THANKS: Tuesdays Presentation

[John M Collinson]

I have received so many messages from people who attended my lecture last
Tuesday that it will probably take me until sometime next week to personally
reply to each individual. I apologize for the delay but I still have earn
my keep at Cyberplex.

I would like to thank all who attended. It was very refreshing to see that
quality of the questions that the students in the program had for me both
during the lecture and afterward.

I will continue to monitor this newsgroup for questions from the program
about my experiences (at least the one I can talk about) in the corporate
world. If I can I might even answer a few technical questions if you can't
read Richard's handwriting. 8^)

Enjoy Trent. And please don't be in a hurry to leave. The world will be
there when you are ready and you won't know what you are missing until you
do.

Thanks

John Collinson '90
Technical Lead Architect
Cyberplex

[Brad Carson]

I transferred this year from Waterloo to Trent, and some of the things you
mentioned in your presentation attacking Waterloo were.. well, very true. I
wish to thank you because you put to rest several doubts I had growing after
my decision to transfer to Trent.
I'm interested in some of the groups/committees you were on during your
experience at Trent. Could you re-iterate them so I might possibly consider
approaching them?

Thanks,
Brad Carson

[Andre Tacchino]

So how does our program compare to waterloo. Beffor you tell us its to
easy ask around about Bart, the prof most of us fear and his commnet "If
you have enough time to have sex, Im not giving you enough work".

Andre

[Paul-André Beaulieu]

Ask Richard...

-P-A

Andre Tacchino <atac...@trentu.ca> wrote in message
news:Pine.PMDF.3.96.100102...@trentu.ca...

[Jeff Kolesnikowicz]

> easy ask around about Bart, the prof most of us fear and his commnet "If
> you have enough time to have sex, Im not giving you enough work".

Ah-hahahahaha...this still cracks me up! I remember him saying that...then
blushing!

hahahahahaha

hmm - I'd like to continue Prof quotes again this year, but the profs don't
seem that funny anymore (or...uhh...maybe I should start going to class).

So, if you attend your classes and someone says something silly -
please....send it my way!

Jeff

[Paul-André Beaulieu]

> I have yet to meet his "Bart". But yeah, so far it's pretty easy. I took
2

That would be because he's gone. He was by far the toughest Computer Science
prof at Trent, and very under-appreciated, I think.

> Comp Sci courses at Waterloo, both first year, 130 and 134. Here, in Comp
> Sci 202, I'm learning linked lists, queues, stacks, trees and similar
ADTs,
> which I learned in Waterloo CS 134. The only difference is the language.
> Here it is taught in C while in Waterloo first year it is taught in Java.
> Java is object oriented. C isn't, while C++ is. I'm sure by attending
> Waterloo I would achieve a better technical education than I would at
Trent.

I guess it depends on what you're going to do with your technical education.
If you're interested in doing systems programming on UNIX, C is pretty much
the way to go. Even BeOS is written in C++, I believe. C isn't dying, and
won't die until Java gets faster or it gets replaced by something faster. I
admit that Java is very handy for cross-platform implementations, but it
still runs like a lead pig. Anyone who's tried to run Object Domain on less
than 128MB of RAM can attest to that. Remember that, Jerf?

-P-A

[Brad Carson]

I have yet to meet his "Bart". But yeah, so far it's pretty easy. I took 2

Comp Sci courses at Waterloo, both first year, 130 and 134. Here, in Comp
Sci 202, I'm learning linked lists, queues, stacks, trees and similar ADTs,
which I learned in Waterloo CS 134. The only difference is the language.
Here it is taught in C while in Waterloo first year it is taught in Java.
Java is object oriented. C isn't, while C++ is. I'm sure by attending
Waterloo I would achieve a better technical education than I would at Trent.

But, I'm not saying that is better. If you attending John Collinson's
presentation on Software Engineering, you would discover that he graduated
from Trent and is in charge of a programming team of 20 - all from Waterloo.
I prefer Trent because of its relaxed atmosphere. People are more eager to
help. At Waterloo, its a dog-eat-dog world. No-one wants to help others.
You can't even ask to borrow a pencil! Trent, I find, integrates more
social aspects into computing. I find this boring at times because coding
is my specialty, but it has its benefits. I was initially surprised at my
first real experience at Trent - meeting the chair of Computer Science,
Richard Hurley. He lent me his course notes so I could learn C and also let
me borrow a C book. I couldn't believe how helpful he was. I was
absolutely stunned. At Trent, you ARE NOT a number. I'm rarely asked to
give my Student ID, whereas at Waterloo they don't give a shit (pardon the
language), about your name.
Basically, I am glad I switched to Trent. No doubt I would have had a
better "technical" education had I gone to Waterloo, but at what cost? I
find Waterloo is shaping people into what they want them to be. Trent lets
people shape and define themselves. I am proud of my own creativity and
individuality. It's what makes people. Waterloo rapes people of this,
stripping people of individuality, producing human-like machines barcoded to
do their programmed functions. For me, it was a simple choice. I don't
want to live like that, and I don't respect anyone who does - for whatever
salary.

Thanks for asking... I appreciate the opportunity to vent my feelings. :)
-Brad Carson

> So how does our program compare to waterloo. Beffor you tell us its to

[John M Collinson]

I sat on the following three committees:

Senate Budget Committee
Academic Computer Services
WWW Standards Committee

Assuming things have not changed since I was there all student
representatives for univeristy committees are controlled through three
student bodies. The Full-time student seats are filled by the TCSA, the
part-time student seats are filled by the JBCSA and the graduate student
seats are filled by the GSA so I would suggest that you contact these groups
to see if there are any openings.

John Collinson

"Brad Carson" <the_...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:G2pn9u.o4...@news.trentu.ca...

> I transferred this year from Waterloo to Trent, and some of the things you

[Bonnie MacKinnon (705)748-1495]

In article <G2wqz2.CD...@news.trentu.ca>, "John M Collinson" <jcoll...@internet.look.ca> writes:
>I sat on the following three committees:
>
>Senate Budget Committee
>Academic Computer Services
>WWW Standards Committee
>
>Assuming things have not changed since I was there all student
>representatives for univeristy committees are controlled through three
>student bodies. The Full-time student seats are filled by the TCSA, the
>part-time student seats are filled by the JBCSA and the graduate student
>seats are filled by the GSA so I would suggest that you contact these groups
>to see if there are any openings.
>
>John Collinson

Brad,

I've sat on several committees and found all of them to be most
worthwhile learning experiences. Some committees require a great
time committment and a lot of preparation; some don't.

In addition to approaching TCSA/JBCSA/GSA, the individual colleges
and academic departments also have committees and opportunities for
volunteer work. Some other opportunities: recording text books
for the Audio Library, taking notes in class for the Special Needs
Office, getting some exercise with the Walk-Home program, peer
mentoring, judging for the annual primary/secondary school Science
Fair, staffing a discipline desk on high school recruiting days,
shovelling Professor Hurley's driveway.

The point that John was making is that volunteer work indicates
that you are a self-starting individual who is willing to take on
extra responsibility. /Bonnie

[Paul-André Beaulieu]

> The point that John was making is that volunteer work indicates
> that you are a self-starting individual who is willing to take on
> extra responsibility. /Bonnie

How about those of us who balance a job (or two or three) with our studies?
What's that say about us? ;-)

-P-A

[Jeff Kolesnikowicz]

> How about those of us who balance a job (or two or three) with our
studies?
> What's that say about us? ;-)

Oh...are you including yourself with us people with real jobs? Or are you
making a new class of people composed of tech support at PIP?

(I'm going to be beaten the next time you see me...)

[Bonnie MacKinnon (705)748-1495]

In article <G2y5Ar.5M...@news.trentu.ca>, "Paul-André Beaulieu" <beau...@pipcom.com> writes:
...

>
>How about those of us who balance a job (or two or three) with our studies?
>What's that say about us? ;-)

Toss in a family to support and you would be referring to
a fella like John Collinson. ;-)

[Paul-André Beaulieu]

I'll say it's a good student job, and leave it at that. Anyway, you're
part-time too, buddy...

-P-A

Jeff Kolesnikowicz <je...@gergcons.com> wrote in message
news:G2y8K4.4o...@news.trentu.ca...

> > How about those of us who balance a job (or two or three) with our
> studies?
> > What's that say about us? ;-)
>

[John M Collinson]

What Bonnie is referring to is that I was married with a daughter during the
last two years of my studies at Trent.

As for volunteer work vs. paid work, What I was indicating during my lecture
was that any extra-curricular work during the time you are in school shows
that you had the ability to manage your time and commitments in such a way
that you were able to be successful.

I only recommend adding extracurricular responsibilities if you have the
ability to manage yourself and prioritize.

What Bonnie did not mention is that I did not spend many nights at the pub
or any of the entertainment orented extra-curricular activities because I
was working 30 hours a week away from the campus to feed my wife and
daughter. This was a conscience decision so that my wife could stay at home
with Jessica instead of paying some to watch her.

A lot of the extra time that I put in was to ensure that my family had the
resources to move forward at graduation. I think my workload was excessive
and I do not recommend doing everything that I did.

Also, there is nothing wrong with spreading your course load out and taking
a part time course load. I did that for three of my six years at Trent.

There is no correct answer for every individual. You have to look at your
opportunities, experiences and abilities and decide what is right for you.

Cheers,
John Collinson

"Bonnie MacKinnon (705)748-1495" <bmack...@ivory.trentu.ca> wrote in
message news:G2yDKD.C2...@news.trentu.ca...

> In article <G2y5Ar.5M...@news.trentu.ca>, "Paul-André Beaulieu"
<beau...@pipcom.com> writes:
> ...
> >

> >How about those of us who balance a job (or two or three) with our
studies?
> >What's that say about us? ;-)
>

[Brad Carson]

I've been active in several volunteer activites throughout my life. In high
school, I sat on the Student's Council and actually spent some time at Trent
with the Audio Library. Now, I work 20 hours a week to scrape through
school, but any volunteer experience related to my field (computer science),
would be extremely helpful. If, of course, I could find the time.

Thanks for the information.
-brad carson

> Brad,
>
> I've sat on several committees and found all of them to be most
> worthwhile learning experiences. Some committees require a great
> time committment and a lot of preparation; some don't.
>
> In addition to approaching TCSA/JBCSA/GSA, the individual colleges
> and academic departments also have committees and opportunities for
> volunteer work. Some other opportunities: recording text books
> for the Audio Library, taking notes in class for the Special Needs
> Office, getting some exercise with the Walk-Home program, peer
> mentoring, judging for the annual primary/secondary school Science
> Fair, staffing a discipline desk on high school recruiting days,
> shovelling Professor Hurley's driveway.
>