My 10-year journey to being an OFW

This is the year that officially marks a decade since I left the Philippines for New York City. Being an overseas Filipino worker is not easy and involves many hardships that take a toll on your psyche. In that time, I’ve grown a lot as both an architect and a person, taking every setback as a driving force to succeed in life.

When I arrived in New York, I started graduate school in Brooklyn for architecture and urban design. It was a little unnerving as it was my first time living truly alone, without close family around me. Graduate school was also harder than college, offering less hand-holding in general. I remember late nights in the design studio, heading home at 3 a.m. and feeling homesick. Still, I graduated with distinction, and I’m very proud of that.

After graduating, my next challenge was finding work in the United States. Landing an architecture job in New York was more difficult than in Manila. I thought my experience as a licensed architect in the Philippines, working at a respected firm and a Master’s degree would set me apart. I quickly learned that these achievements carried little weight here. It was disappointing to realize my hard-earned architectural board exam didn’t count. Anyone who’s taken the board or bar exam in the Philippines knows how difficult it is, so it felt like that effort was wasted. That’s when I realized just how competitive NYC’s job market is.

Facing rejection after rejection, I realized I wasn’t getting job offers because I had no experience with the NYC building industry. Compared to Manila, New York has a lot more codes, laws and regulations that architects need to know. There are building codes, zoning rules, local laws and energy codes, all set by different government agencies. On top of that, the United States uses feet and inches, not the metric system I learned in the Philippines. I felt completely out of my depth.

I set my pride aside and applied for an internship, starting at the bottom. It was tough — I only got a small stipend, and living in NYC is incredibly expensive (I rented a room in a shared apartment for about P60,000 a month). My Filipino resilience helped me focus on learning about NYC’s construction industry and building my professional network, as my end goal was to forge a path to stay long-term. I showed my company how hardworking Filipinos are, which paid off when they offered me a full-time job after my internship.

Life loves to throw curveballs, and I definitely experienced that since then. NYC was brutally hit by Covid-19, and I found myself unemployed for a long stretch of time. I had to move into a friend’s apartment because I couldn’t afford rent, and my stay in the US became questionable. In the end, through the grace of God and my determination not to accept failure, I managed not only to survive that ordeal, but also to thrive where I am in life today.

Even though the Philippines is constantly ravaged by natural disasters and bad governance, we, Filipinos, still find a way to get back up and live life with a smile on our faces. This resilience has become my guiding principle, helping me persevere through every challenge in NYC and inspiring me to move forward with hope and determination wherever life takes me.