Thursday, 19 September 2013

Yui's academic interests

Participating the Olypaid in Informatics in my high schools years, I have discovered the things that I fall in love with and would like to spend time with it for the rest of my life. It is computer science. Hence, I enrolled in the faculty of ICT, Information and Communication Technology, at Mahidol University to make my dream come true. Since I always work hard with strong determination, I graduate with first class honor and get my first job since I still not graduate. Although my first job is quite a great job as an software engineer in an international companies with high salary and energetic colleagues, it still not fulfill my dream. Consequently, I decide to resign from my company named Accenture and start a new job as a research assistant at NECTEC, National Electronic and Computer Technology, where I enjoy my work a lot. It is a kind of research work that helps enhance the quality of service of healthcare in Thailand. However, I realize that my academic background is still not solid enough to do great work. As a result, I decide to further my graduate study in computer science in the US.

Cloud computing is the area in computer science that I would like to do research in my graduate study. The concept of cloud computing is to provide resources which are always "available", "on demand", and "self-service".  You may imagine that in the near future, personal computers will be just dump terminals while everything, even their operating systems, will be on cloud. You do not have to buy a license of software to install on your personal computer but you will actually pay for a service like pay for 2 hours to use Photoshop program but not a license of Photoshop. Since cloud resources are always available on demand, you do not have to waste your money on buying too huge computing resources for your companies since the peak workload may last just 2-3 days a month. Cloud resources can "scale" themselves to meet the current degree of workloads. For example, an online shopping website have 5 times of orders on new year festival compared with the other days of the year. It means that if this website normally use 10 computer servers, it should need up to 50 computer servers on new year period. With the scalability of cloud computing, the company do not need to buy any physical computers but they just pay the service fees to a cloud provider and the cloud will simulate the suitable number of virtual machines to operate for running the online shopping website. Additionally, the company have to pay just the actual amount of time they use these computing resources. Hence, it can save company's budget a lot compared with buying 50 real physical computers which also need other costs like electricity cost, software license cost, operating cost, and maintenance cost. Moreover, cloud computing is easy to use or "self-service" which imply that anyone, even the one who is not the computer expert, can use cloud computing by himself. With all of these splendid features of cloud computing, I am sure that it will play a significant role in the next era of the world of computing.

By the way, I also fall in love with philosophy. I always wonder why people were born. Does the god exist and does he actually take full control of our lives ? What am I destined to do for myself and the humanity ? Is it correct that according to "Big Bang" theory, the universe starts with nothing so it will also end with nothing ? All of these kinds of doubts always pop up in my mind and I still struggle to find the answers. Unfortunately, I am still just a newbie to this tremendous and complicated world.

Based on two academic fields that I am crazy with, computer science and philosophy, I has quite a sweet dream that one day I will be selected to study in a prestigious university like Harvard which is not just a top 20 university in computer science in the US but also rank as number one in philosophy.

17 comments:

  1. I wish you graduated in computer science form USA na kha. *-*

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    1. Thanks for your best wish na ka, Dui. Hope we will see each other at the US next year. Work hard with our AEP class in order to achieve our goals together.

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  2. I have to confess that computer science was the only subject I ever failed at university! I did well on theory, but there was a practical component that I had problems with. I wasn't patient enough.

    In those bad old days, the university computer (there was only one), was a monstrous thing that occupied an entire building, and we had to write our programs on punch cards which an operator then fed into the computer. And the next day you found out if you had made a single mistake that made the whole program fail.

    Today, my phone has a more powerful computer.

    I admire the way you are pursuing your passions in this field - I hope you continue to love computer science and find it rewarding.

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    1. Peter,

      Actually, I have a bad first impression on computer science. My written programs were always contains syntax errors and I was seldom able to solve them by myself. The first time that I studied computer science is when I was in the 11th grade. At that time, I joined the Olympiad in Informatics but I did not do well on it. Hence, I almost changed my mind to join another camp as I was in grade 12th but at last I did not. The reason is most of my friends still join the same camp and I think I should be able to achieve more if I continue on the same camp. Luckily, I was on the right track. Due to my hard working on practice coding programs until midnight everyday, I passed the first camp and continue to the more advance camp. Consequently, some undergraduate level courses are quite easy for me since I have learned them before.

      My senior project adviser also informed me about how difficult it was to write a program when he was a graduate student or around 40 years ago. He had to write his program on a punch card like you but he had to wait longer than you. It took 2 days for the computer to operate a punch card. As a result, he blame my group that could not deliver programming works on time while nowadays it is much easier and more convenient on testing a program compared with 40 years ago.

      Finally, thank you for your best wish.

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  3. I am a computer engineer too, but I am not good at programming. I studied computer engineering because I want to buy PC, and I think others major engineering are difficult and full of mathematics. I am wrong at all. By the way I think computer science is very importance to modern world and I wish you to fulfill your dream.

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    1. Nice to hear that, Bass. I have just read through your profile on Facebook and find out that you also studied in computer engineering field like me.

      I feel sorry that you misunderstood the core subjects of computer engineering. Computer engineering is actually full of mathematics.

      Thank you for your best wish and hope you will be successful too, Bass.

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  4. I feel impressived when read your article about your interest, the best thing that i see is you know yourself. I guess you know what you want to do and not be traped by high saraly. i see your atttention in your subject and hope you got a chance you are waiting for.

    I myself has experience in computer coding such as Delphi C# C and have a different feeling to them. Maybe everyone who study computer code familier with "Hello world"

    when i study high school writing a computer code in so new for me. I interested in it and do it quite well so i think maybe i choose a computer engineering as my major

    After that time i become a freshmen and study C# subject. I spent a lot of time with this subject and think it's quite fun but i feel like a mad guy who think about how to write a code to solve the question all the time. Then i ask to myself am i sure to go futher with computer major because i have to choose one. After that i realize that i love to play computer but actually do not want to spent a long time working with computer so i chose to study mechanical engineering.

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    1. Pop,

      Actually, I did not know myself well at first. I even has ever dreamed to be a medical doctor like my dad and my elder sister. The main influence on my dream job is my family. My mom also works in medical field as a nurse. Growing up in the housing community in a provincial hospital in Chanthaburi province make me really fond of being a medical doctor. On every new year celebration, there are a lot of my dad's patients come to say happy new year to him and also give quite valuable gifts to my dad. I still remember one of them. He said that if that day his son did not get help from my dad, his son would not survive until this day. This kind of situation triggered my heart to fall in love with being a medical doctor.

      However, I have to change my mind to pursue for another field since I did not do well enough on biology. Additionally, I accidentally got to know "computer science" when I joined Olympiads in Informatics and it has destined the rest of my life to sacrifice for this field.

      Pop, I understand your feeling that you actually like to use the computer programs but not to be the one who design them. In addition, I would like to congratulate you that you made the right decision. A lot of my friends suffered from studying in my faculty since they like to play computer games while they really hate computer programming.

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  5. Wow, your education field is very hard thing for me. I really happy to know that you are really in love with that stress subject.
    By the way, I am impressive with your effort to graduate in the first class honor and I'm very amazing with your good skill in writing and also speaking.
    I want to fluent in English like you!

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    1. Noina,

      Everything is hard only at the beginning. It is like when you try to start your rusty car. At first, you may even need someone to help push your car forwards while you try damn hard on repressing the start button. Unless you don't give up, you will finally be able to start your car and it will run as fast as you want without the need of support from anyone. Just keep trying. Work hard with strong determination, a motto from my senior project's adviser that I always follow strictly.

      Actually, you are quite diligent and determined girl as I can see in our AEP classes. I believe that you will be able to master these English skills soon. Just DON'T GIVE UP and BE DISCIPLINED.

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    2. "Be disciplined" sounds good to me.

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    3. Peter,

      I think the phrase "Be disciplined" with double quotes has some implicit meanings, right ? I apologize that I may not be disciplined enough in your AEP class but I sincerely would like to be better and honestly, I am trying to improve myself.

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    4. And getting better. The peer review wasn't much later than midnight.

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    5. Actions speak louder than words. Let my actions prove my determination.

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    6. Actions speak louder than words. Let my actions prove my determination.

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  6. Your short autobiography interested me. It’s a wonderful thing that you've found what you love to do and you are still on that way. I don’t have a good advice for you because I don’t know too much about this field. Anyway, I believe that you will be a great programmer and wish you get a permit from university that you want.

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    1. Thank you ka, P' Oor. By the way, you may actually be an expert that can give me advises about how to apply computer science with your undergraduate field, genetic science. This discipline is like a magic for me since it is the fundamental of how creatures and also humans like us are formed. The genetic models fit well with the science of computing and lead to powerful discoveries which can reveal secrets of humanity.

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