ISACA Manila Academe Summit

Last November 8, 2014, we attended an academe summit held at the 5th floor of Henry Sy, Sr. Hall, De La Salle University, Manila. The seminar was held at Henry Sy, in which I thought it was going to be really important, like different people with professions were going to talk. The registration booth was formal, and we were given sticker name tags. At first I didn't know what ISACA was, or what did it do.

The opening remarks was started by the first speaker and the President of the ISACA Manila Chapter, Mr. Carmelo Alcala. Although his part was really short, he gave us a background that ISACA was an organization for IT and IS professionals. They also give seminars and training to the members of ISACA, furthermore, they give certifications as well like CISA, CISM, CGEIT, and CRISC. I thought the talk was going to be too technical. But the speakers were talking in words easy to understand.

One of the objectives of the seminar was to introduce ISACA and their programs to the academe. Then ti encourage the creation of ISACA student groups (in which some of my friends were interested to do, they consulted some of the speakers and professors on what to do to create a student group or organization). Another objective was to create awareness on the value of IT governance and the current trends to the academe. Also to provide some career advices to students particularly information security governance, IT audit, and the like.

The speakers talked about ISACA in general, what they do in ISACA, Mr. Luis "Chito" Jacinto talked about ISACA's certifications, programs, and model curricula. He further explained the use and requirements of CISA, CISM, CGEIT, and CRISC certifications.

The last two speakers namely Mr. Allan Ocho and Mr. Mario Demarillas talked about career opportunities for young people like me and their experiences in the field of work. They also explained the importance of security in anything related to IT.

The ISACA Manila Academe Summit speakers were fully prepared for their talk and achieved all of the objectives stated above. I am now aware of different certifications that I need when I graduate that would help me in my journey, as well as an organization that is fully committed in IT governance, and as early as now, to create organizations to raise IT governance awareness.