From Gustavo Duarte – Lucky to be a Programmer:

“I think it’s because institutions are so good at squeezing the fun out of everything. It’s appalling for example how schools can take the most vibrant topics and mangle them into formulaic, mediocre slog. And so it is for programming. Many corporations turn an inherently rewarding experience into something people just barely stomach in exchange for a paycheck.”

This is true of my experience at my alma mater. When I first joined the Electeronics Engineering, Majoring in Computer degree programme at Multimedia University I had this naive assumption that by our third year we would ‘making our own computers’. Growing up reading stories of the likes of Jobs and Woz had got me hyped up on computers and filled with ideas of building my own systems. This coupled with seeing the company that built the computer I grew up using die a slow and painful death filled me with desire to make good on the promise of a platform other then the Windows PC. ( The company was Commodore, I had an Amiga 500 and then moved on to an Amiga 1200 as the rest of my friends moved on to using IBM PCs – but that’s a whole different story.)

Little did I know that Multimedia University was anything but an opportunity to actually learn computing of any type. I went from class to class filled with lecturers whose only concern was to flip through as many slides as possible and mark out portions that were to come out for exams. And these were subjects I was looking forward to attend like Computer Organisation and Architecture, Operating Systems, Digital Logic Design, Java Programming and OOP Programming. Instead of challenging us to think and understand, these subjects were thought in a rote manner that prioritised memorisation and regurgitation. That, coupled with the need to slog through subjects that I was not at all interested in (Basic Electronics, Micro Electronics), thought by lecturers who were even more disinterested left me disillusioned and depressed by the first year.

Going from class to class, surrounded by people who couldn’t give a rats ass about computers and computing was also really depressing. This was true for both students as well as the lecturers! We had this rubbish end of semester evaluation system where students would evaluate the lecturers, and it was the lecturers who gave more printed notes and gave exam tips that got the higher scores. This further prompted these lecturers to create exams and quizzes that was memorisation and rote based. The system rewarded mediocrity. It was the tyranny of the disinterested.

Of course, there were some bright sparks like Man Kein Hong (C programming tutor), R.Logeswaran (Compilers and Translators, rocking subject, Software Engineering, an ultimate waste of time subject)  and Ian Chai (Database systems, Algorithims and Data Structures). These were pretty much the bright sparks I had in 4 years of a degree programme. To be fair, I have heard that the IT Faculty was better, but somehow I doubt it.

At the end of the day, the only thing that makes that 4 years worth it is being introduced to Linux. And meeting interesting people. The hallway, late night conversations. And yes of course, the hostel unlimited Internet connectivity (which I here they are planning on charging for now).

Looking at the recorded videos of classes from places like MIT and Berkley, I feel a pang of jealousy. “Why can’t we have lecturers like these ?”. Well I guess we can, courtesy of the Internet, its just that they are not in our classrooms or where our tuition fees are going to. I just wish the students would look at these videos and the quality of the teaching and  actually demand more from our university lecturers (MMU and any other Malaysian university), instead of asking for more tips. I guess at some level we are getting what we deserve.