Student Blogs
MS in Software Engineering, Technical Track Blog
 | Rahul is a full-time MS Software Engineering, Technical Track student. He loves traveling, trekking, swimming and is a complete movie buff. |
 | Anthony is a 2nd year part time student in the MS Software Engineering, Technical track program and works at OSIsoft as a Software Engineer. He loves spending time with his family, hiking, biking, gardening, cooking, and sometimes photography. |
 |
Suma is an alumna of the MS Software Engineering, Technical Track program. A Mechanical Engineering undergrad, she loves writing and is passionate about music, shopping and dogs. |
 |
Minh is a Software Design Engineer at Microsoft and alumnus of the MS Software Engineering program. He is also a Vietnamese community activist, a cat-lover and passionate fan of film music. |
 | Nick is a Software Engineer at Google and a first-year grad student at Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley. He loves hiking, gaming, and both really extremely good and extremely bad movies. |
Monday, September 22, 2008
Opening the Door to Success
Are you in search of a school which makes learning an experience? Do you want to advance your career as a software professional?? If so, this is your key to the door….
Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley is a simulated business and engineering world, with programs designed to let you have the experience of operating as if you were in the real world, as a software professional. If you are on this page, then you are already on your way…
The admissions process is simple enough to gauge your standards and tough enough to gauge your skills. You can think of it as one memory you will never forget, if you are through!! Believe me it’s an experience to have an interview for an admission…
Orientation here at Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley is a process that helps you know the place, people and school better. It’s when you actually learn, how you learn and what you learn in the program.
I would like to narrate one such experience of mine in orientation…On the third day of orientation, all the new part-time and full-time students met together and participated in what is called a Lego game with 3-4 people on a team. We were asked to construct a Castle using Lego blocks. In the first round we were instructed to follow the steps prescribed and in the second round planning was left to the team. We were given time to plan and organize. At the end of two stages we were asked to reflect on our progress and team work. This gave everyone an insight into the program’s methodology of “learning by practicing”. That’s what every student is made to do here, “learn by doing”.
This program is designed and structured for students to have a first-hand experience in a virtual software environment where you learn to manage risk, avoid failures and plan for your projects that you develop. It will help you teach yourself, what it takes to be a software professional.
Real meetings, project planning and team work, everything is here for you. They mentor and empower your potential to perform better. So, if you would like to advance your career as a successful software person then Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley is the place for YOU!!
You may be wondering, if there is anything else apart from this in the school? Oh yes, it would be of interest to know that we have a robotics club , IEEE meetings ,Technical Talks (called Scotland Yard) and exciting research projects. You can visit the Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley site for more information on this.
Its just fun being here!!!
posted by Sumalatha Komarraju @ 10:17 AM
4 comments
All Good Things Must Come To an End
Last month, my team wrapped up our eBay/PayPal practicum and delivered a very cool product to the client on time. We even got to do a presentation at the eBay/PayPal conference center there to demo our work to other employees, and what makes me really proud is that our work will live on as an open-source project. There’s also a strong likelihood that we’ll be invited to speak at the next PayPal Developer’s Conference when they will be presenting our work to the developer community. Cool, eh?
The end of the practicum last month also marked the end of my two-year journey through Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley. So on August 9th, 2008, some 45 graduates walked to the pomp and circumstances on the NASA campus at Moffett Field to receive our Master’s diplomas. For me, it was my Master’s Degree in Software Engineering.
At our graduation ceremony, our Class of 2008 also presented our class gift to the Carnegie Mellon family: our own CMU Silicon Valley Fence. Now, for those who don’t know, there exists a long tradition of repainting a certain fence that exists at the main campus at Carnegie Mellon University. Student organizations would paint the fence to their desire to advertise student events or send messages to the campus community. Well, in the last weeks of final semester, the west coast graduates collected money and build our own small fence here on the Silicon Valley campus. This class gift was completely student-run: we came up with the idea, collected the money, and while we had a contractor built it, a bunch of us came out on a Sunday to paint it with Silicon Valley themes. At the end, we dedicated the fence to the late Randy Pausch. We’ve even posted pictures and a small video , and this has also been covered by the campus press.
Now all good things must come to end. During our graduation ceremony, we said goodbyes to each other, and I hope that many of these friendships that we have built will last for long time. I am a bit sad already to think about the fact that I won’t be seeing many of these people again, so I sure hope that people will still come out to our regular Class of 2008 social gatherings.
Looking back, I can’t believe how fast these two years have gone by. It really seemed like yesterday when we just started this program. It was lot of hard work, and maybe that’s why time really flew. Was it worth? Absolutely. I’ve learned a great deal about software engineering, a month after graduation I was promoted to Senior Software Design Engineer at work, and I am already hearing rumors about classmates forming their own new companies. Shhh… it’s a secret.
This is it. My last blog entry, but certainly not my last affiliation with Carnegie
Mellon Silicon Valley. Hope you enjoyed the read, and if you have any questions, feel free to email me at nguyentriminh@yahoo.com. Good night, and good luck!
posted by Minh Nguyen @ 10:01 AM
1 comments
