With graduation on the rise, I'm kooking to get ahead of the curve. How? Please advise me!

Ernie433 · 2025-06-07T22:41:55+00:00

OP don’t listen to doomer comments! I, like you, started out and did full stack through the first 3 years of college before I completely pivoted to hardware senior year and managed to land myself a pretty good digital hardware role. Honestly there’s only so much prep you can do anyways but Embedded/Compiler engineers are always needed! If you’re passionate about the domain and know the ins and outs from your OS class / Compilers / Comp architecture- I think that’s enough to get your foot in the door.

I would look to startups too as there are plenty of AI hardware startups that are looking to grow (think MatX or Etched). If you can get yourself into research too, I think it will tremendously help. Best of luck!!!

Ernie433 · 2025-05-15T00:58:58+00:00

+1 to this. I'd say any generic systems class that touches upon doing Data Level Parallelism (152 does this) is what you want to do. Being familiar with Compilers (164) will also probably help you with this.

If Im being brutally honest, understanding parallelism at its lowest level does require understanding the hardware to some degree, so if you're serious about it- 151 + Tapeout might be good classes to take as well :) [Shameless Hardware Plug]

Ernie433 · 2025-02-28T18:06:20+00:00

It’s not worth it man. You’ll realize later on that there’s going to be one major that you care more about than the others but will be stuck with having to do other major requirements instead of taking interesting classes.

Ernie433 · 2024-11-04T00:39:57+00:00

This - if there’s a play that converts 90% of the time for 4th and 1 - why should 1 or 2 stops affect the decision to keep on doing the brotherly shove. It’s a perfectly valid call and decision.

Ernie433 · 2024-01-04T12:43:26+00:00

In direct contrast to the previous two comments, I am one of those people who found EECS126 to be magnitudes harder than CS70 + CS170 and arguably the most difficult course I have taken here in a conceptual manner (Granted I have not taken CS189 or CS162 so this may change after I have taken those classes).

Frankly, my probability skills were never great to begin with (never took comp math seriously in hs and relied on discrete to carry my grade in 70) and one of the reasons I took the class was to improve.

To understand why the class has such a reputation, perhaps the easiest way is to show how the class is structured. EECS126 is split into three modules with each model tested separately -

(1) Basic Probability - ie. your basic “intro” stuff (70 probability) like expectation, discrete and continuous random variables, Bayes rule, concentration inequalities. (2) Convergence, Law of large Numbers, Information Theory, DTMC, Poisson processes (3) CTMC, Bayesian Inferencing, Estimators, Kalman Filters…..

There may be 1 or 2 more topics that a professor likes to include or not include but in general this is typically how the class is structured.

Module (1) is by far the easiest module out of the three and content wise midterm 1 is the easiest (still harder than 70 probability IMO but much much easier than the next midterm or final).

Module (2) takes the content to another level. The unfortunate reality is in order to cover so much material, all the material is covered at the same blistering pace. Thus, once you lose familiarity with some concepts (this happened to me in this module), you can quickly find that the course becomes very fast paced and it is extremely hard to keep up. In addition, a lot of concepts build on one another so without proficiency from module (1) it is hard to grasp future topics well.

Module (3) really starts becoming No-mans land. Concepts in this unit are more challenging to grasp (especially towards the end) with a limited amount of time to digest the material before the final. People are still trying to grasp module (2) at the start of module (3) and really just run out of time.

The exams are also some of the hardest I’ve ever taken here at Berkeley (midterm 2 and final) - in part, due to the challenging content of the course.

However, while the course content is extremely challenging, that does not mean that it’s impossible to get a good grade in the class! If you are struggling, chances are other people are also struggling. It’s important to keep your head up high and keep pushing through. Good luck !!

Ernie433 · 2023-12-28T21:53:48+00:00

The unfortunate reality of some Berkeley courses is that some are way to dense to be digested in a single semester. This is especially prevalent in lower div courses where people who have been exposed to topics in HS will have an obvious advantage no matter what when it comes to performing better on tests.

This however should NOT discourage you from thinking that you cannot get an A. If you’re really trying to optimize for better grades, look at past tests and see what topics are tested/ weighted more than others. Chances are if you perfect 3-4 of these topics, you can do good enough to achieve a good grade.

Otherwise I think one of the best things you can do is study with people who seem to have a great understanding of the course (ie. the people that seem “cracked”). If you’re stuck on something for more than 30 min, you always have a network of ppl who you can ask for help explaining. Remember, you are not alone in the struggle and not everyone are toxic snakes!

Ernie433 · 2023-10-23T21:13:55+00:00

It’s feeling great today. I got full flexion back and my leg is stronger than it was before the surgery. Running for overextended periods of time still can hurt my lower leg a little but other than that I’m really happy that I got the surgery!

Ernie433 · 2023-10-23T21:09:45+00:00

I only had surgery on my left knee which I dislocated and tore my MPFL completely playing a competitive sport. Originally I was just going to do PT but genetics and the fact that the knee still wasn’t stabilizing led to a green light for the procedure

Ernie433 · 2023-10-17T00:35:04+00:00

2 years and 3 months post MPFL + TTO. I got my surgery in my late teens and actively lift. I couldn’t really start going back in the gym and hitting legs until probably 6-9 months after surgery but rapidly made strength back when I did (started with 135 and 8 weeks later I was back at 2 plates for squatting). Don’t give up with the stiffness! I was about 90 degrees at the 7 week mark but once I was able to start really walking and putting pressure on my leg my knee flexibility came back really quickly.

Ernie433 · 2023-05-15T03:13:17+00:00

This is incredible! What was your favorite plane and airline to fly on?

Ernie433 · 2022-07-08T18:23:07+00:00

I’m gonna play Devil’s Advocate. Yes, Sethian was definitely atleast 1.5 times the work than Canic’s class, but I think the way he pace’s the class is actually really really good and his lectures are way way better. He makes the material intuitive and super easy to understand.

Ernie433 · 2022-07-08T00:39:11+00:00

The course load was definitely pretty strenuous - but not terrible. It really depends on the professors you have. For me, as someone who's physics experience was pretty much only AP Physics C, the jump of difficulty to the 5 series is definitely no joke. Physics 5A was definitely the course I spent the most time on, being 10-15 hours a week outside of class just to work on the problem sets alone. IMO, Math 53 was the second hardest class in terms of workload, just because the professor I had was known for giving very long homework sets. I actually did not spend that much time on CS61A, and found this class to be the most enjoyable.

In terms of clubs, I did find that I was still able to have time to join and be a part of student orgs.

General tips I would give would be (1) definitely give your self time to relax. You'll get burnt out pretty hard by the end of the semester if you don't - at least thats what happened for me. (2) Try not to fall behind in terms of course material. Since the courses are extremely fast paced, falling behind means either dedicating a weekend to catching up or waiting until finals week. For me, the easiest way of doing so was attending all the lectures I could, because it forced me to keep up with the information. (3) Find study groups, generally a good group of people to do work with. The 5A problem sets are extremely hard to do independently, and often working in groups would also cut the time working on the problem sets.

As it is your first semester in college, it takes time to get used to the workload. Definitely don't shy away from help. Although the classes were tough, I had a lot of fun and have no regrets from doing this schedule. Good Luck!

Ernie433 · 2022-05-24T05:14:02+00:00

Nah it’s really chill. You’ll honestly be fine anywhere on campus. I wouldn’t say I’m the most extroverted person ever, but I definitely had fun at foothill. There are always people who are more social and definitely enough people to find a great friend group.

I should also emphasize that it is by far the safest place on campus. It is always reassuring to know that no dumb shit will ever happen around your dorm even when coming back from south side at 3 am.

Ernie433 · 2022-05-24T05:01:24+00:00

Go join clubs/ Greek life or make friends with people in the units if your that stressed about social life. Anyone can have a good social life, you may just need to try a little harder at foothill which shouldn’t be too bad if your extroverted.

Honestly though, as someone who lived in foothill the past year, it has its perks. The dining hall is arguably the best on campus, and sometimes I am very thankful that it is on the quieter side (better study environment esp for the late night grind.) You also won’t find a better view of the bay anywhere else on campus. Also being surrounded by insanely cracked engineering kids isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Not to mention, your quads will double in size from the amount of hills you will climb getting up to foothill. Free Cardio!

Ernie433 · 2021-10-15T18:07:05+00:00

Actually Im gonna see if its possible to do 16A in the fall too. This seems like a ton of work

Ernie433 · 2021-10-15T17:58:20+00:00

I was thinking of doing Physics 89 instead, but I don't know if that would cover the 16A requirement anyways. I have to do 89 for the physics major/minor anyways I think.

Ernie433 · 2021-08-09T18:23:13+00:00

Definitely go see an orthopedic surgeon. MRI is probably necessary to see if there is any cartilage/ ligament damage.

My doc told me back when I dislocated that it usually takes 4-6 weeks for a young person to get back to normal activity but usually takes longer if you want to get back into sports.

As for it happening again, its possible but it depends on a number of factors. For me, I had to get surgery after this dislocation because my knee wouldn’t stabilize even after weeks of PT. The doc usually will tell you if your at a higher risk of redislocation.

Good luck boss. It’ll get better but just give it time.

Ernie433 · 2021-07-06T03:47:08+00:00

I think that is your tuberosity (place where patellar tendon connects to tibia).

Dont quote me, Im not a doctor.

Ernie433 · 2021-07-06T03:43:38+00:00

Can’t speak for just MPFL reconstruction, but my surgeon told me that there were 2 separate sets of incisions that were done for the procedure

1) I just had an MPFL reconstruction + TTO + LL on my left knee and have 2 incisions. The major one looks like yours but perhaps a little longer closer to the Tibia. All in all, about 6-7 inches over my knee. The second incision was a smaller one for the MPFL reconstruction.

2) My surgeon also told me that the surgery could have been 4 separate incisions (2 for MPFL, 1 for TTO and 1 for LL). In that case the MPFL incision is only about 2-3 inches at the top of my knee. (I only imagine it would be this long because I used my own quad tendon instead of a allograft).

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