The 2010 Elections: Giving the Jobless a Brighter Future
You might have heard the news that Comelec and Smartmatic-TIM are looking for at least 50,000 information technology (IT) geeks, er, experts, for the May automated elections. Here’s an excerpt from an Inquirer story:
(http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20091111-235507/Wanted-50000-techies-to-man-poll-machines)
Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said in a press briefing that the IT personnel would work for Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) group, which won the P7.2-billion contract for the country’s first national electronic balloting.
The techies will help in the operation and maintenance of the 82,000 Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines to be used in the polling.
Some of the IT employees will be deployed in the field, others in the company’s call center to respond to technical questions.
Furthermore, the Comelec and DOST are training 500 IT personnel for the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI), who will be made capable of handling and operating the automated PCOS machines.
If you think that 50,000 IT people is too large a number to hire, a sentiment shared by those opposing or skeptical of the upcoming automated elections, think again.
There are probably 50,000—most likely more—available qualified IT specialists in the country, who are either fresh graduates looking for job opportunities, or seasoned techs looking for moonlighting jobs or rakets.
According Bonifacio Belen, Smartmatic-TIM manager, “There is no shortage of patriotic and IT-savvy Filipinos who want to be part of history”. That is indeed true, but the fact of the matter is, there is no shortage of IT specialists, period. There is however, at times a shortage of jobs—so hooray for the 2010 elections, suddenly there are 50,000 IT job openings!
And just how awesome would it look on a young IT guy’s resume when it says that he assisted in the country’s first ever automated elections? Pretty awesome, that’s what.
So if you think you’re qualified to work as an IT tech at the May2010 elections, you better run and get ahead of the line, because there will be at least 49,999 other people lining up with you.
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