What's your job about?

I am one of the Storage Administrators under the Technical Support Department of the Infrastructure Technology Shared Services Group of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC)— one of the leading banks in the Philippines. Part of my daily responsibilities is the monitoring of the storage and backup-related hardware and software, and reporting the status of the same to management. Our team also provides the storage capacity needs of the production servers of the company. We also coordinate with our vendor-partners for the maintenance, upgrade, and other incidents concerning our storage hardware and software. My daily work routine may seem mundane or routinary, but it is essential in ensuring the smooth day-to-day operations of the bank.

What's your background?

Growing up, I was no more than an ordinary person. In high school, I was involved in our student council and campus publication. This has honed my leadership skills that I took with me as I went into college— joining student organizations and taking leadership roles within them. Aside from these, I have been taking care of my bedridden grandmother for almost 3 years now and it has been challenging to say the least. Our family situation has enabled me to be more empathetic with what others may be going through. These experiences have been key to who I am and what I bring to my job aside from my technical skills.

My current role with RCBC is my first job since graduating from the University of Santo Tomas back in 2022. During the first 3 months of my employment, I was part of the Entry Level IT Education (ELITE) program of the company. This was a training that involved various subjects including Cloud and Windows/Linux Server Administration among others. The ELITE program has equipped me with the skills I needed to enable me to excel in my current role as a Storage Administrator.

Could someone with a different background do your job?

Should someone from a different background want to do my job, they would be able to as long as they have the willingness to learn the ins and outs of my role. This is true for any role. Aside from the technical know-how, one should also have the patience and critical thinking when it comes to approaching issues that would most likely occur.

What's the coolest thing about your job?

All jobs get tiring at times, but there are moments that really stand out and would make you feel that you love what you do. For me, getting recognized by my colleagues that what I do or the suggestions I propose are effective is something that enables me to do more than what is asked of me. It may sound cliche but I feel the most motivated when I am in the process of learning something new.

What are the limitations of your job?

Every job has its demands, especially ours since we support the entirety of the company. There are sleepless nights, working on weekends, being woken up from sleep due to issues. This allows us to learn new aspects of the job that we would not have if everything always goes smoothly and no issues arise.

3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...

One advice I would give myself from the past is to pursue the things that he sees himself doing for a very long time. Enjoy life and see the beauty even in the most mundane of things. Lastly, I would tell him that he can overcome any problem as long as he does what he thinks is right.