Reflection Paper 1 - May Roxas
What were your defining moments? What incidents/events taught you to be better/transformed you?
2004: Family Business Got Bankrupt
I was born from an average household. My father was the sole breadwinner and my mother stopped working when I turned one because she wanted to take care of me full time. I have one sister and she is five years my junior. Year 2000, the factory where my father was working, closed down. He had an offer to relocate to Cagayan de Oro, but he chose not to because of the location. He received a large sum of money as a retirement fee and together with my mother, they decided to put up a trucking business. Being inexperienced, the business slowly went bankrupt and we incurred a lot of debt. From four trucks and two vans, we were left with one van (which is by the way, already second-hand) which my father used for shuttle service and for Laguna-Lucena-Laguna trips. But the income generated from this job was never enough for our family. I was staying in campus during my five years in college and in my last year, my allowance was greatly reduced that I remember skipping meals in order to afford other school expenses, such as projects and reading materials. We had to loan money from relatives and the bank to sustain all our expenses.
Because they were unable to get into college and because they believe that having a good education will help improve our own lives, my parents were hard pressed for both my sister and I to finish. They stopped at nothing to make sure that we have what we need to finish our schooling. I remember times when they are the ones who go to Recto in order to find me a book that I need. It was also a good thing that I'm studying in UP at that time, so the tuition fee was not as high as the other good universities in the country. For my graduation, they borrowed money from my Lola and neighbor so I can pay the graduation fees and tickets. As soon as I finished school, I started to look for work to help add income to our family. But I also want to take the board exam and become a Licensed Chemical Engineer. Because of this, I accepted the first job offer that I received and that is as a Quality Control (QC) Engineer in an Electronics Company in Laguna. My starting salary is only P 8,000 a month and my first pay was used to enroll in a review school and buy the book required during the licensure exam. I worked hard to balance work and studying during the months before the board exam. I feel so envious of my batchmates who have nothing else to do than study. There were even times that I cried of exhaustion. But all my hard work got paid off when I passed the board exam November 2005. A few months after, I resigned from the Electronics Company and applied in JGC – an engineering and construction company in Alabang. I was hired as a Junior Instrument Engineer.
Being a fresh graduate, my salary in JGC was only entry-level. This means that it was never enough. Thus, my father still needed to continue working on the shuttle terminal, so that my sister can continue with college and we can pay our debts. I no longer wanted my father to make those trips because he was already 55 at that time. The vehicle he was driving was so worn out that it gets broken down every now and then. Because of that, his hard-earned money just usually goes to the repair. Additionally, he did not have an LTFRB license to provide the commuter service. This means that he always had to watch-out for the LTO police.
After a year in JGC, I was given an opportunity to work overseas. I was sent to Japan to do engineering work for an oil and gas company in Qatar. This was a big help for me because even if the assignment was only 8 months, my salary improved and I was able to save. Therefore, I was also able to help my family meet our daily needs, pay our debts and send my sister to school.
Losing our source of income helped me see that life is not easy. That wanting something means working hard for it. But more importantly, one should know what he/she wants first, before he/she can work towards that goal.
2009: Qatar Site Assignment
In 2009, I was sent to Qatar to be part of the construction team of a project that we did engineering in Japan. The project was the Shell – Pearl Gas to Liquid plant in Ras Laffan. I did not want to go at first because I do not want long term assignments and because of a belief that Middle East countries are no place for women. However, in the end I still agreed to be deployed.
I initially thought that I would be discriminated in Qatar in terms of work. But on the contrary, I was given more workload and responsibilities than I expected. At temperatures of 40 degrees C, I was required to be out in the sun, to perform communication checks of instruments ready for commissioning. I took charge of the instruments in each area for the handover of all the systems to the Shell client. I may have no formal "title", like Manager or Supervisor, at that time, but I was given important projects to lead. I was therefore stretched and challenged to be successful in the tasks assigned to me. In addition to the activities that were given, I also learned to work with different nationalities and cultures. The assignment really opened an entirely different world of learning for me. My Japanese bosses gave me free rein to meet and setup meetings with contractors, vendors and even the client who are people from different countries. The trust that was given to me has inspired me to work harder and prove myself more.
This is probably why from an original 6 months-only assignment, I stayed in Qatar for 2 ½ years. The Client asked me to extend for another half year, but I refused because I felt that 2 ½ years is already a long time and I was already happy to have been part of the "First Oil".
When I returned to the office, I came back to my previous responsibilities of being an Instrument Design Engineer. But because of my past experiences and former responsibilities at Qatar, I got easily bored in the office work. I started looking for more challenge. I knew that I could do more but my current work was limiting my career growth. After staying in the office for only three months, I made the decision of resigning in JGC. It was hard for me, because I had to leave my friends and mentors who have been there throughout my five years in the company. But I never regretted that move because if I hadn't went out of my comfort zone, I wouldn't be where I am now in my career.
I believe that my assignment in Qatar was the biggest turning point of my career. It made me realize that I could accomplish more as soon as I am given opportunities to show what I am capable of. The experience taught me to believe in myself more and has also transformed me into a person who craves and enjoys challenges.
2013: Career Change
Last 2013, I made a decision that many people felt was an opportunity that I should have not refused.
I started at Emerson as a Technical Support Engineer in 2011. After two years, the company decided to send me to the US for a long-term assignment. I did not want to go, but one cannot say NO to an assignment without a very valid reason. I tried to give every reason I can think of – pursue further studies, plan to get married, etc., except the truths – 1) I do not want to leave because I have just returned from a long-term assignment and 2) I do not like the work that I will be doing – it's a Product Engineering assignment for a new product. I couldn't tell them these because I know that these reasons are not acceptable.
People thought I was being silly because I was already prepared to resign if I got pushed to do the assignment. Luckily, another door opened for me and my manager told me of an internal opening for a Project Manager. It's quite a long shot – I was relatively young and still new in the organization. Moreover, I have no formal project management experience and I'm up against more senior people in the company. Nevertheless, I applied for the position thinking that I have nothing to lose. Thankfully, I got the job.
Because Emerson is a high-tech industry, my initial plan is to focus on the technical path. I wanted to become one of the subject matter experts in the field. However, when contemplated about it, doing management-related activities is what I really wanted to do. Therefore, making a stand that I don't want to be on an overseas assignment turned out to be the perfect opportunity for me.
This event taught me the importance of knowing where I want to go in life and what strengths could play to my advantage. I also learned that I should not be afraid of saying no to some of the things in life regardless of what other people think.
2014: Joining a Marathon
They said that a marathon can change your life forever. For me, the change did not happen when I crossed the finish line 6 hours and 30 minutes later. It happened the moment I decided and committed to myself that I WILL run a marathon.
At the time that I made that decision, I told myself that I will commit to the training plan, I will attend all talks and I will run at all the clinics. Training started 22 weeks before the race day and I followed the plan religiously. I ran thrice a week, slept early, woke up early and adhered to the right diet. I learned to prepare, work hard and push myself to the limits.
When I reflected at all the things I've done in preparation for race day, I realized that now I know myself more. I became a changed person because of deciding to run the marathon. I saw the amount of discipline that I never thought I had in me. I've always believed that I can do anything as long as I put my heart into it and this is one of those events in my life that has proven it. Running a marathon is not a matter of strength. It's mostly of mind and heart.
For this first Reflection Paper exercise, I learned that a leader does not only show leadership or become a leader just because he was chosen for that role. Leadership can happen any time especially when a person is put in a situation where it is warranted. I believe that it is fairly common that people only realize that they can be leaders once they are placed in a scenario where someone needs to step up or when they know what they want to achieve and know how to get it done.
I also came to realize that people are greatly shaped by the defining moments in their lives. For me, it's like an AHA moment where I was able to see that these events explained what kind of person I am now. I also learned that earlier experiences in life determine how one will respond to events in the future. My actions and decisions today were influenced by situations encountered in the past and these same actions and decisions will have an effect on what I will become in the future. Good 3
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