Armando D. Ngojo is an Engineering Institute of Technology graduate who recently completed our Advanced Diploma of Biomedical Engineering.
Currently working in the healthcare engineering industry for a company that maintains and manages medical equipment, Armando has spent fifteen years in the technological side of the medical industry. However, Armando’s interest in engineering began at a young age.
“When I was younger, I was very fascinated with the functionality of the transistor radio. I opened it up and saw a lot of small things and components which fired up my curiosity. I was amazed at how a television worked. How a refrigerator cooled the items inside of it intrigued me.”
In his secondary school years, he pursued his love for technology further by enrolling in an elective that covered electricity & electronics. After high school, he began to pursue a career in Electronics Engineering. However, Armando’s road to an engineering career was not an easy one.
“When I was in college, I went through a lot of ups and downs. Initially, in 1996, I was a freshman scholar with tuition discounts but it was abruptly terminated after the first semester only. I failed the cut-off grades to maintain the discounted fees,” explained Armando.
“I was also out of university the following year due to financial issues. In order for me to continue my studies in the year after my hiatus, I became a working student and helped my family survive while pursuing my degree.”
In college, Armando had the opportunity to work with simple medical equipment like suction machines and OT lights in conjunction with his studies at college. It was in that role where his interest in the healthcare engineering industry was sparked.
After graduating from college, Armando got a job at a local medical sales and service company in the Philippines as a Biomedical Service Engineer. This role unlocked a world of opportunities, which resulted in Armando working full-time in Malaysia for seven years, Vietnam for one year, and Abu Dhabi and Dubai for more than five years.
After many years of working in the industry, Armando felt that he wanted to take the next step in advancing his career. He went on a search for a biomedical engineering course that would allow him to upskill even further, and that is when he discovered EIT. He noticed our Advanced Diploma in Biomedical Engineering was exactly what he needed.
“I took the course because although I was already working in the healthcare industry for the last 15 years, I lacked a proper school qualification. This is due to my home country; in the Philippines, no university was hosting a real course in Biomedical Engineering in my time.”
Since he has graduated, Armando has found that his daily responsibilities at work have become easier to manage.
“Professionally, I got a promotion within my company and was given more responsibilities, and of course, better remuneration. My newly acquired qualification also opened up a lot of opportunities for me. Being an EIT graduate was a power credential in my portfolio.”
He is now waiting for EIT to begin hosting a Master’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering so that he can continue building on his knowledge base in the technological realm of the healthcare industry. He concluded:
“I am very interested in pursuing further studies in this field due to the fact that with my current job requirements, the face to face interaction with medical officers like nurses, lab technicians, radiographers, and doctors are always imminent. I need to learn how to converse with them using medical terminologies they understand. I am talking to them with more self-assurance after graduating with EIT.”
Armando is fascinated by the developments occurring in the biomedical engineering industry. He says that the emergence of AI and 3D printing of organs has been particularly interesting to watch. He says the course through EIT delved into some of those topics and opened his eyes to the development occurring in the space. As the industry continues to grow, he sees his career growing.
“My career maturing in the upcoming years is a definite! I know that the industry that I am currently in will become very competitive in the coming years, but I am very confident that I will survive because my years of extensive experience in the industry are already backed up by my proper and formal school qualification achieved through one of the best technical schools in Australia: EIT.”