Published author

There we go, my very own ACM citation. I am now a published author. My thesis work resulted in a paper called Dynamic optimization of Bluetooth networks for indoor localization, which was submitted to and accepted for the AASN'08 Conference in Paris earlier this year. Googling for "markus jevring bluetooth" shows not just this paper but also my thesis, which is available through my university.

From all this, I'm sure you can gather that I have finally completed this stage of my studies. I am now a Master of Science in Computer Science, for whatever it is worth. I'm currently not looking for research positions, as I thought I would be, but that may change in the future.

I know I haven't posted in a (criminally long) time, but hopefully with this "catch up" post, I'll be able to start posting more often. I'll be able to get back to the mindless rants you come here for soon. I just felt that I couldn't do one before detailing the next big step in my life (that sounded less corny in my head, just now). Anyway, I now live in Brussels and I write software for a stock broker called Petercam. I really like the work, and I get to do cool stuff almost on a daily basis, so I'm happy. Our apartment is far from wonderful, but we are currently looking at alternatives, and we estimate that we'll be in a new, more acceptable, one my mid-February.
Being in Brussels, of course, means that I've left the Netherlands behind me. Two years in Enschede was quite enough. Anyway, time to get back to work. I'm almost alone in my section here today, as most people are on holiday. It's quite pleasant to have a somewhat calmer environment. Now if I could also get a properly sized monitor, everything would be just peachy...

ACM ICPC Revisted

For some reason, blogger has decided to stop emailing me about my comments, so I recently discovered an insightful comment from anonymous about my ACM ICPC Post. He says that competing is much easier than you might think, provided that you are of course eligible. He also, kindly, provided me with a link to the Eligibility Decision Tree. I make it through the basic requirements, but then things like being too old or having spent way too many years in school catch up with me. It turns out I seized being eligible when I graduated with my BSc.

I guess not being allowed to compete anymore takes the load off my mind of never having competed, and now I could never rectify that, even if I wanted to. It would have been cool to have competed once, but now that I know that I can't for other reasons than skill, I will put it behind me.

Better School = Higher Expectations

I just read that Twente University came in 7:th place in this years ACM ICPC.
The ACM ICPC is a worldwide programming competition, kind of like the olympics, or the world championships. My current school placed 7:th, and I don't even know if my previous school even tried out. The best Swedish school on the list came in 26:th place with half of the problems solved.
Shared 26:th I should say, together with around 20 others.

This positioning seems to reflect the skill and the expectation difference between my previous and current educational institute. At my old school I flew by without actually exerting myself, and I was something like top3-5 in most of my courses. Here I'm working my nuts of, and I'm still not making the grade. Sure, I pass my course, some even with good grades, but it's at the expense of 60-80 hour work weeks, and much mental suffering on my part. The worst things is feeling inadequate in a field where you used to excel.
It seems like I've been knocked down several pegs on the ladder of prowess.

I am a carpenter among architects.

And it bothers me to no end. Feelings of inadequacy are right up there with death as the toppers of my greatest fears. (For most people the number one is speaking in public. I love doing that though, but I'm a bit of an attention monkey, so that might be why.)

This quarter especially has been one of way too much work for me. I can't remember last time I had a weekend of that wasn't during christmas break. This has got to change, but I have no real recipe for making this happen.

One thing I do know for sure though is that I'll never be part of a team bound for the ACM ICPC...