I was a music education major. I had a technical lean, I was addicted to the net and knew a little Basic programming. I was good at math, but didn't see much use in advanced math, even though I could do it, because it didn't relate to my chosen field. My mother was a civil engineer who was moving into geotechnical engineering. My grandfather (her father) was an engineer and drafter for a great many years. My great grandfather (his father) was an electrical engineer who built some of the first computers (when they took up rooms). He held patents (which GM got royalties from) on the computer that tested the autopiliot and gyroscope on some of the Boewing plans. He retired and lived quite comfortably off the GM retirement plan for many years. He recently past (Sept. last year) at the young age of 91, leaving behind a wife (age 89?) of 72 years. 4 children (my grandfather passed, they had 5 children in all, all boys), too many grandchildren and great grandchildren to count, and 3 great great grandchildren.
Anyway, I was a music major in 1999 to 2001, and when the music department got new string faculty, the new string faculty decided that I didn't have the chops, that I started music too late, and that "sometimes in life we hit brick walls that cannot be overcome." Crushed,I had to switch majors; but, I had no idea what I'd do. I was always going to be a music teacher. I began taking a programming course durring the summer, because I always enjoyed computers -- and I had a natural talent for programming in basic. I needed more credits no matter what I went into. In 2006 or 2007 (the dates are unsure because it wasn't at a normal semester but a mini semester that went into January by a few days -- I had already walked across the stage in December) I graduated with a degree in Computer Science. Somewhere along the way I thought that building a BOE bot would be fun, and so I did. Then in Microprocessors we built a very simple microprocessor (which was a large bread board that had 8 bit resistors and was able to add, compliment and shift) . I tried to get my student organization to do a seminar on robotics (using BOE based bots), but couldn't get enough interest.
Since graduation, I've gotten married and I've been programming web applications for the university. In my spare time I'm working on an electric violin, working on the propeller based bot, working on an MMORPG (but keep stalling to get much farther because I don't have art skills and can't afford to pay an artist for a hobby), and thinking about building a tesla coil amp or plasma speaker. Too many ideas, too many possibilities, not enough time!
I suppose the real draw for me is that I want to know where my limits are, what I'm capable of doing. Programs obey strict rules, programs do what you tell them, nothing more nothing less. If it's not working properly, I did something wrong; and, gosh darn it I'm going to tear my hair out until it does what it's supposed to do. As a programer your job is a creative one, you have solve a problem given the constraints of language and hardware. The larger the constraints the more creative you have to be. There is no shame in building off previous work, because if we invented everything again from first principles we'd never be able to push the limit of the field, plus finding a creative solution to something already solved isn't as fun as finding the solution to the problem no one has reached yet. So, I build and write using what has come before so that hopefully, I can take that about build into the areas where no one has thought to try, and hopefully be successful at creatively finding a solution to a new problem. Robotics take programming into the physical space. Computer Science was born of the need to control the products of Electrical Engineering; but Electrical Engineering is the only way to instantiate physical agents to express the code into the real world. I'm a still a code junky, and the hardware stuff isn't my forte, but any obsticle that stands in the way of the solution should be conquered.
On a side note, I still play music and still love it deeply with a passion. I may not have a degree and certificate that allow me teach school band and orchestra, but that doesn't mean I can't give lessons. I'm not at the moment, because I don't have time; but, still there seems to still be doors in that brick wall. I'm not a bad musician or teacher either, just apparently not up the standard of people with PhD's from Curtis.
Sorry this post probably sounds vain, and rambling... but I guess I never thought about all this at once. Life just happens so fast that you never really take stock of where you are and how you got there.
<edit type="add">Oh, and while the cost of many electronics projects does add up, it's not as much as one could spend on sports, watching sports, cars, mountian climbing, guns(know from friend's experience), music(know from experience), etc.</edit>
Post Edited (J. A. Streich) : 2/18/2009 4:08:30 PM GMT
J. A. Streich said...
Sorry this post probably sounds vain, and rambling... but I guess I never thought about all this at once. Life just happens so fast that you never really take stock of where you are and how you got there.
Comments
Anyway, I was a music major in 1999 to 2001, and when the music department got new string faculty, the new string faculty decided that I didn't have the chops, that I started music too late, and that "sometimes in life we hit brick walls that cannot be overcome." Crushed,I had to switch majors; but, I had no idea what I'd do. I was always going to be a music teacher. I began taking a programming course durring the summer, because I always enjoyed computers -- and I had a natural talent for programming in basic. I needed more credits no matter what I went into. In 2006 or 2007 (the dates are unsure because it wasn't at a normal semester but a mini semester that went into January by a few days -- I had already walked across the stage in December) I graduated with a degree in Computer Science. Somewhere along the way I thought that building a BOE bot would be fun, and so I did. Then in Microprocessors we built a very simple microprocessor (which was a large bread board that had 8 bit resistors and was able to add, compliment and shift) . I tried to get my student organization to do a seminar on robotics (using BOE based bots), but couldn't get enough interest.
Since graduation, I've gotten married and I've been programming web applications for the university. In my spare time I'm working on an electric violin, working on the propeller based bot, working on an MMORPG (but keep stalling to get much farther because I don't have art skills and can't afford to pay an artist for a hobby), and thinking about building a tesla coil amp or plasma speaker. Too many ideas, too many possibilities, not enough time!
I suppose the real draw for me is that I want to know where my limits are, what I'm capable of doing. Programs obey strict rules, programs do what you tell them, nothing more nothing less. If it's not working properly, I did something wrong; and, gosh darn it I'm going to tear my hair out until it does what it's supposed to do. As a programer your job is a creative one, you have solve a problem given the constraints of language and hardware. The larger the constraints the more creative you have to be. There is no shame in building off previous work, because if we invented everything again from first principles we'd never be able to push the limit of the field, plus finding a creative solution to something already solved isn't as fun as finding the solution to the problem no one has reached yet. So, I build and write using what has come before so that hopefully, I can take that about build into the areas where no one has thought to try, and hopefully be successful at creatively finding a solution to a new problem. Robotics take programming into the physical space. Computer Science was born of the need to control the products of Electrical Engineering; but Electrical Engineering is the only way to instantiate physical agents to express the code into the real world. I'm a still a code junky, and the hardware stuff isn't my forte, but any obsticle that stands in the way of the solution should be conquered.
On a side note, I still play music and still love it deeply with a passion. I may not have a degree and certificate that allow me teach school band and orchestra, but that doesn't mean I can't give lessons. I'm not at the moment, because I don't have time; but, still there seems to still be doors in that brick wall. I'm not a bad musician or teacher either, just apparently not up the standard of people with PhD's from Curtis.
Sorry this post probably sounds vain, and rambling... but I guess I never thought about all this at once. Life just happens so fast that you never really take stock of where you are and how you got there.
<edit type="add">Oh, and while the cost of many electronics projects does add up, it's not as much as one could spend on sports, watching sports, cars, mountian climbing, guns(know from friend's experience), music(know from experience), etc.</edit>
Post Edited (J. A. Streich) : 2/18/2009 4:08:30 PM GMT
No, it's a great post. Very interesting.