Congratulations to me

[shmokes]

I'm going to bed. 

But when I wake up in the morning I'll head over to the school for graduation ceremony!  From now on, I won't just run my mouth off all the time, but I'll have a little piece of paper on the wall saying that I am qualified to do so (if I'm talking about French or political science, or minorly talking about information systems, or certificately talking about international relations, that is). 

Am I bragging?  Maybe just a little bit.  I did all that in four years, though, while working full time all the while.  And for the last two semesters I've had an infant girl on top of everything else (I should have waited until graduation, BTW, I would NEVER EVER EVER have agreed to have a kid while working full-time and simultaneously taking heavy full-time school loads if I had anything resembling a realistic idea of how much work it would be).

The last two months have been by far the most difficult of my life for a variety of reasons.  But today that period is winding to an end and everything is about to change dramatically.

[shardian]

Ya, now it gets harder. 

Anyways, here you go:

[leapinlew]

Ya, now it gets harder. 

Anyways, here you go:

[shmokes]

Thanks.  I prefer oatmeal, but frankly, I should get used to disappointment when it comes to what that degree will get me in life.   

[pointdablame]

Congratulations fellow grad. 

Assuming these last few papers/projects don't kill me, I'll be graduating on the 24th.

 

[danny_galaga]

Thanks.  I prefer oatmeal, but frankly, I should get used to disappointment when it comes to what that degree will get me in life.   

where ever you happen to live, theyll always need more taxi drivers...

[saint]

Congratulations!

Now go get a job.

[FrizzleFried]

So what do they pay ambulance chasers there???

 

[cw]

Good Job!



                   

[Justin]

See all the stuff you learned in school?   Ok, now forget it all, because whatever it is you're doing for a living will be unrelated with that. 

School only teaches you how to learn.  WHAT IT IS that you learn, is actually irelevant!   

Congrats!

[Chris G]

Does this mean we'll have to endure your blathering more often now? 

Seriously, congratulations.  That's a great accomplishment.

 
Chris

[polaris]

 
well done.
with all you've had to do ,no wonder youre cranky all the time

[patrickl]

Congratulations. I remember how good it felt to get it all done.

[Grasshopper]

Congratulations.

 

[FooMonk]

Congrats.  Now go to graduate school. 

For the love of all that's good and holy, don't do it! Work. Make money. Pay off student loans. Buy a car without dents.
Live in a place that doesn't have the furnace in the kitchen. Have weekends off.

...Or maybe that's just me thinking the grass is greener.
Anyways, congrats.

[shmokes]

For the love of all that's good and holy, don't do it!

Heh, too late.  Moving to Miami in about a month and a half.  I start law school at University of Miami this August.   

[GAtekwriter]

Congratulations... and let me give you another option.

If I could go back to my graduation day (from university) and talk to myself, this is what I'd say:

"You're used to living at the poverty level and you know that one day you want to work for yourself.  Whatever you do, DO NOT go to work for someone else more than 1 to 2 years.  You'll get used to the money, the security, the insurance and you'll take an additional 7 years before you can build up the nerve (and financial savings) to break out on your own.  So keep living like you did in school (except for buying some work clothes) and sock away enough money so you can quit your job and hang out your own shingle instead of waiting so long..."

(Not for everybody, and I don't know what your skills are, but I don't plan on EVER going back to work for someone else again... freelance work isn't for everyone, but it is DECIDELY easier for a fresh graduate to do it than a married person with a kid or 2 and a mortgage.)

Best of luck whatever you do!

Jim

[FooMonk]

For the love of all that's good and holy, don't do it! Work. Make money. Pay off student loans. Buy a car without dents.
Live in a place that doesn't have the furnace in the kitchen. Have weekends off.

Yeah, go work for 3-5 years and get mad enough that you realize you're gonna need a graduate degree or another 10-15 years of experience before you go anywhere.

I'll put it this way... using reasonable estimates over my projected salary increase with the graduate degree vs what it would be with another 2 years of working only, my degree will 'pay itself off' in less than 5 years.

Now granted, I ain't got that job yet.

Student loans are the cheapest free money you'll ever get in your life.  Suck the government dry.

Yeah, you're probably right, pinballjim. I don't want to sound like I'm back-peddling, but grad school has been a great experience (if not always pleasant  ). I happened to be taking a break from grading papers earlier, and finals are next week. Everything seems worse when you're in the middle of it.  The semester is nearly done, though.

[ChadTower]

For the love of all that's good and holy, don't do it! Work. Make money. Pay off student loans. Buy a car without dents.
Live in a place that doesn't have the furnace in the kitchen. Have weekends off.

With a degree in french and polisci?  He'd make more money without it.     People will look at his resume and now and go "oh WTF, get Sartre the hell out of here before he opens his mouth."   

Congrats, man, a degree is something to be proud of.   

[HaRuMaN]

Hey congrats....  I graduate in less than a week now, with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering.  It feels good to finish! 

[HaRuMaN]

What do you do with a BS in AE?  Pray that NASA doesn't get its funding cut? 

Actually, I'll be working in the private sector.  I'm starting a job working with turboshaft engines (helicopter) and APU's.  The track I took in my degree was more aimed towards aircraft rather than spacecraft.  I actually only took one course that dealt directly with spacecraft.  I thought ahead...   

[Samstag]

What do you do with a BS in AE?  Pray that NASA doesn't get its funding cut? 

Actually, I'll be working in the private sector.  I'm starting a job working with turboshaft engines (helicopter) and APU's.  The track I took in my degree was more aimed towards aircraft rather than spacecraft.  I actually only took one course that dealt directly with spacecraft.  I thought ahead...   

Hey if the job falls through send me a PM.  My company needs a couple of AEs for flight simulation.

[HaRuMaN]

What do you do with a BS in AE?  Pray that NASA doesn't get its funding cut? 

Actually, I'll be working in the private sector.  I'm starting a job working with turboshaft engines (helicopter) and APU's.  The track I took in my degree was more aimed towards aircraft rather than spacecraft.  I actually only took one course that dealt directly with spacecraft.  I thought ahead...   

Hey if the job falls through send me a PM.  My company needs a couple of AEs for flight simulation.

Hey that's cool... I'll keep that in mind.  What company do you work for?  PM me the answer if you want?

[Samstag]

What do you do with a BS in AE?  Pray that NASA doesn't get its funding cut? 

Actually, I'll be working in the private sector.  I'm starting a job working with turboshaft engines (helicopter) and APU's.  The track I took in my degree was more aimed towards aircraft rather than spacecraft.  I actually only took one course that dealt directly with spacecraft.  I thought ahead...   

Hey if the job falls through send me a PM.  My company needs a couple of AEs for flight simulation.

Hey that's cool... I'll keep that in mind.  What company do you work for?  PM me the answer if you want?

CAE.  Don't miss the awesome flash presentation on the front page.  We're celebrating 60 years of producing the butt-ugliest simulators in the industry!  A tradition we will continue and expand on with the introduction of the 5000 series, which will set new records for butt-ugliness.

[HaRuMaN]

You're gonna make space helicopters?  Didn't even know those worked in zero gravity.

 

Very funny 

[HaRuMaN]

CAE.  Don't miss the awesome flash presentation on the front page.  We're celebrating 60 years of producing the butt-ugliest simulators in the industry!  A tradition we will continue and expand on with the introduction of the 5000 series, which will set new records for butt-ugliness. Wink

Cool cool...  they actually have a flight sim course here at VT, new this semester.

[MikeQ]

CAE.  Don't miss the awesome flash presentation on the front page.  We're celebrating 60 years of producing the butt-ugliest simulators in the industry!  A tradition we will continue and expand on with the introduction of the 5000 series, which will set new records for butt-ugliness.

Hey CAE has on office in our building (Orlando).  I've interfaced with some of the guys in Canada too looking at some driver bugs. 

[slycrel]

Congrats man!  Take a well deserved break before hitting grad school.  =)

[Samstag]

CAE.  Don't miss the awesome flash presentation on the front page.  We're celebrating 60 years of producing the butt-ugliest simulators in the industry!  A tradition we will continue and expand on with the introduction of the 5000 series, which will set new records for butt-ugliness.

Hey CAE has on office in our building (Orlando).  I've interfaced with some of the guys in Canada too looking at some driver bugs. 

Is that the Jetblue center?  I know a few of the guys over there.

[MikeQ]

CAE.  Don't miss the awesome flash presentation on the front page.  We're celebrating 60 years of producing the butt-ugliest simulators in the industry!  A tradition we will continue and expand on with the introduction of the 5000 series, which will set new records for butt-ugliness.

Hey CAE has on office in our building (Orlando).  I've interfaced with some of the guys in Canada too looking at some driver bugs. 

Is that the Jetblue center?  I know a few of the guys over there.

I don't think it has anything to do with JetBlue.  I think Steve Hopkins (who I used to work with at Lockheed) is the VP at the Orlando office.  The office is only a couple months old.  From what I understand it is an expansion of the Tampa office to be closer to STRICOM.

[MikeQ]

And BTW, congrats Shmokes.  Have you found a place in Miami?  Was John any help?

[shardian]

Hey congrats....  I graduate in less than a week now, with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering.  It feels good to finish! 

You could have double majored w/ a Mechanical degree for a semester more - a year max.

[shmokes]

And BTW, congrats Shmokes.  Have you found a place in Miami?  Was John any help?

We haven't even used him yet.  We've been looking at places, but not really seriously, cos it's been a few weeks out and even if we find a great place it's most likely not going to last.  We're going out there this weekend, though, to look for places, so we'll find some promising places online and then email him before making appointments to see the places.  We've figured out that if we manage to find a place we can afford in Coral Gables, where the university is, we're good.  That neighborhood seems to be the safest place in Miami.  But it's damned expensive.  Coconut Grove on the other hand is also very close to the university, but goes from being spectacular and nice and safe to dangerous and drug dealery in the space of about two blocks, so we'll probably ask for his opinion on any place that looks promising in Coconut Grove and a few other suburbs. 

[MikeQ]

And BTW, congrats Shmokes.  Have you found a place in Miami?  Was John any help?

We haven't even used him yet.  We've been looking at places, but not really seriously, cos it's been a few weeks out and even if we find a great place it's most likely not going to last.  We're going out there this weekend, though, to look for places, so we'll find some promising places online and then email him before making appointments to see the places.  We've figured out that if we manage to find a place we can afford in Coral Gables, where the university is, we're good.  That neighborhood seems to be the safest place in Miami.  But it's damned expensive.  Coconut Grove on the other hand is also very close to the university, but goes from being spectacular and nice and safe to dangerous and drug dealery in the space of about two blocks, so we'll probably ask for his opinion on any place that looks promising in Coconut Grove and a few other suburbs. 

Cool.  Coconut Grove use to be really nice.  I know parts of still are but I've heard the area has declined.  Too bad.  Miami in the 80's was the most gorgeous tropical paradise in the continental U.S.

If you find yourself in the Orlando area, look us up.  My wife and I can give you the inside track on all there is to do.

[Bones]

Congrats shmokes!

Now you can finally stop being part of the solution and start becoming part of the problem.

[HaRuMaN]

Hey congrats....  I graduate in less than a week now, with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering.  It feels good to finish! 

You could have double majored w/ a Mechanical degree for a semester more - a year max.

Yeah... I could have.  One of my friends is staying an extra year to double major in Aerospace Engineering and Mathematics with a minor in Computer Science.  Personally, I'm 28 years old, married, got a mortgage, student loans, etc...  its time for me to get out there and work for a while.  I plan on going back to school for my masters, probably in business (on the company dime, of course!) 

[Glaine]

I logged in just to repeat that last point: Get a job that will pay for your grad school. I hear it all the time and it makes too much sense.

By the by, I'm also graduating this weekend from the University of North Texas with a degree in BCIS. I gotta get moving on finding a job ... anybody got any connections in the Fort Worth area?

[shmokes]

In law school I'm not allowed to work on the side.  If they found out I had a job it would be grounds for expulsion.  2nd & 3rd year students are allowed to work up to 20 hours a week, but it's discouraged.

[Glaine]

Dang. That's not cool.

I've known other BCIS undergrads who would rub it in to their art friends who were interning for free that they were making $25+ per hour interning. I got an internship like that once over the summer working for Pepsi, but never again. I commute an hour to school so most intern offers I got were up there and too far out of the way for me to want to drive there everyday.

[ChadTower]

Wait, you can't work in the legal field, or you can't work at all?  Why would they say you can't work at McDonald's?  Students need money.

[Glaine]

Only down side there is that it doesn't add anything noteworthy to your resume, but money is money.

[Glaine]

Well that makes sense, I didn't know about any of that.
Seriously, my fault for assuming your world works like mine  . Excuse my misinformed self.

[shardian]

Double major degrees are seldom worth the paper they're printed on.

Everyone knows all you had to do was take 4 more classes, and a lot of quality schools won't even allow it because they feel like it cheapens their undergraduate degrees.

Graduate degree is going to get a lot more respect.  Most companies won't pay for law degrees or MBAs, as both tend to be career changers. 

Many companies that will pay for an MBA are also going to require that you work for them a year or two prior to beginning the degree, then work for them at least -3- years after -completion- of the degree or you default on what they've paid for tuition.

I personally decided to stop working full time, and switch to 3/4 time and become a full time MBA student.  Piled up some student loans, but I got the degree done in 2 calender years and I'm free to leave the city after Saturday. 

Sorry that double majors don't work in your field, but in the Engineering field they are VERY valuable. I wish now I would have taken some Civil engineering classes as electives while in school. It would make it much easier to go back and get another degree.

Now I will agree that minors are worthless.

[Glaine]

Graduated from UNT yesterday. No more tests or homework, but also just lost a ton of college friends and everyone is going to be expecting things from me now. The feelings balance out so I can't really feel one way or the other about this yet.

[Glaine]

Well seeing as something like 14 out of 25 people in class with me failed Java programming (myself not included) I can say I did a lot of homework. I practically lived in the labs during visual basic and asp.net programing. And last I checked, UNT is still a very high ranked tech school in Texas.

But thanks for hating, makes it all seem worth it. Super.

[tommy]

Assuming these last few papers/projects don't kill me

 

Is that a hazard in getting a degree in jersey? 

[More Cowbell]

Double majors don't prove much.  If you can even show me a top 20 engineering school that allows it, I will be surprised.  Very surprised.
UNT assigns homework?  I thought that was a glorified diploma mill. 

Double major worked for me, Finance and Real Estate. It helped me get into the property management/development industry where I worked for 10 years gaining experience. The double major really helps if they are related to each other and you're looking to get into that specific industry.

[ChadTower]

They help more in business than in engineering.  Adding math on top of EE or cmpsci, for instance, really only says "I stayed an extra semester".

[ChadTower]

Depends on the majors.  Accounting/finance, no, but real estate and finance is a good combo.

[More Cowbell]

It's all about having something more than the other guy when you're going after that first job. Who would you hire, a guy with a Finance degree or a guy with a double major in Finance and Accounting (or Economics or Real Estate, etc)? It's another feather in a resume when the resume tends to be lightest (right after graduation). You don't get the additional major with plans of skipping past the entry level positions, it gives you a leg up in that quest for a good first job.

[ChadTower]

9 times out of 10 I'd hire the guy with one degree who took 5 years to get it but built up 18 months of experience in the field in the process.  Internships and part time side work in the field usually trump a second related degree.

Or the chick with the big rack.  One or the other.

[boykster]

I like to hire the guys with proven track records but less education.....like me 

[More Cowbell]

I would actually take a guy with 18 months of experience 10 times out of 10. But I would take a guy with 19 months of experience over the 18 month guy.  
All things being equal, wouldn't you take a double major over one major? If the majors made sense to the position?

[ChadTower]

I would actually take a guy with 18 months of experience 10 times out of 10. But I would take a guy with 19 months of experience over the 18 month guy.   
All things being equal, wouldn't you take a double major over one major? If the majors made sense to the position?

Yeah, if absolutely nothing else was different between them, sure, two major boy wins.  The second major, IMO, doesn't hold as much importance as seemingly smaller things like "is this guy cool or a dick" or "I can't stop staring at his string tie".