Kitchen Soup for the IT Soul
by Titus Manuel

Life in IT is a stressful one. Ask the guy who had been in the “BATTLE ZONE” in the last 3 years and you know what I mean. You start your day with deliverables and end the day were you felt you had hardly made a dent in what is expected to be done. Just when you think you made some headway, along comes a person called a User. Sometimes he is called a customer, or your boss. He demands more, complains more. Then the pressure mounts again. You go through this cycle day in, day out. How long can one sustain this kind of lifestyle? Only your body knows.

In this day and age of high technology, the need to know more demands more in a person. But in the end, the only thing that we need to know more is us.

I saw more of myself in the PDP/EQ session of PCS. I had only a couple of minutes of small talk withVivien. This short encounter was fueled by a relaxing session of personal reflection she initiated during the PDP Session. This brought back the hidden garden in my life.... the days too far away and too long ago to remember. These were the things that had brought beautiful events in my life.

I was the Emcee during this event and I am suppose to be the “man in the middle”. And yet I probably was the most touched person in the room. In my almost 20 years of involvement in PCS, the only time I had this kind of experience was during the awards night of the 3rd IT Search.

Am I getting soft? Am I getting old or the PCS has found the magic formula that gets to the heart of the IT Professional?.... Or maybe all of the above.

I wasn’t the only one who left room with the “Glow in the Face” after the session. Ask Gigi. She saw us all when the lights went on after the reflection moment that was accompanied by a soft voice and relaxing music. Ask me. I saw the face of the crowd from the stage as I closed the proceedings.

We need this kind of event. After all, there is life beyond programming and designing. For in the end, between a person and a “thing”, the person is far more important. I am looking forward to the next event. WOW, Life goes on in PCS.