At approximately 6:15pm EST tonight, I handed in my final project paper. Assuming it's met with any measure of approval by the instructor, I am DONE with grad school. Life is good.

Now I'll have much more time to play roller hockey, practice on the drums, and, of course, sneak a little bit of empeg hacking in. Big things planned for the next release of emphatic.

But boy, does it feel good to be done school. If any of you ever have an opportunity to pursue an advanced degree while you're working a 40+ hour day job... Well... Don't plan on having much time to smell the roses. Now I'll get to see what all those regular workin' folks are doin' when quittin' time comes 'round.

Well done. Now you can catch up with all the rose sniffing you missed over the past few years.
Here, hava a pat on the back.

congrats,to you.movin on up.

Excellent - fingers crossed it goes down well.
Of course, you'll end up missing grad school in a few years

<Awaiting emphatic developments with interest>

Of course, you'll end up missing grad school in a few years

As hard as that is to believe right now, the way my job's been going, maybe I should just hide myself in a PhD degree for a few years and become a professor.

Congratulations! Time to take a couple weekends off and go to the beach. Let the sound of the waves wash away everything and relax.

maybe I should just hide myself in a PhD degree for a few years and become a professor.

Oh, what should I write here... on one hand, grad school should not be confused for undergrad school. As a grad student, you're basically an employee and your professor/advisor is like your boss. You work as hard as you'd work in a commercial company for not a whole lot of money. In 1998, a PhD in CS could get you some very sweet jobs in research labs if academia wasn't for you. These days, most of those lab jobs are gone. That puts a lot more pressure on academia to hire the PhD production, radically changing the shape of the supply/demand curve. You have to be more willing to live in the middle-of-nowhere to take an academic job today than you had to be back in 1998 (when I got my job).

On the other hand... I'm always looking for good graduate students. If working on computer security interests you, and having an advisor who appreciates your empeg habit is something you think is a good idea, give me a call...

Oh, what should I write here... on one hand, grad school should not be confused for undergrad school. As a grad student, you're basically an employee and your professor/advisor is like your boss. You work as hard as you'd work in a commercial company for not a whole lot of money.

Yeah... In some respects it would be a step backwards. It's just an idea I've been toying with, especially with things changing for the worse at my company.

In 1998, a PhD in CS could get you some very sweet jobs in research labs if academia wasn't for you. These days, most of those lab jobs are gone. That puts a lot more pressure on academia to hire the PhD production, radically changing the shape of the supply/demand curve.

That's a very interesting perspective. I figured the recent changes in the IT industry had affected PhD's as well, but I figured a lot of them would have just switched gears and drifted towards senior technical jobs outside of the educational system. Guess it makes sense that it'd also create a glut of wanna-be professors.

On the other hand... I'm always looking for good graduate students. If working on computer security interests you, and having an advisor who appreciates your empeg habit is something you think is a good idea, give me a call...

Well, interestingly enough I do computer security work for a living. Not quite as advanced as what you're doing, I'm sure, but that'd certainly be a direction I would be looking at if I did pursue a PhD. But I'd definitely have to evaluate the pros and cons some more before taking any serious steps in that direction.

Tony, congratulations! Those "done!" days are memorable. Like when you go to lift a Coke can that you think is full but it's empty? Almost a body buzz....a glow.

I got lucky with grad school -- found a full-time job at the university and then used that to wrangle school half-time, essentially for free. But I *do* remember what it was like to: Work full-time graveyards while taking a full load including clinical stuff during the day (and giving 10 hours a week to a political campaign and stupidly deciding to be a Big Brother at the same time!). Was I younger, or what?

Guess it makes sense that it'd also create a glut of wanna-be professors.

I'd say that there is a glut of wanna-be *everythings*. I was lucky to meet and work with an independent (PhD) systems consultant (from New Jersey) on my last project who is perhaps the most accomplished guy I've ever met in that line of work -- amazing resume and great industry connections. He is scrambling right now, taking whatever crumbs he can turn up. He'll do fine, I think, especially as he's very pragmatic about those "crumbs".

We had a few guys go back to school last year. All I could say was "great idea". I think it is stil a great time to duck out of the job market if you can find a funded way to go to school for a year or two.

Well, time to file my first-ever unemployment claim! (Hmmmm, wonder if Mr. Wallach has any telecommute spots? Ummmm, doubt I'd have the quals even with my freshly printed [insert very small back pat] CISSP. ) I will definitely be working to use unemployment academic/retraining benefits if it comes to that.

Again, congrats!

I'd say that there is a glut of wanna-be *everythings*. I was lucky to meet and work with an independent (PhD) systems consultant (from New Jersey) on my last project who is perhaps the most accomplished guy I've ever met in that line of work -- amazing resume and great industry connections. He is scrambling right now, taking whatever crumbs he can turn up. He'll do fine, I think, especially as he's very pragmatic about those "crumbs".

Hmm. Another interesting perspective. The independent route seemed really smart 5 years ago. These days it seems a lot harder to sustain.

We had a few guys go back to school last year. All I could say was "great idea". I think it is stil a great time to duck out of the job market if you can find a funded way to go to school for a year or two.

Yeah, getting my masters was an easy decision becuase I did it at night, and my company paid for it. The next step would be a much larger one that would require me to quit work and do it full time. It's certainly something I'm considering, but I'm a little scared to make any moves at this particular moment in time.

Well, time to file my first-ever unemployment claim! (Hmmmm, wonder if Mr. Wallach has any telecommute spots? Ummmm, doubt I'd have the quals even with my freshly printed [insert very small back pat] CISSP. ) I will definitely be working to use unemployment academic/retraining benefits if it comes to that.

Telecommuting to a PhD? No way would that work. Part of the whole point is the camraderie of being in the lab, late at night with a deadline only two hours away, frantically running your latest experiment and hacking the results into the paper before it has to ship. Besides, part of the required portion of a PhD program is being physically present to act as a teaching assistant for courses.

But seriously, if any of you guys want to seriously consider joining a PhD program, e-mail me or give me a call. And, if you specifically want to work on computer security, I know most of the players, so I could help you run down your options (assuming I couldn't talk you into coming to Houston).

Also, there's more than one way to get into a comfy research job. Right now, we've got funding to hire a staff programmer to work on security for peer-to-peer systems, but we haven't started a serious job search yet. If you're comfortable writing networking code, give me a call.