Finding an immersion company is indeed not too easy, but at last, I found one!



Industry immersion is part of our programs in Doctor in Information Technology (DIT) at TIP that should be taken by doctoral students like me before proceeding to dissertation. Before the start of the immersion, we had an orientation meeting with our dean, Dr. Rujie Medina. When one of the students who already finished having the immersion at IBM was asked to share her experiences in scouting for company and during the course of the immersion, I immediately knew that immersion is quite a challenging task. So I thought I should be ready for some difficulties that I might encounter along the way…

After enrolling the subject, I immediately went back to the province since my intention was to look for a company there where I can have the immersion and of course, a company that will cater my interest in IT. But thinking over and over, I thought that I can find that company in Metro Manila. So upon the invitation of my colleague to scout for a company in Manila, I did not hesitate to come. As our first step, we communicated with ASTI through email to convey our interest for immersion. We were eventually invited by the HR to have an appointment with the ASTI director.

We visited ASTI to discuss the details of the immersion. Well, of course, they wanted us to do research in partner with them but we have to focus more on Artificial Intelligence. I queried about Information Security and IT network but said that it is not their research priority. I was saddened by the fact that security is my first priority. I could turn to AI since it is my second concern but I was afraid that the gigantic research tasks (project-based) that we are about to face would not be finished on time due to the project’s complexity and time constraint. So we decided to decline the application and looked for company that will cater our interest in network management and information security. We visited 3 cybercrime offices: DOJ, NBI and PNP. It seemed that PNP has more positive response about the matter but since the director was on leave during our visit, we headed back to the province and waited for the approval for three days.

April 18, 2017 (Tuesday)

Optimistic that we will start on April 24, Monday at PNP cybercrime divisions, I prepared my things in going to Manila. While I was waiting for the approval, my colleague wrote me an email that our application is being deliberated by the PNP officials and the PNP IT personnel. Unfortunately, I was informed that due to utmost data confidentiality considering that the division is working on crime investigations, our applications were denied. So I decided to try my luck in the province.

April 24, 2017 (Monday)

Scouting for companies in the province proved to be difficult as well. Letters were personally given to prospective immersion companies in Legazpi City such as PLDT, InnoData, Albay Regional Risk Reduction Management Office-APSEMO but they all seemed to be fruitless. I thought I have waited long enough for the companies’ response but to no avail. And so I planned to head for another venture and tried my luck in Naga City…

A pose with my son during company hunting at Legazpi City


April 26, 2017 (Wednesday)

Over again, I set for another journey on this day. I prepared several sets of application letters and its attachments before I left home so I could go from agency to agency hoping I’d finally find the lucky institution. I almost lose my hope upon talking with Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) Naga’s security personnel since he seemed too strict talking about the matter. Finally, he told me to proceed to PLDT’s regional office. I patiently waited there until I met Mr. Rhomar C. Encanto, the company’s team leader in Bicol region. Busy as he may seem, I was so thankful to God that he accepted my application for immersion. Likewise, he agreed to be my mentor.
We began discussing about the company’s operations in the area in which he tackled about the IT network infrastructure, Internet distributions with optical network, network management such as load balancing, QOS as well as security. He also discussed some operations/processes where I can be part of.  
Mr. Encanto during the meeting/start of immersion while discussing about the company’s operations in the area



Distribution Lines for Optical Backbone Network

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