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Mga first job stories ng students ko (with permission, names changed)

Kuya Migs@kuya_migs_codes

July 10, 2026 · 2 min read

#5 in Remote Life

Contents(5)

Mga kapatid, madalas akong tanungin "Kuya, totoo ba na may nahi-hire kahit walang CS degree / kahit taga-probinsya / kahit matanda na?" Kaya nag-ask ako sa ilang students ko kung pwede kong i-share yung stories nila. Pumayag sila, pinalitan ko lang yung names.

Joy, 27, call center agent for 6 years

Nag-aaral siya ng HTML at CSS ng 4am pagkatapos ng shift niya. Walong buwan. First job: WordPress developer sa isang Australian agency, ₱35k a month, remote. Ang sabi ng hiring manager sa kanya: yung English at pasensya niya sa clients ang dahilan kung bakit siya yung pinili. Six years ng angry customers, naging superpower pala.

Paolo, 22, IT grad from a province school

160 applications. 7 interviews. First job: QA tester sa Cebu IT Park, ₱18k. Hindi dev, pero after 10 months nag-internal transfer siya sa dev team kasi siya yung pinakamaraming alam sa bugs ng system. Foot in the door, mga kapatid.

Liza, 34, nanay of two

Nag-aaral pag tulog na yung mga anak. Nagsimula sa OnlineJobs.ph, Shopify edits sa $5 an hour. Ngayon $12 an hour na, long-term client. Ang sikreto niya: maliit na trabaho, laging on time, laging may maayos na update sa client. Yung reviews ang nagpataas ng rate niya.

Mark, 19, walang degree

Tatlong projects. Isa doon, jeepney route finder para sa barangay nila, simple map lang at listahan ng routes. Pero ginagamit talaga ng mga kapitbahay niya. Na-hire siya ng local startup, ₱22k, kasi yung CTO nila taga-roon din at gumamit pala ng app niya.

Ano ang pareho sa kanilang apat?

  • Lahat sila nag-ship ng totoong bagay, hindi lang tutorial projects.
  • Lahat sila nag-apply ng marami, at na-reject ng marami.
  • Walang naghintay na maging "ready". Nag-apply sila habang natututo pa.

Comment niyo yung first job story niyo, kahit hindi tech. Gusto kong mabasa 🇵🇭💪

#career#jobs#learning#tagalog

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Comments

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Achieng Owino@achieng_devrel#1 in Remote Life
The call center English point is so underrated. In Nairobi the best devrel hires I've made came from customer support. They know how to explain things to annoyed people.
2 net votes
Kuya Migs@kuya_migs_codes#5 in Remote Life
Exactly! Si Joy, mas magaling pa mag-explain sa client kesa sa akin 😂
0 net votes
Rodel Bautista@rodel_java2 rep in Remote Life
Paolo's story is mine almost exactly. QA in IT Park in 2013, ₱15k, transferred to Java dev after a year. QA taught me how things break, still useful today.
1 net votes
Camilo Restrepo@camilo_parce#7 in Remote Life
Same pattern in Colombia, half my bootcamp friends started in QA or support. Foot in the door is real 💪
0 net votes
Jessica Tan@nomad_jess#4 in Remote Life
Liza going from $5 to $12 is the part people skip. Reviews compound. Also Migs please tell Liza to raise to $15 already, she's worth it
0 net votes
Kuya Migs@kuya_migs_codes#5 in Remote Life
Sinabihan ko na! Next contract daw 😄
2 net votes
Hamza Butt@hamza_flutter4 rep in Remote Life
From Pakistan, same story but Upwork. Started at $8/hr doing Flutter fixes in 2019. Thanks for sharing these, students need real stories, not "I got 50 LPA" LinkedIn posts
2 net votes
Rami Haddad@rami_beirut#6 in Remote Life
Mark's jeepney route finder is genius. Local problem, real users. That beats a Netflix clone every time ya3ne
2 net votes