Here’s the post to answer the question I’ve been asked so many times lately and to explain the lack of online presence and blogging activity.
Keeping a full-time job while doing a part-time grad school program sure keeps me busy, but overall it’s nothing that I can’t handle. The software engineering program at Carnegie Mellon West has kept its promise so far and delivers a demanding and rich curriculum where I get to learn about the best practices of software engineering while getting my hands dirty with new technologies and design patterns I am unfamiliar with—all while interacting and working in a highly-motivated team of fellow students and software engineers.
So, what classes are you taking?
I don’t take any classes, nor exams. It’s a practical approach to software engineering, so instead we pretend to be in a fictitious company. My faculty acts as fictitious stakeholders (say VP of Engineering or VP of Marketing), and we negotiate requirements with them and deliver the products at the end of the semester. It’s a very holistic approach as you learn more than just computer science and coding and you get to improve your people and leadership skills as you interact with them and your teammates.
So, how do you like it?
I love it so far. Besides the practical and very fun approach to learning, I welcome the non-Microsoft aspects of this learning community, as I find myself expanding my horizon by stepping out of my comfort zone and using many open source tools such as Tigris, Java, Hibernate, JUnit.
The networking opportunities that CMU West offers is superb. Albeit missing my chance to getting tickets to have breakfast with former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiona the other day, I got to shake hands with Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak at one of CMU West’s events last month. I value the networking opportunities with my co-students who come from companies such as Apple, Boeing, Google, Lockheed Martin, Oracle and Cisco.
However, sitting in front of the computer most of the day at work, only to come home and sit in front of the computer all evening can be very tiring and monotone. I do enjoy coding, just not 24 hours a day. So next time you see me at the few selected outings where I come out, please don't talk to me about computers. :)
Dang, where do you find the time?
Well, in case you haven’t noticed, I haven't blogged much and don’t go online often anymore, as I find chatting such a waste of time. Of course I had to sacrifice a lot of other things as well. My weekly piano lessons have become bi-weekly lessons (and even those had been cancelled a few times already). I have not gone jogging at all since school started two months ago, and I used to do that for two hours per week! My quest to finish reading the (rather boring) Ender’s Shadow series has been put to a complete halt, and whenever I travel to OC or NYC, I find myself locked in a room to finish homework instead of going out. Ah well, at least, I can’t complain about not making productive use of my time.
Hey, Minh, I know you are really busy, but can you [fill in the blank] for me?
Nice try... but no.