TeamAsia Chronicles

TeamAsia at 25: Looking back, moving forward

&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph"><em>by Jeff Enriquez&comma; Web Development Director<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;old&period;teamasia&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;02&sol;1-1366x683&period;png" alt&equals;"Image1" class&equals;"wp-image-30085"&sol;><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">They say that practical work and experience lead the young to maturity&period; That saying definitely came true for me when I crossed paths with&nbsp&semi;<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;old&period;teamasia&period;com&sol;&quest;utm&lowbar;source&equals;ITRC&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;blogs&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;ITRC-backlinking" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">TeamAsia<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">It was&nbsp&semi;<strong>July 9&comma; 2004<&sol;strong>&nbsp&semi;when I received a call from one of my batchmates in University of the Philippines-Los Baños about a career opportunity&period; I was fresh out of school then&comma; and with no work experience yet&period; She found out through Friendster &lpar;how old is that<em>&comma;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;em>eh&quest;&rpar; that I was not yet employed&comma; and she referred me to an Alabang-based company called TeamAsia&period; In retrospect&comma; I honestly did not have any idea who TeamAsia was and what they did&period; But I decided to give it a shot&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">I was hired as a Junior Web Developer under the Creative Department&period; My first few months consisted of maintaining the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;old&period;teamasia&period;com&sol;&quest;utm&lowbar;source&equals;ITRC&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;blogs&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;ITRC-backlinking" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">TeamAsia website<&sol;a>&comma; backing up files for my department&comma; and creating <em>a lot <&sol;em>of eDM’s&period; I was the only web developer at that time&period; &lpar;A <strong>fun fact about TeamAsia<&sol;strong>&colon; we were <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;old&period;teamasia&period;com&sol;digital&sol;&quest;utm&lowbar;source&equals;ITRC&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;blogs&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;ITRC-backlinking" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">one of the first companies in the Philippines to have a company website<&sol;a> back in the 90’s&period;&rpar;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;old&period;teamasia&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;02&sol;2-1366x683&period;png" alt&equals;"Image2" class&equals;"wp-image-30086"&sol;><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Going into my 13th year in TeamAsia—now as the&nbsp&semi;<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;old&period;teamasia&period;com&sol;digital&sol;&quest;utm&lowbar;source&equals;ITRC&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;blogs&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;ITRC-backlinking" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">IT and Web Development Director<&sol;a>—here are glimpses of my journey and the milestones that I have achieved in the past years&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph"><strong>2005&nbsp&semi;<&sol;strong>—This is the year when I was regularized and first promoted&comma; moving up from Junior Web Developer to Web Developer&period; This was the turning point when I realized that I had finally adjusted to the professional life&comma;&nbsp&semi;<em>and&nbsp&semi;<&sol;em>that I was a good fit with&nbsp&semi;<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;old&period;teamasia&period;com&sol;&quest;utm&lowbar;source&equals;ITRC&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;blogs&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;ITRC-backlinking" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">TeamAsia<&sol;a>&period; This was a huge deal for me because one of the biggest challenges I had faced was transitioning from the student to the professional life&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">By this year I was able to contribute to the development of the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;old&period;teamasia&period;com&sol;&quest;utm&lowbar;source&equals;ITRC&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;blogs&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;ITRC-backlinking" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">TeamAsia website<&sol;a>&comma; I had worked on some Microsoft projects&comma; and participated in events of clients such as <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;old&period;teamasia&period;com&sol;experience&sol;&quest;utm&lowbar;source&equals;ITRC&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;blogs&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;ITRC-backlinking" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">Global Steel&comma; Bayantrade and Microsoft<&sol;a> as technical support&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;old&period;teamasia&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;02&sol;3-1-1366x683&period;png" alt&equals;"Image3" class&equals;"wp-image-30087"&sol;><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph"><strong>2009&nbsp&semi;<&sol;strong>— Fast forward to this year when the&nbsp&semi;<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;old&period;teamasia&period;com&sol;digital&sol;&quest;utm&lowbar;source&equals;ITRC&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;blogs&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;ITRC-backlinking" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">Web Development team<&sol;a>&nbsp&semi;branched off from the&nbsp&semi;<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;old&period;teamasia&period;com&sol;creative&sol;&quest;utm&lowbar;source&equals;ITRC&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;blogs&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;ITRC-backlinking" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">Creative Department<&sol;a>&comma; I became the Web Development Director with one senior staff&period; Indeed&comma; the practical work and experience that I gained from my past five years with TeamAsia led my young&comma; fresh-out-of-school self to the maturity that I needed to possess to take on my new role as department director&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">During my first months as director&comma; I had to learn how to coordinate with the other departments on our processes&period; Aligning the Web Development Department’s plan with the company’s strategic plan also became a challenge&period; But with the help of my boss and mentor&comma; the late Sir Mike Hamlin&comma; I was able to overcome all these and learn new skills that I needed to accomplish my job effectively&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Our department was able to move beyond developing just the TeamAsia website to the website of our <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;old&period;teamasia&period;com&sol;clients&sol;&quest;utm&lowbar;source&equals;ITRC&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;blogs&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;ITRC-backlinking" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">clients<&sol;a>&comma; such as ExcelAsia&comma; International Outsourcing Summit&comma; and Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines &lpar;IBPAP&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;old&period;teamasia&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;02&sol;4-1366x683&period;png" alt&equals;"Image4" class&equals;"wp-image-30088"&sol;><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph"><strong>2010&nbsp&semi;<&sol;strong>— As TeamAsia found itself gathering more new clients and expanding its core services&comma; the Web and MIS Departments were merged into one&period; In turn&comma; this merger widened the scope of my responsibility&period; It was surely another challenge because it meant that my responsibility as director now went beyond my expertise&period; But with a team to back me up&comma; we were able to streamline the processes&comma; resulting in the elimination of redundant workload&period; I am proud to say that the Web Development Department became more productive&comma; ready to cater and support the company’s internal requirements and its clients&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">We had advanced the technologies we used for TeamAsia’s processes by utilizing Google Apps&comma; moving some tools to cloud storage&comma; and creating an online and on-site registration system for events&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;old&period;teamasia&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;02&sol;5-1366x683&period;png" alt&equals;"Image5" class&equals;"wp-image-30089"&sol;><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph"><strong>2012 to 2013&nbsp&semi;<&sol;strong>— These two years are certainly memorable for me because two members of the Web Development Department&comma; Gary Aure and Darell Sapin&comma; were promoted to Web Manager&period; Three other guys who completed our team were also hired during these years—Leo Halili&comma; Marvin Desuasido and AC Esguerra&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">I have always believed that as a leader&comma; you should always bring out the best in your people&period; That is why I consider it a great achievement when I see my team growing professionally&comma; gaining more knowledge in their fields&comma; and being able to exercise their skills in their respective projects&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">With our team of six we were able to improve our <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;old&period;teamasia&period;com&sol;digital&sol;&quest;utm&lowbar;source&equals;ITRC&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;blogs&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;ITRC-backlinking" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">event technologies<&sol;a> like mobile apps&comma; audience response system&comma; and tweetcasting&period; We had also begun adopting open source website platforms and <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;old&period;teamasia&period;com&sol;creative&sol;&quest;utm&lowbar;source&equals;ITRC&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;blogs&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;ITRC-backlinking" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">creating website responsive design<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;old&period;teamasia&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;02&sol;6-1366x683&period;png" alt&equals;"Image6&NewLine;" class&equals;"wp-image-30090"&sol;><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph"><strong>2016 <&sol;strong>— Moving to the new TeamAsia office proved to be a whole new challenge for our team&period; I certainly learned a lot from planning the logistics of our move to actually executing them&period; One moving mishap that I won’t forget anytime soon was when our IT supplier informed us that they will not be able to deliver the service we hired them for&period; It was definitely a cause for panic&comma; but thankfully&comma; we were able to switch to a new&comma; reliable and cost-efficient supplier under a short amount of time&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;old&period;teamasia&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;02&sol;7-1366x683&period;png" alt&equals;"Image7" class&equals;"wp-image-30091"&sol;><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;old&period;teamasia&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;02&sol;8-1366x683&period;png" alt&equals;"Image8" class&equals;"wp-image-30092"&sol;><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">People ask me why I chose to stay this long in one company&period; I will be lying if I said that leaving has never crossed my mind&period; But I chose—and I still choose—to stay because TeamAsia has become more than just a job to me&period; TeamAsia has become my family&comma; which I have learned to love through ups and downs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">TeamAsia provided me with the best mentors back when I was still a fresh graduate with no work experience&period; They have given me opportunities to learn&comma; to grow&comma; and to lead&period; Most of all&comma; they trusted me enough to challenge me with tasks that I honestly thought were impossible to accomplish—but I was proven wrong every time&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">This year&comma; as <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;old&period;teamasia&period;com&sol;&quest;utm&lowbar;source&equals;ITRC&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;blogs&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;ITRC-backlinking" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">TeamAsia<&sol;a> turns 25&comma; I am confident that we will continue to come out strong as a seasoned <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;old&period;teamasia&period;com&sol;imc&sol;&quest;utm&lowbar;source&equals;ITRC&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;blogs&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;ITRC-backlinking" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">independent IMC agency<&sol;a>&comma; full of bright people who are passionate about delivering the best out of each day&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph"><&sol;p>&NewLine;

J Darell Sapin

Recent Posts

Social Listening: Know What People Are Saying About You Brand

In this blog, we take an honest look at just how quickly a single viral…

3 months ago

SEO That Drive Leads for Businesses

Improve SEO for service-based businesses in the Philippines with intent-driven keywords and content that converts.

3 months ago

Integrated Marketing Communications Plan That Works

Explore how aligned brand messaging across every channel helps improve campaign consistency, strengthen recognition, and…

3 months ago

JOY IS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE

Pride Month can mean many things to those who celebrate it: bright colors, parades, parties,…

3 months ago

Reputation Marketing: Turn Trust into Long-Term Growth

In today’s digital-first environment, brand perception can shift quickly. A single review, comment, or viral…

4 months ago

TECH DEVELOPER (Full Time)

TeamAsia is looking for a detail-oriented and versatile Tech Developer to join our technical team.…

4 months ago

This website uses cookies.