Bridge Systems Engineer Training in Japan

Being a passer of the PhilNITS-FE exam, I was privileged to be able to join the Bridge Systems Engineer (Bridge SE) training held in Japan last February 18 to March 21, 2008. It was a very timely training for me, first because it kicked-off my return to the IT field (after a year or so of hibernation), and second because I was planning to provide formal IT trainings in Davao from this year.

The training was great! Not only were the trainers, co-participants and venue wonderful, undergoing the training seemed to have awaken in me the experiences I acquired in my more than 12 years of being in the IT industry. It refreshed me with knowledge and skills required of a bridge SE, and povided practical exercises in IT project management.

The training was of course for free, sponsored by the Association for Overseas Technical Scholarships (AOTS), and offered to Filipinos through the cooperation of the PhilNITS Foundation, Inc.

Interestingly, I was the only participant coming from Davao. Majority where from Manila and Cebu. Also, I was not the most mature in the group, but somehow my capability to speak Japanese (at least on a casual conversational level) and my previous exposure working for a Japanese software development company helped me to cope well with the environment, and to understand the technical and Japanese Language (Nihongo) lectures resonably well. Sometimes I even have the chance to help out some co-participants from the Philippines and Vietnam.

The training also gave me the chance to visit Japan again after six (or seven) years. The last time I went there was for a one-and-half year long assignment at IBM Japan. It was also a good chance to experience more closely the Osaka culture, as my previous visit there was only for a day-trip sight seeing tour. It was good to know also that I remembered still some of my Nihongo, making me confident in exploring around Osaka and not getting lost.

I plan to write more about the technical contents of the Bridge SE training in a future entry, so that I can share to others at least the practical learnings I was fortunate enough to receive.