Friends for Life

20150526_095032Jeffrey and Rey’s friendship has come a long way. It is not surprising why they can finish each other’s sentences when they talk about the future of software designing over a cup of coffee.

Both are pioneering graduates of Information Technology in 2003. Jeffrey, 31, hails from Talamban, Rey, 31, from the outskirts of Mandaue City.

They were a cut above the rest. Rey being a scholar of the Department of Science and Technology excelled academically in CITE and received the highest honors during graduation. Jeffrey was a whiz kid of skills competitions in networking and multimedia designing.

Both trained in NEC Telecom Software Philippines as the first batch of software engineers under its cadet program. They were responsible for software designing from planning and managing overall test progress, risks, and issues to meeting NEC clients and project stakeholders.

In 2012, Rey left NEC to tackle more challenging jobs at Tieto Global Oy – Philippine Branch. Jeffrey followed suit. Tieto is a leading European IT consulting company which focuses on R&D in telecommunications technology. It’s the same playing field, but different games according to Jeffrey.

Jeffrey worked as a line manager with some twenty IT professionals under his supervision, while Rey was a senior software engineer who worked laterally with Jeffrey on some major projects.

In 2015, they transitioned to another company, Nokia, a Finnish multinational communications and information technology company with over 60,000 people across 120 countries.

Jeffrey takes on the role of R&D manager while Rey works closely with him as one of his senior R&D engineers. It’s obvious that these guys are passionate about telecommunications software having all experiences heavily related to such field.

Now that they’re already husbands and fathers, meeting for a coffee break has been far and few in between. But whenever they find a way between hectic schedules, they spend a great amount of time talking about the future of their kids and their family. And still, that of software designing too. 

Photo shows Rey (sitting down), Jefrie Elorde (standing left) and Jeffrey Villamor (far right)