System Administrator “Jurdan”
Hello Jurdan! Tell us a little about yourself first.
Hello my name is Jurdan Escobedo. I was born in Palawan, Taytay but was transferred to Bicol when I was four months old because my mother was sick. I grew up in Bicol until highschool and started working to support myself in order to go to college. Unfortunately I found out that it was really difficult both working and studying and due to several challenges I was not able to continue my studies.
I focused more on finding a job and working to sustain myself and was not able to continue my studies. I prefer to stay with my grandparents who raised me instead of my parents when I met them again when they went to Bicol. I met them again when I decided to go to Manila when I briefly took a job in Bulacan. I was converted as a Christian and member of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). By converting this in turn helped me focus more by getting rid of my vices. I turned my whole life around and in 2001-2003 I went on a Mission to Region II. I went to Palawan next and in turn there I met my wife.
What was your profession before you became a VA?
In 2003 I started working in a computer shop as a helper, that was the only available job at that time. The owner was a Taiwanese that trained me, this in turn led me to learn more about computers, hardware and troubleshooting. This happened until 2007 where I started freelancing, wherein I served different households fixing their computers. One of my clients introduced me to Voice over IP (VOIP) technology. I studied VOIP and called my friends in church abroad, they were surprised and thought I was in their country. One of them introduced me to a business investor that wanted to open a BPO Call Center in Palawan. We started the work and I used my knowledge and skills in VOIP and Computer Technology. I even enrolled in TESDA to improve my English Communication skills. And in April 2010, we established and started the call center. I assisted him and with the help of the law and IPP 2000, foreigners were allowed to own a business in the Philippines if it's a BPO company. Aside from just being a technician, I was also the Manager, The IT Manager, Human Resources, Tech Manager, Labor Manager and point of contact in the BPO. My boss then started encouraging me to start taking in calls if I am not busy with my other tasks in IT. That helped me experience and learn about the different aspects of the business such as making sales and customer service.
Sadly It lasted only until 2015 wherein I experienced a life threatening experience, this happened also in 2010 and I do not want that to happen again, so I quit my job and a client introduced me to start working in Pampanga. I started to work freelance from 2016 - 2023 in an international company that has a huge employee count in the Philippines and all over the world. Eventually due to the changes and introduction of AI they started to let go a lot of the employees. They even started asking employees to work from home and removed their offices. They only retained the best of the IT department. As I acknowledge that I was not one of their best employees I was finally let go in July 2023. This led me to update my profile in Linkedin and send my application and in turn came across IVA PRO.
How is your IVA PRO Experience?
My journey in IVA had a bit of a rocky start. It took a month before I started working with them since some of the requirements like system admin level 2 did not match my skills. Also even if my IT experience is around 10 years, I am not used to fast customer pacing clients. I was having trouble but Miss Crysta spoke to me and assured me that they really need us and will train me so I can qualify. I still want to pursue and go for a college degree, Even as far as going to an online university, probably an IT course and starting to learn programming to get a certificate. I finished Python and Programming Development already but I just need more time to learn more technologies while working so I can be more competent in IVA. In the end I want to finish college so I can be prepared at any time.
Share with us some of your achievements.
My Achievements:
Continued / Accelerated growth in Information Technology and related fields
Financially paying for my own house
Support my family
Raising 4 kids
Sideline businesses
Do you have any message for IVA PRO?
I am grateful for the opportunity to work in IVA PRO. The management is nice, Sir Darwin and Ma'am Crysta and the team check up on you. The team is not toxic and it makes work fun. The environment is relaxed so it is conducive to learning. Even if sometimes some of our support tickets can get a bit difficult, the team is supportive and everything becomes easier. Hopefully we continue to improve our work and match the evaluations and continued growth.
Any message to future aspiring VA’s?
To those who want to become a virtual assistant, the benefits more than makes up for all the difficulty you endure in transitioning. There are a lot of opportunities for improvement, to learn and grow, especially fields that we do not interact with outside our echo chamber. There are a lot of technologies we can learn, find a niche and focus on that specifically until it becomes our passion. Just continue to improve, opportunities will keep coming.
