How is it like to work as a Software Engineer at Chevron PH?
As a fresh graduate, my job involved rotating through teams in different parts of the business. I got to experience various technical roles and discover the roles I like.
In my first role, I took on Power Platform projects and developed management tools. I was soon transferred to a more technical, data-driven role where my team oversaw the automation of the company’s central repository. This repository is responsible for making data more accessible to the company’s different teams so that they can generate insights which will influence many business decisions.
As the roles I took on involved lots of data and programming, I was able to gain valuable technical skills for my future career plans and prospects.
What’s your background?
I graduated from De La Salle University with a BS in Information Technology in 2018. Before my freshman year, I initially wanted to switch over to marketing from IT (which was the course I was accepted into), but the process for changing courses involved lots of paperwork, so I stuck with it.
Although obtaining my degree was challenging as I had difficulties with some programming classes and calculus subjects, it all worked out fine in the end.
During my graduating year, I started out as an intern at Chevron. After I graduated, they offered me a full-time mid-level position. However, I initially declined it as I wanted a managerial IT job, and for a while, I took on a freelance job as an iOS developer before accepting Chevron’s offer.
[📝Note: Alexander Espiritu is no longer working at Chevron PH.]
Could someone with a different background do your job?
If you want to be a software engineer, you need to have a passion for learning. It is easy to start learning the skills involved in the job (such as learning programming languages and using various tools), but these can get frustrating quickly and many who start often find themselves quickly losing interest or finding them too tedious.
So, you also need perseverance. Persist through the learning curve and you will be more than capable of performing in this line of work.
What was the coolest thing about working as a Software Engineer at Chevron PH?
For me, seeing my code run smoothly is the most fulfilling part of the job. I feel a sense of achievement when I see the end product of my efforts work out as intended, without any more bugs to iron out. For me, that’s more meaningful than the process of writing or troubleshooting the code.
Besides that, I also love the learning aspect. In this fast-paced field, most of what we do is learning and unlearning since there are no set rules to refer to—the skills you need today might not be the same skills you’ll need tomorrow.
What were the limitations of your job?
As Chevron prioritizes its employees’ work-life balance, I was able to take on a part-time job similar to a role I had in the company. The first few months of juggling them went smoothly. However, as my tasks at Chevron ramped up, so did the tasks in my part-time job, making it challenging to balance both roles.
I also need to try new things related to the job in my own time. Some things don’t come naturally to me, but tackling them helps me grow as a software engineer so I push myself to do them.
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