By Tom S. Noda

Without a doubt, in the IT career field, there is more to just technical skills of professionals thriving in the executive level. And Melvin Guanzon teaches that one should be flexible enough to absorb everything – good or bad – and learn from them.

“You must make yourself absorb everything that happens around you like a sponge. Learn from each and pick up both the good and the bad from these since they will eventually contribute in your IT experience and better prepare you in handling challenges in the future,” says Guanzon, who serves as first vice president, head of ICT division at United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB).

Guanzon says the wonderful thing about the IT career is that it is a continuous process of learning. This alone, he says, creates an instant drive for practitioners to develop their skills and talents.

“The discovery of new ways of doing things and the never-ending challenge of making things work is what drives me. It is actually seeing what you plan to materialize and contribute far more than what you actually considered,” he says.

But as one decides to climb the IT career ladder, Guanzon advises one non-IT strategy.

“Everything is simple. The challenge is to look for ways on how to exploit the things you know; break down each aspect to its basic structure in order to handle these as simple as possible,” he says.

Guanzon adds one should never give up and must treat each failure as mere challenges to improve on one’s craft.

He considers all the positions he had in the past as significant in his IT career. He notes that each reward and failure in doing his work have contributed in his learning process.

“Each of the positions I had gave me a better appreciation and understanding of how each facet of ICT works and how they are related to each other,” he says.

Guanzon was highly involved with UCPB’s recent tie up with global financial technology solutions provider Thomson Reuters for treasury systems upgrade.
The agreement with Thomson Reuters was made to implement an integrated trade and risk management system to replace the bank’s Treasury Group’s 10 application systems.

According to UCPB, an integrated system will enable the bank’s Treasury Group to manage its positions and risks on a single platform, and allow straight through processing of front to back treasury transactions.

The new treasury system will help UPCB to process transactions more efficiently, manage risks more effectively, and continually monitor financial market trends and spot opportunities.

Guanzon says one should take each career employment as positive inputs; to look beyond the negatives, to see the lessons that can be learned from all of these.

A family man at 49, Guanzon is still a fulltime IT professional and remains passionate in advancing his IT career like a newbie. In fact, he wants to pursue no other livelihood but to have a “landscaping IT career.”

TIDBITS
Age: 49
Civil Status: Married; Two children
Favorite Technology: PCs in general
Hobbies and Interests: Fixing and making things work.

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