the webinar straight from Singapore. She mentioned that with the pandemic severely limiting physical interaction, companies are getting more and more digitalized and will continue to become more advanced in the coming years. “This means companies will require more tech skills or jobs around IT,” she said. Uy encouraged students who are aspiring to take up IT to be passionate about what they want to achieve and to keep on learning to keep up with quickly evolving technology.
Acebes, Information Technology Head for Enterprise Architecture & Solutions of Lexmark International, confirmed that students should not stop learning so they can prepare for the fast-moving IT industry. Acebes highlighted the different scopes in IT Career through a Venn diagram. He said that aside from Software and Hardware, Soft Skills or “Peopleware” is another significant field for aspiring IT professionals to learn early in school. Soft skills include critical thinking, problem-solving, leadership, and professionalism, to name a few.
Rigan Ap-apid, Dean of the College of Information Technology of SWU PHINMA was elated by the knowledge shared by the two speakers in the pilot episode. The conversation affirmed the learning principle of BS Information Technology at SWU PHINMA, which uses the active learning approach in training students to have the fundamentals needed to ensure that they acquire employment-ready skills to be globally competitive trailblazers in IT.
Following the pilot episode are weekly pocket sessions with industry experts as they talk about employment trends in IT. Joining the roster of speakers are Symph.co’s founder Albert Padin (Feb. 18) who will share the secrets to creating future-proof apps; AXA Philippines’ Christopher Flores will discuss how to develop hassle-free mobile solutions (Feb 25); Barcelona-based web developer Jean Andrei dela Cruz will bring us on a tour on what happens at the backend of their website, Lodgify (March 4); and Alexei Menardo of Snickers Chamber will give us a glimpse of the local indie gaming scene (March 11).
IT Career Summit 2022 is streaming live every Friday through the official Facebook Page of the College of Information Technology of SWU PHINMA.