Yes! It says EIGHT-THIRTY *AM*! I'm @ work. Got the big presentation today. Let's hope it runs off fine and that the Deans don't ask me to make 100 changes to the system. I basically have to show the folks @ Rutgers, the main project I've been working on since 3-4 months now - The Rutgers Student Payroll system. As usual, I can't really talk anything about my job/work/projects, except that once the system is implemented, thousands of students will use it every day (in short - it's pretty big!). Usually when big systems go into action, the ones who created them have to face a score of heretofore unfathomable problems every single day. I usually think fairly deep into my systems and try to look into the mind of the dumbest guy who'll be using them, and I make sure that my system can handle his ingenuity. So while I expect a few issues to come up once the system is in action (in the next 2-3 months hopefully), I'm fairly certain it won't overtake my thankfully mellow and unpressured work-schedule, and that I won't have to wake up @ 7am everyday to *fix the goddamn thing*! How many of you are familiar with that phrase huh?

Anyone can program. It's not the hardest thing to do. Every math major in Rutergs has to compulsorily take a CS110 programming class. But it's not that easy to make systems that work. Even if you can program a nuclear power plant or a Mars Orbitter (even if it can correctly convert units), it's all quiet different from developing real-time processes that interface with the user, who could be a competent worker, a dear-old sweet little grandmother who just HATES FRICKIN COMPUTERS, or that dumb guy who got drunk last night and still has no clue where he is this morning. The system has to take into account users of every IQ level and be receptive, intuitive, and obviously efficient. I learnt all this from my dad when I was 14 :) Thanks Bapu!

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