(updated 2025-12-13)
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| Yes. I love reading. |
or "What I wish I knew when I applied as Instructor at ICS"..
- The pay is not high. It is just enough if you are only supporting yourself and you enjoy a low cost of living.
- You should have the intention and commitment to complete a graduate degree in CMSC. It is a total waste of time if you do not have a plan to complete one. You would be better off in industry, earning more experience and money. But if you are still 'testing the waters', 1-2 years at ICS is nice. ICS is always in need of good instructors.
- Complete your graduate studies in 3-4 years, neither too early nor too late. This must be your ultimate goal. Your academic career officially starts after completing the MS degree. If you finish too early, you will lack some skills in research("hilaw"). If you finish late, like me, it will be difficult to get promoted("bulok"). If you are not yet finished in 6 years, leave. There is the up-or-out rule. Also, remember that you alone (not your adviser or others) are responsible for completing your degree. Start thinking about your thesis from day one and find a thesis adviser.
- You need to have a passion for learning, not necessarily teaching. Teaching can be learned along the way, especially if you have lots of knowledge to share with your students. You will be able to explain things clearly if you are continuously learning about your field. It is a fact that in UP, research is rewarded more than teaching.
- Understand and blend into the culture of ICS, CAS, UPLB, and UP. The faculty and staff are generally supportive, kind, and friendly. Better not to piss them off. Follow the rules and observe due dates. Get to know who handles what. Later in your career, you will probably become an administrator so it's better learn about ICS culture and processes now. Carefully navigate the politics that exist. Know the meaning of collegiality and academic freedom.
- Teach the subjects you hate. While a student, you probably hated courses such as CMSC 125 and CMSC 137 (haha!) but loved CMSC 11 or CMSC 123. Teaching the subjects you hate will be a challenge, but it will be rewarding. It will force you to study, thus develop research skills. It will also enhance your interpersonal skills since you will need to ask for help from the more senior faculty members ('mentoring').
- Write. Create handouts, tutorials, essays, guides, blogs, and articles. Write anything that comes out of your silly little head. If you are serious about working in the academe, writing is a very important skill. Even now, I am still struggling in this area.
- Code. Being a CMSC instructor does not excuse you from writing complete programs or systems. You may be writing some sample code for your class, but that is not enough. Scrap the "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." mentality. Create your own hobby programming projects. You might complain of not having time for such projects. That's b.s.! Industry people I know who really work from 8 to 5 can still do projects on the side. Also, if you plan to leave teaching, then at least you are still marketable as a dev. Try to keep up with the latest tech.
- Minimize committee work. Join at most 3 committees, specifically college-level committees. Joining college-level committees will introduce you to some senior administrators who might influence your tenure application later.
- Don't play too many computer games. I wasted a few years being addicted to MU Online, an MMORPG. Those years could have been used to finish my thesis or to exercise. I do miss Samson, my very powerful wizard.
- Don't please students. Your job is to make sure that when your students graduate, they can solve any computing problem presented to them by their employers. They should be able to provide technical and computational solutions, not wishy-washy small talk. I know this can be difficult to accomplish, but simply put, that is your job. Giving them too much "consideration" is totally wrong. Give challenging exercises and exams, but be fair. Students will hate you for now, but they will thank you later. Don't worry too much about student evaluations (if you are doing your job well); worry more about peer evaluations.
- Don't mix personal, romantic, social, and spiritual lives with work. Mixing them can cause conflicts. This is difficult to do, but it must be done, or all will suffer unless they are managed and balanced properly.
- Don't be selfish. Share what you have and what you know. However, don't let the system abuse you.
- Find senior faculty members to idolize. If you can ask that faculty member to mentor you, that's much better. You have to explicitly ask the senior faculty to mentor you. Study how he/she thinks, how he/she solves problems, and how he or she operates. Be like him/her or be better than him/her. I have three idols in the institute (Sir Eli(+), Sir Jimmy, and Sir Freddy when he was still in ICS).
- Improvise. You must find ways to do what you need to do despite limited resources. This is UP. Resources are scarce here, but it still manages to be the top school in the country. Now you know one reason why.
- Document everything you do. Keep all certificates, faculty service records, publications, SET, talks, conferences attended, faculty development activities, extension activities, syllabus, handouts, awards and recognitions, etc. You will need them later for promotion or institutional reports. Sir Jade and Ma'am Connie are my idols in documenting stuff.
- Don't underestimate your contribution. Being a junior faculty member does not mean your ideas will not be welcomed. But always remember that senior faculty members have "been there and done that". Some will let you pursue your idea (which will not work) as part of the mentoring/learning process.
(DISCLAIMER: The items above do not reflect the views of my employer. They are entirely my own and mostly based from experience.)
