From Internal Auditor to Software Engineer

Joseph Nunag-Tiotangco — Sat, 29 Aug 2020 06:32:21 +0000

I graduated Bachelor of Science in COMMERCE major in Internal Auditing, but now working as a Software Engineer.

Why did I change career?

I have been an auditor for five (5) long years, being an auditor is like dealing with repetitive task every year. Procedure are as follows: gather data > validate > evaluate > write report > follow up > repeat. I am an analytical person, I like problem solving, I like math that is why I was once an excel (spreadsheet) expert in my previous company, I create template for monitoring with a bit of computation and somewhat automation.

I am bored in writing narrative reports, not just because it should be in English but because there is little mental activity when doing it. I'm not bragging or being boastful in saying that it is a basic activity. Challenge comes when you are able to solve problems. That is when I decided I do not want to be an auditor anymore and I Thank GOD, for his will and direction that leads me to this path.

How did I became a Software Engineer?

One day my wife requested me to create a excel spreadsheet template for monitoring of a department in their company. I decided to put some logic in the template by using Visual Basic Application or VBA Excel. There were buttons and user interface on the template. On the other hand I decided to enhance the template into a real desktop application. I approached one programmer in our company and ask if I can have a copy of Visual Studio installer. I installed the IDE that's how it begun. I watched some Youtube tutorials then BOOM!, I created my first desktop application.

I submitted a letter of intent for lateral transfer to an Executive in our company and submitted source codes of the applications that I created as part of my portfolio. Before that as part of my credentials, I already took units in Masters in Information Technology, diploma was delayed as I have not completed that last 6 units comprising of capstone projects. In GOD's blessing the request for transfer was approved and now I'm a Software Engineer.

What is the first application I coded?

The application was called trsAppv2 (source code: https://github.com/josephntiotangco/VisualBasic/tree/master/trsAppv2) it's a collection application for a condominium corporation but they didn't even bother to use the app. The application was made with VB.net.

Meantime I also created small desktop application using Windows Forms but I did not made it public by uploading in GitHub.

What programming languages and framework do I know?

As I stated, I started with VBA which is almost similar to VB6, then VB.NET (Visual Basic .NET framework) and currently I am concentrating in C# ("Csharp") a .NET framework programming language. As to framework as stated I am into .NET framework a framework owned and maintained by Microsoft.

What platforms am I doing right now?

Desktop applications is my forte' but currently I am studying and creating apps for Mobile with Xamarin (an open source mobile development platform using .NET framework). While studying I already released my first mobile android application called Monitoring Income Expenses Savings Information System aka MIESIS (Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jntDevz.MEESEES ) and PewPewPing (a ping tester app) (Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jntDevz.pewpewPing ). I will eventually dive into web development using Blazor, currently I'm learning and starting to create my first web app.

What is my proof that I am a Software Engineer?

You can visit my GitHub profile and browse my public source code. Source codes uploaded are my brain child and not from the company I am working.

Why I Created M.I.E.S.I.S?

Joseph Nunag-Tiotangco — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 07:47:30 +0000

Monitoring Income Expense Savings Information System or MIESIS, is an income, expense and savings tracker. The acronym MIESIS came from a Filipino word "MISIS" means "WIFE". It is refer to this because most of the wives around the word are good in financial management or budgeting their family's expenses. The app is trying to emulate this characteristic of a wife. So in a marketing stand point even you are not married or do not have a wife yet, with this app you can manage your financials effectively just like how WIVES around the world do it.

Since I got married, my wife and I used spreadsheet (Excel) to plan our finances. We projected our monthly expenses and savings base on our current financial state. On the other hand, we used this technique while we were saving money for our church wedding. It is a challenge to update the monitoring tool from time to time since we have to turn on the laptop and input the current expense. Maybe others would say we can put the spreadsheet in the cloud like google drive. Yes, I have considered that option but then the following drawbacks is present on that setup:
Opening a file from cloud needs Internet Connectivity - cloud is an internet dependent setup meaning you still need to open your LTE connection to open the monitoring sheet, which is costly.
It is hard to edit and input data in a spreadsheet through mobile phone - have you ever tried to use a spreadsheet in your mobile phone. Try it and you will know. Using your thumb or finger in navigating through the spreadsheet is quite a hustle.
Though we have pass through that challenge and successfully executed our church wedding.

Another inspiration for creating the MIESIS, is that as a newbie programmer / developer / coder I decided to enhance my skill and knowledge and broaden it towards mobile application development. In mobile application development I can publish my work to the public through google play or app store as against with desktop application development.

I would also like everyone to be financial literate or have financial awareness. If you are a "millenial" you are not into this kind of things but now is the time. You should be able to manage your finances independently, with the current features of the app it will show you your current financial status and /or your progress to your savings goal.

Lastly, this mobile application is a plugin concept for all mobile banking applications. YES! you read it right it may be a plugin for mobile banking since most of mobile banking applications features were straight forward such as:
Fund Transfer
Pay bills
Buy Load
These are deduction to your current account balance, fund transfer may either be savings or expense while pay bills and buy load are expenses. The missing feature on these banking apps is the savings goal and progress part. They have encourage individuals to save money on their banks but have they thought them to retain their money in the bank. Having this feature may encourage individual to continuously save money to reach that goal, since there is a visual on their current money saving progress.

If ever this blog be seen by any mobile banking developers or even banks, hoping they would credit or reference the idea to MIESIS.

Mr. Utsavized once said from one of his vlog in youtube, every side projects must have a story for it to be worth doing. Well hope you like the story of MIESIS and hoping you would download and use the app.

Thanks for reading.

DEV Community: Joseph Nunag-Tiotangco

From Internal Auditor to Software Engineer

Why I Created M.I.E.S.I.S?