Reflections and Forecasts

Year Review

Reaching the end of the semester 2 feels like gaps of sunlight in the long tunnel of engineering that I backrooms-style glitched into. I actually felt somewhat empty knowing that the only thing I have to worry about is 2 exams 2 weeks away and this final blog post which I of course had to procrastinate doing 😁😜.

The last week was purely 209 and some enggen204. It was a bit of a crunch to get our project finished even though my group had been consistently working on it. (Defo start working on project early). I also felt so done preparing for interviews even though I knew I probably had lots of gaps and I wasn’t very articulate while practicing with my friends. Thursday 17th October 4-6pm and the fabled 209 Design Project had reached its conclusion. 30 mins demo and 30 mins interview to show for weeks of work. It went by so quickly that I didn’t even have enough time to process it, I’m just happy it’s over. Reflecting on the past year really does bring a tear to my eye. It’s funny because I know at some point I’ll be reflecting on this post.

Things I wish I knew at the start of the year?

Take things step by step.

Derive things yourself (e.g. Op-Amps/class examples)

Get to know the people in your cohort and you can learn together (obviously).

Neat Working !!! >:(

lt’s possible to start planning 209 group early (groups of 4)

Apply for internships early, even if you did rlly badly in Sem 1 (not that you would get any but at least start some momentum)

blog-wise: It would have been cool to get more insights from people who have graduated or are in Part IV Computer Systems which I just never got around to doing. There’s surprisingly a limited amount of info on it, who would’ve thought. (😉 good luck future bloggers!)

So What’s Next?

😔 I’m switching to electrical.

SIIIIIKEEEE. 🤗😎🤣. It’s actually been really common though, I know a lot of people who are planning to switch. It’s kind of funny though because I would have never considered electrical but after this year the only thing stopping me is my irrational reasoning. Looking at the year ahead, I’m pretty excited but looking 2 years ahead I can’t say I’m as psyched.(tbf doing so little actual computer systems work it’s hard to tell how interesting I’d find them). Oh. Only if I don’t fail anything 😥.

There’s only 1 elective in Sem 1 and both based around software but 3 electives in Sem 2 so you can decide to go purely compsys or add in an electrical or software elective. I’m thinking of not taking Machine Learning and I’ve heard good things about Electeng Control Systems. I’m not sure how concessions work but you might be able to do other electives like ELECTENG307: fields and waves that you wouldn’t normally be able to take.

From what I’ve heard from elective night COMPSYS305 requires you to build Flappy Bird but also something about FPGAs. I’m completely lost in how those 2 things connect but it makes me all the more curious about it. In Sem 2 we’re supposed to build a line following robot, I have no idea what that really entails, but I’m sure I’ll find out. Electrical students are tasked with making a power supply which sounds slightly more fun but that’s probably because I have no idea what making a line following robot means. Surely the concepts behind it are cool right?

Good Luck with exams and general life journey !! I’m rooting for you 😤😤. Probably the first and last time i’ve actually signed out.

-XOXO MArie

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