The secret to NAIT

According to me (and only me) here is my secret to Graduating one of the most difficult courses at NAIT. (or how I did it anyways)

First off, I graduated Computer Engineering Technology. Not the toughest course, by any streatch... but it did place number 6 when I was in the middle of it.

The first semester was the weed out semester. Classes were sorta demanding, alot of homework... It just really killed the idiots and the people without "logical thought processes".

Computers are easy... you just have to understand the rules.

I guess like parachuting. Gravity takes you down. We don't want to go down so fast. Parachutes resist gravity.

Those rules are really all that apply. Everything is based on that and with logical thought; you can figure anything you need from those rules.

So... first semester past... it got substantially more difficult. The classes got smaller (lost 1/3 from first semester) the homework got more demanding and the learning curve increased by a factor of 2.

Not so bad.

Third semester (second year, first semester) was a little more... hectic.

There was an exponential increase in difficulty, an exponential decrease in class size.

Fourth semester... that was less difficult than third, but the homework was more.

For the final programming project; I ended up putting in at least 1 all nighter a week. Never mind everything else.

When you close your eyes and see computer workings. When you blink and see the last output on a computer screen. When you eat, you pull out your last subroutine and walk through it more than 20 times; thats when you know you are exceeding a limit of some sort.

just over 100 people entered Computer Engineering Technology.

Just under 20 people graduated in the two years we're expected.

How did I do it?

Pool.

Very simple. It was an active meditation.

Every hour of class, I at least played a game of pool.

Every game, I would see the confusion in my mind become the balls on the table (after the break).

Every game, evey ball that was sunk, I would visualize some piece of information being put away into its place.

Taking the complex and making it simple.

Taking chaos and making order.

After that, I would sit down to program, and for the next chunk; I could just pour code. Working code none the less.

And the teachers were supportive of my strange routines and rituals.

Thursdays were pie days. I would return from lunch with a full pie (I love cullinary arts class)... and plates for whomever wanted them. At least a half pie would go into my belly... listening to the prof while cutting and eating.

(I always sat front center too... right under that "no food or drink allowed in lab" sign.)