Monday, July 28, 2008

Being an IT Professional

So fast is the change of technology that those who do not anticipate its direction will find themselves obsolete and becoming irrelevant! As the saying goes, today’s breakthrough can easily become tomorrow’s history. With the advancements in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), it is just appropriate to accept, learn and adapt to these changes.

I consider myself as an IT professional for I am a Computer Science graduate and I earn a living in Information Technology – that is being a College Prof. for the Computer Studies department of the University of Mindanao and a Software Developer for outsourcing companies here in Davao.

Being an IT Professional, we are in the forefront of this IT revolution taking place in the world over. Gazillions of opportunities await us. Nowadays, I believe that we are the envy of other professions and the source of inspiration for upcoming IT professionals. Small wonder why the number of students taking up IT related courses increased exponentially. Moreover, many professional are also taking up IT course as their second course. All of this sounds great but there is a twist; since much of the things that we learned in the past either from the lessons we had during our college days or from the IT books that we had read are becoming archaic, the advantage that we have for being an IT Professional could easily disappear. I remember the story “The Tortoise and The Hare” wherein the Turtle beats the Hare in a foot race – a game that supposed to be dominated by the latter but the Hare’s complacency and arrogance allow the tortoise to win the race. Being an IT Professional on this fast becoming IT-driven world is like Russia playing in Chess Olympics, China competing in “Ping-Pong”, Koreans playing in World Cyber Games – formidable and a sure winner. But being a winner is not that easy, it takes a lot of continuous practice, hard-work, dedication, adopting new strategies and outmost desire to succeed. Furthermore, according to Michael Porter on his book - Competitive Advantage of Nations, to achieve competitive advantage, one should innovate and upgrade – a concept suited not only for nations and industries, but for IT Professionals as well.

Skill Builder DX Assessment Results

Module #1
Date taken : 07/10/2008
Score : 73 of 84 <86%>

Module #2
Date taken : 07/11/2008
Score : 83 of 86 <96%>

Module #3
Date taken : 07/14/2008
Score : 161 of 184 <87%>

Module #4
Date taken : 07/24/2008
Score : 152 of 176 <86%>

Module #5
Date taken : 07/27/2008
Score : 112 of 127 <88%>

Module #6
Date taken : 07/27/2008
Score : 207 of 230 <90%>

Module #7
Date taken : 07/23/2008
Score : 125 of 145 <86%>