danielumandap-ojtblog

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On-the-Job Training at IDESS Interactive Technologies

About IDESS

IDESS Interactive Technologies specializes in the development of Competence Assurance systems for the Offshore Oil and Gas industries. They have more than 25 years experience as providers of training and assessment services specifically for shipping industries. IDESS has produced systems such as CASys, iTest, sEaLearn (winner of the prestigious Seatrade Maritime "Investment in People" Award), and many more.

Lessons Learned from the OJT Experience

During my training period, I was assigned to different supervisors so I had the chance to learn a lot of different things instead of just focusing on a single specific task. First of, I was placed in the marketing team, where I reviewed the materials that they used in presentations for their clients and for marketing purposes. I was also tasked with creating a client directory list where I did my research on the possible clients that we can market our app to. My experience under this team made me get a glimpse of how a system looks like from a marketing perspective and I think this will help me in the future when I market an application or a system of my own.

Some time after getting placed in the marketing team, I was called on to work in the admin office where I got assigned mainly to help with quality assurance for the case studies of the different systems. Other than being quality assurance, I was also given tasks such as scanning documents, and CD production during my time there so it was a refreshing change of pace after I was done with my quality assurance task. I was also taught by Mr. Angeles, the customer support specialist and consultant, a little bit of networking. He had me make an ethernet cable so that my laptop could have internet connection. He commented on how slow I am in terms of making an ethernet cable and gave me tips on how I could be faster and more efficient. He also lectured me about the latest trends on technology and networking principles whenever we talked so I am really grateful for all of his advice.

After I was done with my tasks in the admin team, I helped out Mr. Angeles with disassembling non-working PCs and salvaging the parts that were still usable and added them onto the other PCs. This only lasted for a short while and not long after, I was assigned to the Quality Assurance team where I was tasked to test the systems that they were gonna give to their clients. I was given permission to access the company’s bug form where I would report all the bugs and glitches that I found when testing their products. This experience definitely raised not only my knowledge in terms of testing, but also helped me become confident in the work I do since they felt trusting enough towards me to let me handle the system that they would actually give to their clients.

Overall, my experience with the company was really valuable and I really did learn a lot of stuff that I would not have learned otherwise since it was really different from what school has taught us. 

People Met and Dealt With

The first person that I worked for was Ms. Kimjun Lim, a member of the marketing team. She was the one who walked me through the rules of the company and had me modify the marketing tools that they use in presentations for their clients. She also had me design a feature graphic for a newsletter that the company would be using in an article about iTest, one of the systems that IDESS IT has developed.

In the admin team, I was placed under Mrs. Kimberly Anne Malate, the head of the Publication department, along with Ms. Grace Balayanto, the accountant, and Mr. Jason Von Angeles, the customer support specialist and IT consultant of the company. They were very friendly towards me so I found it really easy to open up to them in a short time. Aside from teaching me stuff concerned about my field of study, they also made me realize that the workplace is not as intimidating and harsh as it may seem.

The last person I was assigned to was Mr. Fern Patrick Rosalita, the head of the production team, and Mr. John Philip Canlas and Mr. Jhay Mark Arañas, members of the Quality Assurance team. They were the ones who taught me the process of testing and reporting, which is a task that I fully enjoy. They guided me throughout the whole process and whenever I was unsure of what to do, I can always ask them and they would answer back in a way that I could understand.

IT Skills Learned and Implemented

Since I was placed under a lot of different teams during my on-the-job training period, I got to implement a lot of the skills that I’ve learned throughout college to the workplace. I got to use my knowledge and skills in the field of networking by making an ethernet cable for my portable unit. I also had the chance to help out with PC Assembly and Disassembly.

As for the new skills that I’ve developed during my training period, software testing was easily the most exciting experience for me since I was new to it and I had a lot of fun learning the ins and outs of quality assurance.

Problems Encountered and Solutions Applied

Some of the problems that I’ve encountered during my on-the-job training period was that I was a little bit slow in doing the tasks that I did not excel in such as network cabling. The IT Consultant and Customer Support Specialist of the company, Mr. Jason Von Angeles, noticed this and gave me tips and tricks on how to be better and more efficient at that task.

Recommendations and Suggestions to Improve the Practicum

I think it would be nice if Gordon College had more business partners that offer On-the-Job training to the students. This would really help students that do not have connections or contacts to a company start earlier in their training period instead of blindly looking for a company that accepts one.