https://youtu.be/6-e9ddYfdW
IT By Design’s culture centers on opportunity, not just output. In this episode of Culture and Career Corner, host Anamika sits down with two team members, Hardy and Phoenix, to talk about what actually keeps people here, and what it took to get here in the first place.
Hardy put it simply: most companies chase the dollar first and the person second. IT By Design flips that order. The company hands you the stage and the resources, then works alongside you to make sure you succeed with them. That kind of intentionality, Hardy said, is the same way he tries to lead his own team.
Who Joins IT By Design, and Why They Stay
Before IT By Design, Hardy worked as a local IT support technician at a large BPO in the Philippines. He learned the job well, but he hit a ceiling. He wanted to keep growing, so he stepped outside his comfort zone and started looking.
He found IT By Design on LinkedIn. His first impression was inclusive and welcoming, not intimidating. But the moment that actually stuck was a photo of the founders with their dogs.
That single image told him something about the company before he ever read a benefits page. And when he learned IT By Design offers insurance benefits that cover both pets and new babies, it confirmed what the photo suggested: this is a company that cares about the things that matter most to its people. As a pet lover himself, that detail sealed it.
Three Career Lessons From Phoenix
When Anamika asked Phoenix about the moments that shaped him personally and professionally, he didn’t give one answer. He gave three.
Never Stop Learning
The moment you stop learning, Phoenix said, you stop being able to compete or grow. That applies to your career and to your life outside of work. Staying curious as technology evolves isn’t optional anymore. It’s the baseline.
Build Strong Relationships
Technical skills matter, but Phoenix was direct about what actually makes an impact last: collaboration, communication, and showing up for your colleagues, your partner, and your family. That’s what carries into both professional and personal growth.
Embrace Challenges
Every challenge is a chance to learn, not a reason to freeze. Phoenix’s advice was to stay uncomfortable on purpose, make mistakes, and treat them as the fastest teacher available.
Why “Try Me” Beats the Victim Mindset
Anamika built on Phoenix’s point about challenges with a mindset shift she now leads with: not “why me,” but “try me.”
She backed it up with a real story. Three months ago, she lost her wallet and, with it, eleven cards and every form of ID she had across two countries. Her first instinct was to spiral into how difficult the process would be to fix. Then she reframed it. The situation was teaching her something: to be more careful, more cautious, and more organized about the things she was juggling.
That reframe is now how she runs her life. Fewer distractions, more prioritization, and a clearer sense of balance.
Resilience as the Real Superpower
If there’s one thread running through this episode, it’s resilience. Not the buzzword version, the practical kind: the ability to take a setback, whether it’s a career change, a move to a new country, or a lost wallet, and turn it into information you can use.
Anamika closed the conversation with exactly that framing, and it’s the takeaway worth carrying forward from this episode.
