I am a Master...!!! but wait... Master of WHAT???

On Sunday the May 13th 2007 approximately at 11 am in carrier dome, Syracuse University chancellor Nancy Cantor pronounced me as a Graduate in Master's course that I was doing. In the next two days I got results of my final semester giving me final GPA and statement saying that I have completed required 30 credits to be a master in Computer Science. Wow... that felt really great. There were parties, celebrations, joy and happiness. Then I asked myself, what I have mastered?? Is this what I wanted?? Do I really know everything so that I can call myself a master?? Many such questions un-answered. May be I will have to figure it out myself in the journey of life where now I am gonna start a new job.

If I keep my studies apart, life here in US has thought me many things. First of them "dignity of labor". I was never used to say thanks but learnt that here. I got to know how it feels to work while u study. I got to meet so many middle classed American kids who know the value of money and made me change my preconceived idea that every American kid is a spoilt brat.

I am proud of the jobs I did while I was a student. I got to meet so many people and it was so much fun.
I worked as a Residential Security Aid: Responsibility being sitting at the entrance of a residential hall and check the ID's of students entering in. Benefits apart from getting paid were, I can do my home work/study while at work. After late night I can watch movies. I made so many friends with the residents.
I worked as a ITS consultants: Repair, troubleshoot and help students with any problems they have with computers. It was fun some times to see how dumb students are with computers even after coming to a grad school.
I worked as a outside runner in a dinning hall: I started my work in dish washer room. Next day I was promoted to outside runner. All I had to do was keep the soda machine up and running. Replace the milk. Refill the ice cream machine. Once in a while clean tables and make sure all counters look clean. Initially I hesitated thinking that its not a job for a guy how was a software engineer and who is now a CS grad major. but when I kept all my egos a side I had fun even at this place.

I donno how good I will be with my new job, but I am sure I did a pretty job with my on campus work. I wish I could put these jobs on my resume. "Life is not all about big things. Its about the small things which gives you joy & happiness which you will cherish for rest of your life".

My Guru.. My Mentor.. and Baap of C++

Dr. James Fawcett
Associate Professor - Syracuse University
Ph.D. Syracuse University, 1981

http://www.ecs.syr.edu/faculty/fawcett/handouts/Webpages/FawcettHome.htm
Teaching Interests:

Software Modeling and Analysis (Software architectural concepts with C#)
Internet Programming (ASP .net)
Object Oriented Design (with C++, best course so far on earth)
Distributed Objects (Microsoft COM)
Design Patterns
Software Engineering Studio (Create a software product just the way you do in a industry)

I guess this brief introduction itself is enough to know what an amazing person Dr Fawcett is. We know him as a man from Radar industry and who has a optimal answer for any technical queries. He has done a lot of coding in s/w industry. He has been architect for many s/w projects at GE.

When I was shortlisting universities to consider for my MS, couple of my friends at SU told me to have a look at the courses offered by Dr Fawcett. They looked really interesting so I inquired more about the course/person. All my friends could come up was just praise praise and nothing else. I did not believe them, told myself how can some one be so good. Its all hype!!! With that attitude I came to SU. When I reached Syracuse I wanted to speak with some professor regarding my study plans, courses I wanted to take, job related queries. So I got an appointment from Dr Fawcett. It took me just one meeting with him to start realize that my friends were right. With a fatherly caring attitude he answered all my concerns and gave lot of guidance. He said "I know you international students are so far away from home, any time you need any help feel free to approach me. You are just like my kids". I was feeling a bit sad about coming so far from my parents but this one meeting gave me confidence that I am still in safe hands. OK he is a nice man but I still had doubts...

I attended first OOD class, all he spoke was a bouncer. I never knew there was so much in C++!!!.. Finally he handed us the project-1 requirements with title "C++ program annotator and style analyzer". Project required us to tokenize, Scan and parse a C++ file!!!.... I said this man is nuts how can one do this in a time of 20 days!!!!... It took me one whole semester to write a tokenizer, scanner for 8086 assembler during BE. That too it ran for thousands of lines and still incomplete and inefficient. While I was wondering why I took took this course, there came project-1 help. He provided us a minimal tokenizer and scanner for C++ that he had written. I went home and read the entire code he gave us. Just 2 modules and some hundreds of lines to tokenize and scan a C++ file. That too the code was so easy and readable. I said I have landed in a right place, yes he is much more than what my friends told me.

- His projects are very closely related to industry, and all projects needs to be built using some existing modules. He believes that you almost rarely code from scratch, its always you build on some one else's or a existing module.
- Each project is highly challenging and look so interesting when you put them on a resume. They cover almost everything you learn in the course.
- His sample code handouts are mind blowing. I hardly used any text for his course, all I needed was the sample examples. His comments and instructions in those code samples are more than any book.
- If he is teaching a course then he knows in and out of that... he knows almost anything (may be I am exaggerating).
- For his age the amount of energy he has is a example for lousy pigs like us. He takes 5 hrs of continuous class. From start to end there will be no sign of drop in his energy, enthusiasm level.

Ok I can go on pages writing about this guy. Today I am done with all the courses required for my MS and wanted to thank this Guru for everything he has done for me. It is his courses that helped in giving any interviews and getting a job. Thanks a lot for all the help in my educational and personal life.