MY GOD, AN UPDATE! Looks like I’m not the only one becoming delusional 😉
So Much Uni Work…
It was weird skimming through this sheet and seeing what appeared at first to be a mirror embedded in the sheet (click the image to make it bigger) … but then my eyes focused and yeah, I quickly realised that I needed to get away from this work.
I think that pretty much sums up how things are going right now haha.
May Lose Another 9 Months…
Let’s start of this time with all the bad news. I know I usually end with the bad stuff, but the element of surprise is key to victory in CCS, so is probably the key to an interesting blog too. #keylogic2015
In a few short months I will be holding my Master’s and that basically means I need to go on to become a Doctor, because you know, who spends so long studying for a Master’s just to get a job?
The traditional choice for getting a doctorate is the PhD. They are 3 years, pay about $21 000 per year tax-free (which isn’t very much) and are based on you doing research and writing a thesis at the end.
Seem pretty good, don’t they?
For a STEM graduate however, there is another path open, known as the EngD or Engineering Doctorate. These are equivalent to a PhD at the end but take 4 years to complete. They pay around $30 000 per year tax-free (a modest pay for someone my age) and involve one year of taught lectures, followed by three years working for a research company.
EngDs give an edge to someone wanting to go into industry, while PhDs give an edge to someone wanting to go into academia (i.e. becoming a professor). Now, becoming a professor could be quite cool and I know that if I don’t pick a PhD my chance of becoming one ever will be ~0, but if you look at the stats, only about 1% of PhD students go on to become professors anyway as there just aren’t any spare spaces for them. You basically have to wait for one to die or retire and then take their place.
I spoke to some professors at my uni about which out of academia and industry is best and the general feedback I got was this:
Academia Advantage: You get complete freedom to research whatever you want.
Industry Advantage: You know what you are making will directly change the world.
The professors all said the thing they felt they were missing out on the most was knowing that their inventions and discoveries were unlikely to ever make any significant contribution to the world. This seems like something that would be particularly bad for me. I really want to use my skills to change the world and make it a better place. Following a career that risks this seems like a poor choice. PhDs open the path to industry as well as academia though.
Last year I worked in industry on my research year. I actually found there was a fair degree of freedom. It wasn’t a boss telling me exactly what to do most of the time, instead I was given a large problem and asked to solve it in whatever way I wanted as part of a team. There was plenty of opportunity for me to plan things out, setup my own experiments, do my own research to gain a vaster understanding of the physics before working on the problem. Science careers are one of the most independent and free careers in the world. I know some jobs just involve you sitting in an office all day while your boss sends you work to do. Those kinds of jobs – commonly called monkey jobs – don’t really sound appealing to me. I need room to intellectually express myself and develop as a person in my workplace.
Getting back to EngDs they have 1 year taught courses and 3 years in industry, but for one week out of each industry year they have an intensive course in business/management. EngDs are really for training people up to be leaders in the workplace. To be the people who will form the next generation of bosses and management.
In CCSO I have really loved the whole organising and keeping track of the team. I am always looking for opportunities to expand, and I really think my natural position is in a lead place. Let’s even go to my history on the CC alone, I run two games and have done for many years, while in a number of other groups I have taken high positions. Even back in school I ran as a prefect and was the deputy head for my house (my school had four houses, a bit like Harry Potter). Leadership appears to be something that is rooted deep in me. I’m quite shocked how I never realised sooner.
“You’ve Changed”
This week I presented my research work in the form of a short (15 minute) presentation in this daunting lecture theatre full of other students in my year, all the second year students (who were about to decide what research placements they wanted), a whole load of university professors, and all these researchers from companies around the world who sponsor students to go on research placements.
I was first up.
In the past public speaking has not been my strong point. I always got those leg shakes and spoke very fast and messed up and didn’t make eye contact. I’m sure you all know what it is like…
But this time it was different.
I stood confidently, I wasn’t shaking – although I was a little nervous inside after seeing some of my research team in the crowd – I felt in control. I noted when I went up that many of the second years hadn’t arrived yet, so I began the presentation with a joke about how such a huge number have come to see my presentation. I was animate throughout the talk and kept the jokes coming, I paused at places to let the audience calm down or study the slides. I put loads of images in all my slides to have it a highly visual experience, while the wordy explanations were left to me as the speaker.
It was invigorating. I actually enjoyed it. The adrenaline, the attention, the action. This is not like me.
The presentation ended with a huge applause that may have been the largest of the day, and when I climbed the stairs back up to my seat all my friends were just shocked. They said they didn’t want to present after such a great presentation because it would make theirs look terrible. I brushed off their comments because friends always complement each others, so their remarks were fairly null in my book.
In the lunch break students and researchers kept coming up to me to congratulate me on my talk. It was really surprising. People were jokingly asking me to teach them my amazing skills. The following day the head of the physics society approached me and said my talk was the best one. I hadn’t seen him in the audience, but that was an honour of kinds.
“You’ve changed…” my friend Tim said to me after the presentations. A good change of course. But they remember me from before the placement year when I was almost a nervous wreck in front of an audience. I have changed. A lot. I know what to say, how to act, I can read the audience now. I swear I’m one step away from being a psychopath. I don’t feel the nerves like before. I even look forward to the next time I have to present.
One change at a time I am becoming a strong and independent character. I really wonder what my future holds. All my weaknesses just seem to be disappearing one by one, meanwhile my strengths continue to put me one step ahead of the general crowd.
Because of this I’m thinking an EngD will be more suitable for me than a PhD. The skills I gain from the business courses on an EngD could actually aid CCSO developments. It comes at the cost of another slow 9 months of progress on CCSO though :S But maybe I’ll be able to find more time this time around. And the EngD won’t start until September anyway, so I’ll have all summer to work on it.
Back to current works…
Music
Harmless has been working away with the music production ^^ Three new pieces have been produced!
CCS Track 3 – At Long Last
A calming track for the early game. Also nice to listen to if you’re feeling a little stressed ^^
CCS Special – Victory
CCS Special – Defeat
Do I need to explain these? 😛 When winning or losing a battle one of these will be played.
All these pieces are still in an early stage and are expected to change slightly over the coming week or so. Also, if you haven’t heard the other tracks, do check them out because they are awesomeeee 😉
CCS Track 1 – Light Urgency
CCS Track 2 – One Shot at Victory
CCS Track 2 – One Shot at Victory (Extended) (my favourite ^^)
Art
Twinwing, Ballista Impact, Destroyer, Bunkerbuster, and Hydro. Let me know if I forgot one :S Chassis by ElD and weapons by Shoop. Lau is still a little busy. I really like these, but some are a little different to normal. First, what do you think of Bunkerbuster? The angle makes the missile look huge. I’m wondering if it could be drawn from a different view or if it is fine as it is.
And Ballista Impact looks amazing, doesn’t it? The first version had no spikes on but then it was suggested to add spikes to the bow. Shoop actually misread this and added spikes to the missile head instead. *facepalm* But it actually turned out pretty nice, so I suggested to keep them. Spikes everywhere… imagine looking into that in battle. It is sleek yet deadly.
Twinwing captures the decrepit state of the biplane really nicely 😛 Good job on the paintwork! The smoke is a really cool feature too! Hydro is awesome as well ^^ Was wondering if the water tanks should start more full or not. What are your thoughts?
And finally, Destroyer. A huge cannon. It is exactly what it is. A destroyer.
Thanks ElD and Shoop! I know I can always count on you for epic art!! You guys provide such a driving force for me to develop CCSO. I actually feel pretty guilty not being able to code much xD But…
Bootstrapping!
I’m not sure if I mentioned this in a previous blog way back or not, but there is a framework called Bootstrap that is designed to speed up website design and make sites more compatible with mobile and tablet devices. I have been learning this and playing around. It is fairly simple but takes a bit of getting used to. It is however very powerful o.O I can create such a nice site with this. I’m thinking about creating a simple site to show off the capabilities of Bootstrap at some point so you can all see how the next version of the CCSO site could look.
I don’t know when this will be out, but hopefully not too long from now.
A long update to make up for the lack of them 😉 There may be another break before the next one, but we’ll see. The future is not written yet 🙂
CC Survival 