Education for the Real World, Really

I haven't been able to write any blogs these days, because I've been busy studying for Certification exams from Sun microsystems. And I plan to write many many more of these, from vendors like Oracle, SeeBeyond, IBM, LOMA (domain certifications) and finally Microsoft. The motivation for writing them is to get such a huge stack of vendor certifications to go with my resume, no one should be able to see the engineering degree. Things went really wrong for four years with that type of (irrelevant) education.

This is the kind of education that I really enjoy. It's directly relevant to the real world, unlike most of what they taught in engineering. It's mostly multiple choice questions, or actual programming assignments. Plus, no one has to go through the horrendous ordeal of reading my handwriting.

I'm enjoying this a lot, it feels just like the good part of college life. Waking up on the day of the exam, thinking "damn, I got up four hours late. Stupid alarm clock...", realizing that I haven't completed even half of the original "preparation plan", riding to the exam center thinking "I'm surely going to fail", waiting for your turn with nervous anticipation and actually passing in the end.

I strongly feel that the whole of education should be restructured this way, starting with the engineering courses. What do you say?

What do you think of the outcome of this World Cup?

Who do you think will win 2007 Cricket World Cup?
	Australia, of course
	New Zealand
	Sri Lanka
	South Africa
	India
	Pakistan
	Bangaladesh
pollcode.com free polls

Wo do you think, will play the best in the finals?
	Shane Bond
	Fleming
	Styris
	Jayasurya
	Murali
	Sangakkara
	Ponting
	Hayden
	Gilchrist
	Smith
	Gibbs
	de Villiers
pollcode.com free polls

Object Bootcamp - Place where I learnt things

Since we talk about our work place and all here, here goes nothing.

I switched jobs and now work for a Software Consultancy. It is a kick ass place to be. The culture, the people, the technology. O! I am love with the place. Since I joined newly and I barely have any experience, I had to under go a training called an "Object bootcamp". It is the best thing. EVER! Here's how it works.

The objective of the bootcamp is to teach freshers how to do Object Oriented Design - the agile way. It started off with a brief 20 min discussion on what is OO, what are the concepts in it and the language which we were to use, Java. In my previous company I had a 30 days training on the same! Pfft. What followed for the next 4 days was pure bliss.

We followed Test Driven Ping Pong Pair Program. Pair Programming means 2 people work on the same computer, one person types or drives and the other person reviews, thinks, suggests etc. Test driven programming means, even before we write actual production code, we write a unit test for it and then write production code which makes the test pass. Ping Pong programming means one person writes a test and the other person makes it pass. Then he writes a test and the first person makes it pass and the cycle continues.

We were given different problems which were almost like actual customer problems. Each problem is split up into a number of stories. Each story represents a requirement. We follow 5+15 minute cycles or iterations - 5 minutes for deciding on the necessary classes, their jobs and the first test that we would write and the 15 minutes are for implementing the same in the TDD ping pong way. Oh, and we have to switch pairs every third story. So, we cannot pair with the same person for more than 2 stories. Meaning your code base keeps changing every now and then. (This is where having tests help because if you make a change you can just run all the tests and be sure you dint break anything which the other person already had running.)

The first 2 days were about basic design concepts. Aggregation, Delegation and Inheritance. When to use what? How to decouple classes? How to get tests passing withing 15 minutes etc. The remaining 2 days were about design patterns - How to identify the need to use a pattern, some common patterns, refactoring into a design patter etc.

All in all, it was a great learning experience for me. Given the sort of teaching I was exposed to at my college and also at my previous employer, I always thought the faculty would be shady no matter where you. Boy, was I proved wrong.

On a finishing note: We came across an interesting situation where we had a method in a base class which was returning an instance of one of its derived classes. Is this a good thing? What do you think?

Yet Another Opinion Seeking Blog

Given a choice between money and power, what would you choose? Choose under the premise that they are mutually exclusive. Don't start off with how valid that assumption is etc.

Good Reads

Check out Goodreads. You can find good reviews on books there. You can also give ratings of your own and store the books that you would want to read later.

If you are signing up then make sure that you don't send invite to all your friends in your address book. You can (should) skip that step.

Movie Review: Namastey London

It's a must watch. I say, go watch it in PVR; you won't get that feeling if you just watch it on a DVD. Yes, that's the exact feeling that you get when you hear Sudhi sing. The director of this movie has been extremely diligent in picking up scenes to convey his confusion.

After watching the movie, I was compelled to read the reviews. I found this ,totally misleading review.
Well it's true that this movie is not like the usual romantic ones, but it is like the usual flop ones. It is very very prosaic till Akshay Kumar's entry, which is after 42min:54 sec and after that it continues to be so.

The film revolves around the story of a London bred girl of Indian origin. It's about how she wants to marry a man of British origin and how she ends up in India marrying an Indian groom. At the start of the movie, too many issues are presented and throughout the movie it's not clear as to what issue the director is addressing.

Watch out for Katrina's knee length short skirt scenes including the controversial one at Ajmer dargah. The funniest part of the movie is the acting of side actors, like Katrins's mother, Imran's parents etc. You can include even Katrina's acting to that list.

I'll give it 1, no not out of 5, out of 10. That 1 would be for Katrina Kaif. Again, not for her acting.

Blog Strings

I came across Blog Strings in Lifehack. People like me, generally spend most of their time browsing blogs at work place. The only way to do this was to visit a good Blog and then look for their reference blogs.

Now you can find many bloggers and their blogs at BlogStrings.

Idea

How about making an application for portable devices, on which the user should be able to install any sub-application of his choice, so that he can just plug-in the device and the sub-application starts running?

E.g. Say we make an application of our own called "Jobless". We should be able to install Firefox, Winamp etc... on it, so that the user can just plug-in the device on any computer and start using the softwares of his choice.

Weekly Review: Windows Vista

Good morning and welcome to the second edition of Weekly Review. This week, we're reviewing Microsoft's Windows Vista. I can tell you upfront that this is going to get very controversial: we have two Microsoft haters in this group. But only two people in the group have actually installed and used Microsoft Vista Ultimate, so here are the facts and opinions:

FACT: Vista editions (home basic, business, ultimate, etc. ) have VERY different features. We're talking about Ultimate edition.

FACT: Vista has sold more than 20 million licenses since launch. Very strong sales numbers.

FACT: Results don't just happen.

OPINIONS: [feel free to edit these]

Mine: Once again, Microsoft has gone beyond anything that anyone could expect. Vista looks great, sounds great and runs games much better than XP. It has a more efficient way of dealing with hardware drivers and manages to churn out better performance. The ultimate edition has so many features, it obviates the need for many previously essential software. Disappointed with DVD burning and Speech Recognition though.

Ketan's: Awesome. Couldn't be happier.

Chethan: Still convinced that we're using a transformation pack.

Sudhi, Looking up from manutd website: Vista? Who?

Nithin: "I have slightly less RAM than needed."

Chintu: "You have southpark?"

Pavan: I'm switching to Unix.

Abhi: Vista nodilla man. Thumba kelsa ide.

So there you have it: eight profound opinions. Stay tuned for similar nuggets of wisdom, right here on Together we drown.

Weekly Review - Pepsi Gold

And now, its time to give our weekly review on everything or anything. This was not scheduled? Well, from now on it is. We will give reviews of everything or anything each week, every week. This week's review is on --*drum rolls and what not*-- Pepsi Gold.

Ketan drank Pepsi Gold yesterday and gave his review. And trust me, Ketan knows it all, our very own repository. He had this to say:

"It sucks man".

That's it for this week's review. Stay tuned for more interesting reviews on everything or anything by everyone or anyone of us. Peace.

Trip to Confident Cascade

What happened on the trip to confident cascade? I sang!! On stage!! AND PEOPLE LIKED IT!!!!

I'll start this story the way I always do:

March 12: The whole, 48 strong "high flyers" team from my workplace decided to get together at a resort on Bannerghata Road, called Confident cascade. The reason behind that name is simple: If you take an aerial sweep of the area on a helicopter from a height of approx. 200 meters and look at the place from a certain angle, you'll see the words "Confident Cascade" painted on one of the boards.

The day started off with a short ride on a bus we'd rented from TISB (the International School, Bangalore) which, judging from the bus, must be a freakishly expensive school. As we picked up various team mates from the different pickup points, we'd shout "(name) ji ki. JAI", where (name) is the name of whoever just walked into the bus. Once we got there,

I sang!! On stage!! AND PEOPLE LIKED IT!!!!

Oh wait...Lots of things happened before that.

We got to the resort at about 10 a.m, and were greeted by the Confident staff with a watermelon juice. That is, they gave it to us in cups. (I have no idea how to get that first sentence right.) Then, we entered the place and saw some very cool buildings: the office and hotel, the multi-purpose hall, the swimming pool, "Chess Land", etc. On the other side was a big field for cricket, tennis, volleyball, etc. It's a great new resort indeed.

Having explored the place for a bit, we gathered at the dining hall for breakfast. The breakfast was, to put it mildly, deplorable. After breakfast, we split ourselves into four teams of twelve, for the team-building activities: the "winners", "whistlers", "heavy-weights" and "sportives". My team was the "sportives", and we gave ourselves that name so we'd have something amicable even if we lost (which we did).

We played a few team games till noon: longest chain, tug of war, that blindfold game, frisbee, "football", etc After which some people (including me) decided to go for a swim in the pool, while most of the "high flyers" sat around in chess land and played games like dumb charades. I figured, even though the hot sun and the chlorinated pool would make me red as beet, it's nothing that a dozen layers of cream and three different face-washes cannot get rid of. I was wrong. I'm still slightly red.

At about 2 p.m, we gathered again at the dining hall for lunch. Everything other than ice cream (manufactured) and fruit salad (natural), involving more than minimalist cooking was awful. Post lunch, we gathered in the multi purpose hall, which served two purposes: the singing session and the hot seat. This is where the good part comes:

I sang!! On stage!! AND PEOPLE LIKED IT!!!!

The song was Carpenter's "yesterday, once more", which holds a place in my heart because it's like the official song of ILP kolkata. Back then, the manager had played us that song on the valediction day. The emotions attached with that experience come back to us each time we hear this classic song. Although I sang only for a minute, this represents the first time I went up on stage and did something right for a change. This song helped me lose my stage fear and is the reason why this entry is so long. I must thank the GL for having noticed that I was practicing and calling me on stage. My close friend, Divya “DJ” Jyothi “DON’T ever write about me” and Keerthi also sang very well.

After the singing, there were some more team games which, being a “sportive” team member, I don’t want to talk about. After that was the Hot Seat session where some of the popular team members were called on stage. The GL was last to go on the seat, and revealed (this is just the most shocking thing to me) that he wanted everyone in the team to finish their work and go home at 5.30 PM, including himself. He envisions the team to be unique, in as much as personal life is concerned. Till that point, I thought the team mates were being “under utilized”. It’s good to have a GL who believes in work-life balance.

After Hot seat, at about 5 PM, the Confident staff used tea and snacks to bid farewell to our team. (I’m trying all permutations and combinations till I get that sentence right.) We played antakshari as we went back home on the TISB bus.

I must thank Nagarajan, Venky Boss, GL Srinatha, and the others who vanguarded this little get-together. Thank you all for a great, memorable day. A day in which:

I sang!! On stage!! AND PEOPLE LIKED IT!!!!

Photo Blog: Pondy Trip

I just finished making the Pondicherry Trip Web album. Click here to view it.

Instructions: DO not miss out the captions. The photos were taken from a Nokia 6600, and the picture quality is quite deplorable. But, again:

DO NOT miss the captions.

My Drinking Problem

Till recently, I used to be a very contented man and I felt very rich even with a very low salary. The reason is that I get a lot of food coupons, which I would use regularly to bring home big bottles of beverages like Pepsi and Coke. But now, that is starting to change.

My mom, the (overly-) concerned type, is telling me that those kind of beverages are “bad for health”, that they “eat into your bones”, they “contain pesticides” and that “you simply cannot have them so much. Get fruit juices instead.” All of which is making me very sad. These fruit juices are more expensive and don’t seem quite as effective when it comes to thirst quenching capability.

She doesn’t even seem to understand my side of the issue: “No food is inherently good or bad for health. It all depends on the immune system, which gets simulated when you feel happy or when you laugh. Pepsi and coke (and especially ThumsUp) make me very happy. So how can these things be bad for health? Aren’t you concerned about your boy’s happiness and well being?”

Now I’m stuck with fruit juices and the like. Does anyone know the FACTS about aerated drinks, whether they’re good or bad for health? Here, I’m looking for facts supporting my side of the issue. Also, do you know any fruit juices that taste great?

[Note: I'm a teetotaler.]

Random Conversation

(One of the random chats my brother and I have randomly)

M = Me, H = Him.

M: I think at least about a million chicken are killed everyday worldwide.
H: What?
M: Chicken. Killed.
H: Yeah. Somehow people tend to eat them.
M: Yeah. Imagine if they had like big time brains. They would have taken over the world. They would have waged a huge war and created a massacre. They would have made each and everyone pay for all the chicken they have ever eaten. They would have (is interrupted)
H: Flown away to some other planet.
M: Hmmm.
M: I think.................(Some other random thing)

Kannada Movies

There are such funny sights along the drive to my office at Hosur Road; all of them have to do with Kannada movie ads. There seems to be a strange pattern they follow:

There's one with the angry looking hero Upendra showing that he's holding a stick in his hand.

Then there's one with some other angry looking hero holding a stone, in a very threatening way.

Then there's one with a stupid looking hero (must be Shivraj Kumar) holding a sword!

Do all kannada movies follow the same paradigm?

A Life Of Happiness, or A Life Of Meaning

This is a great dialogue from one of the recent episodes of the hit series "Heroes". There's a lot of wisdom in it:

(Don't worry. I'm not spoiling anything if you haven't yet watched it.)

A: "I think there comes a time when every man must ask himself whether he wants a life of happiness or a life of meaning."
B: "I would like to have both."
A: "Sorry, my friend. It simply can not be done. Those are two completely different paths. If you choose a life of meaning, you're required to wallow in the past and obsess about the future, but if you choose a life of happiness, you must live completely in the present moment: with no thoughts of what has gone by or what lies ahead."

These are the kind of thoughts that Spencer Johnson's "The Present" is made up of.

This particular dialogue makes me think really hard: Is it really impossible to have both happiness and meaning in one's life?

In any case, if those are the only two choices I would readily choose a Life of Happiness. Which path would you choose?

The Monday Morning Test

"When you wake up on Monday Morning, do you feel like going to work? If you can honestly answer 'yes' to that question, your life is in good shape."

[This was a memorable citation in one of the episodes of "The Apprentice".]

Try that simple test. Do tell if you passed.

Interesting Fact and Statistics

1) If you consider a normal Homo sapien male to have a given mass, the total mass of our group would still be in par with average for 8 grown males of the species. We balance out each other.

2) Malaysia Demographics. Even more interesting is the Sex-ratio in Malaysia.

Our Apologies

About the "Coming Soon" entry, we hereby regret to inform you that nothing is actually "coming". We do hope you can empathize with our regretfulness.

Signed,
Eight of us

Coming soon

Can you imagine these four words in one sentence:

Abhi, Nithin, Malaysia, GRE

Stay tuned for the action, right here on Together We drown.