I'm taking a career break to pursue my postgraduate degree by completing the course Master of Computing at the prestigious Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia. I will also be taking up Cyber Security as my postgraduate major. I'm very excited for this opportunity and be able to acquire knowledge with international standard and recognition that will definitely help me improve my career in the industry.

In completing my postgraduate qualification course requirements, I joined Western Power as a Cyber Security Intern. My main objective is to shadow and assist senior colleagues in identifying, categorizing, and documenting Technology Risks in various business functions. Participating in a variety of forums to plan, develop, and implement Cyber Security risks and assurances to improve cyber maturity and resiliency. This internship program allowed me to acquire industry-specific and real-world knowledge about Cyber Security for a critical infrastructure sector in the economy of Western Australia.

While processing my student visa application to Australia, I took a few side projects in designing and developing WordPress websites to local MSMEs. Their portfolios ranging from accounting firms, trading schools, business support, and even a senatorial candidate. We've helped businesses and individuals reach out to more potential customers by showcasing their work and sharing their achievements over the internet thru their own website. 

As a growing business, technological upgrades and improvements are key parts of the process. I helped in improving their wireless network infrastructure, procurement and setup of new NAS systems and performed inventory, maintenance and general upkeep of their IT devices. We also developed an app that uploads excel data to a government-owned app that handles tax compliances. Apart from these tasks, we were able to launch a new website for the business to improve their visibility and attract potential clients with clean and effective design.

With new technologies set to integrate into the business, we were given the opportunity to learn and improve our support. A few key projects that I was a part of were the setup of a new ITSM system, the migration of SharePoint 2013 to SharePoint Online and the introduction of Power BI as a report tool for the business. These were all challenging tasks since we are dealing with new tech. However, we were exposed to effective IT governance and strategy that helped us achieve the goals. In 2020, the world was hit by the global pandemic which crippled businesses and presented additional challenges in our goals. But despite the situation, we were able to continue to work on the completion of the projects even in a new Work-From-Home setup.

The company was looking for someone to support their Microsoft SharePoint tool as well as build and maintain custom web apps housed in it. With an experience working on HTML, CSS and JavaScript back in college and a few videos watched about SharePoint, I took the gamble and applied. During my free time, I continue to practice and research more about SharePoint. And just like an answered prayer, I was offered the postition and regular employment right after my 4-month contract ended. With the help of the current SharePoint Team, I was able to get up to speed with the role and developed custom web apps to support the business. I was able to visit the US to train and collaborate with different IT groups to realign and explore improvements in our support.

Started as a contractual employee for 4 months to work with the IT Help Desk team based in Manila. Very fortunate that the team will be moving into a new office. I was able to showcase my skills in hardware setup specifically with a call center structure. Apart from supporting the Manila office, we were also tasked to assist global users in the US, UK, Australia, Mexico, China and Vietnam offices.

With 4 offices housing their call center operation in Manila, an onsite IT techinical team is very vital in supporting the business. Here I was part of the team that is the first line of support that handles hardware and software issues. Also worked on setup projects for newly acquired offices or business units to become part of the Manila operations.

Joining the Global Service Desk team introduced me to ITSM. Worked with multi-disciplinary IT teams in resolving business-impacting issues in a global capacity. It also taught me on proper documentation of issues/resolution as well as investigation of the root cause so that it can be avoided in the future. Was also recognized for reaching top scores within the performance indicators.

Right after graduating from College, I was hired to help US customers with their online security application that protect credit card transactions done online. Apart from learning customer service skills, I was also able to train my communications skills by coversing with native English speakers. I also contributed in developing the Knowledge Base tools to help our team in providing a better customer experience. 

Working and experiencing being in a Business Process Outsource company while finishing my studies was a personal achievement for me. It taught me time management as well as the drive to learn the technologies used in a real-world scenario. During my stay here, my responsibilities are to assist customer in the US with their laptop concerns and after-sales inquiries.