Intro

What’s up every body. I am Edson Philippe a software engineer whose mission is to share his experience with you. The topic of today’s short talk is: My experience of taking OSMCS Graduate algorithm class for the first time.

If you are not familiar with Graduate Data Structure, It’s one of the best classes that you will have to take that actually have an impact in your future. In other word, if you master the totpic of that class, you will be able to solve many interview type question that you get for typical softare engineering roles. I have to start by saying that i have gotten a C on that class and unfortunately, to graduate, I need to at least a B. So, I have to retake it this semester. My goal is not to bash the class, but simply to reflect on my mistakes when I was taking it the first time and maybe you can get some values and be mentally ready for the class when/if you have to take it.

Where did I go wrong?

let’s dive into some of the mistakes I made when I was taking the course the first time.

  1. The first mistake was taking the course during summer with anothor course (Digital Marketing). This was my first time trying to take 2 courses at the same time and I have learned my lesson. I have to honestly say that it’s possible to take more than one classes and be successful, and I have seen other students who had done so, but unfortunatelly, for me, It’s not possible. When you have a full time job, a wife and a young kids, it’s a completely different stoty than someone who is single with less responsibility. I think what i have learned is that I have a limit and knowing where that line is would make me know what level of commitment I can take. Also, during the summer, the classe is really face paced. And, while some people can do well by seing something the first time and remember everything, I have some limitation in that areas. Usually, when I am faced with new concept, I have to actively review the concept many time before it becomes something I master. The crush of time durring the summer did not make this possible.
  2. The second mistake I made was not doing the homeworks and waited last minute to complete them. Well, I think I was over confident on the amout of time it would take me to complete the homeworks and really understand them. Usually, every week we have homeworks, and the homeworks are divided into 2 piles. The first pile contains many ungraded assignments and the second part contains the graded assigment that I have to turn in. I usually only focus on the graded assignment and ignore the non graded assignment. In my case, because I was taking 2 couses at the same time, I ended up alway having homeworks for both classes every week-end for the entire summer. I usually prioritze the other class because I was not familiar with the subject and by the time I finish with the homeworks for the other class, I run out of time for Graduate algorithm homeworks.
  3. Another mistake that I made was not attending office hours when they were happening. We usually had at least 2 office hours per week and each office hours could last at least 1 hour and sometime up to 3 hours. I usually skip the office hours and during the office hours, the TA would explain the how to attack the homework. Because I miss those office hours, I usually submit my homeworks doing exactly the oposite of what was mentioned during office hours. By the time I watch the office hours, it was already too late. The worst part is I kept on doing the same pattern.
  4. Not Following the template for how to write solution to exam and homeworks. Because it’s a class with many students, there is a specific way the solution for each type of problems has to be written. Unfortunatly, many time, I ended up not following the pattern and it usually cost me many points in the exam. I feel I just find it hard to be boxed but for this class, that is what’s required.
  5. Not spending enough time interacting with other students about the homeworks in our internal forum. So, I don’t think I really spent time reading the internal forum or even spent time asking question on those forum. I felt using them to ask question would have help me learn the material a lot.

Now that I am retaking the class, I will definately do thing different this time around. Also, that’s my last class, so my attention will be fully dedicated to that one class and be ready to graduate by the end of this year. My grade are strong enough that even with a C in that class, I could have graduated, but since I must get a B, I just have to swallow my pride and retake it. I feel I will be doing things differently this time around and give it my best.

conclusion

I hope this video provided some values to you and hopefully. If you like what you have heard, please subscribe to this channel. I will continue sharing my experience and perspective and hopefully you will gain some value. Thank and keep on growing!