My PhilNITS Story

Back in 2002, I took up the challenge of taking the PhilNITS exam. Interestingly, my second take (Sept 2003) was while visiting Davao with my then future-wife, and it unexpectedly gave me the distinction of being the first passer of Davao. Davao has since produced four more passers, and if we include my wife (she passed the exam in Manila), we are now a happy group of six.

My purpose for challenging the exam was a combination of both personal pride and for motivational purposes. In my first take of the exam, I was still working in the Quality Assurance department of our company, and I took it upon myself to represent our team, and to prove our team’s competency in the fundamentals of IT. I was full of pride when I took it, but unfortunately I failed. But at least I can say I tried (hehehe).

On my second try, I was already leading our team’s training center, responsible for molding new-hires into competent and capable IT professionals in a relatively short span of time. We expected a lot from our trainees, including learning the Japanese language, the latest technologies, professional business skills, and passing the PhilNITS exam. I thought the least that I can do was to set an example to them, so I challenged the PhilNITS exam again. I wanted to show them that even a relatively obsolete (I graduated from college almost a decade before) guy like me still has what it takes to pass an exam that gauges your fundamental knowledge and skills on the very fast changing world of IT. This time I was fortunate to pass. Alas, my trainees have no more excuse not to pass also.