A Journey To Be The Ultimate Programmer Part 1

The title caught your attention huh?

Well , actually it is a true story of my journey to be the ultimate programmer . The part 1 indicates that the journey just began and its just ahead of its initial point . I wrote back this memory because I want it to last I guess . The story goes like this .

True Journey

Its all started since April 2008 . I was given 5 choices by Singapore Polytechnic to choose my desired course . I did not know what course should I choose . I was thinking and thinking . In fact I was hoping to take an aerospace engineering course since I developed an interest in aircraft a few months ago in 2008 . But then , as the time passes , I asked myself ,"why do you want to take that course while you hated electronics very much?" .

Well , back then in my schooldays , I used to hate electronics chapters when it comes to physics . Then , I asked myself again, " Why don't you just choose aeronautical engineering as it focus on mechanical parts?" .Hmm..."definitely no "..Why? Because I don't want to get my hands dirty .. I wonder why am I thinking like that at that time . Probably not matured enough haha . .

Next , I also considered to choose civil engineering since I kinda like mechanical drawings . But again I thought to myself that I don't want to end up in construction sites . How naive I was at that time . To make the story short , I ended choosing 5 courses based on the points required and interest . Oh yeah , for your info I managed to collect 6 points . This is not to show off , I just wrote it as a true story ..LOLz .

Here are the choices if I'm not mistaken :

• Aeronautical Engineering
  
• Computer Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Marine Engineering

Guess which one did I get ? Well , I managed to grab the second choice that is Computer Engineering . I chose this course because the features are attractive , the max points required is 24 , future working environment maybe comfortable and I had some interest .

I was required to attend the 1 day orientation period . When I came to the location , I could not find my name in the student dashboard . Probably because I was too careless . I asked the management there and they assigned me to class 1B/24 for the orientation . Then , I went to the lecture hall and searched for my course seats and waited for the event to start .

After that we had another event at 1.30 p.m. This is the best part as I started to search for a place to pray . Luckily I found a senior and he helped me find the place . Then, the orientation continued until the end .

For your information , SP has lots of system such as Eliser , Mysas , Idims , Mike and many more to help you navigate your 3 years life there . But for a newbie like me at that time , we are quite confused and not used to it at the beginning . As a result , I ended up in 1B/24 for 1 week . Within that period , I explained to my lecturers the reason for me being in that class as they could not find my name in that class . At the end of the week , I tried to check mysas to check my time table as well as my class . To my suprise , I discovered that I was suppose to be in 1B/22 instead of 1B/24 .

Guess there is no other choice . I transfered to 1B/22 on the following week . What a pain .. For the second time I became a total stranger at my new class as I did not know a single person . The first thing I did was introducing myself and get know them as soon as possible . It likes a cartoon film when I tried to pronounce their name as most of them are Chinese . Actually , I never pronounce a chinese name before as this is the first time I get to know a Chinese.. lol ..

Back to the story , My class consist of 18 students if I'm not mistaken . The subjects for the first semester are Principle of Electrical and Electronics , Digital Electronics , Program Design , Mathematics , Teamwork and Communication Skills(TCS) , Character Development(CD) and IDEA . The most subject I hate was TCS and CD . Why ? Because , there is a lot of presentation and I hate presentation very much . In fact , most engineering students hate this subject . But , what we dislike is good for our sake . Its just about time that we'll realize it sooner or later .

The most subject I like was Program Design . In this subject , we learned Visual Logic which is the concept of flow charts . We also learned LEGO robot programming in this subject . Well , I can say that the subject is fun and pretty easy to understand if you pay attention and do the tutorials . These 2 basic elements will make you a good programmer in the future .

To make it short . I completed semester 1 with a GPA of . . .secret . . .(I won't tell ya unless if you are special to me :p) . When it comes to semester 2 , everything seems so fast and those who never pay attention in class can't survive (count me in) . Its like "whoa!" ... I started to get annoyed and confused in some subjects that I dislike such as DE , IE and PEEE . But , hating a subject is not a solution . Well , I tried to love these subjects but its just too complicated .

On the other hand , I started to really love programming . I practice programming whenever I have free time . It has become part of myself . From that moment , I decided to specialize in programming when I reach final year . Along the way , I'll try to avoid hardware specialization because I really not interested although I can connect the components and troubleshoot it somewhat perfectly . It pisses me off dude .

So, this is my target . I should be able to master almost all programming languages by 3rd year. The languages includes C , C++ , ASP , PHP , Pearl , HTML , Ruby on rails , MySql for the moment . How to achieve it ? Self study and self practice although it is not in my official subject .
Why do I want to become a damn good programmer badly ? Well , I want to work with big companies such as Microsoft , Apple , Softnic , and many more reputable companies . In order to realize it , I've got to be damn good so I can stand on top of the crowd when it comes to selection process ...Ameen .. So , we'll continue the story nex year ...watch out for part 2 next year .

To your success and see ya .. . .. . ..

Rock Climbing

Rock climbing is one of the extreme sports ever.For beginners , it will push your stamina and strength to its limit (some sort).It is a good sport to practice for those who wants to be strong , though , handsome(no relation LoL).

To make it short , I started this Rock Climbing sport since last year(2008) when I was a first year student in Singapore Polytechnic. Why? Because I was looking for a challenging extreme sport. Actually , I don't know which CCA club to choose at the beginning . Suddenly I came across SPRC club . Then , one of SPRC member talked to me . He asked me whether I would like to write my name on their list so that I can see2 first then decide whether to really2 join them or not. So I said (more or less) "Why not?Bring it on!" .

The orientation for new SPRC members started a few days after that if I'm not mistaken. I was required to pay $10 for membership fee and $12 for 3 days orientation fee . Overall is $22 . That's a big sum of money to me . We were divided into several groups and assigned 1 senior to train us the most basic techniques and knowledges we should know as a climber.

So , we were trained these few days and I bet all newbie must be exhausted starting from the first day. Why? Because we still not familiar with the techniques . Hence , we used 75% of our arm strength and 25% of our leg strength . Whereby if you use the correct techniques , you should consume about 25% of your arm strength and 75% of your leg strength . Therefore , you'll be able to last a longer period.

At the end of orientation , our SPRC seniors organize a small competition using > 5 m wall I guess. We were required to finish up 2 sections at the wall . I mean , we should reach the top of the wall in this 2 sections. Well most of us managed to complete the 2nd section while the first section , we managed to complete 90% of it . Anyway , it gave us a little exposure .

After the 3 days orientation , Our official training started . We were again divided into several groups with a senior as our leader . He is responsible to train us all the techniques we need to know , track our development , motivate us and help us get along with other members I guess.
So, the official training was about 2 months . After that period of time , we are allowed to train on our own any time we want . Cool huh?

However , only about 10%-20% of these new members are committed to do their own self training. Well , I was quite a good novice climber at the beginning haha. Then , when the sem1 break came , I was very lazy to come to rock gym for self training. I skipped the training for 2 months since Sem1 holiday if I'm not mistaken . As a result , I lost all my cool moves and talents that I have built .

After 2 months I skipped the training , suddenly I feel like I want to climb again. So , I came to rock gym one day and I climbed . I was very2 embressed as I noticed that I climbed like a total noob . I was envious of those who are far better than me . I know that my envious and jealousy does not change anything.The only thing that can make it change is exrteme training .

I started to schedule my time-table . I climbed 3 times a week . There was certain time I climbed almost everyday after I finished my homeworks. Now , eventhough I am having 1 month holiday , I still come to climb with my buddy , Hanafi . I don't want history to repeat 2 times . I admit that I'm not a very good climber since I lost in an inter-competition event . However , I realized my intention . All I want to do is having some fun while climbing . Eventually , my skills will improve drastically as I enjoyed the sport . Now , I can see the improvement and I'm happy for it eventhough it is not a big achievement .