The lab where I TA the C programming class

I’ve definitely learned a lot from my last attempt at TA-ing the previous semester. That time around I helped with an m68k assembly language class. It was quite difficult, especially since it was a class that many students found challenging. It ended up being a good experience though because it helped teach me the importance of being prepared for the weeks labs. The biggest challenge was trying to anticipate what types of questions would be asked and how to prepare myself. By the end of the first couple of labs, I started to get the hang of it and made myself a routine. Since it had been sometime since I last worked with m68k assembly, I decided the best way to prepare was to fully complete the labs myself before the students. While it made for quite a bit of work, I got to learn quite a bit, and I could answer the questions with confidence. In the C class, since I work with it quite a lot more often than assembly, I didn’t need to review the labs nearly as much. I found just bringing a textbook that I could quickly reference was always useful.

It’s amazing how ta-ing helps you to remember and cement concepts in your mind. Certain things that might have been a bit fuzzy or hard to remember have been recalled and re-clarified since I am forced to know the material in-depth in order to prepare for the weekly labs and assignments. Also the questions from the students help me to consider things I wouldn’t normally. I would definitely recommend being a TA for any CS grad student (or upper year undergrad) who might be considering it!

Many students I have encountered feel that this low level knowledge is not useful and that the particular assembly language is obsolete. They see the course as too difficult and a waste of time. I feel I can weigh-in on this debate is a slightly new light from many of the parties interested. I was recently a student in a similar course myself so I am not so far removed as some of the professors. On the other hand, I have had the experience of being involved in the instruction process of the course, I have completed an undergraduate degree and spent some time working so I am aware of the larger picture as well. Perhaps the problem of the course being difficult for students speaks to the state of the primary and secondary education system in Ontario / Canada, but that’s a whole different story.

In my opinion, this course is an absolute necessity for a degree in computer science, or even computer engineering. A big part of computer science to me is about being able to determine why and how a particular solution is faster or slower than another one and how we can improve existing solutions. Understanding the core principles taught in this type of course significantly help in understanding operating system concepts, distributed systems, compilers and many other higher-level topics in computer science. It also allows the student to see some of the limitations in current computer architectures and even how the existing / past architectures work. From a software engineering point of view, the difficulty in getting error feedback and troubleshooting is perfect for learning why it is a good idea to carefully plan and conceptualize your programs before writing. The more complicated topics in these type of courses require good conceptual knowledge of addressing, stacks, interrupts etc. Students can learn the benefit of visualizing the concepts with diagrams, memory maps and flow-charts. The same people who fail to understand memory concepts in this type of class likely have problems with malloc/free and recursion in c classes. Without knowing how the underlying concepts work, how can you be convinced that a particular high level implementation is faster than another one. You would be taking for granted what is happening at a lower level and making serious assumptions about how the system is working.

To me learning only high level languages without any assembly would be like skipping Newton’s physics models and going straight to quantum mechanics. You can probably describe many phenomenon much easier and better than with Newtons models, but without learning about Newton first you would not understand how quantum physics really works. You would not be convinced that certain properties are true and you would loose some of the ability to question what is really happening in some ways. It would be more difficult to extend ideas and even challenge existing paradigms. It really removes much of scientific component of program.

In a slightly related note, I am attending two wireless network conferences in Ontario in the upcoming weeks. At the end of September I am volunteering at the adhocnets 2009 conference in Niagara Falls. I am quite excited about one of the keynote speakers (Prof. Ian Akyildiz) who has written some excellent survey papers in the area. The same week I am attending the IEEE TIC STH conference at Ryerson University in Toronto. I am presenting a paper on cross layer scheduling and resource allocation in wireless mesh networks.

Update: The paper from the TIC STH Conference is available via IEEE Xplore here.

Update: Here are some pictures from the conference:

Conference Venue, Ryerson University

Welcome to the conference!

Tea break

One of the talks

Example Office Environment

10. Not Labour Intensive

In terms of physical labour, on a list of 100, a job in the computer industry would likely be ranked 98 or 99 behind participants in sleep studies. You will likely end up with a nice ergonomic chair and a more comfortable working environment than your own desk at home (unless of course your a researcher at a university, in which case it will be the other way around). If you manage to land a job at a large software company there are often ample breaks, lots of snacks and many other perks. On the other hand, if you are so inclined you might even be able to get gym memberships for free or on the cheap to make up for the lack of “real work” you do all day.

9. No Longer and Insociable Career Choice

While you still can be an isolated programming coding away for hours on end this is becoming more of a rarity. Projects are often large and require enormous collaborative efforts in order to be completed. Conferences and workshops allow you to connect with other professionals and keep up on the latest ideas in the field.

8. Surrounded by Motivated, Young & Intelligent People

Often times tech departments are full of young people fresh out of school who are still very motivated and get excited about new ideas. For instance I work with many people who are still students and we often exchange links to interesting new technologies we find on the Internet. Additionally, if someone gets stuck on something many people can end up searching through the vast information to find a solution quicker. This keeps the work going quickly and makes it more interesting. This is a good environment to work in as opposed to a factory / warehouse where most people hate their job and can’t wait to leave at the end of the day.

Always connected to the Internet, coworkers and valuable information

7. Always Connected

It is a requirement these days to be connected to the Internet if your business has anything to do with technology and this can be a very a good thing. As mentioned previously, this allows for easy communication and collaboration between people and departments. Even if the people are separated across the office, or in a different city / country etc they can still share files, reports and more. Techniques can be researched online and solutions can be found without having to reinvent the wheel each time. Eventually I suppose almost every career may be exposed to this type of thing once the Internet becomes completely pervasive.

6. Often Interesting

Computers in some form have become involved in almost every discipline around. This means that even if your passions isn’t necessarily computers, you could still apply computer science to your own field to help it improve. Computers can help with identifying chemicals in Chemistry, DNA, genes etc in Biology, complex equations and systems in Physics, calculate statistics for Political Science and the list goes on. In each of these fields however there are major obstacles that prevent the experts from doing an even better job at what they do because of the limitations of current computer systems. It may be that they aren’t user friendly enough, powerful enough, or that the problem is just plain impossible to compute in a reasonable time with the methods we have today. Even in the more “average” computer jobs like web design and programming, the job isn’t boring because each day there are new problems. There is always new content to be added to websites, new features to be added to programs and something will often go wrong. This problem solving is what makes it interesting.

IT / Computer Professionals often earn at
least average salaries or higher in Canada

5. Good Pay

In my experience, in Canada at least, most technology workers seem to earn at least the average income or higher. There are usually good promotions, benefits and perks because the companies want to retain the workers since they have paid to keep up their training and education. I’ve also heard a few stories about systems that are running ancient software. Apparently there is a nuclear power plant near where I live that is running COBOL code on a robot that changes the spent nuclear rods from the plant. Since this is a such a vital function they have avoided upgrading the system or changing as much as possible. Now it turns out there is only one person left in North America who knows how it works so they pay lots of money for him to fly in from the US to fix it whenever there is trouble. So the lesson here: outlive everyone else who has worked on the system you are building

4. All Skill Levels Required

Another reason why you may want to switch into computer science is because computer and IT jobs need people of all skill levels. You can get the jobs with everything from basic certification courses to community college diplomas, bachelor degrees or PhD’s. There is also a wide range of job titles you could hold: IT / Tech Support, Web Designer / Developer, Programmer, Analyst, Administrator, Database Designer, Resarcher, Team Leader etc… Once you are in the door at a company if you keep upgrading your education you should be able to keep climbing the ladder as well. Experience and Education are valued at many places.

3. Retraining Encouraged

Retraining is often encouraged for technology workers. Especially at the larger, successful companies. They want to maintain a competitive advantage and do not want to be seen using old technology. This means they may even pay for you to take upgrading courses or even for portions of diploma or degree programs. This is also extremely beneficial for the employee because as training increases they can demand more money, and at the same time they become more valuable to the competition. It also ensures that if you do loose your job later that you may have an easier time being rehired somewhere else.

2. World is Dependent on Technology Now

Try imagining a world without any computers, calculators or modern technology. Think slide rules, pen and pencil calculations, tables of sin and cosines etc. It would be impossible for us to keep track of our economies, banking systems, inventories etc. There would be no more long range communications and global business would essentially stop. Technology is ingrained in our lives now and there is no way of going back anymore.

On the other there are still people who do not understand much of modern technology. There are still CEOs who are unable to understand how to apply technology to problems in an effective way. This is where people trained in computer science may be able to help. There is a strong need for people who can communicate highly technical ideas in a way other people can understand so they can make informed decisions.

Computer Researcher

1. Many Problems Still to be Solved

The most compelling reason why you should study computer science is because of the vast amount of problems still to be solved. Computer Science is extremely young compared to Physics, Chemistry and Biology. To me this means that popular ideas are easier to challenge, people are still willing to accept change fairly easily. On top of this, the computer field itself changes so rapidly that what works at one time may not be applicable later. For over the last fifty years or so we have developed many techniques that work wonderfully on “electrical” computers. What happens if we change to computers that use light, or if we use quantum computers? More specifically than that even there are questions like “What is the best way to schedule packets in a wireless network?” in the subfield of wireless research. There are many other questions in many other subfields of computer science as well.

Conclusion

Yet despite all of these questions, we do not have enough people to answer them. Enrolment in recent years in Computer Science hasn’t been great (except since video game courses became popular). Alot of people were afraid after the dot.com bust a few years ago and many people were probably discouraged from taking computer science then. I was fairly worried then as well since I was in the middle of my undergrad degree at the time. Now with the economy doing poorly, computer jobs are quite secure. In the area where I live some of the largest technology companies are still hiring thousands of people (RIM, OpenText). On top of that think of how many businesses require some form of computer expertise. Almost every business larger than a small business where the one person does the job of the technologist themselves. Now is the best time to go and get retrained in computers. If you are Ontario, many of the colleges are even offering money to support it through the Second Career Program.

The people I met last year ranged from successful entrepreneurs to those just climbing the corporate ladder to those who were in more of a management position in the company. Talking with the people can also be an important connection that could help you find a job more easily when you finish at Guelph as well! The night runs from 6:30 until 8:30 pm. Here is a Facebook event you can check out for more information: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=113507310606

Comic from phdcomics.com on Grad School

Get to know your Undergrad Profs Well!

This point cannot be stressed enough. When I was going through my undergrad I rarely got to know any of the profs. Especially early on. I kept to myself and did my work, even went above and beyond on many of the assignments, but still almost none of the profs knew me. This became a huge problem when it came time to get those required reference letters to get into grad school. Some of the profs I asked didn’t know me well and I suspect wrote just that in their reference letters. One school I applied to seemed very interested in the early stages, but after they got my entire application package they declined, perhaps this was because bad references. If possible, the best type of profs to get to know are those which are working in fields you are interested in. Another good reference is a prof who is well known, or profs who often collaborate with the schools you are intending to apply to. Another important point here, is DO NOT ASK FOR A REFERENCE LETTER AT THE LAST MINUTE!! I have seen students ask professors for grad references with only a week or less left before the deadline. Often the prof gives a bad reference or will refuse it outright.

Find Potential Supervisors

It is best if you can identify researchers you would like to work with. At some schools you can contact these people directly to see if they have enough funding available to take you on or to pitch them your research plan / idea. At more popular schools, the profs may be too busy to respond to everyone’s email, but this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to identify potential supervisors. You can still try to determine if this person will be a good match for based on several things. You can look at their websites to see if they give any hints to what their personality is like, if their research is compatible with your ideas etc. It is very important to be a good match with your supervisor because not getting along should you get accepted would make for a long couple / few years. Additionally, in getting to know the potential supervisor, you can tailor your research proposal to what you think they might be interested in, so that when you are compared against other students who have applied you stand a better chance of catching the profs eye.

Have a Research Plan

From the last point you can see why it is important to have a research plan. You need to convince one of the profs or someone at the school that you are worth spending time and money on. At least have a general idea of what direction you want to head in if / when you start your studies.

Try For Good Marks (Early On If Possible)

Most schools (in Ontario) have a requirement of around a B/ B+ average. As far as I understand, some schools (Waterloo, Toronto) consider this requirement across all four years of your undergrad degree while other schools (Guelph, Western maybe) consider your last two years. I speak from experience when I say you should try your best to get good marks. It will save you alot of stress. I just barely made it in and was admitted on probation. I am now a normal grad student after getting an A average the last couple of terms, but it definitely puts alot more pressure on. Also, if you want funding it may be impossible if you entered on probation like me. For OGS and NSERC, they look at your last 20 courses while you are in your first two years of grad school. Over these 20 courses you need an A- (80%) average. So the point is, if you plan to go to grad school (which many people don’t even know until near the end of undergrad like me) get good marks ASAP! Try to make the choice as early on in your undergrad as you can. Be strategic about your marks, drop classes you know you aren’t doing well on and take them again another term (You will be surprised how much this can help), take distance ed courses if your school offers them and make sure to mix your hard courses with some easier ones so you don’t get too discouraged by an overly hard semester.

Consider Attending Different Schools for Each Degree

This is perhaps one of the most controversial points of all of the grad school tips. Depending on who you speak to, some people will tell you should not under any circumstances stay in the same school for more than one degree. You should attend different schools so that you are exposed to new ideas, new people and team dynamics. Often times a given department is biased toward thinking in a certain manner or using certain methodologies and it may help you to experience different ways of thinking in this regard.

Of course, there is also considerations to be made for the other side of this argument. For example, if you already have a great supervisor lined up, already know a project well and have a good plan to get alot of work done then perhaps it may be better to stay. Also consider how much it may cost to move around to different schools. If the school is in another city, province or country it may require paying more for rent, getting a part time or whatever else to keep the bills paid. I would recommend avoiding part time work like the plague while you are attending grad school. (I know from experience, it is very difficult to balance it all). If you are in another country it may be more difficult to get funding as well since some scholarships are only available to citizens. (Although there are also scholarships specifically for students who aren’t citizens as well.

Apply for Scholarships & Awards Whenever Possible

This one is important, not only because you get money but also because it beefs up your resume so it’s useful for jobs if you feel like getting into industry or whatever else later on. I think that profs like to see students who are able to get scholarships themselves because it means they will be less reliant for funding on the professor. Even if you don’t get them often (or at all) it can be helpful to at least get into the habit of writing the applications out, because they are similar to applications for grad school and for practise for more important awards later on in grad school (NSERC, OGS etc).

Ask Questions & Attend Meetings

If your school offers meetings regarding grad school applications, go to them. Even if you don’t plan on applying until the following year. It takes quite a while to get organized for grad school applications so start early. Ask any questions you have and make sure you understand the whole process well. Contact the departments you are applying to if anything is unclear or look around online. (One great place to ask questions regarding grad school is PhDComics Forums. Another place more specific to computer science (and in Canada) is CompSci.ca Forums. Often both of these sites have a wide range of students from undergrad right up to professors who can answer many of your questions. Additionally, you can leave me a comment here (however I am no expert).

Be a Motivated Student

Personally, I think this is one of the most important factors in being accepted and being a successful grad student. Graduate school can be at times very trying. It can sometimes feel like you will never find the solution to the problem you are working on, or that there are a million deadlines and things to do. The only way through this is with absolute passion for your subject of study. Sometimes you might have to create this for yourself. Take a break from your normal work, read things related to your subject that are interesting (Personally I <3 reading websites like Digg, Slashdot and technical magazines like IEEE and ACM to see all the new and exciting ideas... but whatever works). Passion not only affects you in a positive way, it also rubs off on those around you. Profs and other students will want to work with you if you show genuine enthusiasm for what you are working on. (This can also be a factor in deciding where you want to study, because if you get a good environment where everyone is like this, you can feed off one another).

Comic from phdcomics.com on Grad School

Related Links

• NSERC – National Sciences and Engineering Research Council
• OGS – Ontario Graduate Scholarships

Conclusion

So thats it for my tips for now, I’ll add to this from time to time as I think of more and feel free to add any suggestions you think should be including in the list.

Not exactly related to computer science, but I thought it would be a helpful post anyways to anyone who might be an Ontario student reading this blog…

I just found out today from Guelph that full-time Ontario College and University students can apply for a textbook / technology grant worth a $100. It may not sound like much but free money is free money and the application takes all of 10 seconds online. That sounds like a pretty sweet hourly rate to me (plus I’m a broke college student myself). Here’s the link if anyone is interested: https://osap.gov.on.ca/eng/eng_osap_main.html. Just click login and look for TTG. According to the FAQ it doesn’t require any proof of financial need or any proof you’ve actually spent the money on textbooks so it’s pretty much no strings attached. For more information about it visit this link: https://osap.gov.on.ca/eng/not_secure/plan_grants_full_sepapp_ttg_12345.htm

Additionally, OGS and NSERC application deadlines are coming up so don’t forget to apply if you are a grad student (or don’t, less competition for me haha)