Fieldtrip Overview:
Let’s start by defining first what fieldtrip is, fieldtrip is a journey or rather a school trip wherein students are having a trip outside the university or school’s campus. It is basically practiced to showcase some information coming outside the wall or promissory of the school for students. The main purpose of conduction fieldtrips and seminars is basically to let students learn more, to critically observe things, to experience a different learning environment and to have an unusual kind of interaction. This method or approach of teaching quality learning to students had been very helpful for them to grow.
Frankly it was my first time having a fieldtrip outside the city - it was like more of interesting rather than exciting. There are also some first timers in the group, and all are excited of what is the outcome of the fieldtrip. Well as being defined, there are really lots of enjoyable things to learn and discover in joining fieldtrips. Amazingly things went right; accommodations are good, services are fine and we’ve caught up each of our company seminars, meetings or appointments. Had heard a rumor about the last year’s fieldtrip and seminar, and it wasn’t that good though, however each side had some advantage and disadvantage. The field trip held last year, wherein some of my classmates joined had started and ended a bit chaotic because of some delays, but more exciting and jolly since there are couple of friends to be with. It might have been because of their numerous populations that companies could not accommodate each of them well. And also because of the numerous fieldtrip participants, a higher percentage of delay caused by a fellow participant is of an elevated risk. At our part, since we’re outnumbered by them because unfortunately only few students could attend and participate at the fieldtrip, we are lucky because companies could accommodate us well and could cater each of our questions without a hurry of answering it. And since the crowd is not that big, lecturers could impart their knowledge to us the best and comfortable way they can with additional joke cracking to keep the interaction alive.
The trip had gone somehow smooth. Itineraries are already prepared to serve as the basis on which and where to go first and next. Time had already been calculated and managed to ensure a good flow of things. It’s like most of the things had been well prepared and anticipated. Starting from day 1 down to the last day of the trip is already scheduled, and each company had their own slot. At day 1, a direct visit to the prestige company of PLDT and then a quick trip for a visit at the SPI Servisoft. The whole day 2 was spent for the most awaited y4it held at the University of the Philippines or UP. Day 3 with the Flour Company and right after was the visit to DOST where a museum or collections of important part of the Filipino – Science History could be found. And day 4 at the Social Security System or SSS and then a visit to Exist Global Company. It was the last day for company visiting since the remaining day 5 was already allotted to have the shopping spree, leisure and having fun (maybe the day we’ve all been waiting for, to ease the stress of pulling ourselves in bed to wake up early each day). These known companies had been a part of our Fieldtrip wherein each of them had showcased variety of helpful information for us participants.
Each company shared different topics, had introduced us to some technologies, guiding us a tour to their company and showing each of the fundamental departments that serves as the main foundation of their company, like their network management team, editorial, database managers, programmers, content writers, designers and even the room that contains their servers which contains various data and plays a vital role for the company. Multiple topics and information and knowledge are being fed to us each day and no one could avoid rating the topics or rather the presenter of the topic for some are interesting, caught our attention while some are just boring like having their reviews or reports in a power point presentation, reading them like as if they were really not into it in their career as an IT professional. Even though, still they had managed to impart us some knowledge which could be considered as a present from them to us.
To sum it up, although some or even few of the companies mentioned had a flaw with their sharing and presentations, each tour and visit is considerably grateful and much or highly appreciated. For the knowledge and time they had spent and shared with us, and for cheering us to continue with what we had started for, I thank them and owe them a lot. And for the chance to participate in the fieldtrip, it is a great pleasure to be a part of the event and to witness and be showered with the knowledge conveyed by everyone.
Day 1
A visit to PLDT
This is the very first day of our fieldtrip. After packing things up and having hours of air flight, we were urgently fetched by a bus to deliver us directly to our first company visit at the company of PLDT or the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company. Despite of suffering from jet logs, we were delivered at the company to start and follow the scheduled flow of our trip itinerary. Now to start with, PLDT is one of those large Tele communications Company who gives service and supports communications here in the Philippines. In fact, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company or the PLDT is the largest Tele communications Company in the Philippines. They offer variety of services from fixed lines, wireless, up to technology and information technology. Services mentioned above are the main services offered by the company to its valuable consumers.
As we were toured by a staff to the hall of PLDT and introduced unto us the company’s history, from the oldest form of communication and telephone to the newest technology including the wireless and internet services that we or almost all people are enjoying now. Base on the company’s history, telephone and communication users in the past are just only a few ranging from thousands but as services went good and affordable, lots and lots of users embraced these form of communication wherein it had covered the most islands of the Philippines. As a company, PLDT had also undergone some reconstructing which made the company robust and running ‘til the present period.
After the company tour, we had been given the chance to have a meeting and conversation with one of their veteran networking experts in the company. So basically, this is the part where I liked the most in visiting and spending my time at the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company PLDT. The veteran networking expert lectured and introduced to us some of their ways, the company’s basic foundation and also he explained why internet connections and even text messages sometimes fail while the weather is suffering from a bad rainy season. So, from what that veteran networking expert of PLDT explained, I had learned that the PLDT’s way to earn an income is to sell cables and wires. Selling cables and wires to some consumers that would connect a communication tool or telephone from one side to the other side, basically some entrepreneurs who want to manage their business with multiple branches in an easier and efficient way. He introduced us some ways and manipulation to ensure a good flow of connection, wherein he mentioned something like a dual stream where if the main stream suffers from congestions or any traffic, the connection will be redirected to the backup stream to have a continues flow. It is just some of their ways to implement flow and traffic control. Also, he had mentioned about a certain part inside a wire or cable in which connections flow that plays an important role in connection with the company services, because without which, there will be no medium for the connection to run through. The most interesting part is the explanation for the late messages and weak connection when a bad weather is ongoing. When there is rain, literally connection disperses. It is because of the raindrops that affect or destroys the connection which instead of going directly it would take another path which makes its travel time longer.
For the very first company visit, it goes well and fine. The lectures provided were great and so far there’s nothing I didn’t like about the company. Although we suffered from shortage of time, facts, ideas and knowledge fed to us were stored in our minds through interactive conversations.
A visit to the SPI Servisoft
The second company we visited for the first day of fieldtrip in manila is the SPI Servisoft Company. SPI is a communication and Information Technology company somehow or somewhat related to PLDT. SPI supports and offers services like cost-effective business solutions, software creation and etc.. The company staff led us to a tour around the company and took us to the different areas inside the company.
As far as I could remember, one of the lecturers talked about business solutions, the other went to the topic of using a programming language, and the other one talked about his field the technical support service I think. So let’s take it one at a time, for the business solutions they had variety of effective ways to help a business improve its work efficiency and rating in the economical industry. One of the SPI Company’s programmer talked about using I think it was .net, or something like c#. He shared his experiences, like his past of being fascinated and using PHP but ended up using other programming language. So it’s like explaining to us that we really don’t know what’s were going to deal with when we will be indulge in a company. And the other one explain his field which is the technical support, which according to him has tiers and each tier level has their own specialties. Problems occurrence and its difficulty will decide which tier it will be taken to.
Frankly, I didn’t learn a lot from them, but let me give credit to the company tour. Don’t know if I couldn’t just fix my mind for listening mode or I’m not just simply interested with the topics they had been talking to.
Day 2
A visit to UP for Y4it
For day two (2), we had our next adventure and spent the whole day at the prestigious University of the Philippines or commonly known as the UP. And by the way, University of the Philippines or UP is a high class university in the country which produces high quality and competitive graduates in different aspects and fields. UP is where Y4it was held, and it was a good idea to celebrate or hold our major fieldtrip simultaneously in sequence with the Y4it. Computer science and Information Technology representatives coming different schools and universities from the different regions inside the country had been gathered at UP just to stay, witness and be a part of the celebration of Y4it. At the event, there were multiple and numerous topics being shared which were categorized and were split to different houses. Some topics could be heard from the Film Theater, some are from the Bahay ng Alumni and still there are 3 more other sites. At Y4it, there are IT and technological experts who joined and shared their parts to help rise the quality of students in the Philippines. Couldn’t talk about the entire topics covered in the event for we have to choose unto where and which station to stay, which basically depends on our point of interests.
So while I was reading the sheet of paper where the whole Y4it program was listed, a topic about gaming caught my attention and it was held I think at the University’s Film Theater. So after the bus arrived and dropped us on a dropping area, I together with my classmates and some other participants urgently started walking the path to the university’s Film Theater to have our lines and reserved a seat for the coming lecture. So there it was, several minutes later the lecture had started. The topic is more about the new technologies and gaming. One of the speakers I think was actually still a graduating student (didn’t know where school did he came from) and he talked about the windows phone which is absolutely powerful but too expensive. He boasted some of the phone features and qualities which made it cool and awesome. A speaker also shared to us his experience in the field. According to him, he had been working for some huge companies outside the country and had been a part of some successful projects. He taught us some important things to take note when facing the industry through his sharing.
So for the second day of our fieldtrip, what didn’t I like? Actually, as mentioned there are multiple sites inside the university’s campus offering different topics and each site is composed of different students sharing common interests. Now, let me just focus on the Film Theater. Actually I was a bit unhappy of what I had heard when the speakers are talking, as I were reading the catalogue or the paper containing the orders and schedules of the event, I read something about on teaching on how to build a game – just something like that which caught my attention. I thought being inside the Film Theater and taking time listening to them could give me literally some ideas on how to build a game, or even just simply the basics of doing and building it. All I heard was just practical life sharing and endorsing new innovations of technologies, which is still great but didn’t match what I really expected to have or hear to. But honestly I wasn’t given the chance to go inside the Film Theater after leaving there for a lunch break for as the gate keeper told us that there’s no vacant space left inside the theater so we had just wandered around collecting freebies and stuffs from different companies who also participated the event.
Day 3
A visit to Fluor Company
For the day three, our itinerary is to have a trip and visit the Fluor Company. It was a huge company who deals with constructions, engineering, procurement, and networking and information technology. And by the way, Fluor is a one big company with branches scattered throughout each side of the world. In fact they boast to have their next business branch somewhere in Cebu which is known as a hub for professionals and IT experts. And just to add up, they are the only company who’d fed us with some heavy snacks. Lol!
As we entered the company, the company HR greeted us as a form of a formal welcome. She guided us to a conference room where a long but informational presentation is already awaiting. The HR started the talk and asked us about how do we fix our resumes, and so we did, we told her of our ways and she also shared her way. As an HR manager, she is as expected expert and had more experience in terms of dealing with these kinds of things. And according to here, the most effective approach to have a higher chance of being hired is through the presentation of resumes, HRs or businessmen by any chance wouldn’t take a look about the personal background of the applicant but it’s more on the applicant’s working experience, history, highlights and educational background. So base on these ideas, she mentioned that in every resumes, we must consider putting those things together with our personal vital information and career objective at the very first page of the resume to catch the attention of the possible reader. The next speaker lectured about the importance of having a strong team. The speaker tackled about the 6 things a successful team has in common, like the: team’s purpose, process, communication, involvement, commitment, and the very important part the trust. The speaker explained to us that no matter how weak a member of a team was, the team will always be there for that person, to help that person grow, mature and learn what he or she needs to learn in order for him or her to be successful and for the team to accomplish each tasks granted to them. Helping each other and growing as a team is the main key for the team’s success. The next part is the lecture about networking which tackles about defense systems, routing and communicating.
The best part of having visiting the Fluor Company is the wonderful tour, where we were guided by some of their experts and explaining us deeply each and every purpose and some general things to be shared in a specific are, like the time we were brought to a room full of servers, hubs and other things wherein an expert shared unto us some important matters like the role and importance of maintaining the humidity, moisture and proper temperature inside that room.
So what I didn’t like at Fluor? Nothing, because the company is just really great, their accommodating, had accompanied us and had really spent good time teaching us some pretty good lessons.
A visit to DOST
DOST or the Department of Science and Technology here in Philippines as we already know is a government organization established to conduct studies, researches and innovations in science life and as well as in technology. Different innovations through the help of science had been implemented by the Department of Science and Technology in the country to help the economy and industries rise.
Actually, our visit at DOST had only lasted for only few hours since they could only offer us one speaker for that day. The speaker started his talk about the current status of IPv4 or the IP version 4. IP is a unique address of a computer set to serve as the computer’s ID while surfing over the internet. Through IP addresses, data and other vital information stored within the computer could be revealed to hackers when they have the address. This is why there are some business related spams being generated through mails using our own emails. So going back, he mentioned about the shortage or the IPv4 running low and the near adoption of the IPv6. He told us some facts and details regarding some businesses already reserving their own domains for future purposes.
Besides from being alarmed of what the speaker had mentioned and for a bit sharing, I haven’t learned that much but instead drawn out my attention to their museum where some culture and scientific inventions made by Filipinos where preserved.
Day 4
A Visit to SSS
SSS or the Philippine Social Security System is an organization in the country that protects the people’s well-being from the social and economic distresses. Dealing with SSS as far as I am concerned is like a future investment in which any people who had been their member for specific years could avail their services.
SSS could be availed in different approaches, if the applicant is currently working on a company, the applicant and employer will share and equal contribution as a monthly payment for the applicant’s membership. And the other one is through voluntary, in which it is more expensive because there’s no employer who could share half of the payment that should be done. But anyway, being a member of SSS has numerous advantages like being insured with assistance in misfortunate times and taking a loan to start with something up.
Besides the importance of having the SSS in the near future, that’s all I had learned from them. So basically visiting the company is not that time or cost-benefit for me.
A visit to Exist Global
Visiting Exist Global is the last company visit we’ll be doing in our fieldtrip. So anyway, who’s Exist Global? What kind of company are they? Well, exist global was founded in the year 2001 and is a product development firm who develops interactive web applications, mobile applications, software and business solutions, enterprise software and etc.. Exist Global is a company of the type software provider who promotes the aid of open source tools as a way of building or creating a system. Because they are more up to using open source tool, programmers within the company are centered on using or more on using Java and Ruby on Rails.
One of the things I learned in exist global is the topic of “Companies Hire Depending on the Business Plan”. 1.) Companies hire new applicant because they want to introduce new products and services and they want to find a new man who’s suitable for the job. 2.) Companies hire new applicants because they want to grow their current team, to make it stronger through adding manpower. 3.) Companies hire new applicants simply because they want to cut some costs, because veterans are paid at a higher percentage so they’d rather hire and train a new one which is basically of cheaper cause for the mean time. 4.) To increase leadership, they might try to find an individual who’s capable of managing a leading a team to its success, and the last thing, 5.) Social Media.
Day 5
The last day of stay was allotted for the extended shopping spree, wandering around and having fun. We had jumped over the Mall and start to budget our remaining money and that’s where we learned the art of asking for discounts.
Appendix
The entire trip was fun and enjoyable, in the end several information, ideas and knowledge were shared and given to us by the companies we visited. The idea of taking the fieldtrip simultaneously with the celebration of Y4it is indeed great. I have only some concerns which I think might help the next batches who will be taking the fieldtrip, one is about picking the right company who could cater and share valuable information and knowledge to everybody. Because as mentioned above, it is a bit disappointing to end up not that satisfied enough of the lectures and sharing provided by a certain company. And the other one is about ensuring that the company could handle certain number of students. Because as what we had experienced, it is likely great to be in few numbers rather than in a pack of hundreds of students, else they could be broken to batches so that the crowd can be controlled hence ensuring that the students can focus and understand each lecture.
But all in all, in went somehow just fine. Thank You!
