In 1999, Engalla fell in love with his soul mate, Angelica Yusi Guintu. He asked for her hand in marriage only 11 months later and they were married on September 17, 2000 at St. John’s Parish in San Lorenzo, California.
With new found inspiration and a purpose, Engalla was able to land his first IT job at Exodus Communications in Santa Clara, California, a domain hosting and server co-location service provider. It was during that time that Engalla learned how to build websites. He combined his passion for basketball and the need to improve the way communication was distributed in the leagues and tournaments he participated in and offered to provide a service to the league and tournament commissioners of the Filipino-American Basketball Community. Initially it was a simple website which posted game schedules for the following week. It then evolved to game statistics and results. Then soon after, articles and a message board for the community to interact. Between 2001 and 2002, the small community of players, coaches and patrons of filambasketball.com grew to vibrant and interactive community of several thousand. Although this website is currently inactive, it was clear to all the members that this was their first experience of what we call a social network today.
In 2002, after surviving several waves of lay-offs during the dot-com-bubble bust, and after being promoted to Network Security Engineer, Engalla was finally laid off from his employment at Exodus Communications. Being Engalla’s first corporate job it was a bitter memory knowing how quickly tides can turn when you do not control your own destiny. Engalla committed to himself to never again be in that position.
