The story of a baker turned environmental studies student turned banker turned computer engineer, and the musings that accompany this nearly constant state of flux.
This seemed a bit too long for Facebook, so thought it should go here:
None of my classes this term are in the Engineering Buildings, so basically that means that I have no idea where the hell anything is anymore. One of the buildings I have a class in I have never even heard of. This might not be much of a big deal to a normal person, but I am somewhat of a creature of habit, so I am less than thrilled at the prospect of re-learning where all the bathrooms, microwaves, garbage cans, etc are located. However, my search for a place to warm up my lunch just resulted in this fantastic dialogue:
Me: Hi, I have class in this building and I'm wondering if there is a microwave I can use to warm up my lunch first?
Her: Well, we have one on this floor but it's only for employees. Let me think...
Me: It's fine, really. I know where one is that isn't too far from here.
Her: Oh wait, hold on-- Go up to the sixth floor. It's the Office of Social Work, and they have microwaves in their kitchen. I'm sure you can just walk in and use one-- I mean, they're social workers; they aren't going to do anything to stop you.
[emphasis added for hilarity]
So not only did I learn about a new microwave location, I learned that social workers are apparently pushovers and reaffirmed my belief that simply acting like you belong is enough to get away with practically anything. And furthermore, it's EXTREMELY quiet up there and they have some VERY comfortable couches, so I think I may have just found my new nap location...
It's been about four months since my last post. I would have liked to stay more active here, but that simply wasn’t possible. Grad school… I know I was warned, but the amount of work required is just absolutely fucking nuts. Then there’s Intel, who contacted me out of the blue on Monday of finals week, wanting to know how soon I could come in and work over winter break. Then, while working, the holidays came. Oh, and we have a baby on the way. So it wouldn’t be wrong to say that free time has been scarce. However, I want to get caught up on a few things before the next term starts and I disappear back into the void.
Masters Program – First Term
Many people had told me that a Masters Degree is a lot of work, but I don’t feel like a single person came remotely close to conveying the sheer amount and difficulty of work involved. Saying that a Masters in Engineering is a lot of work is kind of like saying Bill Gates makes a lot of money. Sure that’s true, but it’s a pretty underwhelming way of saying that taking a piss costs him over $8,000 dollars. Maybe the people who told me that didn’t want to discourage me, or maybe they didn’t go to engineering school. Maybe I took particularly difficult classes or maybe they were poorly planned; all I know is by about the 3rd week I was spending between 80 and 90 hours per week on school. A normal day involved being to school by 7:30am, working all day (except for a 2-hour lecture) and leaving around 8:00pm. Weekends were the same but without the lectures. I felt like I was barely hanging on the entire term. In one class (SoC design) I didn’t get a single grade until week 9 (of 10) so basically the entire term was a guessing game to try and figure out if I even had a chance, knowing full well that if I fucked something up it was too late to chance it. The other class (Computer Architecture) was simply a grueling, crushing, consistently difficult struggle to seize any spare point I could. In the end though, I somehow pulled a 4.0, thanks in no small part to consistently good partners. And we built a pretty cool robot.
And truth be told, the term wasn’t without a few highlights. The robot above was awarded first place in my SoC class, and in my other class (Computer Architecture), the professor contacted us after the term to congratulate us on the quality of our project and ask our permission to use our code in future classes. And I have to admit that as much as I wasn’t looking forward to them, the many late-night hack sessions with my group that were necessary to complete our final project were actually quite fun. Internship 2: Intern Harder During finals week, I received a sparse email out of nowhere from my old team lead at Intel. He said that everything had already been cleared past HR, that they had enough work to fill up my entire winter break if I wanted, and he asked how soon I could start. I had very mixed feelings; I was of course excited to be called back, and we really needed the money, but I was also… really, really tired. I was beaten, bruised, and exhausted from the 10-week marathon of a term preceding that all I wanted to do was rest. However I should have known that they would make it as easy on me as possible. My inquiry about what hours/days they needed me to work received the response “Whenever you’re free”, and to my request for a couple days off around the holidays, they responded “That’s fine, we’ll just pay you for the month.” I’m nearly done now, and the time back has actually been really nice. My classes couldn’t have possibly been better preparation for my project there, so I actually feel like I know what I’m doing this time around. Furthermore, it’s very quiet and relaxing there this time of year. Hardly anyone is there, with of all the vacations and working from home going on around the holidays. Nearly every time I go to the bathroom or enter the lab, the lights switch on because no one else has been there all day, and I’m still startled every time I turn the corner and see another person in the hallway.
Going Forward
I made it through the term, I only have 2 days of work left in my winter "break" and it looks like I am still alive. So a big thanks to everyone who kept me that way these last four months. I have some other topics I would like to write about and post here, but I can't make any promises-- I might also just sleep.
