Monday, September 29, 2008

You Like Biology, But I Like Computer Science

There's a rather simple reason why I never really write computer programs for anyone as far as I can avoid it—most people don't really treat computer programs seriously. The general reaction borders between "holy cow that's really cool" to "yeah... so what is it good for". The person who goes "holy cow that's really cool" is likely to be obnoxious, having some issues with attitude: either always trying to pilfer all that you know, or just want to one-up you.

The other one that is nonchalant is probably someone who doesn't care about computers other than computer games and maybe some office productivity suite. They usually think of me as a dork/geek/nerd, and would have as little to do with me as possible. These are the same people who will only gladly want to talk to me if they want something that I can do easily, and on other occasions they will just ignore me for as much as I can.

I've met enough of both kinds of people to not want to write programs for anyone as much as I can avoid it. That's enough of a blurb for now.

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The week has been long, with almost everything due last Tuesday. Thankfully, I managed to get everything completed in time, and hopefully am faring rather well. The schedule for this semester is such that things generally snowball into a huge clump, but in between, there's enough time to plan around the crunch, only if careful discipline is maintained in trying to ensure that one does not end up doing the "death march" all over again. The thought of returning to work in A*STAR scares me a little—I'm mildly terrified in having to deal with some of my peers who are just plain obnoxious, who are happy to tear into any thing that you do just to get into an argument, to always try to prove that they or their field is superior than you or yours; the general know-it-all obnoxious attitude.

Inasmuch as I hate to say this, I just hate these kinds of people. Like, seriously. What makes them think that Computer Science is no less important than Biology? What makes them think that their double degree is worthed more than my single Bachelor's in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon? And lastly, who are they to say that I am less intelligent than they are?

All these nonsense... I hope that I don't have to put up with that when I return. I'm happy to work on machine learning research all day, and have little to deal with these kinds of people as much as possible. Knowledge has intrinsic value and power; I don't have to stoop to their level to take pot-shots just to prove a point.

To each his own, suckers.

2 comments:

roticv said...

Sounds like a really nasty bunch of people.

The_Laptop said...

It is the kind of people that was pulled in in the first place—type 'A' personality. While on the one hand it is good to have some aggression to ensure that we move competitively, there are many who forget about the difference between internal and external fights.

Maybe I'm just being too sensitive. Pfft.