TI1400

Ten Minutes of Personal Notes on

Being a TU Delft Student

Alexandru Iosup (lecturer)Parallel and Distributed Systems

http://www.pds.ewi.tudelft.nl/~iosup/Courses/2011-2012_TI1100A_plus.ppt

Your English is Excellent!

The Team Succeeds, You Fail!

Meet Dorel

Programming as a Career Path

• Simon Peyton Jones• Dan Ingalls• Peter Norvig• Ken Thompson• … http://codersatwork.com/

Fran Allen

L. Peter Deutsch

Donald Knuth

To Get or Not to Get (A Good Grade)?

• Get• Show that I’m smart• Show that I’m capable• Build my CV• Compare my ability with others’• Prepare my background for

other courses• It’s just a small step…

• Don’t Get• Takes time and effort• I don’t like the course• I will never do this• This was just a mid-term• I’m just too good for this • I don’t care• I don’t care to have a

reason

My XP … MSc Project

• The best projects are not given to everyone• There is a limit of good/promising projects• Good staff members put a low limit on the number

of students they supervise every term

• Top students often get invited by good staff members to pursue a promising/good project

• Good students get to use contacts with industry of staff members (replacement for lack of experience on the CV)

My XP … Getting a Job in a Tough Market

• Recruiters look for university (degree) quality, employers look for signs of excellent achievement• Difference between applying for a job in good vs tough market• Quest: Get only top marks in Comp.Sci. courses at TU Delft

• Employers ask employees from same country/university about quality of prospective employee, based on CV• A course with a particularly good grade can be your hiring ticket• A course with a particularly low grade may be your downfall

• Employers want you to be able to do well on tough/don’t like topics (Performs when things get tough? Can deliver at this tough client’s site?)

True Story … PhD Application

Letter: “I went over your application material […] The following additional materials will help me get a better picture of your academic abilities:[…]4/ An explanation of the grading system for your BSc. It looks like your scores there were really low.5/ Your ranking among the students of the <X> University, at BSc and MSc level.”

A4: “I accept that my score is low but it is very difficult to get [good] marks [at my university].”

A5: “My university does not have any ranking of B.Sc. students, just grades [which, for me, are low].”

Result: “We have decided not to pursue your application.”

Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams