From Facebook Cheats to Cloud Computing: My IT Journey
From a curious kid fascinated by computers to becoming an IT Instructor at my alma mater, my journey has been full of learning, experimenting, and unexpected opportunities. And I'm still just getting started.
I guess my story starts with my stepdad.
He's the one who introduced me to computers. I was just a kid back then, curious about everything. While most kids my age were obsessed with games, I found myself messing around with Excel and other productivity tools.
There was something about spreadsheets that just clicked with me.
But let me be honest: my first real "hacking" experience was cheating on Facebook games.
I'd figure out ways to add credits, points, or money to my accounts so I could buy expensive items and characters. Looking back, I didn't realize I was actually learning how systems worked.
I was just a kid who wanted to win.
College Changed Everything
My first year of college was where everything started to become more serious.
That's when I was introduced to actual coding. It wasn't software development yet, just the fundamentals. But it was enough to make me realize that this was something I wanted to pursue.
Money was tight, so I started looking for ways to earn online.
That's when I discovered Remotasks and started working as a data annotator. I was labeling images and text for AI development. It wasn't the most exciting job in the world, but it paid the bills and gave me my first real glimpse into how AI systems are trained.
From there, I tried different things.
- General administrative work using various tools
- Data annotation for AI development
- Website development commissions
- Learning programming and technology independently
They weren't huge projects, but they were real work for real clients.
And that meant a lot to me.
How I Actually Learned
Here's the thing: I didn't have AI tools to help me learn back then.
Everything came from grinding it out myself.
- Reading books
- Following tech news
- Doing my own research
- Following people online who actually knew what they were talking about
- Spending countless hours trying to understand how things worked
I wasn't learning because I had to.
I was learning because I genuinely wanted to understand how things worked.
Where I Am Now
Fast forward to today, and I'm now an IT Instructor at STI College Tagaytay, my alma mater.
Teaching the fundamentals of IT to students who sometimes remind me of myself when I was younger is a strange but rewarding feeling.
I used to be the student sitting in the classroom, trying to figure things out.
Now, I'm standing on the other side of it.
And honestly, I'm still learning too.
Right now, I'm diving deeper into AI and cloud technologies. The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
I've barely scratched the surface.
But that's what makes this career exciting. There's always something new to learn, another technology to understand, and another problem to figure out.
Still Exploring
When I look back, it's kind of crazy to see how everything connected.
From a kid who was fascinated by computers and spreadsheets...
To cheating on Facebook games without even realizing I was learning how systems worked...
To writing my first lines of code...
To doing data annotation and online work...
To building websites for clients...
And eventually, to teaching IT at the same school where I once studied.
It's been a wild ride.
I'm just grateful.
God has given me opportunities I never expected, and I'm thankful for every step that brought me here.
The iceberg is still huge, and I've only just started exploring what's underneath.