The GRE

I took the GRE this morning. I survived. I marginally conquered, even. I didn't rock its socks off, but I did well enough to not hinder my chances at getting accepted into an engineering graduate school, and that's what's really at stake. As I was studying for the test, my primary concern was with my vocabulary, but I soon discovered there were a handful of mathematical challenges that I've forgotten how to tackle. For example, what's the sum of the integers between 1 and 50? Normally, I would write a simple, single-line BeanShell script to tell me, but without the aid of scripting or GRE practice, I would have inevitably embarked upon the time consuming, brute force path. Now I know that you just take the average of the first and last integers (25.5 in this case) times the number of integers (which is equal to the last number minus the first, plus one--50). Allow me verify my standard and new found approaches with some interactive BeanShell action:

bsh % t = 0; for(i = 1; i <= 50; ++i) t+=i; print(t); bsh % bsh % 1275 bsh % print(25.5 * 50.0); 1275.0

1275. Nice. (By the way, did you know that a 30°-60°-90° triangle's sides will have lengths proportional to 1, 2, and √3?). Another area of concern I didn't initially take into consideration was stamina. This became apparent to me as I ran through a practice test, and was verified on the actual test itself. I was struggling to stay focused towards the end. Maybe my low stamina is attributable towards my disengagement from scholarly pursuits over the past five years--or maybe I wore myself out by listening to too many of DragonForce's 200bpm shred-filled epics. In any case, thank God for getting me through this and onto the next challenges that await.

The Master Plan

I'm considering getting my Masters of Engineering. I've bounced the idea off Katie, our parents, Pastor Steve, even, and they've all felt that it would be a good thing to do. I find that reassuring and encouraging. I'm not sure why they think I should get a Masters, but here are my reasons:

• To Justify My "Engineer" Title: Even though I'm a Computer Science graduate from UVA's School of Engineering and my job title is "Software Engineer," I don't feel like a true Engineer. True Engineers apply math and science to create value-added products. I use no math or science whatsoever. I'm leaning towards a degree in Systems Engineering, which is admittedly not as true of a discipline as mechanical or electrical engineering, but it should make me more of an Engineer than just Computer Science.
• To Increase My Employment Potential: I have no intentions to leave my job, but just in case there happens to be a particularly turbulent recession (or depression) as the US transitions from a consumer-based to a production-based nation, I will want to have a job. Traditionally during recessions/depressions, the more education you have, the better chance you have at getting/keeping a job.
• To Increase My Compensation Potential: Chances are that with higher education I could earn more pay than I would with just a Bachelor's degree. One of my goals is to allow Katie to be a full-time mom, meaning our family would just get by on my income. Being able to earn more pay would, obviously, help towards that goal.
• To Help the USA: In order for the US economy to be truly strong, it will need to produce more, and that's going to require engineers.

As of now, I'm planning on appling to the Commonwealth Graduate Engineering Program. I'm scheduled to take my GREs by the end of this month. I just need to find some referrals.