ICT Employment Opportunities And Certifications Forum

The Forum set forth of the newly created department of the Republic of the Philippines, Department of Information and Communications Technology is very timely for today’s young generation with regards to ICT. There aresort of speakers who diversely presented their topics for the two (2) day event. On the first day, the Director of the National ICT Competency Management Service in the person of Mr. Raul N. Nilo opened the forum by providing insight on the their office is doing, the NCM, whose big role in the transformation of society through ICT. Mr. Raman Nambiar, the CEO of Gerudio and Peter Argent, the founder of Coder Factory Academy presented the status of Coding Bootcamp, an another technique, an effective one in building immediate products, especially suited for tech students. The Coder Factory Academy was established in 2013 to teach professors and techies on how to code and build prototype in a small amount of time using Agile and Xtreme programming for the advance learners. Bootcamps are intensive and immersive, new, in-demand andprogramming language and frameworks; it has less theory, more practical project-based learning.

They emphasized also, that in US, 523,222 Computing Jobs are in need, and there are only 42,000 who qualified for the right job and experience. So, it is very great advantage for the young Filipino to fill in such gap. A coding and teaching bootcamps is set on October for the Faculty to engage such and able to mentor the students, it is an UN-funded training only set for 20 participants. Ms. Alona H. Isidro, the Project Manager of GovNet also presented how the project is very needing in the country, especially in the regions just to reach the grassroots in the community. The Free Wifi Internet Access in Public Places Project was presented by Engr. Enrico A. Toledo is the project that intends to reach those countryside citizens to access free internet in public places. The project also wants to collaborate with private sectors whose lines are in fiber optic to further maximize the potential connections of a certain location.

In the afternoon was a Regional Clustering that regards to any ICT implementations, Regional X – Northern Mindanao and Region XIII – Caraga gathered to discuss issues and concerns. SUC’s from Mindanao University of Science and Technology (MUST) and Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) and Caraga State University (CSU) as members of the cluster. The DICT would like to enter into an agreement on the said SUCs for strengthening the implementation of the projects of the department. A draft of the MOU was provided, and scheduled on December for the signing.

On the second day, the NCM Director led in the presentation of the Clusters Discussion/Forum regarding the partnership of every SUCs/HEIs in the region. Amongst the things that were presented are: a.) Facilities - some SUCs don’t have available Classrooms/Laboratory for Training venues, and majority doesn’t have internet connectivity, some had, but a slower one; b.) Instructional Staff – There are few on No ICT Certified Faculty trainers, modules are ready, provided by DICT, there would be Training of Trainers to be conducted to augment the pool of trainers; and lastly c.) MOU – some provisions are not detailed as to the rate/honoraria of trainers and accreditation guidelines. After delivery on what should be polished, the director promised to modify and include all necessary guidelines in the provision.

Ms. Tess Camba presented also the Tech4ED Program of DICT, how to be a Tech4ED center and many others, a video presentation was provided.

K-12 Transition Programs was also presented, but all details are in their web. In the afternoon, all topics focused on Certification, such as International Computer Driving License (ICDL), by JohaliaAnae, CISCO Networking Academy by Engr. Glenn Avendaño, IT Audit / Finance Audit by Mario Demarillas.

Certifications are necessary for IT Professionals who would like to focus on IT Security and Cyber Assurance, Risk and Security. The forum ended at around 4:00pm with a photo opts. Written by: Vicente A. Pitogo, MSIT