Archive for December 15th, 2006
Look what I got
Lessons learned
Some quotes from the executives:
Be cool, but not cocky. Be constructive, not merely complaining. Cooperate, don’t compartmentalize.
Instead of meeting competition head-on right in that wide red ocean, seek the river and a blue ocean of our own.
The current trend in the Philippines is business process outsourcing. Hello, we’ve been doing that for ten years now — we can claim to be the first global company to set up a full-blown IT shop in the country.
We won’t outsource R&D and support — our core competencies. Why would we move away from what we are strongest?
[Big-name IT company] suffers from a credibility problem in the security space. They’re not likely to take away that edge from us anytime soon.
We are always open to changes, so long as they are consistent with our core values.
We thrive in our willingness to make mistakes, and of not being afraid in making them.
Moving out of comfort zone
Resting in my hotel room right now, after the year-end global planning and report conference for our company.
Things are peaking up. One thing I must say about this company: it’s visionary. It’s willing to change even when the changes would mean disruption and sometimes pain. This kind of out-of-the-box thinking is what makes this company tick.
I was looking at my colleagues, some 500 or so packed in the hotel’s grand ballroom, and I can sense the electricity traveling across each engineer as the CEO laid out the company’s vision for the next five years. I think to myself, “What is it they see that I don’t?” They all seem so happy, despite all the setbacks.
Maybe it’s what turns this people on: the ability to transition seamlessly, to constantly move out of the comfort zone. Am I going to miss this? Hell, yes. But like them, I’d be moving out of my comfort zone, and explore other possibilities. This company was the proving ground for my readiness.
Hello, world. Bring it on.
Free WiFi
Sort of.
I’m posting from my ninth-floor room here at the Century Park Hotel. When I checked in earlier, I read the promo poster at reception that WiFi is available in the rooms for Php150 per hour. Man, that’s 50% more expensive than Airborne Access.
But, but, but… as I was messing around with my lappy, it detected three (!) unsecured APs. I tried one, and after a few tweaking with the IP settings, I was online.
Before I checked in, I was ready to use dialup instead. I even got to borrow a friend’s dialup access code to Infocom (free from 12 midnight to 8 am). Good thing I can ditch that now — city calls here are available for a “minimal” fee. The cheapskate in me just won’t subscribe to that.
