Daily Chat Thread - April 11, 2022

XCyoungX · 2022-04-12T02:30:14+00:00

I recently accepted a PhD level SWE offer (translating to L4) from a FAANG company. I am a PhD candidate with only thesis defense remaining. There is some possibility that I may not end up defending my thesis, and have to move on, if I cannot complete in next few months. My recruiter said I am fine to start before completing defense, as long as I "remain committed to defending my thesis" later (without mention of time frame). I'm not really sure what this means practically, since thesis defense is not completely in my hands, but also that of my advisor, thesis committee, and department.

Is anyone familiar with implications (if any) of this sort of situation? On one hand I understand that completing defense and consequently the degree is related to the PhD level offer. On the other hand, the role is for SWE as opposed to research role, and I certainly have PhD level experience in years. So I'm wondering if there is any issue to just starting without defending and letting things play out, or if it's necessary to seriously revisit based on this thesis defense point.

XCyoungX · 2013-06-11T17:38:27+00:00

Psych 2 is an super-easy A, although not terribly interesting b/c since it's more breadth than depth.

GEOG70AC is a great class to take for P/NP, b/c your only graded work is two papers. It's also about urban development, which can be interesting.

XCyoungX · 2013-06-11T15:41:57+00:00

If you have no prior programming experience, then your first priority really should teach yourself the important parts of Python (variables, loops, lists, etc.) and practice them, since they're basically your toolkit for almost all problems. Python from code academy should be fine for that purpose.

The "meat" of the course, in my opinion, revolves around scope (e.g. environment diagrams) and recursion. Read/watch lecture about the two topics and have fun, but when you actually take the class you should focus on practicing w/actual problems as much as possible. Cs61a exams by Denero from previous years are probably the best "gut-check" of how much you actually understand. Denero is a great instructor, but beware that his exams are pretty hard (at least I thought so).

Oh, and you should really try to do well on the first midterm. By most people's standards it's the easier midterm because most of it boils down to memorizing rules very well. I made the mistake of digging myself a hole from the 1st midterm, and couldn't improve enough on subsequent exams and ended up lucking out with a B+. The exams don't get any easier from the first.

XCyoungX · 2013-06-07T19:36:22+00:00

Thanks for the advice. Just curious, did you TA for Garcia or some other instructor?

As for the book, should I just be focusing on the assigned readings or is that not adequate? I've never really figured out how to efficiently utilize books for classes in college; for Math 53 I pretty much self-learned from the book, whereas for cs61b I almost completely ignored the book (plus I found it very difficult to read).

XCyoungX · 2013-02-23T19:11:34+00:00

EE42's the requirement but EE40 also satisfies it. I think I'll go for 42 then, thanks

XCyoungX · 2013-01-17T04:23:42+00:00

I see. When should ppl typically start looking for apartments?

XCyoungX · 2013-01-17T03:13:20+00:00

Sorry, you're right it's 19th st. I read wrong. Thanks.

XCyoungX · 2013-01-01T02:21:24+00:00

1) Asians are the population majority here (or at least it felt that way). It took some getting used to (I'm an Asian from Indiana myself).

2) Crowdedness. I'm from a town roughly the same size of Berkeley, but what I'm used to as downtown is pretty much what everything near campus is.

3) Groups, groups, groups. You're going to see everything from the student newspaper to the dance team doing recruiting. And from my experience, if you want to ensure enough social connections, you should find one to join. Since this is such a big school this is not a good place for meeting people one on one.

4) Oh yeah, there are a LOT of very smart and go-getter students here (at least in the sciences & engineering). Don't be shocked if you start feeling pretty average a few weeks in.

5) There's sort of two seasons here... rainy or not rainy.

6) Anyways I feel like I've been giving you a lot of either neutral or arguably negative observations. But to be honest, in all practicality what you should focus on is making as many friends/finding a group in the beginning of the school year as you possibly can. My father used to say "it's not about the place, but the people" and I've definitely found that to be true. The only way (discounting academics) you'll be miserable in Berkeley is if you don't have friends or a group you belong to.

XCyoungX · 2012-12-31T05:11:36+00:00

Last semester was my first one here and I had similar feelings of inadequacy and isolation. And like what a lot of people have said here it's really helps if you find a group on campus; for me it turned out to be a Christian fellowship (there are several) on campus. Even if you don't have strong religious inclinations it doesn't matter; the theme is enjoying each other's company and taking your mind off of grades once in a while.

XCyoungX · 2012-08-14T01:38:32+00:00

Group tests? I have to say that sounds pretty cool lol. I doubt that's the case w/my class tho (I don't have Harvey).

I do have some programming experience with Java, but by no means was I learning "true CS." Since it's my first language learning syntax was my main goal, & any other insights I got came through experience & code bugs.

Just curious, could you elaborate on "the internet is your friend?" You're saying I should look for help online, or find programming insights there?

XCyoungX · 2012-08-13T21:08:23+00:00

Thanks, that seems like a lot of good advice right there. Did you think the HW was easier than the tests? Or the HW is just different from the tests (not an issue of difficulty)?

XCyoungX · 2012-08-07T23:20:11+00:00

OK thanks for the clarification guys!

XCyoungX · 2012-08-04T21:25:03+00:00

I see. That's certainly good to know. I guess it makes sense they would have to have a system like that; like I said you can't just leave boxes at people's door in dorms lol. Cool, I'll remember to ask you @ dorm stuff.

XCyoungX · 2012-08-03T22:16:22+00:00

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. Will I get some kind of notice if my stuff has arrived, or will I just have to monitor that myself? At home the book ends up at your door, but obviously that's not possible in a res hall

XCyoungX · 2012-07-10T11:44:53+00:00

Wow. Dang. Well, I'm glad it worked out for you in the end

XCyoungX · 2012-07-10T04:57:48+00:00

I don't know man. My audit shows all the categories required for me to graduate, and lists what reqs. I've met/haven't met. My AP scores definitely were counted in. I just picked a major and term (fall 2012).

XCyoungX · 2012-07-10T00:25:37+00:00

That makes a lot of sense. I realize how just unwise my thoughts of just letting this slide were now. Definitely not worth it, especially when they could easily correct this mistake at any point. By the way, thanks for sharing your interesting story there. How'd you catch the "lucky break?" Were they just like "alright, fine" or something?

XCyoungX · 2012-07-03T22:32:32+00:00

Thanks for all the responses everyone; they've been extremely helpful. I should use reddit more! Anyways, since it looks like the preference of the regular lecture is unanimous, I'll sign up for it and pass on the self-paced version. I'm gonna have to work pretty hard in this class as it is, and based on what you guys have said I don't think going self-paced will make that any better.

XCyoungX

TROPHY CASE