smumester five

moving into the second half of this degree programme creates a glimmer that tells you the end is visible, just not there yet. in tradition, my learning points are as follows:

• working all-nighters continue to present a dilemma where it is poor time management practice, but there is much efficiency in last-minute work and nothing can quite beat the high of a 4am epiphany.
• spend less time in experiments focusing on getting theoretically-correct results and more on hypothesising the causes behind actual results instead.
• the generalisation that industry professionals know their stuff is highly flawed; many have been living in a hole for far too long and their ignorance of reality is astounding.
• understanding expectations is hard work; students continually attempt to be psychologists in analysing what professors actually want to see.
• abstractions are dangerous; they should be created if and only if users will never need to understand the underlying complexity. unravelling the deep mysteries only make abstractions even more complex. (in english: don’t try too hard simplifying things, sometimes understanding the difficult parts is necessary)
• mentorship is a game of passive facilitation that attempts to elicit behaviour which promotes self-learning; spoonfeeding advice and active intervention have little value.

all said and done, here are the corresponding results for the eyes of the privileged few:

half a degree later

the past semester has been the least motivating one since i stepped into smu. it is the first time challenges were regrettably allowed to overwhelm me and i was unable to bend fate to my will. reality has sunk in with the erosion of whatever advantage i previously held, levelling the playing field to ground zero. with more advanced modules in the coming fall semester, it is high time to up my game.

thankfully, this semester has not been without like-minded support whom have proved the feasibility of certain working models, and hopefully such performance will continue to realise. my appreciation for your dedication is beyond words.

learning points from this smumester:

• success always seems to trend upon fearlessness, passion, and dedication to a cause. entrepreneurship simply rides on the same formula.
• conformity has been so deeply rooted into our system it needs to be removed. deviation is but a cardinal aspect of social evolution and deserves respect.
• it is possible to research, debate, and produce killer slides within half an hour each week and find it somewhat enjoyable.
• knowledge is power. the lack of which commands one to submit to whatever price demanded, however exorbitant. which side will you be on?
• cryptography is a field of mathematics, not computer science.
• products which are highly-acclaimed on a consumer level have little appreciation in the eyes of obstinate scientists.
• lastly, it is pertinent to accept events which have ventured beyond one’s locus of control and efficiently re-prioritise thereafter.

that said and done, the outcome speaks for itself. again, only for the privileged few.

three smumesters on..

and my takeaways are:

• perfect grammar and tenses do not equate to effective communications
• informative articles and presentations are destined for failure. every piece of communication has an agenda, hence persuasion is key. tell a story, do a pitch, call for action, and deliver your message. breathe inception (figuratively).
• one life is too short to live in mediocrity. if you want to do something, do it well. else, there’s really no point in doing it, is there?
• chance favours the connected mind, says steven johnson (and the back of my new namecard). a good solution can never be derived if ideas are not allowed to bounce off different people: networking drives innovation.
• consulting for business process optimisation is like dreaming: the best dreams win. how creative is yours?
• excel is fun. oh wait, i already knew that. it can be quirky but funky potential awaits the seasoned explorer.
• and finally, that grades don’t necessarily reflect one’s competence given the distinct discrepancy between the grading rubrics of academic and real-world projects. if the working environment is “real-world”, what does that make academia?

nonetheless, here are the quantitative results for the eyes of the privileged few:

grades

since aw has enlightened me on the wonders and perils of privacy on the internet, i’ve decided to restrict access to certain content. to make things easier (and to contradict my previous point), what better platform than facebook for authentication (:

one down. seven to go.

should be better. could be better. oh well..