Brain Drain.
According to PinoyAboard (another Blog), Brain Drain in the Philippines started in the 70's. Although there is no clear number to show or how this affects our country per se, we are losing a lot of job workers here in the country. This is due to one reason and one reason alone.
ECONOMIC REASONS.
We have seen a lot of families, who have at least one person working for another country, have better lives than Filipino's working in the Philippines.
Until we have CALL CENTERS.
Wow. Now most newly graduates no longer have to work abroad to earn more money than the regular employees in our country.
However, brain drain can still be seen here.
Working for 4 years (and going), I have seen different kind of professionals in the industry. I have handled Nesting agents who were dentists, students taking up Law or Medicine or Political Science, Accountants, and a whole lot more. And if they last as long as I did in the call center, then they might end up just like me, whom after working for years in the call center industry, can no longer continue with the profession that I really wanted to when I was in college.
Change is permanent.
And this includes changes in the Fields that we took up when we were in College. I took up Computer Science; it has a little bit of hardware, a little bit of networking and more of Software Programming.
I remember the computer programming languages that we have back then are, COBOL, Pascal, C, C++, and we need to self study Visual Basic because of our thesis. And yet after I graduate, I looked in the newspapers (to pursue my dream as a programmer) and they are looking for programmers who are knowledgeable with Crystal Reports, SQL, and other programming languages that I haven't tried before. And I just graduated. @$^&#*!!!
Changes in the computer industry is very rampant that if you were stuck in a call center, you will be surprised on how much it has changed since you started and after you graduated. And this is the same with any to other College Degree.
These agents could have been professionals.
If got caught by the amount of money earned in the call centers, they will be outdated and may no longer be qualified to the fields that they took up.
My supervisor, Jimmy Bautista, once told me that "Ang Call Centers ang sumira sa mga pangarap ng kabataan" ["Call Center Industries have ruined the dreams of our youth"]. It hurts. But it is true. As much as I wanted to study again, just like what they do in the US, I can't because even if we are earning more than the minimum wage, it is still not good enough to continue or pursue my study and support my family at the same time.
I wrote this for:
1. Our government
2. Parents
3. Students who are now High School Graduates, graduating from College, and or College Graduate.
In My Point of View:
Let these students start from the minimum wages and work on their way up, while improving their skills and knowledge from Degree that took up. This will ensure that they will really enjoy the fruit of their labor while continually enhancing the College Degree that they took up. Hopefully, this will eliminate or lessen Brain Drain from their chosen fields.
Parents, on the other hand, will know that all the money and effort that they spent to ensure that their children will have a College Degree will not just go to waste. Waste, because they are not using the skills and knowledge they got from their chosen fields if they are in a call center.
Government... Ah never mind. I don't have enough money to pay them to move their butt and do something about this.
Point is... Brain Drain is no longer happening because our professionals are leaving the country. It can also happen because of Call Centers, "that have ruined the dreams of our youth".
Note: I have nothing against Call Centers as it has been my bread and butter for the past years. I was able to get a housing loan, to provide shelter for my family. This is just my POINT OF VIEW.
