Major Field Trip & Seminar (Manila,Philipines)

Seminar Overview

The five days Field trip & Seminar (FTS) held at the Luzon part of the Philippines specifically at the National Capital Region in the city of Manila was a great adventure for us students of Information Technology & Computer Science students also.  It was a jump-packed of activities & too much learning that really molds us and helps us to understand more the world of Information technology.  The seminars that we had attended were very informative and also some of the speakers were really motivating.  The said Field trip encourages us to do more in our studies and become more innovative.  Innovations are the most money-maker thing in our society now which is very favorable to us as IT professionals at the future. 

I admit that those companies or government facilities that we’ve visited is my first time to be in that place so that is why I am amazed to see how the things work there, how they get things work, especially at the MMDA Traffic Engineering department wherein there is a vast live coverage on every street of the Manila City.  It was so amazing how they handle traffic there, it is really hard to think how they do it but I must give them thumbs up for making their best.  As an overall seminar view, it was all informative and really helps us students to become more oriented to what is happening in the real-world.  It was all a great exposure.

To be in a new place far from home is a great experience, it was also my first time to be out of town miles away from my home town Davao City, I miss everything about Davao when we were there at the Manila City but in terms of progress in buildings, works well I must say that Manila now is a very fast growing city because I what I have observed during the seminar there is the people where always catching up the time, no one wants to be late stuck up in the middle of EDSA street.  But I know that Davao is on its way to become the next center of economy here in the Philippines.

I am also amazed to the high rise buildings their owned by the elite families in the Philippines.  It feels like you can reach the sky if you went at the roof top of the building.  The city is expanding not in width but in height because the trend home there in Manila City is a “condominium”, why? Because people their find it cheap to stay and there are also a lot of good offers when you stay at the condo.  The Seminar teaches me on how to become more knowledgeable on the path that we choose, the seminar sharpens our weapons to meet success at the future.

Day 1

Today, I went on a seminar to Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in Bicutan, Taguig and Social Security System (SSS) in East Avenue, Quezon City.

What I learned?

            Straight from the breakfast at the “Mcdonalds” in front of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport we went to the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in Bicutan, Taguig.  It was a great fun riding the bus because it’s kinda traffic there but we were all ready for it.  As we landed in the building of the Department of Science & Technology we were amazed because we visited one of the oldest building of DOST in the Philippines.  One of the things that I can remember during the seminar at the DOST is their “Project NOAH”.  There is a proud sensation revolving inside the room knowing from our mentor Mr. Gamboa that one of the pioneer developers of the Project NOAH is from our school (University of Southeastern Philippines).  Project NOAH is an innovation of a son to make sure that his parents were safe.  How does it work? Well it detects upcoming rain falls that might become a typhoon that could harm people, through that innovation; he can alarm his parents to evacuate early so that they will be saved.  It is a very great idea.

            After the DOST adventure, we visit the “Social Security System” (SSS) located at East Avenue, Quezon City.  Social Security System office plays a big role in every Pilipino here in the Philippines because they cater the pensions of every Pilipino.  We have learned the history of the building (SSS), how does it work, and why it existed.  They also encourage us to register so that we can start paying early; well I have registered already during summer because I know that The benefits will be very good at the future.

What I liked?

            What I like in DOST is they were all making their best to gather new data that could help us students and all Pilipino people, the people there were very innovative.  And it is also nice to know that most of the employees there are coming from Mindanao.  They’ve got high respect to the Information Technology & Computer Science people here in Mindanao which I find very great because it erase the denied racial discrimination happening here in our country.  We know how the northern part of the country reacts when they hear or know that you came from the southern part of the country, it is a very stereo-type mind set which I believe that it was slowly fading now, especially now that most people of the Northern Part loves our City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to be the next President of the Philippines.

            What I like in the SSS is there gallery because there are a lot of good paintings there and aside from that is their mission on every Pilipino people which is to have a good retirement life, pensioned and just live life.

What I didn’t like?

            Well I guess that I am just too imaginative or just set a high expectation on what I am going to see (I am referring to the building of DOST), I thought that it was all high-tech there but I forgot that we are still here in the Philippines.  But I believe that it will improve at the future through unified help of every people.

            At the Social Security System seminar, I thought that the seminar will be more of technical things but the most discussed thing is the history of their building which I know that it was also important.

Day 2

Today, I went on a seminar to IBM Phils., Ayala Techno-Hub, Quezon City and also to the Accenture Philippines.

What I learned?

            What I like in the IBM building it’s too big and very cool, so we go inside one of their lecture rooms for the seminar about the IBM “Blue Mix”.  If there is a list of cool innovation in the developer tools well I guess Blue Mix will be on the top 20 because it makes the life of the developer to become easier.  The program that could take days will be programmed in just a matter of minute when we use the “Blue Mix”.  There are a lot of offerings inside the “Blue Mix” that could really help the developers on any field of programming, as far as I can remember there are more or less 50+ types of offers now on their site.  As the lecture goes, the speaker introduces the artificial intelligence named as “Watson”.  We were all amazed by Watson as its first use was to be a player on a game named “Jeopardy” (famous game in America).  It was task to beat the champion players.  I was amazed how it works because it really answers the right question and does not make any answer to the question if it does not really know the answer to the question.  To make Watson work, it takes a whole room to be install the servers.  It is a successful invention of the IBM Company.  Watson uses the “Cloud” server.  The speaker also introduces the trend now on the net which is the IOT or the “Internet of Things” by the use of “Arduino”.  It was too cool to use Arduino tool because you can do a lot of things like you can switch on or off any appliance inside your home though you’re at a very far place away from home.  As a presentation, the speaker shows to us his practice tool to Arduino, he uses his own website then it was connected to the Arduino as the switch to the light bulbs.  I really wish to have one like that.

            What I have learned at the Accenture is they are not a “Call Center” company however it was a part of their business.  We students really think that they are but not until they introduce to us their history and what they serve as a company.  They are a company wherein a lot of innovation is happening and they’ve got a lot of companies inside the City and as what they have explained, it was a contingency plan so that if the other company closes then there is still a lot branch company that they can work on.  They showed to us there mobile application which uses Digital Image Processing that can help the user to know the right size of the shirt for their body which I find nice.

What I liked?

What I like about the two companies is they both offer a good work wherein we can really use and enhance our knowledge about technology and enhance it more.  They are not just a company that aims to grab a lot of money, they aim to help every individual as well, and they treat each others as a friend especially in the company of the Accenture wherein they call each other on “First-name” basis.  I find it nice because it makes the employees become more comfortable with each other and it really builds not just work mates but also friendship to everyone.

What I didn’t like?

 It’s not really that I don’t like the company but the IBM made us wait for 2 hours before the seminar starts, well we all understand how the traffic works at Manila City so we forgive of course.  But I believe that they must prepare some contingency plan like to give substitute speakers because it made us so delayed on our next activity which results to eating the lunch inside the bus which I find very hard because the bus is moving and we can’t eat properly.  Well it’s a good experience as well.

 Day 3

Today, I went on a seminar to Philippine Youth Congress Information Technology (Y4IT)

What I learned?

            The Philippine Youth Congress Information Technology is a great event for us students of courses related to the computer world.  It was a whole day event which was attended by thousands of students from different parts of the country.  I am amazed to the things that I have learned during the presentations of different speakers from different big companies.  The project of the Microsoft Company (International) which is the “Hololens” really captivates my interest because it gives a new definition of user experience.  Imagine the world moves in virtual reality just by wearing that glass or eye-wear.  I was like in the movie of Iron Man where in you can control data without opening your computer.  I also learned about the new trend which is the “Internet of Things”, it is so amazing now that we can control things inside our houses though we are miles away from home just by using various devices and a bit of coding.  There is also a discussion about gaming stuffs; it is really cool because it helps us specifically in our programming 3(Android game development) subject now wherein our project is to make an android mobile game.  The speaker shares how to plan and make the game which makes us realized that we are doing the wrong thing so we decided to start over so that all will be polish and has clear planning before making the android game.  There are also a discussion about the Internet Protocol and the history of the internet which I know already some of the parts.

What I liked?

            I like the whole thing about the Philippine Youth Congress Information Technology because it helps us students of Information Technology to be updated on the new trends of technology.  I also like the exhibits there because there are a lot of freebies and information.  I also like the venue of the Philippine Youth Congress Information Technology which is the SM Annex because it is my dream to visit the Mall of Asia and it was really big and in terms of spaces it was so wide and really caters us all.

What I didn’t like?

            There is nothing that I can say that I didn’t like because it was all good for me and all of the things there were enjoyed by me and my classmates.

Day 4

Today, I went on a seminar to MMDA Traffic Engineering, EDSA,Makati.

What I learned?

            In our visit to the MMDA, we have witnessed a lot of cool things like there Information Technology office and their Close Circuit Television cameras with live feeds from the streets of Metro Manila.  It was discussed their history and the goal and mission of the MMDA.  We were also amazed by their Ultra High definition close circuit cameras which can zoom in or zoom out very clearly.  It was also discussed there that there are censored streets which amazed me because I never know that thing until such then.  They also explain to us how the traffic lights functions like how many seconds before it changes color and what are the algorithm of the traffic lights.  They also introduce to us their mobile application which caters the problems of traffic.  As what they have said, through that application the problem of traffic in Metro Manila is minimize a bit but they were trying their very best to address that problem. 

The traffic in Metro Manila is normally 3 to 4 hours and it will be a miracle if it only takes one hour of traffic.  They also showed to us some caught videos on the street which contains accidents or traffic enforcers who collects “Kotong” instead of giving violation tickets.  It was so gore to see those people hit by the big trucks due to careless crossing of the streets.  But if there is something that revives the name of the enforcers, it would be that traffic enforcer who really sits on the street just to stop the violating driver who really wants to escape his violation.  They also discussed to us that they are developing another app which is more improve in catering the problem of the traffic. 

What I liked?

 I like their monitor building wherein they can see all the activities of the streets of Metro manila as long as there is a camera because it records a lot of things like crimes, incidents, traffic and a lot more that could help investigation or could help MMDA to study the traffic and might as well give a concrete and solid plan that will aid the traffic in Metro Manila.

What I didn’t like?

            I can’t say that I don’t really like the mobile application that they have built but I guess they can improve it more but I understand that it will be hard because Metro manila is really big and planning the whole thing to aid the traffic will be like passing through the whole of the needle.

Day 5

Today, I went on a seminar to University of the Philippines Engineering Department & Computer Science Department, Quezon City.

What I learned?

 I have witnessed the wideness of their campus and we wander their campus for almost 5 times in a row.  There are a lot of numbers of field in their computer science their unlike in our university.  They discussed their project thesis which is discussed by their own students from different fields of their computer sciences.  They also discussed their achievements from their cup stone project and thesis.  They have toured us in their facilities and discussed a bit of information about science and technology.

What I liked?

            I like their very organized facilities and division of fields in their Information Technology and Computer Science.

What I didn’t like?

            I thought that there will be a lot of discussion about new technologies but it was more on their achievements I guess.

APPENDIX

What can I recommend for the improvement of the advance seminar program of USEP?

 I recommend that they will research more companies and more seminars that could help us students in the field of Information Technology.

My advised to those who will take their advance seminar program in the near future.

            My advice to those who will take their advance seminar program in the near future is to be ready to explore the whole new world and jump out from your boxes and grab the opportunity to learn new things there.

PITURES

Fourth Meeting ( FTS Class)

On our fourth Filed Trip & Seminar meeting, the final list of students who will attend the activity was finalize and also the total amount of payments was finalize. The officers do all the things just to be on time. We pass all the said requirements to the CHED.

Third Meeting (FTS Class)

On our third "Field Trip & Seminar" meeting the officers discuss the things inside the Model A. The officers explains the amount to be paid and all the requirements that everyone must submit. It was a bit scary because the amount to be paid is too big and I dont think that my parents can handle it but thanks to God because my sister shoulders all the payments for my Field Trip & Seminar.

Second Meeting ( FTS Class )

On our second Field Trip & Seminar meeting, it was the day wherein we made our decisions. The officers and our mentor Mr. Gamboa explained the 3 Models of the Field Trip & Seminar. He explained very well every details. The officers distributes the forms for the model selection and eventually the Model A wins most of the heart of everyone in the class.

First Meeting ( FTS Class )

The First Meeting for the Preparation of thee "Field Trip & 

Seminar 2015" was conducted last semester in the month of February, 

wherein all third year students of Information Technology & 

Computer Science are invited so that we will be aware of the 

said activity. Ms. Yu as the previous Field Trip & Seminar 

President gave us the orientation, what we must expect and also 

the idea of how much we will spend to this activity. She 

encourage us to choose the Model A of the Field Trip & Seminar 

which is eventually became the top choice of the whole class. 

At that moment also, we elected our next Field Trip & Seminar 

Officers.

Interpersonal Skills Training & Seminar

In our upcoming Field Trip Seminar this month of September, we students who enrolled in the subject must undergo to the “Interpersonal Skills Training”.  It was held at the University of Southeastern Philippines Dorm Hostel last July 4, 2015.  In our training, we were divided in two batches because the facilitators can’t afford to handle the number of students which has the total of 78 students.  I was grouped in the second batch of students who will take the interpersonal training.  I was a bit excited to join that training because I believe that there will be a lot of lessons that I will learn after the training.

In the interpersonal training we are about 40 students in the second batch, the day before we join the seminar I feel so excited about it because I am looking forward to the activities that will be given to us to help us mold our socialization with other students who also enrolled the subject.  I am happy to join the interpersonal skills and seminar because it will serve as our medium or our bridge to build friendship with other students in Institute of Computing, because honestly speaking, up to these days there are still a lot of students that I don’t know the names only their faces and it is a bit awkward sometimes to be in their circle because we don’t know each other due to we are more comfortable on sticking with our long time close friends or classmates in our courses.  If we are going to count the names of those persons that I know, well I wish that you will not be shock by the number, only a few of them.  I keep it that way because I believe that the anonymity still is sacred for Information Technology student like me who eventually will become something at the future.   But I also know that it is not good especially if I want to become a successful “technoprenuership” at the future, being a businessman requires a great number of friends that might help you in your business plans.

Way back to the happenings in our interpersonal skills and seminar meet up, I really love the aura there because it is my first time to enter the University of Southeastern Philippines Dorm Hostel, though it is a part of the university it’s still so hard to get inside without any solid reason, well we understand the safety measures that is why we are happy to be there.  The seminar call time is around 8:00am but as we start it is already around 8:30am due to unnecessary things happened.  We were ask first to write our names on the given identification cards so that it would be too easy for the facilitator to call our names if there is an activity that needs student’s participation.  We formally start the seminar by a prayer followed by the singing of the national anthem.  The very first thing that the facilitator asked as is, “What do we expect in our interpersonal activity?”  Well, commonly we all replay the same answer which is we expect the interpersonal skills and seminar to be fun, lots of learning and memorable.  We are all excited because we know that the activities could help us.  Our facilitator’s second activity is to make us right the things that we promise to do during the activities.  Of course I wrote there that I will give my full cooperation and participation to every activity in the seminar so that I can really feel the seminar and gain a lot of experience.   I want to give my full cooperation because I don’t want to become just like a mediocre and do nothing, what might be the purpose of the interpersonal skills and seminar training if I will not give all my best to the program. 

After the pledging, we were group into 8 persons per group.  Each person in the group that was made is a total random people.  Some know each other but the majority is we don’t know the person, so starting from there is a great challenge to deal with because we will work together for the whole day of the seminar.  We have done a lot as the activity progress. 

One of our activities is to find our self in one of the characters printed on the given bond papers.  I chose there the one who doing the single hand stand on the branch of the tree.  It was a bit of me because as I reflect on the gesture of the character, it portrays balance, confidence and risk-taking.  I relate my chosen character to my course, as I begin my journey in Information technology course I can say the my starting years were not that good because I did not give my all, seems like I was only a mediocre and the results are a lot of failures.  An experiencing which I find not worth remembering and made me realized that I must change for the better.  I must become more courageous and studious in my course.  Information Technology is not a simple course; I must be a risk-taker in this very challenging course.  I have learned from my action that being a mediocre brings nothing but leads to your own failures.  I am glad to share that now for years I have no failing grade and wish to continue until I graduate, at least I have 20 more subjects left before I finish and graduate this course; it is quite a journey being enrolled in the University of Southeastern Philippines Information technology course.

I am glad that every activity that we made serves as the bridge to communicate with other students, because every activity requires a lot of talking and sharing with your team mates.  I have made a lot of friends during the activities in the morning session.  I also have the opportunity to introduce myself to my team mates and of course to the whole participants of the interpersonal skills and seminar.  I also had a lot of fun dancing those prepared dance video by our facilitator, “the skeleton dance” have marked in my mind because the dance steps were too funny and amusing.  I can see through the faces of my classmates that we all had a good time, our stresses from our school subjects have been released, we forgot everything that is happening in the outside world while we are doing the interpersonal skills and seminar, it is very relaxing inn there because we just have to participate, learn and most especially eat.  I want to thank our facilitator during that time because she is so pleasant and we can really share to her.  We took our lunch around 12:00noon and back before 1:00pm.  While having the lunch, I and my classmate have talk a lot of topic about the morning session, all were very happy about the seminar.

When we came back to the USeP Hostel, the facilitator saw that I brought a guitar and she asked me if I can play one song before the afternoon session starts.  Well it is my pleasure to perform so I play my favorite song which is entitled “I love you too much by David Gustavo” and I am glad that everyone liked it.  As we go on in our afternoon session, the facilitators distributed a bond paper that everyone must get one, before we do anything she instructed us on what to do with the paper.  She instructed that we must draw a simple illustration of our family members and at the center must be the table and we must also add symbols to each family members, it is up to us what would it be and it must be colored.  So we scatter and begun to work with our drawings.  I find it a little bit hard to put symbols on each family member that I have because they were all unique and we are all ten in our family and I am the youngest one.  So I decided that I will just minimize the symbols, as for my father I draw the tower as his symbol because obviously he is my refuge in so many things especially in love and money.  For my mother, I draw and great elixir as she was our source of great love and strength, a never fading love of a mother is like an elixir that gives strength to the mighty soldiers.  For my brothers, I draw a Spartan helmet because they were all strong and brave but have control on their actions, so behave but has a sense of humor when talking.  As for my sisters, I draw a bow and arrow because they were also has a great spirit but also have a great heart.  You can observe that I incorporate my family symbol with the warrior type symbols, well I have to say that my family is quite strong in personality but behave in a way that if you are not going to talk we will also not going to talk.  We all finish our drawings in about thirty minutes after that the facilitator asked us to go back to our sits and group ourselves into three person per group.  After we managed to have our groups, the facilitator asked us to share to our group mates of what is the meaning our drawing?  Each member was given 10 minutes each to share.  From each group mate that I listen to their sharing is I can really say that we can’t really judge a person in just one look, we can’t say a thing without listening first to their story.  A lot of student has been so happy on their outside appearances but the truth is they were struggling inside their hearts due to a lot of family problems they were facing.  I can really feel their struggles because as they share their tears were falling and I was moved by their stories of separations and broken families.  I am just so thankful that up until now I still have my parents and siblings sharing the same roof, because unlike my other group mates their parents were dead already and if not were broken already.  A lot of emotions were bursting during our sharing, everyone turned into serious-mode and I have a made an apology to one of my classmate whom we always thought that it is just ok to her that sometimes we make some fun with her because she really is a strong woman but after I hear her sharing I feel ashamed and guilty so I make a move to have an apology.  She is so strong in personality but the thing that we don’t know is, it is her defense mechanism to keep her weak heart that she gets from her broken family.  I am so glad that I have attended the interpersonal skills and seminar because this activity teaches us a lot about life.

As we go along the activity, we were task by our facilitator to go back to our first group which is the 8 members per group because there will be an activity that will test our talents.  Each group were asked to have a representative that will pick a single task, the task were dancing, commercial or advertisement, rapping, singing and acting.  I am very excited to do that task because the one that goes to our group is the rapping which is very favorable to me because I am a bit fond of making songs.  At the first minute of making the rap, I admit that I had hard time dealing with my group mates because the majority does not know how to rap or make a freestyle song so it was a great challenge.  We were given only a forty minutes rehearsal and everyone must have to participate.  I am glad that my group mates were taking my suggestions and also giving some additional suggestion that made our rap presentation.  During our performance, I was so happy because we really caught the attention of every audience, they were so shocked because they don’t know that my group mates can have the guts to rap and perform a song.  I am so blessed with my group mates, I can see the through team work, great things will happen.

We are so happy in all our activity, as for the closing ceremony, we made a bit of a “ritual”, we made a circle each one holding a candle.  We pray one by one saying all the things that we will do things that we will change and the things that we will remain to ourselves and after the prayer we must pass the light of the candle to the next person in our right.  The ceremony was done heartily, It almost take an hour before it was finish, everyone really took it seriously.  The activities were so amazing that teaches us to build friendship to everyone; the we must not just stick to our comfort zones.  After the prayer we shake hands each other and say “Hi I am Rondie, I can be your friend” the feeling is bursting because I am so happy that I have a new lots of friends.  As an ending ceremony, we sing the song “If we hole on together” the song to me now has a new meaning, the interpersonal skills and seminar gave it a whole new meaning.  I must thank the facilitator.

July 6, 2015 Technopreneurship 1 Meeting

What I like:

            The second meeting last July 6, 2015 is quite memorable for me because I was a bit late in the class of Mr. Gamboa’s Technopreneurship subject, it was actually started at exactly 8:00am in the morning and it was a total dilemma for me and also to my classmates in programming 3 because it has the same time of class with technopreneurship.  We were shock from the first meeting that we will be having the second meeting on Monday; we were bit in stressed on what to choose first.  So as our final decision, we follow our heart beats which is to go first in our Programming 3 class subject because there will be an online quiz worth fifteen points and it will be our second quiz for the Prelim stage of the subject.  After we finish the online quiz, we hurry running to the door of Computer Laboratory 1 where our Technopreneurship 1 was held.  We admit that we were a bit afraid to go inside the class because our facilitator Mr. Gamboa has already started the class and as we check the time, we were thirty-five minutes late in his class.  I and my classmates have in mind that we must prepare some performance because it is a protocol in our facilitator that if we are going to be late in his subject class then we must perform individually, to sing or to dance.  So I go in first then followed by y classmates, we go straight at the back seats because the front seats were all occupied already and then we sat for a moment only.  Our hearts is pounding because Mr. Gamboa was staring to us but we were prepared to do some crazy things in front, luckily Mr. Gamboa just asked us the question “are you one of the students who have their online quiz at the computer laboratory 2?” Of course we felt saved because he did not let us perform, I guess he was informed by our mayors that we have the quiz so he made an exception.  It was so funny to hear every time Mr. Gamboa will asked “who were still virgins in his class?” because it is some kind grin to hear but we understand or know what he is referring to which is who is those persons or students who is first timers under his class.  Mr. Gamboa is conducting this kind of activity which is to perform in front of the class so that we his students can build our confidence; Mr. Gamboa believes that this can help us to pitch our ideas without any fear in front of the big professionals or businessmen.  We his students cooperate to this kind of activity because we know in our seves that we must build our self-confidence because it is a big or a great weapon when it comes to presenting our ideas in technopreneurship contests.  Due to we were late on his class, we dealt with the consequence which is we don’t know what he discussed earlier in the class.  As the class go along, there are still a lot of students who were coming on his class and most of them were girls, so a true gentleman, I and my classmate Marijune, we offered out chairs to those girls which make us happy to see theme seat properly and listen to the discussion of our facilitator, but the trade off there is, all along the class lecture of Mr. Gamboa, I and Marijune where standing at the back seats.  But still we do our very best to listen on the important lecture of Mr. Gamboa about technopreneurship history and the factors that we must possess to be one or become one of the best successful technopreneurs or big successful businessman at the future.  So as I recall the first thing that I hear on the lecture is about Mr. Gamboa’s confession that he is not quite that good when it comes to coding but he knows fort-run programming which mades me say  awesome because I really thought that he was more focus on teach all about technopreneurship.  He said that he does not know object-oriented programming which is the trend type of coding nowadays like the C++, java, PHP, etc.  Mr. Gamboa told us the he will teach us on how persuade investors when it comes to pitching our ideas to them.  He stated that we must master the art of “Elevator Talk” because it can turn our lives to success or our door ways to success.  He stated that we must learn to persuade investors that our ideas were all good in just a matter of time specifically a minute or two.  If we master this kind of ability then we can be more effective when it come to pitching, it is what Mr. Gamboa told us on his class.

            Mr. Gamboa told us the history of technoprenurship in Davao City, together with his colleagues thinks of a place where technopreneurship will spread easily and a lot can join, so of course as they plan, they choose the universities.  We also learned that Mr. Gamboa and hie colleagues where having struggles during their starting days in introducing technopreneurship here in Davao City because some principal or Deans of colleges were not that interested on this new kind of education that talks about technology mixing to business.  But as we can observe now, technopreneurship is on its way to fame in every place of the Philippines.  Behind all the struggles in life, there is always something that will help us succeed in life, which is what I learned from Mr. Gamboa’s life in technopreneurship. 

            As I recall our lectures, Mr. Gamboa asked us the question “do you know what is an ecosystem?” of course all of us inside that room understand the concept of ecosystem but the follow up of Mr. Gamboa excites memore, it is about the “Ecosystem of  Technopreneurship”.  On biological aspect of the forest for example, ecosystem talks about the environment or the process of synchronized process happening in the whole earth.  But of course, the ecosystem that Mr. Gamboa is talking about is a different aspect because it will be tackling about the technopreneurship.  In the Technopreneurship ecosystem, there are many components that we should consider. It is called HELF. HELF simply means H for human resources, E for environment, L for Laws and Policies and lastly, F which stands for Financial resources which is very essential for a technopreneur.  These four factors were important in building our own kind of technoprenuership business at the future.  We must study this first so that we will not or should I say prevent any kind of failures in our plans or in our business.  So Mr. Gamboa have made a very clear explaination on this four factors in technopreneursihp world.  The Human resources are a very important component in the technopreneurship ecosystem because every technopreneur needs a way in which he or she could propose his or her product, how he or she could finance the start-up or a company, the researchers and developers are also very essential. So human resources are one of the important components in a technopreneur ecosystem.  It is a very simple concept of business that if we will have at the future a big company then we will need a lot of workers defending on the scale of production in your company.   The next factor is the “Environment”, well I guess that this is the key to make new ideas that will surely hit the market.  It is in our environment wherein we can see problems, for example in our communities, we technoprenuers should open our eyes and mind in finding problems inside the community because throught that, we technopreneurs could have the opportunity to male new ideas the will improve the meaning of life or the quality of every persons lives. The next factor is the “Law” and “policies”.  Of course every individual who deals with making business not only the technoprenuers should abide in the law when making any product.  We technopreneurs must make sure that we are making any kind of products that suits to the standards of the law and policies. We must ensure to the public that we are selling only good products.  Then the last factor in the ecosystem of Technopreneuurship is the “Financial Resources”. The financial resources are one of the most important components in Technopreneurship because money is needed when it comes building our business in technopreneurship.  Mr. Gamboa told us that there are people who were brand as “angels” who are willing to finance our ideas to become realities, the VC of the Venture Capitalist.  I am gald to know that there are groups of individual who are willing to support aspiring technoprenuers.  Though our facilitator Mr. Gamboa told us that all we need is to think of a great idea and then propose it to the investors then we will be good if it will be accepted because the investors will fund the project but we can’t deny the fact the we still need money for any other expenses that we will encounter along the journey of technopreneurship, this is the truth happening and this also applies to any other individuals who are making their ways to the top of success. 

            Along the lecture of Mr. Gamboa, I realized that I still have a lot of things to know in this world of technoprenuership.  Technopreneurship can make a difference in my life as well as to the lives of my classmate who also takes this subject under the guidance of Mr. Gamboa.  Our facilitator always emphasize the results of default mind set of every parents sending their child to school so that someday they will find a good job and be an employee forever and ever in the rest of their lives.  The default mind set of parents is like that but our facilitator wants us to break that default mind set the holding us back to meet success in life.  If we are going to practice and will never leave the default mind set then there will be no improvements in our lives, it is a common fact happening in the majority of Pilipino family.  Our facilitator always make example the mother who is working in Japan working in a place where in the lights are turning on and off or to be more specific, in a hostess bar dancing there all night just to have a money to send to his family left in the Philippines and provide the needs of his or her daughters study.  He added that the default mind set there might be the next the dancer who will follow the mother’s work is her daughter which made us all laugh.  Well if we extract his simple example about the default mind set, I can really say that this type of scenario is really happening especially in our country.  There are a lot of people in our country which choose dirty works rather than thinking of a way or planning steps on how they can lift up their life status without risking their own lives in other foreign land.  Just like what our facilitator said that if we will get sick in other foreign land then there will be no one there will take care of us.  What Mr. Gamboa was trying to teach us is the beauty of “Alternative Mind Set”.  Obviously it is the opposite of the default mind set the I have shared in the top, the alternative mind set suggest the instead of flying abroad to make fortune, why not stay in your mother land and then do anything to make your mother land improve.  Technopreneurship does not talk only to the success of the one who is proposing ideas and then will meet success, no, this will also give opportunity also to others who does not have a job.  We technopreneurs does not only make us succeed in life but also we could help a lot of people because while we make ideas, we are also giving opportunities to those jobless persons.  It is a wonderful cycle of the alternative mind set, the most beautiful part is you have the chance to pay back to where you really start; we could help Davao City improve more at the future through practicing the alternative mind set.

            Along the lecture of our facilitator, Mr. Gamboa put the movie the “3 Idiots” as an example of a mind blowing or mind set changing movie.  I believe that majority of the people have watched the movie, well we all know how the main characters change the way of the school processes in terms of dead lines or anything that pressures the students.  A lot of things have change inside the engineering school which also teaches them to think always outside the box.  We technoprenuers could learn a lot from the movie 3 Idiots that could help us build our skills.  Our facilitator has also tackled the two most brilliant minds in technological world who is Mr. Steve Jobs and Mr. Bill Gates who is the richest individual in the world now.  Well we all know the story of the movie “The Pirates of the Silicon Valley”.  We know how the late Mr. Steve Jobs have been fooled by Mr. Bill Gates actions so that he could overtake the fame of the Apple & Macintosh Company and introduce the “Microsoft Windows” which is a copy from the structure of the Apple’s iOS. But the point there is their genius minds in terms of technopreneurship world.  We all know that the late Mr. Steve Jobs is not that very good in terms of programming or building a device but what he has is the ideas that no one could think like he did.  We know how Mr. Bill Gates works but the point there is how he make plans that will surely bring success on his life.  Every technoprenuers in the whole world are challenge to surpass the achievements of these two technoprenuer tycoons, I am also one of the challenged people who is willing to take the risk to overcome poverty and meet success through technopreneurship.

            We technopreneurs should not let our ideas become wasted or copied by others who is always ready to take over our ideas.  One thing that Mr. Gamboa teaches us is to make sure that our ideas must become registered so that we could prevent future problems like plagiarism.  There are a lot of offices all over the country which are responsible in registering our ideas and gives or provide the license so that the products that came from the ideas to be commercialize in the market.  Our facilitator gives us a task which is to think of solid ideas that we can use to propose it at the future technoprenuership competitions which I find it hard at first but I getting used to it by now.  Our facilitator has made clear the instruction that we must think of an idea that has a big impact or the most important thing is the value proposition.  It is not enough to just think of an idea, what is important is to think of an idea to make meaning in people’s lives just like what Mr. Guy Kawasaki has said on his video clip.

What I like least:

            In our second meeting last July 6, 2015 at the computer laboratory 2, there are things or a topic that made me least like because I admit that I have learned a lot from that lecture and discussion by our facilitator Mr. Gamboa and a lot of things there that was discuss that opened my eyes to the reality happening in our country Philippines.  Well first I want to spoke out my observation in the class room or in the computer laboratory. The scarcity of space inside the computer laboratory which made some other student suffer, some will seat but there will be always some others that will stand along the 3 hours lecture due to out of space facility if the whole 50 plus students will enter, it made the computer laboratory not conducive for learning anymore because the students who were standing can’t focus anymore on listening much because they were tired of standing..  Well, I can’t blame anyone from this observation because I also don’t like to be the source of issue inside the college but I guess and believe that the Dean or the staffs know the struggles of the students.  I believe that our facilitator also does not like to be there because the air conditioning device can’t handle the number of student which is like sardines inside the computer laboratories.  As what Mr. Gamboa have said, “We are facing a Jurassic type computers” inside the computer laboratories of our college (Institute of Computing) but that does not matter because what is important is the students who has the will to learn and survive college in the famous Institute of Computing.  Well I should stop complaining about the facilities, I will just focus now on the things that I least like in our lecture last July 6, 2015 meeting in technopreneurship.

            Our facilitator tackled the gross income of every country here in Southeast Asia, including Japan, China, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines.  Our facilitator showed us the GNP or the annual national income of every country listed there in the chart or on his power point presentation.  So commonly, China has the highest income because of the man power and their way of living which is the concept of communism.  The Chinese men were also so disciplined when it comes to business; they were so stiff when it comes to spending money so that they can prevent any bankruptcy at the future of their business.  We know that the number of population in China are bigger that the number covered by their country, so they managed to have the one-child policy but still they have a large scale or have a lot of people causing to have more man power.  As we can see now  or observed in every market, the products there if we will observed where it was made, we can see that there are always a trade mark that it is “Made in China”.  It seems like the joke is true which is “God made the heavens and the Earth, and the rest is in China” well this is a fact, and in this reason, the China now became one of the most powerful countries.  In the country of Japan, well we all know how powerful they are in terms of high technology; they were one of the countries which is producing a massive number of technological products every year.  Their number of population is quite big or large but of course their national gross income every year is double in their number of population.  The size of Japan is not that big, we all know that their country starts from small also, the beauty of their strategy in gaining what they have now is they start building their foundation.  They harden their foundation first and what a beautiful result they are experiencing now.  Aside from technological products that they bring in the market; they were also one of the most beautiful countries when it comes to tourism, every year a lot of tourist book their flights straight to Japan.  Lots of people loving the country Japan because it has rich culture.  Also a lot of Filipino Overseas Filipino Workers have their jobs there for almost years or decades.  Japan has a rapid growth in terms of economy and wealth due to they have disciplined their selves and also the right leadership in their country.  Well Thailand is just quite the same as Indonesia but of course their national gross income every year is consistent and can sustain properly their national budgets.  They were just the same as Indonesia I guess, in terms of number of population.  Both of these two countries were too rich in culture which made them also sustain their economy at the average rate.  At the bottom of these countries that our facilitator have lectured to us last July 6, 2015 meeting, the Philippines has been consistent to be at the bottom of the list in terms of national gross income.  Well, if we observe or study how the things happened why the Philippines is struggling in terms of economy, we can see that we don’t have proper strengthening of our core foundations specifically in building first or strengthening first what we have and make it as a weapon to fight poverty that we are suffering now.  In our Filipino history, a lot of Filipino were trying all their best or everything just to go abroad and make a good fortune there to sustain the needs of their family.  A lot of Overseas Filipino workers have graduated from different bachelor courses like doctors, nurses, etc but still they choose to withdraw what they have studied in the university and have a low level job in a foreign land.  But we can’t blame them all; we all know what kind of life we have here in the Philippines.  If we look at the past or history, Philippines has been one of the top countries which is importing rice in different parts of Asia like Thailand, Indonesia and many more.  But now that is just all in the past, and the worst is we are now one of the countries which is buying rice from other countries, not also that, we are also buying other goods from other countries.  If we look at our products here in Philippines, we are so famous when it comes to the production of abaca plant.  We have a lot of products that we could produce from the abaca plant just like basket, ropes, bags and many more that could be commercialized in the market.  It is one of the products that the Philippines could give to the market, great viable products.  I can say that due to lack of strong foundation and a lots of corruption are the reasons why the Philippines has been erase in the list of powerful countries in terms of production in rice plants and other goods that could be exported from the other countries.  During the reign of President Marcos, we have the same money quality like the American people, dollars! We have cheap prices of food during his time but of course the trade off is his policy all over the country which is the Marshall Law.  A lot of people were complaining during his reign but also there are still some people who like the economy status of the country during President Marcos time.  A lot of corruption happening in our country in this very moment, I am glad that there were already criminals and corrupt people were in-prison now in due to their faulty actions.  It is so sad to realize that we are not improving, we are still buried in the hands of poverty, one of the reasons why a lot of fresh graduates being in a hurry to find job slots in a foreign land.  Fresh graduates grab every opportunity that they could get so that they can give money to their parents.  Some of them graduated as a doctor but they grab the job of being a domestic helper.  It is sad to realize that only few people in our country (specifically the corrupt politicians and powerful people) were receiving all the money, and the poor are still so poor, no life improvement.  Well we can’t blame the investors that they will not invest easily here in the Philippines especially in Mindanao.  We all know how Mindanao becomes a war zone for decades.  There are so many rebels that threaten the investors to come here in Davao City because they are afraid that their life will be in danger if they will come here in Mindanao.  It is sad that it become the default mind set of investors from other countries.  But we are thankful that we have a powerful mayor that has changed the perspectives of investors here in Mindanao most especially here in Davao City which is the center of economy and industry here in Mindanao.  Thanks to our beloved Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

            Our facilitator Mr. Gaamboa emphasize the importance of alternative mind set, that we have to spread this type of mind set so that everyone in our country will improve their status of life.  The alternative mind set suggests that we must help back or pay back where we came from.  During Mr. Gamboa’s lecture, he made as an example one of his past student in information technology which is now an overseas Filipino worker in the country of Japan that she was too eager to go abroad.  Mr. Gamboa is advising her that she must have to pay back to where she came from, Davao City.  The most common scenario happening in our country now is, a lot of graduates were studying so hard to go abroad, find a fortune and help their family.  There is no wrong but there is a big problem that Mr. Gamboa told us from that kind of scenario.  Yes those graduates were helping their family sustain the needs but they are not helping their own country.  Mr. Gamboa added that it would be nice that those graduate would start first here in Davao City.  They should have thought of ways on how to help Davao City first.  They could have been one of the pioneering technopreneurs here in the Philippines if they just listen to the advises of Mr. Gamboa.  Mr. Gamboa added that he still have contact with her former student and keep on reminding on her student that she still have a debt to be pay in the city of Davao.  It would be happier if she will start business here in Davao City.  Technoprenuership could transform not only the life of the one who proposes the idea but also those people that will become the employees during the mass production of the products or devices.  In every successful technopreneurs, they will need a lot of talented workers or employees, smart peoples and hard-working people.  We all know how the Filipino workers perform their every task; it comes with great hard work.  That is why we are very famous in every country in terms of work performance.  So if those technopreneurs will start building or create new works here in the Philippines then a lot of Filipino who is jobless will get enough works and can sustain their family needs.  I am so glad that I am close enough to finish this five thousand words reflection in our second meeting in technopreneurship subject.  We can make changes in this country or in any other country if we start engaging in technopreneurship.

            I want to recognize the hard work of our technopreneurship 1 facilitator Mr. Gamboa for doing his best to expand the technopreneurship all over the country starting here in Davao City.  He wants Davao City to become the center of technopreneurship here in Davao City.  I want to recognize all of his sacrifices to build a good foundation of technopreuership here in Davao City.   As he told his journey in spreading the good news of technopreneurship I was inspired.  I said to myself that I must listen to this man (Mr. Gamboa) because everything he is lecturing or teaching always talks about money, how to make money and how to help other people.  It is a wonderful example, a model to those students who wants to rise from poverty and help other people.  I admit that I have learned a lot of things in every meeting that we have in Technoprenuership 1. 

            Along the lecture, Mr. Gamboa asked us a question, “How will you evaluate yourself as a technopreneur?”  I was a bit ashamed of myself because I know that I still have a lot of suck-up ideas but I am willing to take the challenge of technopreneurship which is to produce unique or fresh ideas that could improve the quality of life.  I have learned to take risk so I don’t have any reason to turn back now.  I want to recognize how our facilitator Mr. Gamboa salutes as for being a risk-takers because he said that from the moment we enrolled in this course which is Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, we are already a risk-takers because the challenge in this course is in a high level.  Well it is too late for me to realized that but I have no regrets enrolling in this course because I know that this will help a lot at the future, the future of augmented reality.

            After all the lectures and discussion, I have learned that whatever mind set we have whether the default mind set or the alternative mind set, it will always defend on the mind of the person on what path he will choose.  Because we don’t know what will happen at the future, there are a lot of factors that could change the mind of a student especially nowadays that there are a lot of temptations that could easily turn the minds of the youth into nuts and dumb.  But now that I have enrolled in technoprenuership and will learn everything about it, I want to follow the path of Mr. Gamboa took which is to help his family and other people I simply want to continue his legacy.  I know that along the way there will be a lot of obstacles and problems because there will be standards that we need to follow on producing good products so I am making myself ready for that.  There is no turning back now, I must never surrender.  This is for my family and for the people of the republic of the Philippines.  I want to become one of the successful technoprenuership someday, and will make jobs for all the people of Davao City, I will make sure that this will be not just a dream, I will do it with the help of our Lord God Almighty.  I want to thank our facilitator Mr. Gamboa for everything especially for introducing us in the world of technopreneurship.