Where are you working now?
I am currently employed at Data Horizon Co. Ltd. in Hiroshima City, Japan.

What do you do at your job?
I am a software engineer. The company has several departments and I am in the Medical Information Service Department. The core of our work is to process data and customize software for health insurance companies governed by the national government and private sectors.

What types of tech are you handling?
We use Visual Basic 6.0 and VB.NET mainly in software
development. Database management software will depend on the customer’s choice and where the program will be put to use. For example, we use Oracle for the Data Center, and either MSSQL or PostgreSQL for the client-side.

What other work have you done or are doing?
This is my first full-time job. I used to teach in Ateneo de
Davao University, CS Division, as a part-time faculty.

How did the Ateneo education prepare you for your work?
Ateneo education has been helpful to me in so many ways.
The first time I was immersed into the real work of an IT professional I thought I would be having so much of a hard time learning and adapting to the technology being utilized by the company. However, when I was tested, I realized that I was somehow well-equipped to adjust well, and learn fast because of my background in programming, and other
computer-related education in Ateneo. Dealing with people of a different culture and language has been very difficult for me but the training and exposure I had when I was in college aided me to be more open, respectful and understanding to the differences, and be adaptive to the environment and culture yet preserving my identity as a Filipino.

What advice you’d give to our students today?
Don’t be scared to try. It is natural to have doubts and fears after graduation. The real world is intimidating and overwhelming but never be afraid to try just because you think you are not good enough. However, don’t also overestimate yourself that you won’t accept not-so-big job offers. Look for opportunities, and grab them. However small or big these are, grab them and do your best while not forgetting to enjoy =)

Thanks a lot Lloyd =)

Where are you working now?

I’m working at Credential Financial, Inc. (in Vancouver, CA) as a QA Analyst II. We are predominantly using Microsoft-based technologies for development and software testing, like Visual Studio Ultimate 2010, and Sharepoint 2010 which are used in bug tracking and automated testing.

How did the Ateneo education prepare you for your work?

Ateneo’s aim to create a well-rounded person really helped me in my work. As one needs the academic training to handle the technological and business aspects of work, Non-academic and/or /inter-personal skills help me to deal with different kinds of people. The Ateneo also gave me the ability and confidence to lead when needed.

What advice you’d give to our students today?

My advice to students is to always have an open-minded view… This will help them to learn new things/new technologies… on new processes, and to not settle with just one way of doing things… and to never stop learning.

Well said. Thank you.

Victor Emmanuel Hanopol is a CS Division Alumnus and also a former Instructor and Program Coordinator of the Division.