In a world where everyone’s pretending to be an expert… I found myself whispering Denning’s words like a prayer. Not because I had just started in tech. Not because I was a student. But because I was—and still am—the solo IT Administrator at a public utility. The guy behind the firewall, under the server rack, resetting your password, hardening your
So you want to be that person—the one who calmly tells panicked users “It’s not broken, it’s off,” fixes printers without black magic, and survives the Help Desk trenches? Enter CompTIA A+ Core Series v15—the 2025 glow-up of the vendor-neutral cert that IT gatekeepers love and entry-level warriors need. What the Heck Is CompTIA A+? CompTIA A+ is the IT
From the IT Administrator, GIS Staff, Network Engineer, Procurement Officer, and Whoever Else Isn’t Around That Day Let’s stop pretending this is a team sport. It’s not. In small utilities—and especially in local government—“IT Department” is often a fiction. It’s a polite way of saying one person who knows how to reboot things. That’s me. I’m the sysadmin, the GIS
Let’s be real for a second: You want to learn networking, but Cisco gear costs more than your rent, your electricity bill, and your weekly caffeine addiction combined. And let’s not even talk about the sound your laptop makes when you try to run GNS3 with a full topology—somewhere between a jet engine and a dying hyena. Enter Packet Tracer,
Do not get me wrong.I laud the Philippines’ independence.I do. Truly.I honor the blood spilled, the bones buried beneath unmarked fields, the mothers who wept and the sons who charged with nothing but bolos and borrowed hope. I thank them.I exist because of them. But let’s not cheapen their sacrifice by pretending that independence is synonymous with liberation.It was a
We say we are proud to be Filipino. We sing the national anthem with our hands over our hearts.We post old photos on Independence Day.We say “never again” every February, then forget it by March.We tell foreigners about our resilience like it’s a badge of honor, not a wound.We say “Mabuhay ang Pilipinas” — but we’ve long buried the soul
So, you’ve decided to venture into the world of networking. Welcome to the land where blinking lights are comfort, and cabling is an extreme sport. If you’re new, or just pretending not to cry in the server room, you’ll eventually run into two rival factions in Networking Land: They’re both critical. They’re both dramatic. And yes, they both matter way
Let’s talk about TCP/IP, the protocol suite that’s been dragging the internet on its back since disco died. Forget the OSI model. That seven-layer cake is great for textbooks and job interviews, but in real life? We use TCP/IP—a four-layer burrito of glorious, functional chaos. Network Access Layer Where bits meet brawn. You like Wi-Fi? Ethernet? Bluetooth? Carrier pigeons with
We’re addicted to shortcuts. We want to be Southeast Asia’s next tech tiger, build AI-powered public services, and throw around buzzwords like “blockchain-enabled procurement” — when most agencies still rely on photocopiers older than Gen Z. We love to say we’re “leapfrogging” into digital greatness. But newsflash:You can’t leapfrog if you haven’t even built the pond.Some communities don’t even have
By someone just trying to finish one cup of coffee before the next fire starts Let me tell you about my life right now. I’m working full-time in IT — a solo administrator, which is just a fancy way of saying I’m the help desk, the network engineer, the cybersecurity guy, the GIS admin, and the unofficial printer whisperer. The