I was born and raised in Manila, Philippines and went to College for five years to get a degree in Computer Engineering. After my graduation in 2000, I had no idea what to do with my supposedly acquired knowledge. Because truth be told, computers bore me. Still, I applied for the first job opening that was somehow related to my course - Technical Support Engineer. It was fine but I knew I wanted to do something else. Not fly to the moon as my first option when I was a little girl but one that doesn't involve tinkering with hardware.
In 2001, my break came when the company I was working for needed a website. They didn't have a web development department that time so they browsed through our old resumes to see who can handle the job. That was when they learned how I used to paint and that I enjoy dabbling with graphics software. I (and three others) were asked to give the project a try. I was a non-believer at first because surely, something as fun as drawing pretty pictures couldn't be a real career? But it was and it still is, this website being the main evidence.
It was the turning point of my life. As soon as I learned that I can convert graphics to HTML (Boy, was I wrong about computers being boring!), I instantly fell in love with web designing. It's not just the graphics but the constant challenge of having to learn new things everyday. From composition to typography, to colour schemes and grids, to CSS to theming applications and many other kick-ass applications waiting to be discovered. There's never a dull moment, even when troubleshooting IE6 (which is always a pain) or just updating copy. The web design community is both inspiring and competitive it's impossible not to become a better designer after surrounding yourself with creative people.
With over 7 years of web design experience, I am still amazed and thankful that I get paid doing what I love. To be able to create and translate into graphics at least half of what's inside my head and make someone happy because of it, now that's a dream job if there ever was one.
