tala @ so-phobic

I’ve always been a curious person. When something interests me, I tend to ask a gazillion (annoying) questions. I also tend to want to experience something first hand before forming an opinion. I ask for other people’s opinions, and if their responses 1) don’t satisfy me, or 2) fill me with even more curiosity, I plunge in. This curiosity has more than once brought me trouble. But hey, experience is supposed to be the best teacher and all that cliched shit, right? Right.

Back when I was younger (tongue in cheek lol), I always wondered how Greek-lettered societies yfor females did their recruitment and hazing. Having been burned by past experiences because of my curiosity, I decided to weigh the pros and cons of actively seeking the answer to my latest mind boggling issue. My former dormitory roommate was a member of one of those college-based sororities, and she confided that she was on the receiving end of a paddle only once, during the final rites. After which, she was a one with the rest of the one-paddle females. Sisters. Aside from the fact that I have an aversion to physical pain, I didn’t think I wanted to call someone who has just hit the back of my thighs a friend, much less a sister.

Screw my curiosity, I thought. I was taking Bio 12 then, and my lab partner was this adorable premed who reminded me of my first year high school best friend, Len Celeste. She’s petite, kind and sweet, sort of like the Kimmie character in My Best Friend’s Wedding. She looked so fragile that I didn’t believe it when she told me she belonged to a Greek-lettered society. Right, me and my stereotypes. Hurr. She invited me to join. I told her straight out that I wouldn’t be able to stand the paddling. She told me that there was no physical hazing involved. I believed her. I’m gullible, sue me. It was one of the 2 more respected sororities in the University, and I became one of its neophytes.

I quit before the final rites. Yes, I will never know if any physical hazing happened during the last rites, and by that time, I didn’t want to know. My curiosity was sated. It was a tiring phase because they wanted every free moment of your life, short of the time you have to go to sleep, devoted to them. This I had an issue with. I am a control freak. I want to be able to control my time. The actual hazing was more of a psychological attack. Thanks to that theater group I joined in high school and TCOCCO training, I was used to the shouting, the emotional blackmail. It’s all an act, with some lessons about sisterhood and the whole enchilada thrown in for good measure. By the time I quit, I was too tired and sleepy to care about the quitter horror stories/ urban legends. I thought, what was the worst they could do? Individually, they were well-bred, educated people. Why would they waste their time making some college junior’s life miserable, right? So I quit. My only regret was losing touch with 2 or 3 members I got along with pretty well.

Until a few days ago when I ran into one of them at the F Salon in Greenbelt. She was occupying the area next to mine, and she said that when Jeff (the guy who hot oiled my hair) mentioned my name, she remembered it from my neophyte days. She didn’t actually say that out loud, of course. Just introduced herself and gave the sorority’s acronym. I had totally forgotten about this whole sorority thing, and the first thing that came to mind was this university that had a similar acronym. I was weirded out because the only people I know from that school are my guildies, and I’m sure she isn’t one of them. She prolly mistook my poker face for, I dunno, apprehension? Because she said that it’s okay, something about college being college, and even hinted that I don’t have to be afraid she’ll harrass me or something. We exchanged pleasantries, some small talk about work, and got each other’s contact numbers. She asked for mine first. Hmm, should I be scared? Heehee.

I went to my first Parokya gig in 2 years last night at 70’s Bistro. I like the Bistro gigs because of the intimate ambiance. Aside from Mayric’s, this is the only place where you can ask Chito to sing covers like Crazy for You. Or ask Darius to sing, which he did. I was hoping to go with Jane, but the biatch wasn’t allowed by her mom to go. Rochelle couldn’t go either, so I hitched with Zsa, Jen, Queenie, and Len. You know that movie Almost Famous with Kate Hudson as the band aid slash groupie Penny Lane? Well, 2 years ago, I was a Penny Lane (sans the sex) for Parokya Ni Edgar. When I stopped going to the gigs, they would ask Rochelle and Dhonna where I was.

Gab was the first one to see me last night, and he smiled and waved from across the room. Zsa called Chito’s attention and nodded her head in my direction. Chito came over and shook my hand, saying “Tagal na nating di nagkikita ah. Nagwo-work ka na?” Then he made this “mano po” gesture with my hand.

They started the set with Sampip followed by Maniwala Ka Sana. They covered Hale’s The Day You Said Goodnight, Rivermaya’s Himala, and that Bamboo song, Noypi was it? Except it was “Hoy, Chino ako!” Mark Escueta of Rivermaya was there and subbed for drummer Dindin during Yes Yes Show. They sang I’ll Be There for You, complete with finger acrobatics by Chito, and even Kazee’s Narda. They made Darius sing Wonderful Tonight (“Yan ang lagi nyang kinakanta sa karaoke bar.”) and Birdie:

“Ang birdie ko ay medyo matulis
Konting hawak lang
Kahit walang pulutan”

Hahahaha! Way to go, Darius! My night was complete. They sang Gitara, my absolute favorite song of theirs. The gig ended at around 1am. Before leaving I gave each of them their usual chocolate stash. It was heartwarming that they still remembered me. When I approached Chito, he was about to high five me and I put the Ferrerro in his hand. Hahaha, he looked like a kid with his candy. He mussed my hair while I was leaving.

Some pichoors: 1) Alarius Eversor at the Toycon: with guildmate Syl who cosplayed as a Sin X 2) Alexander, Bax, Mami Jen, Ekoi and me 3) with Chito 4) with Buwi

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Feeling a bit nostalgic. It’s been months since I last hung out by the ole Geffen palm tree until past 12 midnight, sharing laughs and stories with these people I met online who have since become friends. 15 sieges to go and I’m still feeling the rush, the fun. This is the last hurrah for most of us. Old faces are back, and we remember the reasons we stuck to the game in the first place.

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I was waiting for a cab in front of the Philippine Stock Exchange Center in Ortigas yesterday afternoon when I first noticed this group of people with neon pink name tags. One of them, a guy in a jeans and a denim jacket, suddenly approached me. His name was either Jim or James. He said that he was from this religious group, Jesus is Lord and that he was doing a “challenge” by coming up to me and asking for any amount, even just one peso. The amount didn’t matter because the challenge was (from what I gathered) to approach a stranger I guess, and successfully ask for the money. He actually apologized if he scared me. He said that wasn’t his intent.

Before his approach, I had just avoided a mother with 2 kids begging for their fare home. Most people are probably familiar with this scheme/scam now. A person begs for some contribution for their fare, and yet, a month later, you still see them in the exact place.

Anyway, back to the Jim/James. Intentional or not, he frakking creeped me out. He talked too fast, and he had this creepy, oily smile. I wasn’t buying his spiel. I was trying to think of how to get myself out of this situation when 2 more people broke away from the group and approached me. Fark fark felgercarb! One of them was actually decently dressed, in long sleeves and slacks. But my instincts told me to get away. Thankfully, I was able to hail an empty cab and convince the driver to bring me back to trafficy Makati by adding 30 bucks to his meter fare.

Looking back, Jim/James _was_ probably telling the truth. They probably were on some team building, Punk’d kind of activity. But I’m still relieved I got away. I gave the cabby an extra 50 for saving me. =p

On another note, Paris Hilton’s song, Stars Are Blind, is quite catchy. I actually like it. =p

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How it goes:

1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question even if it doesn’t make sense. NO CHEATING!
4. Tag 10 people to play this game too. Nevermind this part.

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Two tech jobs in high demand these days are .NET (dot net) developers and quality assurance analysts.

Developers who are expert users of Microsoft’s software programming language .NET can make between $75,000 and $85,000 a year in major cities. (See correction.) If they pursue a job at a company that seeks someone with a background in a given field (say, a firm looking for a .NET developer experienced in using software related to derivatives) they might snag a salary hike of 15 percent or more when they switch jobs.

Those who work in software quality management, meanwhile, might make $65,000 to $75,000 a year and be able to negotiate a 10 percent to 15 percent jump in pay if they switch jobs. - Source

Company A is relatively a start-up, barely 3 years old. It’s currently the only company in the country that is focused solely on software testing and quality assurance engineering. No in-house software development, purely testing and quality assurance.

Perks:

1. formal training in the software testing framework, best practices
2. possible future training and certification in the proprietary (and expensive) Mercury Tools

Pitfalls:

1. overlapping RSA (return service agreement) a.k.a bond
2. very toxic work schedule since trainings, appraisals and meetings happen on Saturdays, Sundays, and even some holidays
3. the pay is on the low end of the basic compensation spectrum
4. the Mercury training is not guaranteed

From what I discerned, the best candidates for (possible out of the country) Mercury training are employees who have been with the company for a year or so. The performance evaluation can also bolster or destroy one’s chances. It’s not part of the whole package, more of a 50/50 chance to partake.

Note: FYI, a bond is an additional contract with a company. In return for the “free” training a company gives an employee, the employee agrees to work for a specified amount of time for the company in order to “pay back” the resources spent on training. An employee who breaks the bond (leaves the company before the specified amount of time is up) may face some consequences such as paying for the “free” training.

Company B is known for its highly ranked software development process. Kind of contrasting with “insider information” that it is actually the software dev equivalent of a sweat shop/production line.
Perks:

1. the compensation is on the way high end of the spectrum (which some say really makes up for life as a code drone)
2. the attire is nerd-friendly: jeans, shirts, sneakers
3. training in the software testing framework for 4-6 months
4. no bond

Pitfalls:

1. weekend work and a _lot_ of overtime

This confuses the hell out of me. If the software development process is organized and mature (as proven by the high rank awarded to it), why is there a constant need for overtime? Programming is tedious work. I agree that some overtime will be inevitable. But to have it as a staple of the daily work routine screams bad project management to me. A lot of overtime gives me the impression that the company/project manager may be too aggressive in setting deadlines. Drones are forced to work outside of their work hours because of unrealistically optimistic deliverable schedules.

2. no proprietary, third party testing tools are used, only in-house ones

Of course, the person I asked was from HR, not any of the techies, nor any of the testers. I’m due for an interface with an actual tester, so I can probe into this. While it’s still considered as testing experience, I’d rather invest in learning the more universally accepted tools like Mercury’s.

Company C is a multinational, an established name in the IT world. They also own a proprietary testing suite. If I don’t get the chance to get Mercury training, and open-source testing tools aside, this is probably the second best thing.

Perks:

1. formal training on a proprietary software testing tool, which is integrated to a software engineering suite
2. no bond
3. possible certification on the tool, since it’s offered by the company itself (employee discount, or maybe even a freebie)
4. the name looks good on the resume

I don’t have a list of pitfalls yet, since I just jumped into the application process this week. Maybe I’ll come up with something next week.

Company D is another multinational. Big name, hugely popular among non-IT graduates who want to shift gears and pursue a career in IT. Known for its rigorous training program, including sending its employees to client sites abroad for training. Probably the company where all the bond thing started.

Perks:

1. the name is a resume padder
2. the training is so effective that employees often get pirated (with very attractive compensation offers) because of their skills
3. ample compensation and benefits package

Pitfalls:

1. job description-wise, it fits my major, but not my long-term career plan

It’s geared towards the whole software engineering package, which is great, experience-wise. However, since my long term goal is a career in SQE, I’d rather start with a full-time SQA job. I want to acquire the SQE skills this early on, and add them to my SE skills. Testing is a huge part of SE, so it’s not as if I’ll be doing something out of context. I just want to focus on this area more now.

2. also lots of overtime, weekend, and holiday work

Same reasoning as Company B. Though I understand the holiday and weekend work part, since most, if not all, of the clients are foreign and in different timezones.

3. a 2-year bond

This can be hell if the Project Manager/Team Lead is incompetent/bitchy/impossible to work with.

Choices, choices. Decisions, decisions.

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