How To Survive and Excel in uniSIM?

uniSIM? Never heard that?

Well.. It stands for SIM University. It is known as a university for working adults.

So, perhaps you might be saying that it must be though to study while working full time? Yes you are right. And I must say many people retake their modules. So, if you are not prepared enough, you may need to resit for your failed module.

But hey, guess what? Here, I am gonna list a couple of tips that you may want to use in order to survive this journey. So, make sure you read carefully!

uniSIM cookbook exposed:


1. Identify your potentials partners.

On your first class for each subject, look around and identify your potentials. Nah no, I am not referring to life partner potential. Just look around and try to identify those who seems smart and/or has the potential to exceed in that subject.

2. Make friends
On your subsequent class, try to approach him/her and make friends.

3. Stay back a little longer

At the end of each class, stay back a little while before you go back home, to study. Prepare some objectives that you have to accomplish before you can go back. Do this consistently and make it a habit. Trust me, you are not gonna study at home most likely.

4. Research

Whatever terms or concepts that you are still not so clear during the lecture, go and research about it. Don't depend on your study guides. Do what 80% of the students do not do. Research more till you understand the concept(s) clearly. 

5. Start your TMAs early

Start your TMAs as early as possible. Ideally, after each class, do your TMA a little bit. The reason for this is that, for each class, it should cover some portion of the TMA. So, while you are still fresh, work on it! If you do 1 question every week for each subject, you won't have problem finishing it by the deadline. Oh and submit your TMA one day before the deadline!

6. Do past year papers

In regards to para 2, for each friends that you make, eventually, try to get each of them to do different past year papers in a soft copy. Then, you can share it among yourselves, OR, you can also share it at ExamAnswers. I have not gotten the time to touch on it properly by the way. So imagine this, if you make let say 3 friends, you are gonna have at least 3 past year papers done in theory, which you can use it as your study notes.

7. Study smart!

Study smart. Don't study hard. You are not gonna have the time to read everything for exams. So, by doing more past year papers, its gonna be a great help. Of course I am not asking you to depends solely on that.

8. Do your TMAs yourself

TMA, do yourself. Don't copy others. Don't do with others. When you do with other people, there is a tendency to take a look at your peers work. As such, its gonna kill your creativity. If you copy from others, you are no different than most students in gahmen Unis. You are not competent, and the degree that you are gonna get, is just a piece of paper. No value. Have some faith in yourself man!

9. Avoid study group

Study group is a bullshit. I am not saying that it is not good. It is good if every member play his role properly. If anyone asked you to join for a study group, ask them to do a past year paper first. If they cannot even finish one past year paper or at least attempt it, what makes you think that they are gonna give you their commitments in your study group? Its clearly means that most likely they will come unprepared, and don't know what to study for exams.

I can't think of anything else for now. I hope you enjoyed reading this! :D

Working Journey Year 1

Well, don't mind the title. I ran out of ideas on how to put a naming scheme on this kind of thing. But I think this would be a good naming scheme that would be easily scalable.

Back to the topic. I started working full-time since July 2013 with a local StartUp. Now, it is June 2014. It is close to 1 year indeed. I thought of writing something while I still have some free time.

It has been 1 crazy year. Prior to that, I took a month break after my National Service. Well, it was pretty difficult to rewire my brain cells at first. I guess it has been somewhat rewired to a certain extent and still getting rewired every now and then.

Nevertheless, I do not know how to express how crazy the journey was and still is. The first working language that I was required to work with was Objective-C for iOS development. I think it was like 6 months using Objective-C. I was involved in 3 apps that I don't think you can find it in AppStore because it is a custom app that are not for public/individuals use.

The next language were HTML/CSS & PHP. I was working with these for about a month. I had some basic knowledges on HTML a couple of years back then. Nevertheless, it is not difficult to start HTML/CSS from scratch and it is pretty fun. This time around however, instead of just basic knowledges, I rather call it, actual implementation. Oh and there is this cool stuff that I touched, called media query. In a nutshell, you use media query if you want to use different styles for let say different screen sizes.

PHP was and still a nightmare though. No matter how hard I try to master it, I just can't. It is too difficult to master it!! Learning it easy, but to actually implement it, it is not easy for me. I just can't do PHP!! The same goes for JavaScript! I am just not good at these 2! It drives me crazy!! But it keeps on coming to me in a way or another. I recall telling people to love things that you hate because the things that you hate will always haunt you. Well, now it seems these two languages are haunting me down and there is no way I can love them!! Hel*, I hate them!

Next was AppleScript. It is not really hard to learn but it is pretty troublesome. I kept on getting the syntax wrong. There is not much documentation or tutorial on the net. But at least, this is slightly better than PHP/JavaScript. I used this in one of my iOS project.

Moving on, I never thought that I would be creating a Facebook game one day. Oh don't get me wrong, I did not do it alone. I got the chance to do that in early May 2014 if I remember correctly. That is not so bad you know but.. the deadline was like 1 WEEK!! On top of that, I never used FLASH neither have I worked with ActionScript before. But the good thing is, I don't have to do FLASH but I've got to program the game's logics in ActionScript. Well, at least I rather do that than messing around with PHP and JacaScript! ActionScript was not as difficult as I thought either but it is pretty tricky. The naming convention of the variables and functions differs from other languages. Oh and for this project, we were building a game for Air Asia Singapore prior to Taylor Swift's concert. Well, it is over now and you can't find the game any more.

There was a buzz a couple of months or years back then about Arduino and Raspberry Pi. I've always wanted to explore these 2 things one day but then the cost was the main factor of me procrastinating it. Well,  I am not sure whether it is a coincidence or a destiny, but I was required to prototype a product for a client recently using Arduino. Oh and as usual, I've never worked with Arduino and I just started playing around with it like 2 months back then, and still playing with it right now. It is pretty fun ya know and pretty nostalgic too! Everything that I have learnt in SP started coming back to me slowly, especially the electrical components parts. Not to mention that I always fall asleep during microcontroller lectures. Haha!

At first, my company got me 2 custom Arduinos to play with which cost about $200 in total in addition to whatever electrical components that I needed. That was 2 months ago. Then now, I was given a collection of Arduinos and a couple of shields worth more than $1000 to play with!! I pretty enjoyed playing with Arduinos but..when I checked one of the board that was bought for me (Or to be exact, I wanted to play with it) which was called 'BLE Mini', I think I am having a bad dream perhaps. It was purely C and programming it is 100% more difficult than playing with Arduinos.

Just so that we are on the same channel, Arduino is not difficult. 'BLE Mini' is a nightmare!! It is like I might even become a firmware engineer if I play with 'BLE Mini' too long. Wait a second.. It is not that I am scared of being a firmware engineer, I am just afraid of programming the Mini!

To get the matter even more exciting, I started my part-time degree in January 2014. Only god knows how crazy it is to juggle between work and studies. Trust me, it is something that you cannot understand neither can you comprehend the challenges unless if you have been in the same shoe before. :)

Well, I guess that's all for today. I was writing this while waiting to download all the SDKs and tools required for Android development. Now, back to Android! :)

Two Types of Programmer

What I Want In 2012?

Hey yo!

Long time did'nt write here on my bloggy blog.

Alright, let's go to the point.

What I want?

• Develop at least one android application.
• Buy a new phone of at least 8MP on March.
• Take a mandarin course on August.
• Take 'Import/Export' course on October.
• Take CCNA on December.

Hmm.. I think got a few more. But let say, that's all for now. Of course some goals are meant to be hidden ~ ;)

Passing Out Parade

It was 9th Decemeber 2011. After 4 months life as a 'Fit' trainee. Finally we graduated and we gave our Field Instructor the best present at the end of his NS life by being the "Best Squad".

The Road Not Taken

This is my favourite poem ever since secondary school. Enjoy!

Source: http://www.davidpbrown.co.uk/poetry/robert-frost.html

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
and sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
and looked down one as far as I could
to where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
and having perhaps the better claim
because it was grassy and wanted wear;
though as for that, the passing there
had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
in leaves no feet had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference

NTUC Shopping

Well, today is the first day I went to shop alone for groceries. Usually, mum and dad will go out together in the morning to shop together. But today, I did it alone..

Well, to cut the story short, I was like a fool in the NTUC. I spent about 45 minutes there just to find out this items:

• Eggs
• Fish ball
• Hot Dog
• Cinnamon (Today then I know what on earth is Cinnamon)
• Macaroni
• Milk (Low fat)
• Cheese
• Canned Mushroom
• Chicken cube
• Banana (I forgot to buy this thing. LOL)
• Tooth Brush

Total Cost: $19

Then in the afternoon, I was planning to go to the bank to settle some stuff. But then.. Bank closes at 1pm and  I was there at about 3pm. LOL. What a day. So, I changed my course of direction towards Sing Post to post some important items that are being requested by my dad. Well, it was also the 1st time I post an item out of the country. Well, it was quite a good lesson anyway.

That's all ~

Temporary Seperation

It was on 8th November 2011. As usual, I was having a day pack of schedules. But on that day, it was not an ordinary day. It was a historic day. Straight away after my training, I rushed back to my barrack, changed to my book out attire, grabber my bag, and immediately went to the main gate.

I was on my way back. I don't have much time. It was about 6pm. I needed to reach home before 7.30 pm. As I crossed the road to reach the bus stop which was about 50m away from me, I saw the bus '172' which I needed to take. As I was crossing the road, I was thinking whether or not shall I run or wait for another bus. Before I made the decision, my legs has started running towards the bus stop as fast as I could. I don't want to take the risk of being late. It was 6pm! There is a possibility of road jam. I can't afford to wait for another bus. I was sweating like mad. But I did not have the time to care about it. I have limited time.

I reached home at about 6.50pm. I quickly took a fast game dinner, took a shower, and performed my Maghrib prayer. Straight away grabbed a big heavy bag, and went down to take a taxi with my aunt. We took 2 taxis. One for my parents and my grandma. Another one for me and my aunt. At about 7.35pm, we were on our way to Changi Airport. As we were still on our journey, I started to imagine about my life after this. Who can I share my stories with other than my mum? Who will be there for me in front of the door when I come back home other than my mum? Who is going accompany me eating other than mum? Who is going to cook my favourite meal? Who is going to take care of me? As I was thinking about it, slowly, my eyes became watery. Oh no.. Don't..don't.. I can't drop my tears yet.. I am inside taxi with my aunt. I don't want to show my sadness.

We arrived at Changi Airport at about 8.05pm. As I reached the airport, straight away, I grabbed a trolley, put all the luggages.. I walked with my mum, followed her to put the luggages into cargo. I wanna spent as much time as I could with her. Their flight was at about 10.45pm. But I needed to go back at about 9pm because I had to reach my barrack at about 10pm.

At about 9.50pm, mum asked me, "Are you going back now?". As I heard that question, my eyes started to become watery. But I controlled it..I did not want to let it out yet. I answered, "No mum, I still have 10 more minutes". I don't know how to describe my feeling at that time.

At about 9pm, I shook and kissed my dad's hand. Hugged him, and wished the best for him. Then, I turned towards my mum. I hugged her very tightly till I could feel her heart beats.. At this point in time, I could not hold it any more. I let my tears out silently. I could feel her tears too. Mum told me this, "I am sorry for controlling you. Take care of yourself. Take care of your siblings. Fear god". I answered, "Mum. I am sorry for burdening you. I am truly sorry"..I love my mum.. love her so much.. we hugged each other tightly for a few minutes. There is a saying that says, "How fierce or manly a man is, he will still let it out when it comes to his loved ones".

I wiped my tears, I bent towards my youngest brother, Shakir. I told him, "Be a good boy and do not trouble mum". I looked at my dad for the last time. I turned around, and walked away with silent tears. Then I took a cab, and went back to the camp.

When I reached my barrack, my right eye feels pain. Probably because of too much crying? haha.. I don't know man. Two days after that, it became swollen and then I had to go to Medical Center to consult a doctor.

That is all for now.

Poke Balls

I happened to remember last time, let me think.. I think when I was in primary 4. I was so engrossed with Pokemon. So there was a snack sold in the market, each of the packet contained 1 pokemon trading card. Whenever I received a poke ball card, I will ask my sister to go find the shop owner to exchange the card for the real poke ball. I thought at that time that each shop was given a machine to manufacture poke balls.

Haha I know I know. I was childish ok. Satisfied? :p

Randomness

I have too many things to do at once. I don't know which one to start. I don't know whether or not can I finish them all before the end of this year.

Here are the list:

• Religious Report / Docs related to Sunnah Prayers
• Writing a script / application that will solve my VPS problem. I am still unsure how to do this. But I know I can somehow complete it
• Writing my first ebook.
• Developing and driving traffic to my to be squeeze page
• Invest in my 3rd to be Expert Advisor
• Revise my religious studies

Well, currently, I am multi tasking everything as in do this a bit and then change to do the other subject. Some people say that multi-tasking is not good. It is better to focus and do one thing at a time. But for me personally, I get bored easily if I do one thing for a long time. That's why I do bit by bit, step by step.

That's all for now.

Wrist Injury

Well, this week is a very challenging week. I sustained a wrist injury since last Saturday during street soccer match. At first, I thought it was just a simple injury that will goe off in a matter of hours. But I was wrong.. completely wrong. It lasted for about 1 week.

And... The worst thing is that I kinda forced myself to do self physical training. The pain got worsen after I did some pull ups. At that point in time, I realized that I have to give some attentions to my wrist. From that day (I think Wednesday) onwards till today, I tried not to use my right hand except when eating.

Glad that I am at home. I applied some temporary bandage to fix my wrist bag. Hopefully, it will get better soon. I think the good thing about this injury is, I could strengthen my left more. That's all for now dear bloggy.

Street Soccer Outing 29 Oct

Every time they (my ns friends) invited me to come along with them eating here, eating there, outing here, outing there, I rejected their invitation,.

Well, some of them feels that I am arrogant. Honestly, I don't care what do they think of me. I just don't want to spend unnecessarily. Many of them, after about 2 - 3 weeks, they don't have anything left. Quite stupid sometime if you were to think about it again.

But today, they organized a street soccer event at Admiralty. So I was like "why not?". So to cut the story short, we supposed to meet at 8am. Buttt... somehow, they changed the timing to 8.30 am and they did not inform me at all. And because I am a super time sensitive person, I reached there at 7.59 am. I waited for everyone to come till about 9am.

And again to cut the story short, we played like crazy. Oh yea, I was wearing a long sleeve white shirt and a 3/4 black pant. We took turn to become goal keepers because no one likes to be a keeper. So when I was a keeper, I managed to save difficult shots. But, I missed easy shots. haha. I know it does not make sense. But, what else can I do?

Then when, I became a defender, someone.. someone..someone accidently hit my right tights. Man, it was pain like he**. I could'nt get up immediately. It was too painful. I quitted the game and sat at one corner trying to recover and reduce the pain. Eventually, I did not play for the next few games for my own safety. Then I think I rejoined the game and we played till 12.30pm.

As I walked home, I was struggling and was trying my best to walk normally. Its really pain. When I reached home, I took a quick nap after performing my zohor prayer. When I woke up, the pain was not that bad. I hope that I could fully recover by tomorrow.

That's all for now.

Sushi

Well, I don't know why do I think of Sushi suddenly.

And when I think of Sushi, I think of Sakura. Its been a long time since the last time I went there. I want a lamb chop, chicken chop, sushi, siew mai, pizza, ice cream, cakes, crabs, salmon.

I wish that the next time I go to Sakura is with that someone ~ ;)

Gosh!! Talking about Sakura alone makes my mouth watery and I can hear my tummy singing a "starvation" song.

Man, talking about Sakura alone, remind me of buying Mi Sedap at NTUC later. I can't afford to go back into jail without enjoying my favourite snacks.

New Year 20111

Alright let's get started!

First of all, let's reflect what are the things that I have achieved according to my plan resolution las year(2010).

What I can remember is that I managed to achieve 2 things. (Actually I don't remember what I have wrote) But I am pretty sure that the 2 things below was in the list:
1. SPINNOVEX
2. certain amount of income

Thank you Allah for fulfilling part of my dream. SPINNOVEX is a umm all student dream. Its an annual event for outstanding Final Year Project.

Then for the second achievement..is a bit senstive..Its a secret man! I thank Allah for that too :)


so for this year 2011, I have a prepared a few things that I want to achieve as well.. want to know? bleh :p

2011 resolution/plan/whatever they call it(I don't care):
1. I want to try to reach $X000/month income by the end of December
2. I want to convert my java application to a web java applet or Facebook application.
3. I want to get a GPA of 4.0 this semester
4. I want to decide my citizenship my March
5. I want to self learn PHP programming language
6. I want to try the "build your electric generator" guide book
7. I want to have at least 3 good websites
8. I want to understand and know someone
9. I want to work for a few more months before taking my degree
10. I want to build several applications(JAVA/iPhone/iPad/Android) altough I am not so good at programming
16. I want to register a company (this one talk talk only)
17. got a few more list that are ment to be private

Updates

Dear blog,

There is so many things that I wanted to write about but...

There is so many things that I wanted to talk about but...

There is so many things that I wanted to update but...

There is so many things that I wanted to let it out but...

BUT.. I am too busy, stressful and don't have much time to write..

So that's all that I can write for today after a few months.. at least you know that I have so many things to talk about..

Till then ...

Final Year Project

Finally, the moment that I've been waiting for... jeng...jeng...

I think the title has done pretty much explaination about what am I going to type. ..hehe..

So, basically, what I need to do is, do some research regarding the technology areas provided and choose 3 of them only and rank them accordingly to your interest.

The next step is, find dedicated, committed, motivated and smart team members.. This is the challenging part as I only have 1 person in mind who fulfilled my requirements... Why did I make such requirements? Because I wanted to have a perfect team whereby the discussions will be dynamic and everyone would be able to contribute their parts.

I don't want to go through past experiences again whereby I felt that I have done everyting alone although they did so called part of the work load. The new aim is to have the perfect team, be eligible to participate in SPINNOVEX as well as score distinction for FYP projects.

So here are the list of technology areas that I'm interested in :
- Consumer Electronics
- Technology Center of Wireless Communications
- Digital Network
- Advanced Robotics & Intelligence
- CXD

I don't think that I need to explain do I?

Ok.. hoping for the best.... "fail to plain is plain to fail"..

"S3S"

3rd Year Specialization

Finally I've decided to specialize in Computer Netwroking and Computer Systems..

Althought, I don't like Networking, and Higher Mathematics(under Systems), I still carry on with my plan? Why? Because I can't keep on running from the fact that mathematics, binary numbers and engineering are one. Moreover, the more I tried to run from subjects that I don't like, the more I will end up doing it as I said before in my previous Batch 9 blog post.

I did not manage to score that well during my practical test because I was totally lost while trying to understand the working principles of Networking protocols, concepts as well as hacking concepts. The only practical test that I score was Server Management as it was too easy for me...hehe....

Anyway, I don't regret it now. During the mid-semester test, I started to see the pictures and I know those subjects are easy to score if you put some love on it.. hehe..And I was totally blown out with the results...For some reasons, maybe because I was lucky abit, I managed to score almost all subjects except mathematics.. and the most funny thing is that I managed to score the highest in my class for subjects that I did not do well during my practical... How I wish I studied like that during practical... I was laughing at myself like h**l... haha..

Now, with someone's(XxEvexX) special besides me, I am determined to score on every subjects starting from the coming terms onwards ...got to tie the knot fast nih.. ... hehe... blek ;p

3rd Year Options

T_T

What should I choose ?

I'm gonna choose my 3rd year specialization for next year this week.

Still can't make up my mind on which field should I focus more.

The options are as below :

1. Computer Engineering
2. Computer Networking
3. Computer Security
4. Business

Haiz... Currently, I'm doing Networking and Security.

The only subject that I feel comfartable till now is Server Management which is under Security.

Should I specialize in the same field next semester or shoud I have a broad view of Computer Engineering?

Or probably take a broad view then specialize during degree ?

Which one is better?

Both got pros and cons....

Hmm ... any suggestions?

Introduction to Hackers(short version)

bEFORE you proceed to read, here are a few reminders:
1. This is just a short version. Please don't expect to include hackers ethics and laws. I'm a lazy jerk.(go google it yourself)
2. This post is very shallow as I dont intend to really explain about hackers not because I don't know, but It just not really suitable for reading.
3. Confidential information about the techniques and tools used will not be given.

Who are the hackers ?
Individuals who seek to gain access into computer systems or to make such systems unusable.


So basically, hackers are catagorized into 3 types which are :
1. Black hat
2. White hat
3. Grey hat

What on earth are those? Rilex! One at a time ^^

1.Black hat:
They are harmful and always performs destructive activities. Also known as 'crackers'.

2.White hat:
Individuals who have mastered the hacker skills and using those skills for defensive purposes. Also known as security analyst.

3.Grey hat:
Individuals who work both offensively and defensively. They can be good as well as bad.

Well, actually I've got many things to say.. But if I were to include the ethics, etc, it will be a pain in the *&^%.

I'm so lazy to type you know. Such a lazy jerk I am....
jyjy

Can't Wait for Attachment

yes .. I can't wait anymore ..left only about 1 week for my Industrial Training to commence at ST Electronics(Info-Software System) Pte Ltd .

so let me do some research about the company itself.

ST stands for Singapore Technologies .. The company has many departments which are :
- Large-Scale Systems Group
- Info Comm
- Satcom & Sensor Systems
- Info-Software Systems
- Training & Simulation Systems

STEE-InfoSoft is a Command, Control and Intelligence solutions provider. It provides superior defence simulation applications, homeland security systems and enterprise solutions to both civil and defence customers worldwide. Recently, STEE-InfoSoft has been awarded an S$8.2m contract by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA)to do some projects related to private and HDB properties registration system.

According to my Liason Officer, I am the only one who got posted to ST Electronics(Info-Software). I'm not sure whether there would be other interns from other institues or not. The ITP will be for about 6 weeks. The exiting part is that I'll be doing some programming stuff and they will teach me extra related stuff. Alhamdulillah I'll be able to do a job that I have passion for it.. Moreover , I am so grateful to be able to work for a reputable company when businesses are not doing so well.

That's all for today. ^_^