College experience

Hopefully someone will read and learn from my experience!


I saw alot of guys in my college just game, and this was before MMOs. People will find any excuse to slack off. Wow has nothing to do with it. Although that said, I dont know if i would have finished grad school if WoW was in my life.

Its not enough to do homework, you actually have to read and memorize and study. Don't think just because you did your homework you are fine. Go over the lecture notes after EACH LECTURE. Type it all out. No serious, type it all out. Figure out what the professor really wants from exams and prepare your study that way. Each prof wants different things. Also each discipline wants different things. In science obviously there is alot of memorization and math work. In English, alot of reading. 

College and esp grad school is about time management. Its really fing critical. I would def. not be in a raid guild "we raid XYZ days a week or you get kicked". You can't do it. There will be times you have to crunch and just study. You will have 5 finals in a week. You will have 5 finals plus 3 projects in a week. 

Organize your time. Go to google calendar, block it out. Figure on 5 hours per class per week (and thats on the low side to be honest). Its best to block out time immediately after the class so it's still fresh (this is really fing critical). Use parental controls on wow, now that you know when to study. 

Lastly...okay its like this. High school is something that you just punch cards and get through it. Everyone is expected to have a HS education. People come into college thinking its just like HS. Its not. Its a very unique time in your life, it will never be repeated. You have a ton of opportunities to make friends, explore new careers, and explore cultures. This is the time where you figure out what you want to do in your life. Whether its basket weaving, or sports, or science, or whatever. There are *so* many opportunties because you are in college. Seek that stuff out. They won't really announce most of it. My college did an absolute horrid job of letting people know there were opportunities. For example there was a 'research experience program' that I never knew about until the last year of college and only through the grape vine. They never announced it. Definitely PLUG IN to the grapevine, know people, get out. Now is not the time to be sitting in your dorm and raiding. The friends you make could last a lifetime. The decisions you make will. 

I slacked off through most of college but really focused when I got into grad school. I think that saved me. But by and large its the EXPERIENCE that is critical. In the real world nobody gives a shit what GPA you got, or what stupid classes you did, unless they are technical "here is how you do this". Everyone is expected to read and write, and know the basics of the field. You don't leave a comp sci degree not knowing how to program for example. But the really important thing, the thing that you are paying for, is the opportunity. Like summer work (very very impt). Like overseas education. Like volunteer work in your field. Like research symposia (if you want to be an academic). Stuff like that. 

People are going to look at your resume, and 90% of it is 'what have you done in measurable terms'. Ie I released a program that was downloaded 100,000 times and won this award. Or "I helped set up a program feeding the hungry". 10% of your resume is your education. Your grades aren't even on your resume (unless its outstanding). So, when you are doing college, shape your journey by these measures, and get to know important people in your field. Professors are by and large fing worthless unless you want to go to grad school. 

Sorry for wall of text. I spent 15 years in education and changed my career course a few times, its extremely costly and embarassing to be working at the same level as kids 10-20 years younger who know more than you even though you have much more education. Suffice to say I learned a few things and ways not to approach life.

Edit: One last thing, another very expensive lesson. When it gets time to your career (and you should always be thinking, what will people actually pay me to do, and what job could I get with the skills that I have or can easily get). What will get you in the door. Is it the piece of paper diploma? Everyone has that. Is it "I took such and such course". Yeah everyone did that. Or "Well I'm this certification". Certs are not that useful (just trust me on this, especially in IT, only licensure is important, like "Board certified in XXXX", but you'll know that when you get there. 

Okay what gets you in the door. How do you get a job. 1) Its who you know. I got an opportunity out of tech school as a intern. It sucked ass but it was experience and a name. 2) Its what you know. Companies are looking to fill niches "we need someone who can do X, ie build a virtual server". 3) Its who you know who has opportunities. How did I get my current job which is very comfortable middle class. I knew someone who knew someone. I talked to person A, a professional in the field. He know about places A B and C. I called each of those places. "I'm looking for a job opportunity". One said, yes we need someone like you. Boom, i'm hired. This was after literally YEARS of monster.com indeed.com you name it. If you are going that route the odds of getting a job drop off a cliff. Trust me, in this climate nobody is going to get hired going that route. Craigslist may work because its local. Once you get to a national search, unless you are a CEO or college president, forget it. There are thousands of people applying, and half are more qualified than you.

GO READ *WHAT COLOR IS MY PARACHUTE* It is the most effective book I ever read, and is absolutely true. Your career is all about nurturing contacts. Nobody gives a shit what degree you got, its what you can bring to the table, what is your experience and knowledge base. Can you do X specific thing. Do you know how to set up Y. Can you help us do Z.

The constant in life is change

Wow, long time no write. I mostly update via facebook, but still a good blog post can be worthwhile. I'm still really focused on my career; I had a 6 month contract with Cisco which expired 10 days ago. I have mixed feelings; it was a good educational experience but I pretty much tapped that out, and the pay was horrible. I guess my impression is that i can do more worthwhile things than do scut work at minimum wage, even if it does not directly and immediately lead to income generation.

I'm still trying to get into PACS/RIS, its probably a good field for me but tough to break in to, and is essentially saturated in the U.S.; pretty much everyone has a system of some sort, now its just updates. I spent several months chasing a job prospect; some 6 interviews, and didn't get it at the last interview. Oh well. Sour grapes.

After that I re-evaluated and decided to start my own computer repair business. I've been thinking about it for a while and it's something I can definitely do. The problem is many others can do it too, and its also probably hard to break in to a saturated market. But that's the case no matter where you go in IT; there are alot of people in this field, only a handful really have any skill; and it seems really hard to get off the ground. In this I am sure my PhD is working against me. How much easier of a time would I have if i just had a BS in comp sci or something? I will never know. For now I am doing all the certifications and networking I can do.

First off is finding a name. I am thinking of going with "PhD Computers Inc.". There is a shop online with that name though, in Oregon. I can legally use it for doing business in NC however, but I'm not sure. I can go with something like "PhD Computer Repair", or "Dejournett Computers" . Or something like that.

Uhmm yeah.

So I play a bit too much (191d /played), over the stretch of 3 years . That's 4500 hours. In comparison you work for 9600 a year if you are a 40 hour per week employee. Too be fair, I wasn't actually played while I could have been working. But its still sobering. Nowadays tbh I may play 1 hour a day so i'm very pleased; I am really busy with RL stuff that is hopefully useful for my career.

However, you know what, you may laugh, but I gained huge insight about business and free markets. I was reflecting on this today. If I ever have any free cash flow I'll try to invest it for the purpose of short term gains; i did this a year ago, chickened out, and lost the opportunity to make $15,000 from $1000. I'll make a million and start a nature preserve, which would protect that ecosystem for all time, until the last day.

Long time no write.

Well i've been pretty busy, I hang out on Facebook more often now, and I have yet another blog devoted to my IT stuff. It's here: http://robccnp.blogspot.com/

Also I am working on my Cisco Users Group, that website is here again.

Google calendar feed

Well this drove me absolutely bonkers. I needed a feed for my new users group (website (still very rough) here: http://rtpcug.com/)

Anyway it was less than obvious how to do this. You see the 'settings' in the picture? yeah that aint it. There are fully separate groups of calendar settings, don't ask me why.

What you do is click the down arrow next to your calendar in "My calendars" (see picture). Then you click "Calendar settings". From there, you need to make the calendar public, first of all. There is a row of tabs on the top of the dialouge, the second reads "Share this calendar". Click there. Then click 'make my calendar public'.

Then get the feed url by click on the Calendar details tab, then on the Calendar address row, click xml or html button or ical, which I think is a apple thing.

Guess everyone is in Hawaii this year for xmas

I saw this pict and I recognized it immediately. The Obamas are staying a block from my Dad and step mother. Mele Kelemaka Obamas!

I then got on twitter. Apparently Lance is doing the Ironman in Kona this year. Good luck to him!

Christmas decoration win

I love failblog, its got stuff like this.