This content was originally published in the Corporate World: Labor and Management section of Business World Internet Edition (Philippines) on April 5, 2000. Original URL is offline but you can browse the original page via the Internet Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20000408233813/http://www.bworld.com.ph/current/CorporateWorld/l&m.html
This article is a syndication of an article from Jobstreet.com.ph.
Wanted: Web site creators
Demand for web developers and other Internet professionals is on the rise as more and more Philippine companies bring their businesses online.
Early pioneers say the most important qualification to succeed is not a technical educational background but creativity and an enormous capacity to learn.
Internet companies are presently the rage at the Philippine stock market.
In fact, they’re the only stocks whose share prices are on the rise amidst the general market slump. While the value of blue-chip firms such as Ayala Corp., Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Manila Electric Co., are falling, the prices of new, untested Internet firms such as Philweb are rising by leaps and bounds.
There is another, less apparent Internet-related boom that antedated the surge in domestic tech stocks: the rise in Internet jobs. A cursory look at the help wanted sections of newspapers reveals that job openings for web developers, designers, programmers and other Internet professionals are increasing at a rapid pace.
EARLY WINNERS
Like its counterpart in the stock market, the boom in Internet jobs has produced not a few winners: the engineers and computer professionals who took the time to learn, either on their own or through formal training, web design and other Internet technologies.
Award-winning web master Cheryl Fuerte started experimenting with web sites as early as 1996. She honed her creativity and knowledge in the Internet until her designs became good enough for her to win top honors in the 1999 Philippine Webby Awards, which is like the Grammy’s of web creation.
“My present job as an interface and design specialist, which deals with the design aspect of web applications (software) development is very much related to my course.”
Ms Fuerte said her background in computer science, which she acquired from the De La Salle University, helped her a lot. “My present job as an interface and design specialist, which deals with the design aspect of web applications (software) development is very much related to my course.”
Jimmy Gallardo, a freelance web developer and designer, agrees that a background in computers indeed helps. “I took up electronics and communications engineering, and I could say that my course did help somehow. I actually started dabbling in web site design three years ago when I realized its potential–only a few people in the Philippines were into it then.”
Both admit what they learned in school never sufficed because the Internet is very dynamic. A web specialist needs to constantly learn about the latest software and trends.
Ms. Fuerte added: “Back in college, we didn’t really take up formal HTML (hypertext marked-up language, the most basic language used in creating web sites). We were taught the theoretical side of programming languages, and this makes it easy for me to adapt and learn new ones by myself.”
NOT FOR TECHIES ONLY
Though helpful, a formal computer science or engineering background is not essential for one to be an Internet professional. An example is 23-year-old Cesar Cervantes, a programmer who works at the government-run National Computer Center (NCC). As a member of the NCC Web Development Team, he was one of those responsible for building the agency’s homepage.
Unlike Ms. Fuerte and Mr. Gallardo, Mr. Cervantes does not have any engineering or computer-related degree. In fact, he is a graduate of Hotel and Restaurant Administration from the University of the Philippines. So, how did he become involved in web development? “I learned by self-study, researching the web and experimenting” Mr. Cervantes said.
He started dabbling in web page design and development when he joined a group of friends in an Internet business venture. Only much later, when he joined the NCC, did he enroll in programming courses at the National Computer Institute (NCI).
“Anybody who wants to be in an IT (information technology)-related career can shift, as I can attest since many of my classmates at the NCI have backgrounds way beyond IT. This just shows that IT, which include the web, is a market open for everybody,” Mr Cervantes said.
Today, a lot of schools offer a wide variety of IT courses. The NCI has several short courses in programming similar to those being offered by computer schools such as Systems Technology Institute (STI) and AMA Computer College. Some courses that are being offered can be finished in as short as four weeks, depending on the school’s curriculum.
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
What lies beneath the growing demand for Internet professionals is the increasing use of web-based technology by local businesses. So far, most firms use the Internet merely to create web pages to advertise their products and services.
Mr. del Valle said most of the clients of his company belong to top corporations. These firms, he said, are technology driven and bold enough to use the Internet as a medium to market their company.
A 1999 survey conducted by web consultancy firm Web Philippines reveals that there are 146,516 Philippine households that have access to the Internet. A recent NetWatch report by ACNielsen shows that there are 554,000 Internet users in the Philippines. These numbers are bound to grow as Internet access becomes more widespread and more affordable.
Perhaps, even if the stock market infatuation with Internet stocks dies down, the boom in Internet jobs will still go on. – JobStreet
(This content was originally published in the Corporate World: Labor and Management section of Business World Internet Edition (Philippines) on April 5, 2000. Original URL is offline but you can browse the original page via the Internet Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20000408233813/http://www.bworld.com.ph/current/CorporateWorld/l&m.html