When I was younger, I had a dream.Not just any dream—but a green one.I wanted to study at De La Salle University. DLSU wasn’t just a school to me. It was the school. The one with the prestige, the tradition, the cool jackets, the gorgeous campus, and the kind of intellectual energy that seemed to shape future leaders with laser
Author: teodulfo.espero
Being a solo IT admin means you’re the helpdesk, the network engineer, the cybersecurity analyst, the patch management lead, the database whisperer, the app wrangler, and—if you’ve been around long enough—the historian of that one legacy system nobody dares touch. It’s a role powered by caffeine, duct tape solutions, and the faint hope that nothing breaks after 5 p.m. But
There comes a moment in every overworked, under-caffeinated IT professional’s life when the weight of everything—laptops, cables, books, random tech relics from 2009—finally causes the last zipper on your trusty old backpack to throw in the towel. That moment happened to me: a solo IT admin, online grad student, and someone on a no-mercy deep dive into network and cybersecurity
So there I was—halfway under a desk, tracing yet another mystery Ethernet cable (that led nowhere, by the way)—when my boss walked by and hit me with a corporate phrase so vague it might as well have come from a fortune cookie: “You need to start thinking like a manager.” Oh really? Buddy, I’m the only IT person here. I
So the headlines screamed: “₱200 wage increase approved by the House!”And for a brief moment, it felt like we might finally be able to afford breakfast and dinner. Workers got excited. Lawmakers posed for Facebook banners. The internet lit up with memes about finally buying “the expensive canned tuna.” But here’s the twist:That ₱200 increase? It’s not law yet. Not
Here’s the truth: if your water or wastewater utility is still clinging to on-prem like it’s 2009, it’s time for a glow-up. We’re not talking SaaS (not yet). We’re talking Cityworks + Azure IaaS. That’s Infrastructure-as-a-Service, aka: someone else’s server that’s better, faster, and doesn’t smell like mildew. Cityworks: Our Trusty Digital Clipboard Cityworks is our workhorse. It tracks the
Let’s get this out of the way: working solo in IT isn’t just a job — it’s an extreme sport. Except instead of medals, you get weird help desk tickets, 3 a.m. server alerts, and the unshakable knowledge that if anything breaks, it’s your fault. And you know what? Sometimes, after explaining for the fourth time that the Wi-Fi password
Now, please hold while I patch your router, block that ransomware, and stop Gerry from downloading malware. Again. Oh, you think being a network and cybersecurity engineer is cool? Glamorous, even? You imagine dark rooms lit by cascading lines of code, high-fiving your team after foiling international hackers, and maybe a dramatic “We’re in!” moment every other Tuesday? Yeah, that’s
Let’s cut the corporate fluff: working in IT is mentally exhausting — and no, it’s not because you forgot to reboot the router. It’s because you’re stuck in a never-ending cycle of firefighting, micromanagement, unrealistic expectations, and “can you just” requests… all while pretending you’re totally fine. But here’s the spicy truth:Bad leadership is quietly wrecking mental health in IT,
Let me start with the truth: I didn’t choose the self-study path because I thought I was some kind of untapped genius. I chose it because I checked the price of a cybersecurity bootcamp and nearly choked on my instant noodles. I want to become a network and cybersecurity engineer. Not because it sounds cool (okay, maybe a little), but