We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

6. No promotion of US education system

I am not promoting US education system. These blog postings are meant to spread awareness to many of those who are not exposed to such an environment. This is for those who have that eagerness to learn about new things in life that would make them a better person. I believe education should make you more wise and humble.

The higher education scenario in Indian colleges is pathetic. If you are not from IIT or IIM or some private schools like ISB, BITS Pilani, IIIT chances are that you will not learn much by securing that post graduate degree like a MTech, MBA. So does that mean that one should think that "I will not be able to get into these institutes either because they need very high merit students or I have sever financial problems". Make an attempt. Try hard and you will be successful.

In USA also there are thousands of schools which offer you an MS or MBA degree if you have enough money to secure it. Really good well knows schools are very few and if its just degree and US stamp that matters, then its ones choice. But again different people have different aspirations and different attitudes. Its ones decision how he wants to move ahead in life.

These posts are meant to spread awareness about the worlds which many have not seen. Its about making them aware about how things work and why they work in that way.

Please read the posts which are below this post, in bottom to top order i.e. from 1 to 6. The last post in this section needs to be read first, if you want to stay in sequence.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

5. Am I other than you? "NO"

I understand that when one has severe money problems, when there are different type of tensions all these thoughts do not pop into minds. All the jobs which are being created today are doing wonders for us. They are making us fly to different abroad locations to work. We are facing challenges. We were never in a better position than this. This is the situation of most of the engineering graduates today. What about people from other streams? What about people from Arts, Commerce background? What about government workers? What kind of jobs do they do? Grass is greener always on the other side. It is very easy to talk about these issues as a third person and give lectures. When one steps into shoes of these other people, the difference could be seen. The privilege one is getting could be seen. They are in awe of engineering and IT people because they can see these transformations. If Call centres, BPOs give them money to explore a better life, what is wrong in that? There is nothing wrong in that. When we have such a huge population we will have different kind of people with different aspirations. The way people think is absolutely right. How can they think about all these other issues when they do not get exposure to all of these? When our basic problems are different? When the discussions which are held in friends revolve around normal lives. Nobody is at fault.

The point I am trying to make is. We are capable of doing much better. People have priorities, every person has a different set of problems. The point is do not get lured by the money you are seeing here. Do not become slave of money which is being pumped in. Think about a Career, not about a JOB. Enjoy the money you are getting but do not get submerged in it so deep that you think that is the end of it and you are settled. And there is nothing better than this. Think. Think a lot. Think about how you can make a difference. Think about how you can make our education system better, which holds the key to our progress, I am sure we can do a bit. Get that satisfaction. Contribute. How can you contribute more. By learning more. Do not think only in terms of the next pay-cheque that will arise and the next increment that you would get. Enjoy the money but then move forward. Make it work for others too. Make it work for you by getting more better opportunities. We would have problems. not everybody can afford education. Not everybody gets opportunities. But at least make a sincere attempt.

I am not a geeky fellow. Most of the people surrounding you are not. I do hard work and sometimes the smart work. I feel I had lost the ability to use my brain when I was working in Industry. Our brain can do wonders if we use it properly. But we shy from hard work. We get stereotyped. Once we achieve a certain age we start stereotyping ourselves in different sets. Like girls are expected to get married, Guys start thinking of house loans. Yes its all required. It is the basic necessity. But we should not restrict ourselves because of that.

I think education is the biggest gift we can have. Better education is a key to success. We can make our lives much better if we go that extra mile and do that extra work, to work hard for some time and enjoy benefits at a larger scales later than keeping on working like slaves for the entire of life. The excuse we give is "When am I going to enjoy if I am going to work for all life"...Yes. I think on similar lines. But then I also think from other side.

Point is enjoy but do not get stagnated.

4. India and outsourcing....

Money is important. I could think of appearing for MS only because I had a better paying job back in India. I knew at least I could pay from my own pocket, the money needed in the application process. I enjoyed my days. I enjoyed them to the fullest.

We never had money in such a abundance before. But the sad part is its making us slaves again. The work we do does not require us to think. To explore. Yes, some body has to do that work. But when as a country we look towards it and think we are making progress, I feel sad. Watch this video about Outsourcing and the contrasting different between economic scales in India's population. One of the comment in this video says, its about a call centre job. "We give them disposable income, they think the job is HOT". I feel sad. I believe we as Indian youth have more power to achieve than just enjoying the money. One line says "We are going to be a superpower". I doubt. Superpowers are not built by growing economies. With power comes responsibilities, are we prepared to handle the responsibilities? Just because you have money which is being pumped in by others, and just because the economy is progressing, a country does not become superpower.


http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8quDb3FIUuo

I feel so bad about our education system. We will become superpower only when we have our education system in the right hands. This money is important, I could think of all these things just because of this money which I got. But the point is we should not make ourselves think this is end. We should make better use of this money and think better. Yes, we definitely are moving much ahead in our views, but we need to make use of this in a better way.

The video shows contrasting difference between lives of people. This entire boom in the IT industry is changing lives of all people, if not better then worst. There is boom in the real estate industry. How are common people going to afford the houses when they are built by targeting only the IT people? Is India only an IT country? I live in pune. Go on outskirts of pune and you will see the same differences that you see in that video. I used to think on the same questions back in India and I still feel the same. We are not gaining. We wont be a superpower when only a portion of our population gets the benefits of the changes.

All those questions which I posed in the first post still remain in my mind. But I feel everybody should make an attempt to think slightly different. Think how you can have better lives, think how you can have better futures and think how you can help society. We used to have these discussions back in India. We are aware of these things. But we need to make an attempt.

Where does a Post graduate level study fits in all this? Yes, it fits. We are largely a service based industry. Why ? because our education system does not teach us how to do design? It teaches us how to execute things but not how to do a product development. More post graduates have more exposure, they would think better, they would question the system better. They would contribute better.

I am in US. Why I came here. because I thought GRE was an easy way to get into higher studies than appearing for GATE and entering Indian Institute of Technology (IITs). I feel strongly about our elite education institutions. I wish I was a part of that. Getting into IIT and IIMs is a tough task.

We owe a lot to our society. And I think we should learn to think better if we want to have a great future. We should progress ahead with all stratas of society than just a mere handful of our friends which are with us in similar Industries.....

3. US education system...Continued

I believe unless you are studying in "IITs" or "IIMs" in India, you miss the fun and enjoyment part in doing a post graduation. Research done by a professor or student results into a publication, which gets published in different conferences. Have a look at this sample paper, here.

http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~brewer/cs262/unix.pdf


These are the publications of any new research people have done. Most of the teaching involved revolves around such kind of papers. The need here is not only to understand the paper but to raise good questions debating the research in paper. This requires by default understanding of the material in paper. This is termed as the process of thinking. This is how you learn to think and raise questions. This is how slowly you start getting a bigger picture of the overall system and start thinking in terms of design of the system.

Second major difference is MATHS. I used to wonder back in my college days, where does all this which I am learning is getting used? I had many questions when I was studying my engineering in India. I joined industry to seek answers. I could not get answers to some of the questions like these because we do not do this kind of work. Those questions still remained unanswered. I got answers to those, when I landed here.

There is much emphasis on Maths. The professors say computer science is maths. Maths is the parent of computer science. Computer science evolved only in 1970s. Till then Maths was the main contributor. I always feel I am the most dumb person when it comes to Maths. But if you do not learn again you cant survive. I am learning still :). When I say you need to be good in maths, I do not mean knowing some formulas here and there. What I mean is you need to be able to think in terms of maths. I would have loved to have love for maths as I know its importance now and I envy those people with aptitude for Maths.

People around you are so charged and motivated that I many times feel so inferior. But then some where I feel and I think, yes, but if I compare myself to myself some months back.I am much better. To hell with others. I am improving so what if I am not with others level. There will be always people who are better than me and people who know less than me. That drives me and motivates me. People ridicule you sometimes, people demotivate but then this keeps me going. My friends help me understand I am here for a better cause. And as long as that is satisfied this all is fine.

MS is an Experience. We do not have many Indians here. Hardly 15 Indians. And that makes it more better as you end up spending time with more International students and learn to explore and understand things in a better way. Some of my friends are Americans, mexicans, Chinease, Russian, German. Its really a international stage.

Every class has a concept of Teaching Assistant (TA). Who helps students understand and learn the difficulties faced in the class. Instructor teaches and TA helps in class problems, lab problems, lab assignments. Every class has dedicated hours where students can ask TA the questions. Many times students come with the most dumb doubts. But is it not what we call learning? In India we do not have this concept. TAs are paid to work here. I am a TA for a class and I get to interact with all these undergraduate students.

EXAMS. I do not know about you, But back in India I used to fear them a lot. I could never perform in exams though I knew things. The way things are viewed are different here. Exams may not be the typical exams which all of us view. Final grades depend on lot of intermediate work. You have weekly assignments to do with tight deadlines. The assignment questions are more design oriented like how will you design this rather than where in the book is this? It makes you think hard. Then there are projects. There are presentations. There are seminars. And each has a strict deadline. If there is a project there is no written final exam. You toil hard for 10 weeks to get things working and present it at the end. Is it not better than some written exam? I think it is. You get criticized, ridiculed for your presentations, projects but then you learn the mistakes and move on. There are strict standards for writing report. You make use of different tools. Implementation is just a part in project. The idea is important. The motivation is important. After doing all this, even if you do not get a good grade that is fine. At least with me :) it teaches you a lot of things.

Another important thing is about the kind of students with whom you learn with. I have some students who have PHDs in maths, some students who used to work for National Laboratories in USA, some students whose age is 50+, some students who at present work in research labs in companies. This mixed population makes you feel learning never stops, and exposes you to different problems. One should have the crave to learn things.

I felt like quitting and still many times still, I feel the urge to quit when the pressure mounts and I am not able to cope with it. The cultural differences, attitude of looking at things differently by different people, loneliness, silence, homesickness, missing friends, problems of food all sort of problems start showing. I feel so inferior, so many times, in studying. I feel why I am doing all this. Life was so easy and good back in India. But I was not satisfied, I chose this path and I have to sustain. My parents, my friends help me realize that. Its all about hard work. Sincere attempts always pay off. I get distracted by lots of things, but then slowly I am able to understand importance of a career and hard work that goes into it. Every field has hard work, I realize that. Somebody may feel I am dumb, but I am gaining much more knowledge than what I had expected and I am satisfied. Money also gets in by funding which I get from doing a TA job. You always find some way. Important thing is to work and make a sincere attempt.


MS vs. PHD? A MS candidate is looked down as a person who is aiming to use the degree to have a better job. That is the common perception here. 90% people you would find around here are PHDs. The competition never stops.

But then it makes you a better person.

2. US education system...

I am here today because of my parents. They saved money so that I could have a better future. They made me capable of getting what I want, by giving me better education than directly giving me those things. Money remains the biggest hindrance when people like me think about future. But I believe, some way you find a way to manage it. First make an attempt.

I remember my engineering days. How I used to study and how I study now. There is vast and profound difference in the approach. I learned from my mistakes. That is what is called maturity right :) slowly and steadily.

What is that makes an US education system perform better? Some of my conclusions were much more technology awareness, contrastingly less population, MONEY, Research oriented professors, best infrastructure.

Many of you might be knowing this already, but this blog is for those who do not know this system. So Please excuse me if you feel I am not putting some great things over here. This is for those who need direction.

Professors here make me think. The first meeting with a professor ended up like this. We want to make you better designers than "CODE Monkeys". Are we code monkeys? To some extent "Yes". I agree. Do we get broader Idea of what is happening around in Computer Industry around us by working on the maintenance work that we keep on doing? A big "NO". Isn't coding necessary? "Yes", absolutely. But we never change our psychology. Most of us do the same thing always. We are never exposed to the "Big Picture" of the real Computer Science job. Is there any thing wrong in this model, "No". But we need to improve as we move on. And very few of us get chance to improve and broaden our skills because we are dependent on many factors to think outside what we are told.


How do they teach here? They do not really teach. They make you learn things on your own. They make you sweat, get stressed, feel the complex that others around you are much better and you wont survive if you do not rise to that level. They give you framework to move, to guide you. There is a stark difference between Undergraduate education and Graduate education. I teach undergraduate American students. I get money to do that and I love teaching. These students have every facility on earth to get started. We back in India are not privileged in terms of that. Only "IITs" and "IIMs" provide such infrastructure. Still we manage to learn. These kids have great professors who keep on researching. Can you imagine the impact they would have on you if you had these kind of teachers while you were growing? Teaching is a honorable and highly valued job. The professors get paid for their passion for research. We do not have such facilities. Yet, we survive.

Money makes everything possible. Imagine if we had such infrastructure where we could we have landed up?

1. Early thoughts back in India....

Is Post Graduation necessary?

We are getting loads of money. Money which neither of our parents saw before. Son/Daughter getting better salaries at age of just 23. Parents are happy. Son/Daughter is happy. IT is bringing new thinking ideology in Indian youth. I worked after my undergraduate computer science degree for 3 years in India. Changed 3 companies. Got more money in each shift. I could satisfy all my fancies, be it a bike, a good camera, hotelling....in short life was cool. And I was enjoying it to its fullest. Money gives confidence. Money gives power.

But slowly I was understanding that there is something wrong. My brain is not being used to the capacity to which it should be. Ha,ha, not that I am some great techie or great intellectual fellow. I have seen some of my friends who are really wizards. Who deserve to be called geeks. I am a moderate fellow with high ambitions. There is money. But how much is enough? Does it brings the satisfaction which helps in building careers? What is difference between a job and a career?

MS happened out of this dissatisfaction. And I feel lucky that it happened.And its changing the way I think. Big questions remains money is important, it is support. But better education can bring better money while helping you grow in your career. Some questions I faced while I was doing job.

1.What are my priorities towards my families and to those who I love?
2. From where would money for a MS come from?
3. Why do I want to do a MS?
4. Is it money or is it a new experience?
5. How does MS differ from doing a MTech from IIT and from a MBA?
6. Am I capable of achieving what I dream?
7. Will I achieve my dreams by sticking to the current job?
8. Do I really have to leave this comfy life, the comfort zone and get into study mood again?
9. What about settling in life?
10. What about marriage?
11. Will I get admission to a good school for doing MS?
12. The last question again was Money?

Everything revolves around Money even if one does not want it that way. In these series of blogs I would narrate my experiences about a new life I started. Life of a Graduate student in America.

Outsourcing as seen by Americans would be one of the topics I would like to tell you as I could see here. How is a graduate degree from a good school necessary, how it is different from what job we do back there in India and how it changes the way you look at things.

Happy reading...

1. Early thoughts back in India....

Is Post Graduation necessary?

We are getting loads of money. Money which neither of our parents saw before. Son/Daughter getting better salaries at age of just 23. Parents are happy. Son/Daughter is happy. IT is bringing new thinking ideology in Indian youth. I worked after my undergraduate computer science degree for 3 years in India. Changed 3 companies. Got more money in each shift. I could satisfy all my fancies, be it a bike, a good camera, hotelling....in short life was cool. And I was enjoying it to its fullest. Money gives confidence. Money gives power.

But slowly I was understanding that there is something wrong. My brain is not being used to the capacity to which it should be. Ha,ha, not that I am some great techie or great intellectual fellow. I have seen some of my friends who are really wizards. Who deserve to be called geeks. I am a moderate fellow with high ambitions. There is money. But how much is enough? Does it brings the satisfaction which helps in building careers? What is difference between a job and a career?

MS happened out of this dissatisfaction. And I feel lucky that it happened.And its changing the way I think. Big questions remains money is important, it is support. But better education can bring better money while helping you grow in your career. Some questions I faced while I was doing job.

1.What are my priorities towards my families and to those who I love?
2. From where would money for a MS come from?
3. Why do I want to do a MS?
4. Is it money or is it a new experience?
5. How does MS differ from doing a MTech from IIT and from a MBA?
6. Am I capable of achieving what I dream?
7. Will I achieve my dreams by sticking to the current job?
8. Do I really have to leave this comfy life, the comfort zone and get into study mood again?
9. What about settling in life?
10. What about marriage?
11. Will I get admission to a good school for doing MS?
12. The last question again was Money?

Everything revolves around Money even if one does not want it that way. In these series of blogs I would narrate my experiences about a new life I started. Life of a Graduate student in America.

Outsourcing as seen by Americans would be one of the topics I would like to tell you as I could see here. How is a graduate degree from a good school necessary, how it is different from what job we do back there in India and how it changes the way you look at things.

Happy reading...