It's been a few months already since the last time I wrote here (in another Padlet -> click here to visit). But rest assured I have never stopped writing, every day. Thanks to my daily journal where I write the goodness of God upon my life.

(~` .`)~

Starting to write about something is quite challenging for anyone, especially if you don't know what to write about. Not sure if this is also true for skilled writers out there!

It's always been a challenge, even when you already have what to write about! Does anyone there feel the same as me? : )

Anyway, this blog will just cover how my day went today, focusing on the first meeting with our facilitator (because he claims he's not a teacher) in Knowledge Management, an Information and Computing Professional Elective course.

But before I share some happenings during the class, I wanted to share how my day started and how it ended too (yeah! Please bear with me on this. - ,-).

To start, I woke up late. I did not hear my alarm! That made me a little disappointed, but life must go on. I did not let it stop me from moving forward to see what kind of life I was about to have for this day. Besides, my day may have started with some negativity does not mean it will end up with no good at all. And I believe it will be also in this course. The road may be rough ahead, but I know I will pass through with no INC remarks!

So, I rose up and fixed myself, went to bathe, packed my things, and got a ride on a bus. I left the city by 7:30 in the morning. By the way, I live in the north.

It took an hour and a half to get to USeP, so I was at school by 9 am, more than enough for me not to be late. Students were just a few when I passed by the kiosks so I guessed the classes were seriously ongoing already. I went to the CR for a while and fixed myself, then went back to the student's lobby and waited for my first-period class.

While waiting, I decided to read a book, The Devil's Door by John Bevere. Yes, I'm a fan and love to read Christian books. They offer not just spiritual insights to deepen my knowledge about how things in the spirit realm operate, but also practical pieces of advice on how I can live my life to the fullest while not compromising the divine will of God in my life and also trying to bring out my best potentials.

When it was only 10 minutes left to 10 AM, I went upstairs (I think the elevator was not working well) and waited by the door of the classroom. The facilitator was probably wrapping up his discussions already with the class prior to ours. About 5 minutes have passed, my classmates arrived. Some were in groups, others were just by themselves.

Finally, the time came when we had to go inside the classroom already, and I realized I was the only one wearing a complete uniform (I did not notice yet that there was another guy, too). I did not expect to be called out for fun by the facilitator, but I was not shocked when he did that. I mean, it is just a small matter, nothing to be serious about.

It is my second time now to be one of his students. He was also the facilitator in our Data Privacy course last semester. So, the class started with a simple prayer led by the class mayor. It's a usual routine of this facilitator to start the class with a prayer. As far as I can remember as to what impressed me last time, he wanted to encourage the students to practice their faith.

Anyway, a lot happened during the class, which I decided not to detail here by the way. Other students may have been writing about it already.

Just among the questions the facilitator asked, one thing really intrigued me. That's when he asked why we, the BSIT students, chose to study information technology. Everyone was bewildered as their faces expressed. I mean, why should we? Why did we choose the field, for real? We're already 3rd-year students (as for me, I'm only third year by paper, but it's my 5th year already in USeP - ,-), and yet we can't still give ourselves a concrete reason why we chose to study in this field.

I've heard lame reasons though—the field is in demand, pays well, trends, whatever. But when I looked at myself, I had no firm answer also. I mean, this course was not the course I expected to enroll in during my first year. It just happened that the course I wanted to study had no slot left to cater to more students, or I did not fit the requirements. Besides, I was thankful that I was still able to enter USeP, though as an IT student.

I thought I could not love the course, but since it's still directly inclined with my previous academic track in high school, it took me no time to embrace it fully. I just moved forward and was content with what I had.

Through years of being here, 4 years exactly, I learned that being an IT student is not that bad. I mean, I love the hands-on activities given by the facilitators and had the chance through group work and research presentations to improve myself in different aspects of learning. So if I'd be asked if I regretted enrolling in this course, I'd say I didn't and will not.

The fact that it was not my choice to enroll in this course seemed to excuse me to answer the question of why I chose to study IT. But I still wanted to share that though it was not my choice, it was a great opportunity to learn more in this field. And though I did not have a reason in the first place, living in the opportunity helped me to come up with a reason that now drives me to move forward through this course.

Along my journey, I realized how information technology impacts the world around me. I also noticed how it helped to shape the way I think and perceive things now. And I see the lack of quality of IT infrastructure in our country. This fact is enough for me to make it a reason why I am still pursuing this course, despite setbacks along my journey. I wanted to contribute something significant to the field that would help pave the way to increase the value of IT and all of its components including education here in our country and beyond (chaaa, USeP vision yarn? HAHA).

I still have many things to work on myself before I get to that point of success, but I am willing to go through things for it. I've been studying in the field for years already, and I don't want my efforts and experiences throughout my journey to be wasted and in vain. This course about Knowledge Management is one of the stepping stones I should step on.

I'm excited to taste and see what kind of experience I will have with these new people. By the way, it always becomes a challenge for me to connect and know new people, especially in the room context. It's just so much different when you're in high school. Though this time it was not my first time sitting in the class, I still have a little bit of anxiety towards connecting with them.

But let me show a sense of gratitude to Ashley and the class mayor, Leilane for being so responsive to a few of my queries, to Jershiel for making herself approachable and kind actually for letting me have a seat during my first time with the class in another course. She got the confidence out of me to talk and not feel out of place with the class. And also to that guy who sat beside me during our KM class. He knows how to laugh. I mean, I'm the kind who loves to be with people who laugh hard. HAHHAHA. I may not be an ideal funny guy, but I can laugh with anyone when something laughable comes up! HAHAHA.

I hope this class will have so many laughing moments. Yeah, laughter makes an environment and everyone in it glad and just feel good, even for no reason.

I hope to connect with everyone as I also wanted to know more about the people because I see that this is where my team in capstone next year will be formed.

So the class ended 2 minutes beyond the expected end of the scheduled time and the facilitator called it done. But my day was a little far to call for a good rest.

Immediately, I went home after school. Thanks to the heavens the traffic was not that heavy already unlike the other day - .-). I got home after almost two hours of travel. I took a rest for a while, though I slept on the bus the whole time, HAHAHA.

The rest of the day I just did some personal stuff and side hustles and ended the day with a good night's sleep.

The university faced budget challenges, which led them to a cost-cutting measure, and decided to fire some staff, including their top computer technician. The computer technician played a crucial role in maintaining the university’s computer server in context, and this might also included general computer maintenance, troubleshooting, repairs, and network management.

Several months after his termination, the university's computer server suffered damage, causing operational issues. Without an in-house expert to fix it, the university was forced to call back the fired computer technician, who quickly repaired the server using a soldering pen. Despite the simplicity of the task, the technician charged P 50,000.00 for his services, raising questions about the justification for the fee.

Problem Analysis

One particular point this case reflects are the risks of firing critical personnel, especially in IT-intensive environments. The university's decision to fire the computer technician was part of a broader cost-cutting strategy to address budget constraints. However, this decision led to a significant loss of expertise, which ultimately caused operational disruptions when their computer server malfunctioned, also resulting to spend valuable amount of cost for solution that was unfortunately never been resolved.

There are many issues we can focus on in this case scenario, but it depends on the perspective one is taking. In my view, I want to highlight the university's decision to fire the computer technician as part of their budget-cutting measures. Firing staff to reduce costs is not inherently wrong for any organization; it’s part of maintaining operational efficiency. However, in this case, it turned out to be an unwise decision.

The decision can be deemed unwise in the part where the administration also fired a key personnel who held a significant value in the continuity of the university's operations, especially in the lens of maintaining the computer servers.

Justification of the P49,600.00

Bottom Line

The significant expense of contracting the former technician to resolve the issue reveals the hidden costs associated with losing critical employees who possess hard-to-replace tacit knowledge. This situation highlights the need to carefully weigh budget cuts against the importance of retaining key personnel, especially those with specialized technical expertise.