Cebu needs more Software Design Engineers

As it turned out, software development and IT companies in Cebu City are clamoring for more qualified software design engineers. The supply is very low against the demand. This is evident from the job postings run on local newspapers that has been going on for about three months already. Top IT companies in Cebu City who are engage in software development are aggressively staffing there respective departments and units as a result of continued growth and more business opportunities to develop and market new products. Some software development companies are hiring more as a result of expansion. A few multinational companies are relocating their research and development units to Cebu City. The effect is underpopulation and a mad scramble of these companies to hire the best software design engineers.

As of the latest, NCR is hiring around 30+ software developers and 30+ web programmers. Lexmark has postings for several positions from firmware engineers, device driver engineers to software engineers. NEC Telecom Software Philippines has been looking for software design engineers for its Cebu and Manila offices. Epson, Exist and Alliance Software have been aggressively in a hunt. Joining them are Infoweapons, ICOMM and other IT companies.

A particular areas where there is a very high demand are system level development for Unix and Windows, Java programming, device driver/low-level programming and Web programming. Minimum qualifications for system level and device driver programming are C, C++, Unix, MFC and networking. PHP, AJAX, SOAP, XML and javascript for Web programming while JLook, JBOSS, XML, NMS, applets, and java-beans for Java programming.

So hurry now, Cebu is seeking out software design engineers like you.

Laughing your hearts loud!

If laughing is the best medicine, then probably this place is worth a visit once in a while to charge and reinvigorate ones soul. 22nd St, a comedy bar at the uptown Cebu City, is not just a typical comedy bar, but a place where one can truly laugh and unleash a heart that has been lost with its essence. Be warned though, this is not for all ages, this is an adult bar. The hosts are all gays! They do nothing but spend the whole evening lashing out sexually expletive innuendos and grin (if there's more to that) jokes! Too fem and proper? Too "pikon"? We'll this is not a place for you. Go there, and give yourself a big, banging laugh!

Employee Incentive Stock Option at InfoWeapons Corp.

InfoWeapons Corp is the first and only startup company in the country to grant incentive stock option (EISO) to its employees. Modeled after Silicon Valley companies in the US, InfoWeapons Corp (IWC) banks on IESO as one of the financial motivations for employees to work harder and remain loyal to the company. This has resulted to an staggering level of confidence, loyalty and unwavering dedication of its employees. Everyone at IWC share the same vision and goal all for the success of the company. Started in 2004, IWC is experiencing a very low turnover rate and has attracted the brightest and top software engineers and IT practitioners in Cebu.

According to friends at IWC, they're very hopeful and exited on the prospects of their EISO. Its no surprise, I could only feel envy to these guys. Damn! Who could not associate what stocks did to guys who worked at Microsoft, Cisco, Yahoo, Google, AMD and so many IT companies in the US. They're all rich! These guys also enjoy the bragging rights as co-owners of the company. Really? A 21-year old junior software engineer a co-owner of the company? Wow, think about that! The financial success of the company will trickle down to every employees, at all levels. Its not just the owner that gets rich, its everyone!

It'll be on surprise when one of these days, sports cars will be lining up at the parking sides of SkyRise building and nearby parking lots. Guys, you still owe me a ride!

For software engineers who are still searching for a domicile, InfoWeapons is right there for you, open and waiting. Hurry now!

Checklist of a Most Sought Software Engineer

Getting a job offer from top software companies in Cebu City don't come easy this days. You got to have the right stuffs. The level of expectation and qualification have soared tremendously the past years. It's not as simple as getting an IT degree or a colorful resume. Companies outsmart each other to get the best software engineers who can do the job. You can't be a better software engineer. You must strive to be the best. You have to standout in all areas. So how do you get to the top of the pack?

I compiled a list of pointers that would serve as your checklist and guide. These are solicited from friends and associates who are working as software engineers, project leaders, supervisors and managers at Lexmark, NEC, NCR, Epson, Exist, Accenture and Infoweapons. Take time to assess how far or close you are. There is no room for discouragement, your mantra is to
strive to be the best.

• Expertise in C/C++. These are not old languages. These are barometers in measuring your programming skill. If you excel in these languages, chances are you would also excel in any other languages. Most programming disciplines and best practices are best demonstrated and applied by these languages. You would likely to know how a piece of a software relates to the whole computer system. The first question likely thrown at you during interview would be: What is a pointer? What is the difference between pass by value and pass by reference? What is an access violation or segmentation fault? Java, PHP, Perl, C# are good, but they only come second.


• Solid background and knowledge of the TCP/IP protocols suite. There is an old saying that Computer is a Network. Understanding of TCP/IP protocols is synonymous to understanding the world. Most likely you will be developing client-server and network-based applications. One of the keys to producing reliable, robust and high quality network applications usually depends at the level of your understanding of the TCP/IP protocols. You must distinguish connection and connection-less oriented protocols and when to use them. Client-server model. Iterative and concurrent connections. What is IPv4 and IPv6? What is an IP address and port number. Unicast, broadcast and multicast addressing. What is a protocol and how to develop one. TCP/IP and OSI layers. Internet standard documents and governing bodies. You should be at least familiar with RFCs (Request For Comments) and internet drafts. Network sockets programming will be easy no matter what programming language you use.


• Computer networking and administration. Being able to setup and configure a computer network is a big plus. Think of a basketball player who can play different positions. You will become more valuable to the company by not just being a software engineer who write code. Usually, part of your job involves setting up and maintaining network environment for your project, like setting up a network testbed, configuring webservers, shared repositories, file servers, bug tracking and project management systems. These tasks are usually handled by system and network engineers. Small to mid-size companies prefer to hire engineers who can wear different hats. Lastly, you will be the last one to remain when the company is in trouble.


• Solid understanding of computer systems. You don't just confine your skills and abilities within the domain of software development. You have to be at least familiar with the hardware side. That is where your product runs. For low level programmers who write firmware, device driver and kernel code, familiarity and detailed understanding of the hardware aspect is very critical. Swap, cache, memory, bus, I/O, DMA are some jargons you don't just have to understand but how they function and integrate into the system.


• Unix platform. Its not all Windows out there. Deeper understanding and experience in Unix systems gives you flexibility to develop programs on different environments. Large software companies usually have different teams working on specific platform such as Windows, Unix and Mac. It is at your advantage if you are not tied within one platform.


• Solid background in data structures, algorithms and IPC. List, stack, queue, tree, trie, maps, hashes, shared-memory, semaphores, mutex, pipes, etc are building blocks of a complex program. These are the core things that you have to master.


• Software development methodologies and SDLC. You don't code right away when asked. This is something left to newbies and fresh-graduates. You have to follow certain principles and processes. Familiarity of the software development life-cycle is very important. You must be familiar with different phases of SDLC such as Analysis, Design, Implementation, Testing and Maintenance and the activities within those phases. You also need to be aware of other unique methodologies such as Agile, Extreme programming, Pair Programming and others.


• Software testing and Verification. As a software engineer, you are expected to prepare and write test documents to validate requirements, design and implementation of a software program. You will have the hat of a software test engineer. There is no better tester that you the developer who knows the internals and externals of a software program.


• Software development tools. CVS, bugzilla, debugger, productivity tools, etc reflect your maturity and approach in developing serius and big software projects.


• Database integration and XML. Software engineers hate to be called database programmers. But you have to have the right skill when needed. In most cases, huge and complicated software programs or multi-tier applications require backend databases. So SQL is necessary. You should be able to integrate common databases such as Postgres, MySql, Sqlite into your program.


• Opensource software. If you don't know Linux, you live in a rock.


• Secure software programming and computer security. This would be your unfair advantage. The ability to develop and produce secure code is valuable and key to the company in producing high quality software products. You will help tremendously in preventing critical, blocker and cyclic bugs to reach end-users of your product.


• Software development processes and standards.Background on industry standard processes such as ISO, CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integrated), 5S and 6Sigma is a plus.


• Right attitude. Success of your company depends on the ability of its teams and employees to work and jell together. Think like a well oiled-machine. You are expected to work as a team.

First and only widescreen advertisement TV in Cebu City

The first thing you would notice when you reach the Fuente Osmena circle is the widescreen advertisement TV at the top of McDonalds and Orange Brutus. Running adz for 24-hours, this piece of billboard is a reflection of the place, known to many as the only place in Cebu that never sleeps.

The Cebu City government is encouraging advertisement firms to put up more widescreen TVs all over the city, specially at commercial districts like Mango Ave, GY Lahug, Capitol and Colon. In not in a distant future, we'll be seeing Cebu City like that of Tokyo and New York were widescreen TVs are not just walls and lifeless billboards, but a reflection of the whole city. Vibrant, glamorous and beautiful.

Lexmark's New IT Building in Cebu

Confidence, growth and future to Cebu's information technology. These are the messages of Lexmark RnD in Cebu when it launches the construction of its new building. Located at the back of Globe Innove in Ayala Business Park, the building will serve as an expansion to Lexmark's research and development operation in the country. Currently, Lexmark employs around 300 employees and has offices in Globe Innove and adjacent Keppel Building.

The new building which is due to open this year is expected employ an additional 100 to 150 software engineers, hardware engineers, system engineers, mechanical engineers, chemical engineers, technicians and testing engineers. This would be the biggest event to happen this year.

The local IT scene is very confident that this aggressive expansion will signal investors to come to Cebu and pave the way for other IT companies local and foreign to follow. Goodluck!

SmartBro, false as advertised

Smart's SmartBro service in Cebu really sucked! Its all false advertising. You might be tempted in subscribing to their service. Be warned! Here's what I'm getting from their lousy service:

• Intermittent internet disconnection, specially on weekends


• Very slow download and upload speed, speedtest tells download is hovering around 150kbps, upload at 100kpbs. I'm supposed to get as high as 512kbps as stated in my plan.


• As stated in their brochure, you will be getting 7 times the speed of a dial-up connection. Again, false advertisement.


• It seems SmartBro is filtering my outgoing connections, i have to refresh my browser many times to be able to connect to remote sites. In some cases, i can't browse 3 or more sites simultaneously. This is not the case during the first month I've used SmartBro. I've tried Windows and Linux, the same thing. So its not related to my PC.


• Customer service can't help either, they can't point out exactly the problem. They could only tell me their site is undergoing maintenance and system upgrade. For how long? Like 3 weeks?


• Worst, I just switched from Globe, now I have to look for another provider, or just bite my tongue and hope...