There is nothing more rewarding than living the life you have always dreamed of after striving for it. Take it from Janice Lagundi, a goal-driven career woman from Laguna, who fought tooth and nail for her envisioned profession. Coming from a big family with nine siblings, she felt the need to help with their financial struggles. She juggled her time as a Student Assistant and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science scholar in STI College – Sta. Cruz.
With her college days in retrospect, Janice was a consistent Dean’s Lister and a prize-winning competitor in various school competitions. Her active participation and exemplary performance both inside and outside the classroom earned her the Cum Laude honors upon graduation in 2006, along with other outstanding awards.
"My four years in STI College – Sta. Cruz were fun and challenging. I joined an organization and participated in my school's outreach programs where we donated school supplies to kids in nearby communities. I also joined annual school competitions such as Tagisan ng Talino which helped in improving me," Janice recalls of her days in STI. Furthermore, she adds "My scholarship helped me a lot. Without it, I wouldn't have been able to graduate."
Equipped with well-developed technical programming capabilities and commendable leadership skills, she rolled up her sleeves and ventured into a career with SPi Technologies as a Junior Analyst/Programmer. After two long years of working and learning, she was then hired by Oberthur Technologies as the Sharepoint Specialist and consequently advanced to a Supervisor/Senior Software Engineer in 2011.
Throughout her seven years of service to Oberthur Technologies, she makes use of the world-class education she earned from STI as she works with internal and external clients across the world. Janice’s respectable leadership and project management expertise were recognized by her employer when she was promoted as the IT Software Development Manager in 2013.
"Even when being placed in the managerial role, the core lessons you learned at school will help you stay organized, set goals, and meet deadlines. At STI, we were given deadlines and tasks to complete, and that gave me a glimpse of what to anticipate in the future. I also acquired good communication skills, which I use now to interact with people from other countries,” Janice shares about being professional at work. “Without the core knowledge from STI, I don’t think I would have been able to handle my tasks and projects.”
Truly, her thriving endeavour and impressive accomplishments represent the consistency of her performance both in her education and in her profession. By inspiring excellency in others through her work, Janice exemplifies a characteristic that STI instils in their students: Being a servant-leader and dedicated to one’s craft. For this reason, she was awarded with the prestigious STI Distinguished Alumni Award on April 30, 2015.
As for her message to students, she shares, "They should know themselves better: their strengths and weaknesses. Strength because that is going to be their source of profit. By knowing their limitations and weaknesses, they will become aware that there are still areas that need improvement. Secondly, they should have goals and they should plan for them. Their plans should be manageable and achievable. Lastly, they should continue learning, especially in the IT industry where everything they know will be obsolete in two years. Thus, they should continue reading books and expand their network of friends. While books are theoretical, friends will provide them more and better mentors that will help them in the field."