My first semester of Phd studies (academic version)

Well, today marks the completion of my first semester of PhD studies. I am writing today to comment on what I felt during the past 4 months or so; how my research work is affected by my thoughts and what it takes to be successful.

Since this was my first semester, I was loaded with lots and lots of course work. And as I was shifting from primarily an Industrial Engineering background to hard core manufacturing specialist, I had to do a lot of course work. This certainly helps me when I am reading research papers in my area of research and also unlocks up an extra memory block in my mind to think over some of the critical issues that the manufacturing industry is facing today.

So, as I said I was loaded with course work - it was hard for me to find time to relax and enjoy. Each subject contained weekly assignments which I had to complete and that to in a strict non-cooperative environment (missed undergrad days here..:)). On top of it, each assignment involved some programming language to code stuff - one uses C++, other MATLAB and third one Mathematica!! Phew! At one point of time, I was beginning to confuse between the syntax used in different programming applications. I did ended in spending long nights understanding syntax, writing code and debugging it. And to resolve our misunderstanding / incapability to move forward in solving problems, we had TA hours. If you miss that for some reason or didn't started your assignment well before in time so that you can efficiently utilize this time, you are basically screwed up. That happened with me 4-5 times and I ended up spending far more time that I expected. So the moral of the story is to attack assignments as soon as you see them online. (:P)

Then there were times when it was almost impossible to proceed (whatever the reason be), in those times I used to take coffee breaks and may be talk with other students to find out how screwed he is in his set of assignments. That provided me much needed relief (how sadistic!) and little bit fresh mind to think over my problem again. So, that's pretty much how I fought with my course work during past semester.

Now, I will talk about something which everybody in grad school thinks twice before asking a grad student - "research". That's a strict protocol between grad students that no one will ask anything even remotely related to research; which tempts me to write this famous one-liner (researcher's version) - "whatever happen in lab remains in lab". It was a real hard time to satisfy professor with adequate research work along side courses which are ready to suck all your energy. I was taking up on a project where a recent phd graduate left. After it's description, at first I thought it's an easy one to work on where he did all the theoretical research work, developed set-up for conducting experiments and even procured work pieces to work upon. I was excited and so was my professor in assigning this project to me. Then after a while, as I progressed, complication also keeps on progressing. It forced me to change my mindset towards this project as it demanded some more respect from me. I told to myself - this is not going to be a cakewalk for sure, let me use the classical tool of "divide and rule". I broke the problem into parts and focused on each one with full respect and concentration (and taking to my lab mates alongside about my thinking). I was able to move forward and at the end I could realize the solution to the problem(s). I guess this is what we call research!

If I am able to maintain the right mindset and keep trying all the possible ways one by one, I am sure there exist at least one path which leads to eternity (after all solving a problem feels nothing less than eternity). So, that's describes pretty much how my semester went (academic version). Fun version coming soon! :)

Deeply Frustrated

What am I doing with my personal life. Broke knee last year, still no signs of complete repair. Not even swimming or participating in any of the sports for which I blatantly spot my knee injury as the reason for not participating.
I made one resolution roughly 6 months ago, to take care of myself in a sustainable way. But today, when I look back, I haven't done anything measurable which fulfills even the beginning 10% of my so called promise to myself.
I am feeling helpless suddenly, as I am reviewing my physical body from head to the toe. I can feel the cry of almost every part which are asking only one questions - "why we aren't being trained, periodically lubricated and taken care of when we always supported you". I feel bad. terribly bad.
One of other reasons that amplifies my current feelings is my aging body. It will not remain the same as time will pass. If I will not take care of it, it will ditch me at some point or other in my life. I am worried. Lots of things are going over my head right now. What should be my next step? How can I bring back the flexibility, the agility into myself. This is one question that I need to answer right away.

The whole point of writing this as a blog post is to keep reminding myself of my resolution each time I visit my blog page. Hope I will be back with some good news..:)

Happiness is the key to life

Very well said. :)

New Life: few weeks down the line

Hi all,

Seems like I am settled and transitioning into Carnegie Mellon culture. Today afternoon, someone cracked a joke on life of grad students. It goes like this:

“you know you are a grad student if you start your assignment on the day it’s posted rather than the day it’s due!!” :P

And I hear a lot of jokes on phd’s: most of them (I guess all of them) reiterates about the “Patiently hoping for Degree” part…..:D — well that’s true!!

Let me write about what happened/changed in last 6 weeks or so:

- I became old (turned 24 recently!)

-Started to like “regular” coffee’s here, with 3-4 sachets of sugar! {yuk!! plane coffee sucks, extreme bitter in taste) (number of sachets should converge to zero as years’ pass by, expecting a slow rate though)

- Back to studying mode – feels good!

- Did many mistakes (in first 2 weeks) while solving simple operators like integration, multiplicaiton etc etc. (ab zyada muh mat khulwao..:P)

- Cooking: doesn’t deserve this down on list. Transformed into "the Chef"

- Intend to makes less jokes on people (I have absolutely no idea what happened to me!)

- Attended 100% classes (record till now)

- Chicks..lots of them (finally studying at an University rather than an Institute)

- Now, I don't get time even on weekends! so sad!


Also, I would like to focus on what haven’t changed (so far):

- Working hours at par with what I was experiencing at ZS (except that you can’t crib on your work!!)

- Lots of work, daily task plan, weekly meetings, conference calls and cisco vpn – all the same.

- salary (now in $$)

- Nokia e71….still there..:)

Going to sleep now….will write soon about studies, lab and research!

when I am lost......

Nice lyrics from a song from movie "Patiala House"

"मुजहे युहीं करके ख्वाबों से जुदा
जाने कहाँ चुपके बैठा हैं खुदा,

जानु न में कब हुआ खुद से गुमशुदा
कैसे जीयू रूह भी हैं मुजसे जुदा"

Careers et al.

Today I have got one of the best career lessons of my life. This will certainly influence that way I think about my future goals and hence the career decision that follows.

This new "Job life" has presented a completely different picture than what I have imagined during my college days. Nevertheless, I look forward to take it on because I don't have much choice in this regard. I have some suggestions which could make this life a little better.

1. Write to 100

Prepare a spreadsheet consisting names of 100 people and divide these into 4 groups based on the following segmentation:
A) First 30:-
These are the people in your life who can drop all their work and come to rescue you immediately.

B) Next 30:-
These are the people who will respond to your call and will come to help you.

C) Next 30:-
These people will give their advise, support/comment on your thinking and ideas.

D) Remaining ones:-
These are your well wishers, after all you need some positive waves to be able to lead a happy life.

-- These 100 people are the people that take your career to heights. Always keep relationship with them. Help them to get back the same.

2. Find MENTOR

Find yourself a mentor. They can do something that you can't. A mentor will be willing to spend time with you to understand your issues. We generally filter out things that we are not aware of and there is no way for us to see those things. Mentors are the people who help you to see them.

- Open up with him/her
- Tell completely stupid things/different things
- Career breakthrough happen through them only - Go Find Them!
- If anyone is going to teach me - Say to you - I am open - Be grateful

3. Create Reputation

- Be good, do good
- Work on your strengths, never ever loose them
- Make your personal brand

Career is non-linear, you cannot predict what comes ahead. So, believe in present. After all, good things happen when something different happens