Week 10: Time for Goodbyes... for Now

I will miss this. Yes, I am finally leaving the office. This had to happen at some point. Honestly, I didn't want to leave. I just have to, for the sake of studies. I learned a lot of things here though. 


This place taught me to be resourceful and time-conscious. This place also gave me new bonds to old friendships and new friends altogether. I love the people I worked with for the past 2 months and I really hope they would still be them. In order to celebrate that bond, I left them a parting gift:

Yeah. I love the people in the picture (and those who weren't there) and I sincerely hope I could come back to these people sooner or later. Words aren't enough to express how much I love these guys. Thank you for the memories! Goodbye... for now.

Week 9: Bread and Butter of Things

(I am sorry for delaying this post. I have a lot of things in my mind and this kinda slipped out. I still post this one right now, right? Yeah, I guess so.)


Lately, I only work twice a week because there is a minimum requirement per week and I don't need to go there everyday. That doesn't mean I have no stories to tell though.


These days were confusing to me. They always show me that eventually I have to make a decision. A decision that would dictate the course of my (hopefully) final year in college. Everything in the office really makes me want to stay. Mark asked me that same question on one day of this week and I couldn't answer it at first. Hopefully I would have the bread and butter of things sorted out before the day I really decide.


So on the same day I decided to ask my good friend Kevin about what I should do with this. And no, we didn't drink Bo's Coffee, but Starbucks. I told him my dilemma that I'm in and the advantages and disadvantages on the decision. In the end, I decided that I should leave because the uncertainty of the major research project we have to do is so big that I should focus more on it. I know that I'll miss it, but I have to leave in order to graduate in peace.


So yeah, the day after that, I told Mark that I'm leaving and that discussion ended. I was finally at peace but I AM REALLY GONNA MISS THE PEOPLE THERE. I love them so much. Hopefully, I can come back and actually work there. AGAIN, I'm gonna miss them. :(


That's it for this week. Next week may be my last OJT post. Sad but true.

Week 8: The One-Day Showcase

Pizzaaaaa! :D

(So yeah, the OJT post I had last week WAS NOT the last. I decided to continue on with this journey as long as I can. I may have to come up with a decision to go on with the program or not. Well, it's up to me.)


Second day of class. The only class I was excited about on this day was iOS. The rest pretty much feels like neutral to me. Good thing the Economics teacher didn't show up. Due to that, I was able to get to work early today. It was a different feel than those times during summer vacation because the school was filled with people. The surroundings were very vibrant and full of life. I actually thought that was a nice description! Hahaha. Back to the story, I went in and did the usual stuff. Turned on the computer that had Ubuntu in it. When I tried to run the thing I made, it didn't work! NOOOO! I kept my panic within and tried to find the root of it. After finding it, fixing it was the thing in my mind. Didn't actually help me until lunch came.


Lunch was surprisingly amusing on this day. Since I had no classmate to go with, I went with the "employees" (I said that because they recently graduated, but they really are) to Green Derby. Eating with them was fun, especially the time when the fruits were out and they were fighting over it. That never gets old.


After that, we went back and I still had that problem of fixing the thing I did, (which I will NEVER tell what it is for obvious reasons) and led to me to a conclusion that I have to re-do things again. The difference is that I already knew what to do, so it only took me a few hours to finish it and update the document to reflect the changes.


The main attraction of this day, however, is the Pizza! :D Since our boss was about to go back to Singapore, he treated us with pizza. The choices were between Alberto's or Pizza Hut. Due to the value proposition being higher with Alberto's, it was chosen. And after more than an hour...

The pizza came! :) Yes, I was asked by them to take a picture of the delivery guy because they knew about my blog. Well, at least there's exposure lately unlike in the past. I had to promote this a lot though. Anyway, back to the pizza.


After the event in the picture happened, pizza was spread everywhere! There were two kinds given to each team: one was sort of like "Garden Fresh" pizza while the other one was a "Sisig" pizza, dedicated to one of the Filipinos' favorite foods. They both tasted great, but I specifically like the Garden Fresh pizza because I find the Sisig one underwhelming for my taste. Regardless, it's free. Haha.


They were so ecstatic about the pizza that they wanted to take pictures of it! Again, it was because I'd post about it, which I am doing. LOL to the world.

I was really surprised on how much we've bonded for the past 2 months (approximately) and realized that this was something that I would remember deeply. I just hope that whatever decision I make, I would only hope that I won't regret it.

And yes, this "week" only happened in a day because Monday didn't really count as a significant thing. 'Til next week.

2: The Decision

(As we approach the end, read the back story of "Final Days of Summer". It should help you give answers to the reasons such as why there's a number in the title. Come on, guys. Read it! Haha.)


As I started my day, I had a question in my mind that actually dates back from the end of last semester:

Can I actually survive the final year?

I got really confused right until that very moment. By the way, this post has a symbolic connection with the picture. That was taken last weekend when I was experiencing that crimson Saturday and another food trip.

Back to the topic, I knew that I would get my answer at the end of the day. So as usual, I spent this day in the office pondering on this question. While I was there, I was creating a document for what I did so that other people will be able to replicate what I did in the office. Hopefully, it will work smoothly as I finish it by the deadline. I try to sway away from thinking about this but then it came to me.


How did I get to this point anyway? Didn't I learn to survive every single hardship I've faced? I remember the motto from Don Bosco: ARDUA NON TIMEO, which translates to I Fear No Hardships. I survived through Science High. I made it through three years in college. What's the point of being afraid now?


When the day ended, our boss asked if I'll continue on with the on-the-job training or not. I told him that I'd have my decision by Wednesday. So, for the answer to that question above:

YES.

2 days left. The fun days come to an end.

Week 7: Crunch Time

Happiness can take any shape, kind, or form, as long as it does its purpose. This week, different kinds of happiness happened in the office from my perspective.


First was tons of surprises. Roger actually treated us a giant pizza! No, not those 100" ones for the Guinness, but a 36" pizza that is widely available. The thought of it happening is really nice. Despite Clyde making fun of him about it, he actually took it seriously. In that note, Clyde felt guilty. Oh well, at least we had food on that day.


After days of finding ways to make it, I finally accomplished my task! It was so fulfilling to finish something that has a vital part in the project. The best part of it was I did it on my own! I only had Google by my side. It surprised me that I was able to do it.


I am seriously running out of things to say about this 7th week on the OJT. This is probably because this is the last week I am freely able to do such. Next week will be one hell of a roller coaster ride for me and I sincerely hope that everything will turn out well. I'm ready for you, 4th year. Bring it!

Week 6: Stress and Its End

Stress hasn't been friendly to me lately. It made me sleep at 1am at most days. It was really hitting my body at that point. I hoped that someday, I could kick back, relax, and think about fun times. Then, last Friday happened.


The week before, our boss decided that we should watch Men in Black 3 in order to de-stress ourselves because we're going overdrive in what we do in the coming week. (Good luck to us.) It sounded fun so we decided to go along with it. Seriously, who wouldn't?

Before we left for Ayala, we decided to plan where to eat. At first, there was some conflict. It was between Mooon Cafe and KFC. We ended up with going to Mooon because the KFC people were convinced with the food that's there. HAHA. I just remembered that there's a mallwide sale in Ayala so most of the restaurants there were full of people. We tried searching for other options, but the final decision was to stay and wait for Mooon Cafe to have spaces.


After that, it was our turn to get in. We ate a LOT of food when we were there, and there was free drinks, like the one you see up there. According to some of my officemates, this contains vodka. LOL. While eating, we needed to make another decision. It was either to push through with the movie or go bowling in SM. Most of us wanted to go bowling, so bowling it is!

It was SO FUN! We arrived there at 9:30pm because of that delay with the food but it's okay because we got the place all to ourselves! (Well, most of it.) We did 3 games each. Two of them were 3 people/lane and the last was 1 on 1. My first game really sucked, because I had to get used to it again. The last time I went bowling was when it was my first year in college. When I got the hang of it, I got a spare! After years of not playing, that should be considered something, right? (I really must suck if it doesn't) Despite that, it was A LOT OF FUN. Fun is even an understatement for me. I hope something like this will come by again.


Thanks for the fun memories we had on this day guys! Hope you feel the same way too. ^_^

Team RTS 2012 ^_^

Week 5: Grace Under Pressure

(Sorry for the late post! Had a lot of things to do last weekend.)


(No actual information of what I do will be posted here, for obvious reasons.)

It was only this week that I felt so much pressure in this on-the-job training. We all had individual things to do in order to achieve a bigger thing. Despite the fact that I love programming, it gets tiring to just stare at the monitor for a long period of time. It was only until Thursday that our boss decided to put life in the office by playing some music.


I was asked by him to play music in order to liven up the mood. It actually felt soothing, joyful, and disturbing at the same time. This was because whenever I think of a funny song, I would search it on Spotify and play it! Shock and laughter came about and despite the pressure we felt, I think we handled it great with what we're doing.


Shortly before I left the office, our boss asked me to do a vital part in the project. The thing is, I am the only one working on it, and I sincerely hope I could reach the deadline. It really feels like life's hanging in a balance. Good luck to me then.

Week 4: It's ON!

(Due to contract reasons, I cannot relay details on information on what I actually do.)

Weeks have gone by, and I thought I would feel discontent that I got an OJT this early. That has come to an end, as someone important arrived later in the week.

It's our boss.

Back in April when I was still looking for a company to take my OJT (and almost was about to give up), I was in school because I was asked to go to the office/Room 470 for an orientation of the company and what they do. Satchel was with me, so at least the nervousness I felt before going in was Sir Alfon explained what type of programming we could do. After which, we were already accepted. I was surprised, since there wasn't a proper interview of some sort. I think this is probably because of recommendations from our teachers.

Back to this week, he arrived bringing interesting stuff that would be useful to what we're doing. He also gave us advice on how we maintain the passion we have for what we do. My favorite one is:

FIND BALANCE.

This means a lot to me since this has always been my secret, although at times I tend to overplay. If I feel like doing something productive, I do it diligently. Hopefully, I don't lose my relaxed self as I enter the new semester because it's gonna be tougher from that time on. Until then, calm down.

Week 3: Color Me Confused

I actually expected a lot from this week. I thought that someone important would arrive in the office. I thought I would be more productive.

I couldn't be more wrong.

This week destroyed all most of my expectations, but I liked what happened instead of them. The only thing I actually did in those that I listed was being productive. I was able to create a simple program through the language that we're currently using. It felt fulfilling that I finally did something useful. I was also able to print a page through that same program. I know, I know, it feels so shallow, but it just means something to me simply because I'm in an internship for a company.

In between the times we did other important things, some of us decided to play games! When they actually said that, I was excited since it felt like we're having a bond between us. The day before we started playing, that's when we told ourselves to do so and bring some games stored in external hard drives. After which, LET THE GAMES BEGIN! 


The games we played were Left 4 Dead 2 and Counter Strike, (I know, this is old) two of the games that I want to play with friends. We had a great time, noise was certainly went through the roof, and happiness went all around the room.


One thing that happened this week was that people were wearing colorful shirts! It was really a visual delight since whichever color was worn by many people, it would be called the color of the day. 


Hopefully, seriousness will FINALLY be felt next week.

Week 2: What To Do

I kinda thought that we would be reading more things during this week.

YES and NO.

YES, because we really did at the start of this week. One reading I did had something to do with that word in the picture. (and they say a picture's worth a thousand words, HA!) It showed me that assets are one of the things a company must really consider because a lot of things can happen to them like it getting outdated and needs to be replaced by a newer model.

NO, because later in the week, we had to learn more new stuff that we have to do for the company. I always wanted to learn new things and this was one of those times. We were learning lots of new stuff, especially today when we laughed hard at how simple it is compared to what we did before that. 

I have to get ready though because important people are coming soon. GOOD LUCK to me.

Week 1: The Test Run

From now on, I will post something on the end of the work week because I wanna sum up my experiences of being an on-the-job trainee.

Here we go...

Days before I started, I already started feeling nervous about how I would face this new challenge that lied ahead. It felt creepy...

...until the time I started getting comfortable with the workplace. It's just in school actually, so going to work feels like taking summer classes (which I find no use for, to me) and I can't get over that, even at this very moment. LOL to that.

During each day, each of us gets 2 snacks and 2 servings of drinks. Honestly, it was satisfying because it felt soothing while getting our brains overloaded with information. The best part was we got to choose which snacks we want! (although we were only limited to biscuits, which was okay with me) I realized that I wasn't used to staring at a computer screen for 5 hours straight for a very long time, mostly because I committed to NOT stay in front of one for that long unless it was really urgent or I am utterly bored. 


The thing is, I find myself being more enthusiastic than I was before I started. Even though I still feel parts of me being a bit lazy because of adjusting, I know that I can do something productive here.


I hope that next week would be the start of serious business. For now, this is it.