"Deja Vu" and a Lecture on Algorithms

So the summer is over and I am back at school at USC!! To say it was a fruitful summer would be stating the obvious. I thoroughly loved my work and learned a lot during my stint.

Anyhow, last week I attended a lecture on algorithms - the Prof. discussed the concept of stable matching. While explaining the algorithm, he described a very real situation that lead to a fascinating sort of "Deja Vu".
He took up an example that said a person will leave  his current internship to move to a position he feels is better for him - say leaving a start-up not doing what he wants to do and joining Bill Clinton when he asks for him (bigshot example) :D . This leads to a new vacancy at that start-up which is filled by some else who leaves a lower preferred job to take up this one. So we don't have a stable matching.

So where's the "Deja Vu" - well I remember wanting to come to study here when all my close friends were seemingly going towards US, I followed them here. I use to keep a photo of us Awesome Foursome to remind me of them at all times. Whilst in India, I became a part of another fantastic set of us four friends, Ze Gang :D Now three of us here and the fourth one is contemplating joining us and use our photo as motivation. Life can be quite amazing!!!

And yes yes this isn't really a Deja Vu but that's why I used the quotes - hopefully correctly like Joey only once did with Ross :D (I think I watched too much Friends during my stay in the Bay Area :p )

Back to office..

So, an year and a fortnight since the last day at my first job, I was back in office earlier this week. And it was a nice start. While the company and the location, the Silicon Valley, are as different from that job, somethings just do not change..

The excitement of a new computer for the office work, the access card to enter the office buildings, entering a ticket with the IT Helpdesk to setup with an issue - similarities just dont end :D

And yes, my seat is still at the one of the ends of the floor.. and what I see out of the window is once again construction in progress :D    The more things change the more they remain the same :D

Of course, all is not the same - this is internship and not a full-time job.. My new machine is a Macbook Air with a 128GB SSD and i5 processor - my first machine in my first job was a P4 with 80GB HDD  :P
Technology advancements are nowhere as sharp as they are here in the hub of the computer world :D
My individual office space is much bigger - with two white boards for good measure :D

This is a fantastic opportunity - someone up there really likes me I guess :) - that I sincerely hope and pray to be able to do justice to. 

Amreeki Engineers

My semester is now over here at USC. And as I look back, my interactions with two American engineers stand out - the second one being none another than the legendary Steve Wozniak.

But let's start with the first one. Now I met this guy in a queue in the career fair held in the University in February and I don't even know his name. But my 5 minutes talking to him left quite an imprint. This guy was wrapping up his Electrical Engg. He had previously done an audio centric two-year course somewhere on the East Coast. After that he had worked as part of Engineers without Borders in China. And, daresay it, in India as well!! He had been to the north of my dear home country to a couple of places even more than I have been to :p

He said he came to USC to do a full fledged Electrical Engg course -and he did it in just as 2 yrs as against normal 4 - as he was really passionate about it. He said he wanted to earn some money now and then go back to working with Engineers without Borders.

I stood next to him all the time wondering how wonderfully this guy following his interest and passion in life. It is brilliant that he knows exactly what he wants to do and is doing well at it. This is something I have rarely seen in myself, and those of my ilk - Desi Engineers. We take up Engg because that's what "smart people" are supposed to study in school (or medical :D ). I guess, inhi baaton mein hi toh maat kha jaata hai India.


And now onto the second American engineer I had the pleasure of an interacting with. Steve Wozniak came to the USC and talked about his love for engineering and his, and Apple's, beginnings. What struck me was the passion the guy has about technology. I mean he could improve upon circuit designs of massive companies such as IBM!! And now, after all these years, is still as much in love about it all. The glint in his eyes as he talked about his own work - like the first time they were able to use a TVas a display for a computer - and about technologies now-a-days  - like his PDA being able to recognize his handwriting and creating a reminder based on his message.

While not many people take up Engineering in this country - the passion amongst those who do seems quite exceptional.

Hope to catch some of that myself :D