About the guest: Joseph Daniel Dantes is currently working for Blaize, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology company, where he is mostly in charge of developing software tools that are used in communicating with their AI accelerator hardware. Before this, he also worked for another AI technology company called Wave Computing. He is a Computer Engineering graduate from UP Diliman, and he was a member of the Ubiquitous Computing Laboratory in their institute.

In this episode we talked about:

• What inspired him to pursue a career in AI engineering
• His experience during their bootcamp training at Wave Computing
• What he loves about working for a startup company
• His role at Blaize, and some of the projects he has worked on so far
• What edge computing is, and what it was like before edge computing
• The day-to-day activities of an AI engineer, and the typical timeline of AI projects
• What are the challenging and rewarding aspects of working as an AI engineer
• What is AI, and how it's different from other related topics (machine learning, data science, etc)
• How neural networks work, a simple example
• The latest in AI technology, and why the development of AI is deemed to be the fourth industrial revolution
• What makes a successful AI engineer

Follow JD Dantes on social media for more AI-related blog posts:
Writings on https://jddantes.substack.com
Medium https://medium.com/@jddantes
Twitter https://twitter.com/jddantes

If you wish to learn more about neural networks, here are some useful lecture notes:  
https://cs231n.github.io/convolutional-networks/  
https://cs231n.github.io/understanding-cnn/

About the guest: Erwin San Pedro is currently working as a Network Operations Engineer for NetOne Systems Japan, where he is tasked to help their customers resolve network issues, find downtime threats, and report outdated systems. Before this, he had three years of experience as an Electrical Project engineer for Hexel Works Japan. He has a bachelor's degree in ECE from UP Diliman, and he was a member of UP EEEI's Ubiquitous Computing Laboratory.

In this episode we talked about:

• What urged him to make a career shift from electrical project engineering to network operations engineering
• His first months of training at NetOne Systems Japan, and his role for the Operations team
• The Plan-Build-Operate-Optimize (PBOO) framework, and different roles in each department
• The day to day activities of a network operations engineer
• The types of customers they have, and the kinds of concerns that they deal with
• His process for researching, resolving, and recording the network issues
• The many different parts connected in a network systems
• The challenging and rewarding aspects of the work of a network operations engineer
• The next steps in the career of a network engineer
• Why Security Engineering is a highly specialized skill
• How his past experiences in Hexel, UCL, and UP has helped him so far in his new career

About the guest: Carlos Luigi Ramos is an FPGA Engineer for Anritsu Japan. He has 4 years of experience in developing digital circuit modules for the signal modulation/demodulation and MIMO applications for 5G Testers. He has a bachelor's degree in ECE from UP Diliman, and he was a part of the Digital Signals Processing Laboratory.

In this episode we talked about:

• How he ended up working for an FPGA team, and the kind of training he got in the beginning
• The languages used in FPGA coding, and how its parallel processing is different from other codes
• The projects he got involved in, and the work he has done for the Demodulation and Modulation groups of Anritsu's 5G Tester
• What are detailed in the 3GPP specifications
• The process of FPGA development: design (spec review, circuit design, timing charts), coding (circuit, input data, output data), simulation (in PC), verification, hardware deployment, and testing
• The challenging and rewarding aspects of the work of an FPGA engineer
• The next steps in the career of an FPGA engineer, how to become an expert FPGA engineer, and the two types of an FPGA engineer
• What is an FPGA, the applications you can build with it, and the devices that need it
• FPGA vs ASIC, and how FPGA allows reprogrammability of the digital circuits
• The FPGA architecture, and the best practices in designing FPGA applications
• The most useful skills and character traits for an FPGA engineer
• The future of FPGA, and why the demand for FPGAs will only grow in the future

About the guest: Mikhail Eñano is a Product Design and Development engineer for Toshiba Japan, where he is part of the Telecommunication Systems Equipment Design group. He has 5 years of experience in product design, evaluation, and troubleshooting of RF products, mainly equipments for Satellite Communications. He has a bachelor's degree in ECE from UP Diliman, and he was a part of the Wireless Communications Engineering Laboratory (WCEL).

In this episode we talked about:

• How he first got interested about wireless communications engineering
• His undergraduate thesis project for WCEL
• The antenna development process
• Comparisons between software engineering and hardware engineering
• What he needs for him to start developing his own products
• Why a master's degree is almost crucial to an RF engineer
• The next steps in the career of an RF engineer
• Qualities that will make a successful RF engineer
• The many different career opportunities for RF engineers

About the guest: Mikhail Eñano is a Product Design and Development engineer for Toshiba Japan, where he is part of the Telecommunication Systems Equipment Design group. He has 5 years of experience in product design, evaluation, and troubleshooting of RF products, mainly equipments for Satellite Communications. He has a bachelor's degree in ECE from UP Diliman, and he was a part of the Wireless Communications Engineering Laboratory (WCEL).

In this episode we talked about:

• The products being developed in the Telecommunications Systems Equipment Group of Toshiba Japan
• What are RF products, and what do RF engineers do?
• The different kinds of RF engineers
• The products/projects he has been involved in so far
• Some of his patent applications, and the patent application process in Japan
• The different teams and different kinds of engineers involved in the development of a product
• The stages in the product development cycle: design, prototype, development, production, support
• What's unique about this process when it comes to RF products
• The different certifications and evaluations of electronic products, and how they are conducted
• The most challenging and rewarding aspects of the job of an RF engineer
• Why RF engineers are important and will never become obsolete
• Current challenges and exciting researches in wireless communications

About the Guest: Marc Patrick Celon is a software engineer for Samsung Research Philippines where he is currently developing the AdBlocking technology of the Samsung Internet browser. He is a Computer Engineering graduate from UP Diliman and he was a member of the Ubiquitous Computing Laboratory (UCL).

In this episode we talked about:

• The different kinds of apps they develop in UCL
• Why he chose Samsung Research PH as the place to start his career in app dev
• His early projects for Samsung, and how software dev is different in the industry compared to in college
• How they monitor and find issues in the web apps they deploy
• How he got involved in mobile app development, and why Samsung Internet is capitalizing on its AdBlocking technology
• Where the ads are in a browser, and why AdBlockers need to be constantly updated
• The day-to-day activities of a mobile app developer
• The side projects they have in Samsung, as well as how they present their patent or product ideas
• The difference between mobile app development and web app development
• How AdBlockers hide or block ads on a website, and what they replace them with
• What personal projects he is working on right now
• How someone can get started in web app or mobile app development
• The differences in developing iOS and Android applications

About the guest: Rodrigo Celso II is currently working as a software engineer for Metro East Technology Resources Inc, where he helps develop internal web applications for Telecom companies. He has a bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering specialized in Digital Signal Processing from UP Diliman, and he is currently pursuing his MBA degree.

In the first half of this episode we talked about:

• Why he entered a career in Web development, and why he chose Metro East Technology
• What web development is, and how UI/UX has become a separate area of work
• How his career has progressed in the past four years, and the kinds of projects he has worked on
• Differences between a web developer and mobile app developer
• The day-to-day activities of a web developer
• The lifecycle of software development, and the difference between Waterfall and Agile methods
• How he learned the many programming languages needed for his work
• The challenging aspects and rewarding aspects of working as a web developer
• The next steps in the career of a web developer, and why he is pursuing an MBA now

In the second half of this episode we talked about:

• What is front-end development, and what is back-end development
• How UI/UX is planned, designed, researched, and implemented
• How the user data is accessed from/sent to the servers
• How cloud technology is impacting the web development process
• How their team is transitioning towards the adoption of cloud infrastructure
• Current trends in UI design, and the trendsetters in UI design
• The main design principles in creating sustainable and adaptable software
• What makes a successful web developer
• The many reasons why someone should pursue a career in web development
• How someone can start learning how to do web development

About the guest: Ivan Nepomuceno is currently working as a DevOps Engineer for Samsung Research Philippines. He also has previous experience as a release manager in Asurion, and as a system engineer in Azeus. He has a bachelor's degree in ECE from UP Diliman, where he specialized in wireless communications engineering. In the first half of this episode we talked about: Why he entered the IT industry after graduating from college What products/services he was involved in at Azeus How he taught himself DevOps engineering His work as a release manager in Asurion The day-to-day activities of a DevOps engineer Why we would want to put codes into containers How they automate the deployment of applications Differences between developers, operations, and DevOps The challenging and rewarding aspects about the work of a DevOps engineer How someone can advance to DevOps position In the second half of this episode we talked about: How DevOps developed, and why it's crucial for our software systems today The future of IT and DevOps What businesses need a DevOps engineer The minimum background/knowledge you need to get into DevOps engineering What it takes to be well-versed in the work of DevOps What makes a successful DevOps engineer Best way to start learning DevOps engineering Why DevOps is very in demand right now

About the guest: Izrael Bautista is currently finishing his PhD in Space Systems Engineering at Kyushu University. He is also the project manager for BIRDS-4, a cubesatellite project involving different engineers from the Philippines, Paraguay, Nepal, Turkey, and Japan. His involvement in the Philippine Microsatellite Project started from 2015, and since then he has contributed in the development of the power system of Diwata-1 and Diwata-2 satellites. He has a bachelor's degree in ECE and a master's degree in Energy Engineering both from UP Diliman.

In the first half of the episode we talked about:

• How he first got involved with the Philippine Microsatellite Project
• His contributions for the Diwata-1 and Diwata-2 projects
• What is an amateur radio
• The data that we can get from our satellites
• Why he decided to pursue PhD in Space Systems Engineering
• The subjects he took for this degree, and the format of their classes
• The mission of the BIRDS-4 Project, and the make-up of their team
• His role and contributions to this project
• The technology he used for the solar cell of the satellite
• The background necessary to qualify for Space Systems Engineering
• The timeline of the project, and why most cubesatellites last only 1-2 years
• The new career opportunities that opened up for him because of Space Engineering

In the second half of the episode we talked about:

• The harsh conditions that satellites should be able to withstand
• The challenges in the communications with the satellite
• What our Space Agency is working on now, and the kinds of roles they need inside
• The future goals of the Philippine Space Agency
• Where we're getting our funds for our space missions today
• Why space data is valuable to private enterprises
• Why pursue a career in Space Systems Engineering
• Why satellites are the king of systems
• How someone can start learning amateur radio

About the guest: Jenvia Domingo is a Senior Technical Recruiter for Pointwest, an IT & Services company in the Philippines. Counting her 1 year experience as a recruitment assistant in Action Labs IT Services Philippines, she now has 5 years of experience in the end to end recruitment of IT, Software, and Operations professionals. She finished her bachelor's degree in Human Resource Development Management (HRDM) from New Era University.

In the first half of this episode we talked about:

• What inspired her to take the HRDM program of New Era University
• The five different facets of Human Resource Management
• The curriculum of the HRDM program in New Era University, and how the subjects are taught
• Her job searching experience after graduating from college
• Why she chose to find work in the IT industry
• Freelancing, outsourcing, staff augmentation, and direct hiring
• The day-to-day activities of an HR officer
• The challenging and rewarding aspects of working as an HR officer
• How she overcame the challenges of learning about the technologies in IT, and developing her interviewing skills
• How to be a successful HR officer, how to develop the passion for this work, and finding mentors

In the second half of this episode we talked about:

• The complete hiring process, and how to find and get that job you want
• How recruiters find the right candidates for the positions they are trying to fill
• What are the different concerns employees can ask from their HR department
• How are employees usually evaluated and rewarded
• What are the causes for terminating an employee, and how to approach letting go of employees
• The steps you need to take when you decide to resign from your company
• How are salaries of employees decided
• What makes employees stay in the company, and what makes them leave early
• Why pursue a career in Human Resource management
• What other backgrounds will qualify you for this job

About the guest: Allen Cruz is an Economics graduate from UP Diliman. He is currently working as a Foreign Exchange officer in Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and he has previous work experiences as a banker in UnionBank and as a management trainee for an oil company.

In the second part of this episode we talked about:

• The role of banks in the economy
• The different services that banks offer and that we should know about
• The thing you can now do with online banking
• Digital banks vs traditional banks
• What cryptocurrency is, and what we are investing in when we invest in cryptocurrency
• Why capitalism has a bad reputation
• Alternatives to capitalism, and the spectrum between a purely government-controlled economy and a purely private-controlled economy
• Why pursue Economics as a course in college

About the guest: Allen Cruz is an Economics graduate from UP Diliman. He is currently working as a Foreign Exchange officer in Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and he has previous work experiences as a banker in UnionBank and as a management trainee for an oil company.

In this episode, we talked about:

• Why he chose Economics as a course in college
• What you will learn from a degree in Economics
• Why UP's Economics curriculum allows so many free electives
• Career opportunities for an Economics graduate
• Why we need economists involved in deciding the prices of currencies
• His experiences working as a banker 
• The many different skills you gain from working in the Loans function of a bank
• How he conducts research, analysis, and reporting about their clients
• The challenging aspects about working as a banker

About the guest: Lyssa Solomon is working as a guidance counselor in Xavier School, while taking her MS degree in Counseling Psychology in Ateneo de Manila University. She has a bachelor's degree in Family Life and Child Development from UP Diliman, and she has worked as a clinical assistant in Ateneo Bulatao Center's psychological clinic, and as a community mobilizer for Save the Children Philippines.

In this episode we talked about:

• What inspired her to pursue an MS in Counseling Psychology
• How her background in Family Life and Child Development helps her in her Psychology studies
• The topics covered in Ateneo's Counseling Psychology MS program
• Her work as a guidance counselor for Xavier School
• Her past experiences as a clinical assistant in Bulatao Center and as a community mobilizer for Save the Children Philippines
• Career opportunities for someone with a background in Counseling Psychology
• What happens in a psychotherapy session
• How to know if it's time to talk to a therapist
• What are the different kinds of therapies available
• How the therapists can say that a client is recovered
• How to help our friends who are experiencing depression, and what should we be careful not to do
• How to remain grateful and positive without falling into toxic positivity
• How to teach kids to accept their emotions, and be careful with the way they express their emotions
• What we need to know about our identity and personality
• What are the factors contributing to many children experiencing depression these days
• Why we need more psychologists

This is the second part of my conversation with Philosophy Major Jofer Asilum. In this episode we talked about: How studying Philosophy changed his views, ideas, and beliefs His own philosophies in life How to know if where you are is where you should be in life How to become an ubermensch, according to Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche Some of the major philosophical problems today Why policy makers don't use the works of philosophers in answering societal problems What we should be teaching in our Values Education classes Why we need more philosophers, and the importance of Philosophy How we are moving towards a world with no more singular degrees

About the guest: Jofer Asilum is a Philosophy graduate from UP Diliman. After graduating, he started the Philosophy department of OB Montessory Center Professional High School, and developed the Philosophy curriculum for that school. He also wrote for the textbooks in Philosophy and Filipino of Senior High school students. Now, he is working as an urban and regional planner for their municipality in Masbate, after earning his master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning also from UP Diliman. In this episode we talked about: Why he chose Philosophy in college, and how he began to fall in love with it How the Philosophy department of a university dictates the heart of the whole university The topics they learned in their four years of studying Philosophy Why we need to study philosophers, but not be consumed by their ideas What we need to know about the Filipino psychology Typical format and requirements in Philosophy classes How research is done in Philosophy, and how he conducted his own research on the topic of "tadhana" Some of the most influential philosophers today The different career paths a Philosophy graduate can take Why he decided to study and work as an Urban and Regional planner What qualities of a student will help him/her succeed in Philosophy

About the guest: Josef Gacutan is a film graduate from UP Diliman. She is currently working as a freelance writer and producer for digital ads and short films. Her short animated film 'Wag mo 'kong kausapin' won as Best Short Film in the 2019 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, and was part of the 29th Singapore International Film Festival, FAMAS Awards, and Gawad Urian Awards.

In this episode we talked about:

• How she got into films, and why she decided to shift to Film
• How film is taught in school, the typical format of classes and the usual requirements
• What makes film school very expensive, and how students are finding ways to pay for it
• How they propose their film ideas, and the steps to making a film
• Why she decided to do an animated short film for her thesis
• Why students prefer to do narrative fiction, and why documentaries are challenging
• What causes a lot of Film students to be delayed in graduating
• The different career options for Film graduates
• What it's like working as a freelance writer/producer
• Her suggestions on how to analyze a film
• How to get started learning how to make animations or documentaries
• How to get started learning about Philippine and World cinema
• What are the lesser known genres, and what are the new genres that are popping up these days
• What might be the future of the film industry in the Philippines
• What it takes to be a successful filmmaker
• Her message to aspiring filmmakers and why we need more filmmakers in the country

About the guest: Maverick Flores is a communications campaigner for Greenpeace Philippines, where he develops projects that will help increase awareness of their organization. Before this, he also worked as a communications officer for different private companies, government agencies, and NGOs. He has a degree in Journalism from UP Diliman. In this episode we talked about: How journalism and communications are similar and different The outline of a Journalism course in college The two career paths he considered after graduation His short experience as an Editorial Production Assistant for the Philippine Daily Inquirer His first experience in communications as a Program Coordinator for an NGO Why the humanities and social sciences are just as difficult as the hard sciences, and how they can be applied to all sorts of jobs His work as a communications officer for the Philippine Information Agency His work in public relations (PR) for a private corporation His work as an advocacy communications officer for the Greenpeace Philippines The skills every communications officer should learn The day-to-day work and long-term projects of a communications officer How the work of a communications officer differs in a government agency, private corporation, and NGO The unethical practices in communications that they should avoid The different mediums used in communications, and how they determine which medium is most applicable for a particular campaign How his experiences working as a communications officer have helped in his personal passion projects (blogs, podcasts, etc) Some of the results they've encountered from evaluation their past communications campaigns The challenges journalists are facing today, and the rewarding aspects of being a journalist Why we need more journalists today, and the role of journalists in the society Get to know more about Greenpeace Philippines by following @gpph on Twitter and @greenpeaceph on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok.

About the guest: Arlene Mia Ruguian is a Materials Engineer, specializing in thin films and nanomaterials. After finishing her BS degree in UP Diliman, she worked for three years in Beta Nanocoating, a start-up nanocoating company in Bulacan. She then pursued her Master's degree in Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology (KAIST), where she did research for the Flexible Devices and Metamaterials Lab, such as in the development of advanced catalysts for hydrogen fuels. In this episode we talked about: Why she chose Materials Engineering as her course in college, and why this profession is relatively unknown to us How Materials Engineering overlaps with all the other engineering fields and sciences The curriculum of a Materials Engineering program, and why Materials Engineering subjects start very late in the curriculum What they learn about a particular material, and what are the common materials they study, as well as the more advanced materials Her experience as a summer intern in Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Japan The career options for Materials Engineering graduates, and why they still don't have a board exam in the Philippines Her experiences working in Beta Nanocoating, and why she stayed there for three years The applications of nanocoating, and how they evaluate if this process applies to a particular tool Why she decided to study further in KAIST Her study experience in KAIST, the subjects she chose, and the struggle she had recalling their subjects in undergrad The different labs in KAIST, and why she chose the Flexible Devices and Metamaterials Lab Her career pursuits now in the academe, sharing the research methodologies she learned from KAIST, as well as potentially starting her own lab for advanced materials research in the Philippines The typical process of product development How a property of a material can be changed How they make sure new materials don't have harmful effects to humans and the environment The recent advances in materials: composites, nanomaterials, flexible electronics, biomaterials The skills that will help a Materials Engineer succeed How Materials Engineers can help solve global problems such as global warming, waste control, water shortage Why aspiring Materials Engineers need not worry too much about Math, Physics, and Chemistry

About this episode's guest: Daniel Paul Uy is a fifth year Med student in UP Manila. He has a bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (MBB) from UP Diliman, where he did research for the Disease Molecular Biology and Epigenetics Laboratory (DMBEL).

In this episode we talked about:

• Why Daniel chose MBB as his course in college
• The different topics and laboratories in MBB
• The RNA research being worked inside DMBEL
• The three hallmarks of cancer
• The tools you need to be a successful MBB student/researcher
• The different career paths for an MBB graduate
• How UP Med creates five-star physicians
• How Daniel's background in MBB helps him in Med school
• The differences between working as a researcher and a clinician
• Why doing undergrad before going into Med school is a good idea
• Why high school and college is the time to pursue what you're passionate about
• Why we need more MBB researchers in the Philippines

About this episode's guest: Maku Mei Chan is a Broadcast Communications graduate from UP Diliman. She is working now as a Production Assistant for various shows in GMA network such as Stepdaughters, Bilangin ang Bituin sa Langit, and Heartful Cafe. She is also volunteering as an anchor and correspondent for shows like CFO Today and CBI Live in INCTV and INC Radio.

In this episode we talked about:

• The processes involved in producing a drama series on TV
• How a TV network influences the content of its shows, including news shows
• How digital media (Internet, social media, podcast, vlogs) has affected the TV landscape
• Comparisons between working in front of the camera and behind the camera
• How the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the Philippine TV industry
• How Maku plans to become a Program Manager on GMA