An Ode to My Teachers -- Past, Present and Future

Let me start by saying, what I am now is a product of experiences I had with teachers. With patience and dedication, they showed me how to do things, how to enjoy life, how to live, how to be happy and most of all how to learn even though they are not by my side 24x7. To me, that is the epitomy of a teacher.

Word of warning, this post will be tldr before you know it. But I want to pay tribute to these teachers who had a profound effect in me.

My Mom, Wilma

My mother is my very first teacher. Her name is Wilma. She is an accountant, a very good one at that. She graduated Magna Cum Laude, the very first from her Alma Mater.

Early on, she taught me how to walk. And she used to say I learned fast so that I no longer walked but ran. This was to the point where I would seldom walk but would rather run instead. I was tireless, as she would describe it.

My mom basically instructed me all that I need to survive and have the best of life. The best part of what she imparted to me was how to learn and teach myself. The result is quite interesting. Let me digress a bit and tell you about the result of a personality test that I recently took.

Personality Test

At the advise of a close friend, I bought the book StrengthFinder 2.0.. And a few days later, I took the StrengthsFinder personality test. (The exam coupon can be found at a folded page, at the back of the book.)

The book initially discusses the example of basketball's greatest Michael Jordan -- why can't everyone be like Mike? Way back when, my friends and I wanted to be like Mike and the book has a very good explanation of why everyone cannot be like Mike. It begins by quantifying his strength when it comes to basketball. Assuming that on a scale of 1-10, his basketball skills are rated 10 (being the greatest player). Assuming mine are rated 2. More like 1, but for the sake of comparison, lets put it at 2 compared to MJ.

To be able to make it easier to understand, the book quantifies the result of focusing on strengths by taking a product of the rated skillset or strength and the amount of effort put in honing it. I'm quite positive it is exponential in nature not just multiplicative but to illustrate, if MJ does work related to basketball with an effort of 5, that results to 50. Simply put if MJ focuses on basketball and plays to his strength, this goes to a potential of 100.

In contrast, with a rating of 2, I could only go as much as 20. That just requires meager effort from MJ to match. Given the possibility of exponential product from having the innate strength in the first place, the answer to why everyone can't be like Mike could not be any clearer. This is why it is important to know your strengths.

Coincidentally, MJ shifted to baseball. Did he have a successful season like what he had in basketball? History has recorded this outcome and his return to basketball cemented his legacy.

(these paragraphs are verbatim from my blog: https://www.pimp-my-rig.com/2018/01/suggested-read-strengths-finder.html)

The approach of putting more focus on strengths rather than weaknesses appeals to me. And the provided illustration, in this case MJ, makes perfect sense.

My personality test results: Strategic, Relator, Learner, Ideation and Analytical. Those are in the order in which they are ranked by the test. As you have probably noticed, I'm a Learner. And this is evident in that when I focus on learning a skill, and devoting time in it, the strength really shows. This also explains why I am very comfortable taking online courses like Udemy.

If you want to know yourself better, I highly recommend the StrengthsFinder 2.0 book by Tom Rath. Read it through and take the personality test and leverage your strengths. The coupon in the book allows you to see your top 5 strengths only. Should you want to see how the others strengths rank, you would have to shell out more. Taking a look at it is worth it, in my honest opinion.

My mother has helped me, or better yet taught me, become a problem solver, someone who values intimate relationships and a quick study!

Mrs Higare

Mrs Higare was my pre-school teacher. During these critical years of my growth she taught me how to behave, how to play with my classmates and how to hone my reading skills. I started reading earlier than my peers and Mrs Higare was very helpful in developing this skill.

It is said that a person learns quicker by reading. This skill was developed further with the help of a teacher who is cognizant of these attributes in a child. She helped me get better at reading.

It is true what they say -- good readers are good learners. (reference: infinitemind.io/good-readers-good-learners/)

So early on both my mom and my pre-school teacher already trained me to be a good learner.

Froilan Revilla

Earlier I rated myself 2 on a scale of 10. To be honest, I can play competitive basketball. I used to shoot 3-pointers with ease, even shoot the ball cleanly from mid-court. But I pale compared to professional players. And later on in life, basketball became a form of exercise not a competitive sport.

The person who taught me basketball was my close friend in the elementary days. His name is Froilan Revilla. He taught me the rules -- double dribble, travelling, 3-second violation, etc.. Not only that, he taught me the basics of shooting. His favorite player is Larry Bird. And he shoots like him.

He taught me how to follow through with the wrist so that the ball would go into a trajectory that would somehow swooosh through the rim with ease. Also, how to dribble so that the body and hand would protect the ball and the dribbling hand from the defender, techniques that I used in playing the game even today.

Fred Garcia

He used to be my boss way back in ADI. Fred Garcia is the embodiment of a leader. You will not feel like a subordinate with him around. He is respected in his field and people listen to what he has to say.

He taught me how to say "no". He calls it, "how to disagree without being disagreeable."

Employees very rarely develop a good relationship with their bosses. Ours is one of those rarities. We still keep in touch. And sometimes would have lunch together even though we no longer work for the same company.

Recently we met in Thailand where we had drinks and laughed about the experiences and good times shared in the past. It all seemed like yesterday. I see him more as my mentor even though he is my boss, and I believe that's how he wants it.

Looking back, I believe I have something to contribute to the effectiveness of the teachers I had. Its in the willingness to be taught, to be educated, that is inherent in me. I'm a learner and in my personality test, it describes the "learner" as:

People who are especially talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.

Udemy Online Courses

The above statement is true. Even today, I enjoy learning online through courses in Udemy. I would not have been able to migrate to a career in data science if not for the courses I took.

I would like to highlight several of those teachers and their courses that have had a huge impact.

Teacher: Kirill Emerenko and Hadelin de Ponteves
Course: Python A-Z: Python for Data Science with Real Exercises

Teacher: Jose Portilla
Course: Spark and Python for Big Data with PySpark

 
To close, these teachers and countless others too many to mention, have had a profound effect and influence on my life -- be it in my decision-making, how I perceive things, how I learn, how I tackle day to day issues, what I love to do and most of all how I teach others to pay it forward.

(pictures are mine, certificates are from Udemy)

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