Hi everyone,
I hope you have been reading and liking my posts here and I hope I was able to provide you with the average CompSys life. If you have been reading this that means you are thinking of applying into CompSys and I will provide you with a final summary and answer some common questions students have regarding computer systems.
First of all, this year went by real fast. I don’t even remember doing first semester of CompSys anymore as its more of a blur to me now. But that indicated that I’m having fun in CompSys as the saying goes, “time flies when you’re having fun”. I’m not sure how much fun as the stress really gets you during peak times and all you can really think about is surviving and not failing.
I can’t say much about semester 1 but semester 2 was hands on the best semester of uni so far. You would think its because there was only one exam, yes that is true but that plays a small part in this. The main reason why this semester was fun, interesting and exciting is because of the other papers we had. Just a recap on the papers:
Electeng209 was the project paper in which we had to work in a group of 4 throughout the entire semester
Enggen204 is the communications paper where we just had assignments, tutorials and a final presentation involving an individual poster
Compsys202 is the programming paper where we were taught C++ and this was also an assignment and test based paper
Electeng204 is the electromagnetism paper and which involved two tests and one final exam worth 70%
Working in groups in 209 really made the semester fun and bearable, that is why it is important you choose a good, reliable group for yourself. If you fail to do so, it will be hard for you and you won’t be able to focus much on the content and instead would be more caught up in disagreements and would end up blaming each other for your failures.
First half of the semester goes smoothly and it flows well with all your extra activities and your social life but when you come back after the break, it gets harder. And progressing towards week 9-11 is like a game of catch, if you’re throwing bricks around, and catching with your face (exaggeration much).
The last few weeks are where life hits you hard as you have tests and assignments and all your project files and your interviews and your presentations due. This year we had a test, 2-3 assignments (one being worth 30%), a presentation and the interviews in one week. It was stressful.
Overall, it was a great semester, the marks achieved really made the stress worth it all. If you are thinking of doing CompSys, I’d say do it. If you like programming and electrical, chances are you will like it. If you get good marks you might even love it. Talking about the future, if you are concerned about jobs and growth in CompSys, you need not to worry as there is major growth in this field and you would be able to choose which industry you’d want to work in, electrical or software or both. As computer systems graduates may also be able to get software jobs as we do quite a lot of programming as well (as to what I’ve been told).
But keep in mind, this is only my opinion and there may be others conflicting mine but the final decision is up to you and how you perceive it but for me its hard at times but I believe that it will be all worth it in the end.
Good luck.
– Kunal