On the turn

by Benigno Tutor Jr.

Nothing is permanent except change. This age-old adage especially rings true on the technology front.

While our participation in the relentless surge of technology is mainly as end-users—upgrading our laptops and other electronic gadgets to the latest version—Efren E. Antimano, Jr., a senior technical marketing engineer at the Intel Japan K.K., is involved in the very process that propels these advances.

He gives design advice to Japanese original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in prototyping their motherboards and platforms with Intel Architecture (IA) processors and chipsets. His input has contributed to such successful product launches as Sony’s CoCoon personal video recorder, Toshiba’s Transcube 10, Fujitsu’s Eternus 3000 RAID System, Hitachi’s 9900 Series Network Attach Storage (NAS) and Ricoh’s FB6 embedded motherboard.

This graduate of Masters of Science in Electronics and Communications Engineering from De La Salle University is anything but a nerd. In fact, working on the cutting edge of technology has given new dimensions to the way he looks at things, enabling him to draw parallels between circuitries in that world and in every life.

Life for him has always been on the turn. A near-death experience in a drowning accident, in which his last memory was a prayer for salvation, has made him commit himself to the spiritual nourishment of his church as well as to volunteer community services.

The Asian Financial Crisis in 1987, which truncheoned his former employer—Korean company Samsung—as well as Procter & Gamble Japan’s job offer to his wife, were also major turning points for which he and Elma sought divine guidance that eventually led the family to Japan.

What were you doing before Japan?

I've held different engineering and management positions before coming to Japan. Immediately after graduating from college in 1993, I worked as an R&D engineer at Samsung Philippine plant then got promoted into production line supervisor 2 years later. I stayed at that company for 4 years. I wanted to do different things when I noticed that opportunities weren’t there anymore due to the 1997 Asian Crisis. Samsung was badly hit that time. That was also the time when I was starting to shift my interest from the mature home electronics (like TV, LD, VHS, etc) technology into a faster growing industry: PC.

How did you find your way to Intel?

I applied at Intel after hearing a lot of good things about the success of their Pentiums. Well, that was after recovering from the ever famous errata of all times—the Floating Point bug. Upon entry in early 1997, I was tasked to manage (again) a group of technicians and operators. Intel might have thought that that's the area where I'm good at based on my employment history.

Did you enjoy running people?

I wanted to do something else where I could see technology flash right before my eyes. People management seemed not the right job for me.

How did you get this burden off your back?

I didn't hide this feeling from my immediate superior. One good friend, Kuya Mel, helped me define my "career development plan" for the technical career path. After serving that position for six months, I got reassigned for a year in Chandler Arizona as Supplier Quality & Development Engineer. Intel during that was starting a new microprocessor factory in Cavite and they were forming teams to do technology transfer from the US development center (in Chandler, Arizona) to Cavite, Kulim, Malaysia and Liexlip, Ireland. I was chosen to be part of it. I enjoyed that job very much as it allowed me to travel often to different Intel sites since our suppliers are scattered everywhere - Canada, Washington State, New Hampshire, Japan, among others. I was returning back the services to Intel Philippines for the two years of being away when Elma and I got married end of 1999.

How did marriage change your routine?

I chose not to travel too much since that year for I knew that we would be both adjusting to married life. Actually, right even before our wedding, I opted to stay behind and assume a new job as Product Quality and Reliability Engineer for the Cavite factory —a position focused more on sustaining the factory and lesser travel overseas.

How did Japan come into your career plan picture?

I was enjoying what I was doing as a Quality & Reliability Engineer in Intel Philippines when Elma, my wife, received an offer from Procter & Gamble to be relocated in Japan headquarters. The condition we set then was, "We will accept the offer if I can get a job in Intel Japan myself". We usually consult with God about the major decisions we make. If I can still remember the dates correctly, immediately after we got married on December 18, 1999, we received the Japan offer early January and were given until the end of March to decide. So imagine, a newly-wed couple just starting to build a family (with most of the wedding gifts still in their boxes and all), still not fully adjusted to each other, would again face another harder adjustment. We prayed about it, consulted elders of our community, and actually sought God's mind about the matter. A very striking verse from Ruth 1:16 came by during our retreat. It says: "Don't urge me to leave you or to return from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God". An insight of togetherness no matter what, no matter where. I knew then that the chances for me to get a job in Japan were very slim. In other words, satisfying the condition we've set was very unlikely. In the history of Intel Philippines, nobody has ever crossed the border to Intel Japan. Also, I was still returning the service back and still had a year to go that time. Unable to see the complete picture that was yet to unfold, I remember kidding Elma that the verse agreed with us to just stay where we were and reject the Japan offer.

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