It’s been a long while since the last time I wrote something on this blog… well, during the past couple of months, I’ve been having a long holiday, done a couple of projects, and more. But that’s not the point of this post, as those are quite usual compared to other holidays I had in the past.

As some of you may have know already, I celebrated my 21st birthday last week. It’s not about the birthday, but it’s about being 21 years old. Somehow the old thoughts about future are coming back. (p.s. thanks everyone for the birthday wishes btw… )

Based on my observations on some peoples, actually I’m a bit early about thinking about life, as some others say they’re going to think about it later when they graduate, when they turn 25, or some even want to play until their 40s.

But for me, planning life as early as possible is a must (how perfectionist is that ). I am already in my 7th semester, currently doing thesis and looking forward to graduate in about half a year. So, what should I do next?

In the recent weeks, several new tasks comes to me. Thesis, competition, projects, etc. Somehow, I tend to think more when loaded with tasks (think of a Pentium M processor with SpeedStep technology - it works at a faster clock when the workload is high). So that’s may be the reason why this though is coming back.

So, what should I do after I graduate? There are many choices actually, which are :

• Start a career in software engineering. Fortunately, I actually got an interview with Google Sydney next week, so we’ll see whether going there is the right way to go. While working, it may be possible to take a Masters degree with part time coursework. Google is currently quoted as the best employer to work for, so getting a chance to start right there is very valuable.
• Continue for a Ph.D degree in Singapore (or somewhere else). At first, this choice was very interesting. But then, when I tried some research work (while preparing for my thesis), it wasn’t that fun anymore. A lot of the research work is actually reading and re-reading papers from previous work, and currently presenting new ideas in research is quite not easy. It has to be proven to be a new idea, connected to all relevant previous works, etc. This makes working as Software Engineer more interesting, because it is more into “creating cool stuffs that works”.
• Continue to a Master’s degree and decide where to go after that. This choice may look good at the beginning, but if I’m going to continue to a Ph.D degree from here, it will eventually take more time to complete (and more work in total as well). If I’m going into the IT industry, then a Master’s degree may be a good start for a good employment (in lieu of work experience, may be or may not be).
• what else? do you have any idea?

Even more things comes in mind if I consider planning for a longer timeframe. How about getting married? How about retirement? things like that. But for the time being, I think I should focus on these short-term decisions first.

By the way, the new semester is starting. I am enrolled for two courses (Monday and Tuesday) as well as appointed to teach for a lab class on Wednesday. I will be free on Thursday and Friday, but I think the time should be spent doing thesis. Ah yes, I opted to take one lab manual project too. Hopefully it’ll be useful for the next batches of Binusians after I left the university.

Another competition, the Google Code Jam 2008 - onsite regionals is coming close too. I will be in Sydney next week, for about a week there. Competition, interviews, and sightseeing will be the main activities. I actually didn’t expect this to happen before, but it’s a nice break from the routine days in Jakarta whatsoever. Preparing for the event was quite a bit of work, which include applying for the visa (lots of documents), as well as preparing for the competition itself (hasn’t practiced a lot, actually). Fortunately it’s a couple of weeks holiday after I get back, so there should be enough time to catch up with other tasks.

These activities, tasks, really makes me feel that my life is “starting”. A lot of responsibilities, tasks, which calls for an efficient way to be solved in time.

What do you think?

-Kurniady