ÿþ<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <title>Former EECS Students</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="HomeTheme.css" type="text/css" xmlns=""> <META NAME="description" Content="Software Engineering course notes. Code Samples. Software Links"/> <META NAME="keywords" Content="Lecture, Notes, Code, Syracuse,University"/> <META NAME="Author" Content="Jim Fawcett"/> <META NAME="Author" Content="James Fawcett"/> </head> <body> <a name="Penultimate" xmlns=""></a> <center xmlns=""><h1>EECS Graduates</h1></center> <center xmlns=""> Revised: 28 June 2008<hr> </center> <div class="hilight" xmlns=""><center><a href="FawcettHome.htm">Home</a>  <a href="Courses.htm">Courses</a>  <a href="SoftwareTrack.htm">SWTrack</a>  <a href="Code.htm">Code</a>  <a href="http://www.ecs.syr.edu/faculty/fawcett/handouts">Handouts</a>  <a href="StudentCultures.htm">StudCult</a>  <a href="CoreTechnologies.htm">CoreTech</a>  <a href="Books.htm">Books</a>  <a href="Articles.htm">Articles</a>  <a href="Mathematics.htm">Math</a>  <a href="research.htm">Research</a>  <a href="CaseProjects.htm">CASE Projects</a>  <a href="Projects.htm">Project Topics</a>  <a href="swdev.htm">SWDev</a>  <a href="webdev.htm">WebDev</a>  <a href="news.htm">News</a>  <a href="OtherLinks.htm">OtherLinks</a>  <a href="SiteDesign.htm">SiteDesign</a>  <a href="graduates.htm">Graduates</a>  <a href="AllPages.htm">AllPages</a>  <a href="OfficeHours.htm">Office Hours</a>  <a href="BrownBagSeminar.htm">Seminars</a>  <a href="notices.htm"><span class="notice">Notices</span></a>  <a href="#contents">Contents</a></center></div><hr xmlns=""> <div class="hilight" xmlns=""><center><a href="CSE681.htm">CSE681-SWMAA</a>  <a href="CSE686.htm">CSE686-IP</a>  <a href="CSE687.htm">CSE687-OOD</a>  <a href="CSE775.htm">CSE775-DO</a>  <a href="CSE776.htm">CSE776-DP</a>  <a href="CSE778.htm">CSE778-AWP</a>  <a href="CSE784.htm">CSE784-SWS</a></center></div><hr xmlns=""> <br xmlns=""><center xmlns=""> " Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. "<br> - John F. Kennedy, from a speech never delivered on the day of his assassination, November 22, 1963</center><br xmlns=""><br xmlns=""> <a name="contents" xmlns=""></a> <center xmlns=""><img src="students/careerfair.jpg" width="400"></center> <center xmlns="">Charles Duze, Gang Cheng, and Shreeniwas Kelkar<br>Microsoft Employees and Former Students <br>During Career Fair Fall 2005</center> <hr xmlns=""><br xmlns=""> <h2 xmlns="">Support for Job searches:</h2> Here are links to the resumes' of <a href="./students/DhavalTrivedi.doc" xmlns="">Dhaval Trivedi</a>, <a href="./students/ResumeGhanashyamN.pdf" xmlns="">Ghanashyam Namboodiripad</a> and <a href="./students/ResumeTilakPatel.doc" xmlns="">Tilak Patel</a> that are very good examples of how to prepare one. Note the emphasis on accomplishments. Many of you will not have all the great experience they describe, never-the-less, the style and intent are worthy of emulation. <p xmlns=""></p> <span class="note" xmlns="">Latest Links:</span>   <br xmlns=""> <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=2789&amp;id=crs_2789" xmlns="">Great resume advice</a> <br xmlns=""> <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=2782&amp;id=crs_2782" xmlns="">Your cover letter says I don't want this job</a>, <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=2780&amp;id=crs_2780" xmlns="">interview skills</a> <br xmlns=""> <span class="note" xmlns="">Links in reverse Chronological order - newest at the top. Some of the best are toward the bottom.</span><br xmlns=""> <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=2182&amp;id=crs_2182" xmlns="">10 Steps to interview success</a>  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=2136&amp;id=crs_2136" xmlns="">Communication Skills</a>  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=2026&amp;id=crs_2026" xmlns="">No Generic Cover Letters</a>  <a href="http:///www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1903&amp;id=crs_1903" xmlns="">Hidden Job Market</a>  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1851&amp;id=crs_1851" xmlns="">How not to write a resume</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1826&amp;id=crs_1826" xmlns="">6 interview mistakes</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1680&amp;id=crs_1680" xmlns="">Start your Cover Letter with a Bang</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1681&amp;id=crs_1681" xmlns="">Top 10 Interview Questions</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1670&amp;id=crs_1670" xmlns="">Get Hired by Following up</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1651&amp;id=crs_1651" xmlns="">Six Interview Mistakes</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1640&amp;id=crs_1640" xmlns="">Three Cover Letter Mistakes</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1612&amp;id=crs_1612" xmlns="">Answering Key Interview Questions</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1597&amp;id=crs_1597" xmlns="">Cover letter mistakes, including not writing one</a>,   <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1598&amp;id=crs_1598" xmlns="">Resumes with character</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1572&amp;id=crs_1572" xmlns="">Negotiating Salary</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1535&amp;id=crs_1535" xmlns="">Killer Headlines</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/careerdev/index.htm?type=topics&amp;topic=interviewing&amp;id=224" xmlns="">Ten Qualities Interviewers Look For</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1478&amp;id=crs_1478" xmlns="">Employer's Concerns</a>,  <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/techtalk/archive/2005/8/8.aspx" xmlns="">Microsoft on MS Interviews</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1423&amp;id=crs_1423" xmlns="">Seven secrets for writing cover letters</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1424&amp;id=crs_1424" xmlns="">Three things recruiters look for in a resume'</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1425&amp;id=crs_1425" xmlns="">Preparation for an interview</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1413&amp;id=crs_1413" xmlns="">How not to write a resume'</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1414&amp;id=crs_1414" xmlns="">Communication Skills</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1415&amp;id=crs_1415" xmlns="">Likeability Factor</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1171&amp;id=crs_1171" xmlns="">cover letters</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1243&amp;id=crs_1243" xmlns="">Summary/Objective</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/careerdev/index.htm?type=topics&amp;topic=resume&amp;op=cd-list" xmlns="">resumes</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1208&amp;id=crs_1208" xmlns="">Obvious ways to get hired</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1217&amp;id=crs_1217" xmlns="">Why should we hire you?</a>,  <a href="http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&amp;ch=1218&amp;id=crs_1218" xmlns="">Effective cover letter</a>,  <a href="http://www.sellsbrothers.com/fun/msiview/" xmlns="">www.sellsbrothers.com - interview sidebar</a>  <h2 xmlns="">Are you a former student?</h2> Please send a digital photo and paragraph describing your work: <a href="mailto:jfawcett@twcny.rr.com" xmlns="">mail home</a><br xmlns=""> <h2 xmlns="">Graduates:</h2> <table padding="10px" border="1" border-color="green" xmlns=""> <tr> <td><img src="students/RahulAgarwal.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Rahul Agarwal<br>MSCS 2003</center></td> <td> I am currently working as a Software Design Engineer at Yahoo!, California and am part of a Small Business Engineering group. We provide a web application that enables businesses to run online. The service must be fast, highly available, and continue to scale. This poses very interesting challenges in distributed programming, system architecture, efficient program design and deployment issues. <p></p> The 4 courses I took at Syracuse under the guidance of Dr Fawcett are instrumental for my work and I can only wish now that I should have also taken Software Studio. My work involves designing, development in C++ (with some Perl for scripting) on Unix. <p></p> Thank you Dr. Fawcett for working so hard in designing and explaining courses. I wish you a great health. </td> </tr> <tr> <td>John Alabastro<br>MSCS 1997<br>Syracuse University</td> <td> I was your student in OOP last 1997. After getting my MS, I worked in a Software Development company in Rochester for over a year and afterwards, moved to San Jose and opened a branch for that company. I spearheaded all major software development projects for 2 years before moving back to the Philippines.<p></p> I am now president of a holding company in Manila which has investments in a software development company, IT School, and others. I don't program anymore but I still look over the technical development of our programmers. I just wrote to say thanks and hope that you are doing OK! </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/shafiq98.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Shafiq Ahmed<br>MSCS 1998</center></td> <td class="top"> In August 1998, I joined the Language and Compiler group in Digital Equipment Corporation, which later became a part of Compaq, and then on to become part of HP in 2003. Under the supervision of some fine engineers in compiler technology, I became a "code-writer with least problems" for two math run time libraries and two user interfaces. I've been a major contributor to six projects, and project leader and technical leader for three projects.<p></p> I got married in 2000 to a wonderful lady. Dr. Fawcett was present to bless us. In 2002, I became naturalized. Today, at work and home, people count on me, and that is a great satisfaction. </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/GabrielAtallah.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Gabriel Atallah<br>MSCS 2005</center></td> <td class="top"> I graduated from Syracuse University as a Master's in Computer Science in May 05. I am currently back in Lebanon, working for CME Offshore as a software developer. It is a US company based in California that is outsourcing to Lebanon. All my work is in .NET currently being focused on web development. I am working on a web application now that handles forensics and I am dealing with real life cases and it's pretty cool. And the good part about it is that all the clients are US customers and so I get to travel to the States. Who knows next time we'll maybe have a client in Syracuse. <p></p> One advice to the people reading this. Take ALL of Dr. Fawcett's courses if you plan to work as a developer. Start all the way from Software Modeling and Analysis (extremely important) to OOD, also very important because then any other project you have in your work era won't take as long to complete so you will be prepared. <p></p> I will end this Bio by giving a big thank you to you, Dr Fawcett, and next time I come to the States if it happens to be Syracuse we'll go have a drink together. </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/ArjunAyyar.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Arjun Ayyar<br>MSCE 2005</center></td> <td class="top"> Hope this finds you in great health and the best of cheer.<p></p> I have been working at Autodesk Inc. since the time I graduated. It has been a great 2.5 years. During this time I have been working as a software developer. I work for a research and development group within the company called the Advance Development Group and am based out of Manchester, New Hampshire. What makes my job interesting is that though our company is a product based company (AutoCAD, Inventor, Revit Architecture to name a few), the group for which I work is not directly associated with any one product. we try to be a little ahead of the regular development cycle, working on prototypes that incorporate the latest in technology that we think could be used in one of the many products. This requires us to be the  Jack of all trades but master of none type people. I find that fun though because we get to work on new things all the time. For example: right now I am involved in an initiative to make various products within the company interoperable. We are using the  Package File concept (essentially a zip file that contains required metadata) to transfer useful information between each product. <p></p> A great percentage of what I have been doing has been based on C#, Visual C++ and MFC (It just seems so painful to use MFC after having worked with winforms :-)). None of this would have been possible without the excellent education that you gave. The 2 years that I spent at SU provided me with the tools required to face the real world. A lot of friends that had the good fortune of having taken your courses talk about the content of your courses and how helpful they have been for us, but for me that is just one tiny part of the whole picture. What is most important for me is that I could and still do look up to you as a role model. I wish I could have the same amount of energy and positive attitude that you used to bring to the class. I remember with great fondness the late nights at CST and MADLAB and I believe it was completely worth it. It taught me the importance of sticking to deadlines and to this day I am able to bring that to use when I am running against time to get things done at work. <p></p> With regards, Arjun </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/sid.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Siddhartha Azad<br>MSCS 2002</center></td> <td class="top"> I am currently working as a Software Engineer at Bloomberg LP. Apart from financial programming, I have been designing Object Oriented Servers and frameworks. Currently I am working on a Framework for Backup of Critical Servers using Concurrent Design Patterns.<p></p> I graduated from SU with CIS degree in 2002, and apart from OOD and Design Patterns, I also completed an exciting research on C++ Beans, under Dr. Fawcett's guidance. My interets are Design Patterns, Concurrent Programming and contemporary technologies."<br> [Picture taken following excellent M.S. Thesis Defense - Jim Fawcett] </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/HariBalasubramanian.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Hariharan Balasubramanian<br>MSCE 2001</center></td> <td class="top"> I joined Microsoft at Seattle with the MSN explorer team. I've worked on start to end milestones on MSN8, a consumer friendly MSN web browser product, that our team successfully shipped in October 2002. The components I worked on included an array of features like E-Mail, Calendar, tasks, and printing. This product made it easier for users to manage e-mail, using enhanced junk mail filtering, handle digital photos and browse the Web. <p></p> Currently I'm working for MSN9 Client team, which is an enhanced MSN8 browser version with some new added functionalities. I work with Software written in C++ and develop test Libraries using Window's script components and Jscript, to test our API's and local databases. I took some interesting software courses like OOD and software studio while I was doing my Master's in SU. Those courses helped me a lot getting my job as well dealing with my current projects at Microsoft. </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/AvinashBhat.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Avinash Bhat<br>MSCS 2007</center></td> <td class="top"> Dear Dr Fawcett,<p></p> I joined Syracuse University in Spring 06 and graduated in Fall 07. During my masters in Computer Science I took three wonderful courses under you, OOD, SMA and DO. I must say these courses changed my approach towards computer programming. When I was making my decision to join Syracuse University a couple of my friends (former students) suggested me to go thru your website and courses offered by you. Looking at those courses I decided I must take them. I must say I was not at all disappointed and very glad that I joined Syracuse University. <p></p> I am currently working for Acme Packet (Burlington MA) as a software engineer in Security and Lawful Intercept team. My role is to design and develop new features for Acme products. We work mainly on VxWorks with C++ as our primary programming language with a bit of C. I realized the power, beauty and importance of OOD once I started working here. I have to admit that your course made my life very easy (in your words piece of cake). Our system is large and uses all the hardcore C++ fundamentals but getting used to it was not that tough (I was very comfortable dealing with code using smart pointers). We here follow a similar coding practice (standards) as you suggest in OOD. Knowledge gained in SMA is helping me every time I prepare functional specifications and design documents. I was able impress our architect by presenting designs that were created using the ideas from SMA. I have completed a year in Acme Packet now. During this one year I have finished two major development projects and few minor enhancements to Acme products. I also developed simple testbed for the developers in my team and automated a performance evaluation tool. <p></p> In plain words your courses have immensely helped in proving my skills at work and being successful all in the assignments given to me. I strongly agree with every one's opinion that Dr Fawcett's courses are a must. Thanks a lot professor for all the help support and guidance. <p></p>Regards, Avinash </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/eshwara2.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Eshwar Balasu<br>MSCE 2003</center></td> <td class="top"> I am currently working for Sun Microsystems, Burlington. Our group is responsible for the network-attached storage (NAS) box and a midrange disk array that uses virtualization technology to pool storage capacity from the discs. My job involves in providing the user interface to the NAS box. I felt , all these work related challenges, deadlines, and requirements are no different to the projects we had in your classes. Thank you, for the energy in your class .....it's been a great inspiration for us. <p></p> Eshwar </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/Neil_Basak1.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Neil Basak<br>MSCS 2004</center></td> <td class="top"> I graduated in May 2004 with Masters degrees in CIS and and Information Management(IM). During my long stint of 3.5 years at Syracuse, I interned thrice - once with Microsoft and twice with Fidelity Investments.<p></p> I currently work as a Project Manager for a Business Systems team at Fidelity, Boston. The five courses I took with Dr. Fawcett were invaluable, as I learned to patiently read and improvise on code functionality. My ability to read and write different types of code has made me an asset at work.<p></p> Currently, I am the technical lead on National sales campaigns at Fidelity. I use business intelligence tools, MS SQL, ORACLE SQL and several reporting tools to report on business performance. I use the writing skills acquired in Software Modeling and Software Studio to effectively write technical and businesses requirement specifications. In all, in my current job, I am happy to leverage the breadth of the skills I acquired at SU. Thank you Sir, <p></p> Smile and Go Orange! </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/AmeyBordikar.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Amey &amp; Maitrayee Bordikar<br>MSCE 2003</center></td> <td class="top"> Dear Dr. Fawcett: <p></p> I had taken some of your courses, OOD (Spring 02), Design Patterns, etc. Currently I am an Architect with Haymarket Media Inc (http://www.haymarket.com/) and heading their development effort here in USA. Your courses (especially OOD &amp; DP) laid the perfect ground work on top of my experience then. I still refer to my OOD notes, to get back to basics, and also use them and some of your current material to teach my juniors. But your mentoring has helped me the most in my day to day dealings. <p></p> Here at HMI, I have developed a Content Management System that handles all of our websites using Asp.Net, but is based on a flavor of the MVC design pattern, and also uses other patterns like Dependency Injection, Open Session in View, etc, and uses some open source projects such as nHibernate, and log4net. <p></p> I would love to stay in touch with you after a gap of so many years - Amey Bordikar </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/rajshree2.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Rajshree Chabukswar<br>MSCE 2000</center></td> <td class="top"> I am currently working with Intel Corporation as a Software Engineer. Our group works with different software vendors to optimize their applications for Intel architectures.<p></p>In the past two years, I have worked with a couple of software vendors, helping them design and implement their future products. The development platform is Windows with C/C++. The knowledge and skills learned from your courses help me in my current job. Thanks!! </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/NanditaChakraborti2.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Nandita Chakraborti<br>MSCE 2007</center></td> <td class="top"> Hi Dr Fawcett, Hope you are doing well. As you know, I joined SIG (Susquehanna International Group) in July as a Technology Associate. These two months have been really good. It started off with a month of training about various disciplines and business divisions here at SIG. We received an excellent overview about how the stock exchange works, how stocks are traded, how stock price is determined, investment banking and the like. SIG is a trading firm which is very leveraged by cutting-edge technology. <p></p> There are around 1500 employees working at SIG worldwide and about 400 of them are part of the information technology team. SIG develops software which allows its market makers to trade options on various domestic and international stock exchanges and indexes (DOW, NASDAQ, AMEX, NYSE, etc.) and abroad. There are also various, non-trading, applications designed and developed internally for company wide use. <p></p> For the past two months as a part of the Technology Associates (TA) Program, I'm working with a team which develops non-trading applications. My work, currently focuses on ASP.NET (Ajax &amp; C#), VB &amp; .NET and a lot of Microsoft SQL Server + Oracle. It has been really fun juggling between different languages and different database tools. I learned a lot about the software lifecycle and actually applied the skills I gained from being a Test Manager in Software Studio. In the TA Program, I also learned the importance of being a team player in a professional environment, thanks to the Teaching Assistantship (TA) for Object Oriented Design and Software Studio course. All your courses gave me a good perspective of working on existing applications and improving the already existing code. Your courses befit my experience here at SIG. Besides that SIG offers many great benefits like free tickets to baseball games, free breakfast and lunch everyday, visits to NYSE &amp; AMEX (as a part of new employee training) and lots of educational poker games. These two months have been amazing and I'm hoping to use everything I acquired from your courses in the future. You have really been a great mentor. <p></p> Regards &amp; Best Wishes, Nandita </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/GangCheng2.jpg" width="200" border=""> <img src="students/GangCheng3.jpg" width="200" border=""> <center>Gang Cheng<br>MSCS 2004</center></td> <td class="top"> After one and a half years in the Business Portal Group (part of Office Server Group), finally we are going to ship office 12. It's been a good product team. I enjoyed working in my team and learned a lot from my colleagues. However, to achieve my career goals, I decided to move on after RTM. I will transfer to SQL Server team as a dev (SDE). The team I will work in is a start-up team. Basically we're building a data platform that is structured and will scale out well. This will be the storage platform for a number of MSN services, e.g. MSN Space, Windows Live, etc. I can imagine the BIG challenges I will need to accomplish, yet with the experience that I learned in your courses, I think I am ready for it. <p></p> Hari &amp; Rohit, my colleagues and your former students, are doing great in MS. We always talk about courses taken from you and the life in SU. <p></p>[Earlier message]<br> I have been working at Microsoft for two months now. Everything is good. Currently I am a SDET in Content Management Server group using C# to write automation testing code. In our group, we have a tradition called  ring the bell  every time a feature crew checks in their code, they get a chance to ring the bell (It s a REAL one!) and let all the members get noticed and share the happiness. Luckily I was the first person to make it during this milestone. My lead even danced in the hall to cerebrate it. Surprise! No one expects a new hire can do that so soon. But I made it. I attribute this to you and your courses! <p></p> I took OOD, DP, IP, SMA and SWS. In some sense, your courses are even more challenging than the real work. Sometimes I miss your courses and every Friday morning s help session, they are part of my life! You are one of the best teachers I have ever met. Wish you all the best. <p></p> Gang Cheng </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/SijoCherian.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Sijo Cherian<br>MSCE 2004</center></td> <td class="top"> I graduated in MSCE 2004 and since then have been working with Virage Inc, Boston. We are a small group developing news broadcast capture, analysis and retrieval system. That involves juggling video encoding, speech recognition, speaker segmentation, machine translation and information retrieval, all for real-time-consious customers. I am involved in search engine retrieval and all steps of dev and release. <p></p> Dr Fawcett with his jokes about his Grandson and anecdotes from Radar industry, has blessed my life both at a personal and profession level. The real lessons of software design start with the basic understanding of 'things', e.g. deciding between 'is-a' or 'has-a'. Thats what OOD gave me. Design Patterns helped formalize this with patterns from Factory to ChainOfResponsibilities. And the 4AM project submissions taught valuable lessons-on-procrastination. Thank you, Professor ! <p></p> For the current students: Hang in there, learn your stuff well, believe in the Almighty, and be honest.<p></p> Thanks, Sijo Cherian </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/CharlieChung.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Charlie Chung<br>MSCS 2004</center></td> <td class="top"> Unlike Gang [Charlies' friend, also in the photo] in Seattle, I currently work in T-Mobile Manhattan as a BSS database engineer. My major responsibility is writing UNIX scripts and database implementations for T-Mobile wireless network for Manhattan and Long Island. <p></p> Sometimes, I remember the days that I studied in Syracuse. One of the best parts is taking your courses. And I love those jokes that you told us every time. I am very proud of myself that I took your course every semester since I came to Syracuse in 2003 fall. I think the best part for me is not learning the technique, but learning the way of solving problems and doing projects. Honestly speaking, you are the greatest professor that I ever met. <br> Best regards and have a wonderful summer time. <p></p> Charlie Chung </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/PrateekDalvi.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Prateek Dalvi<br>MSCE 2004</center></td> <td class="top"> I have been with Nokia Mobile Phones (CDMA division) from July '04. My job as a SW UI Design Engineer involves maintaining Software Component Factories that make up the UI SW for the Nokia Phones. I am currently working on the Series 40 CDMA UI Software. The work involves mostly dealing with OOC (Object Oriented C) although designing is done in a higher level tool which is proprietary to Nokia. I deal with low level C code, byte packing algorithms, request/response type of communication between servers and clients ( called ISA architecture) and debugging code using phone simulators. <p></p> I have been in three of your courses and have learned a lot. I thought Studio is one of the best courses because the experience of teamwork and deadlines is very important even to the best programmer! OOD taught me the design principles that made my life easier when working with design groups. I also admire the fact that you allow your students to "figure out" your code, which is exactly what happens in the industry! This experience also was fruitful for me! Finally, thanks for your teachings and I hope you keep teaching those courses for a long time! </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/dastoor.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Dinshaw Dastoor<br>MSCS 2002</center></td> <td class="top"> I've joined Bloomberg's programming section, comprised of about 1300 programmers. All current developement is being done in C and C++. <p></p> My group is called the "Trading Systems/STP Feeds" group and I am in a subgroup that built a "workflow engine" which is an internal product that can be reconfigured for other subgroups use. It's a framework that uses an XML configuration file and accepts incoming data and dispatches the data as activities. The product is still being enhanced, and right now I am working on the serialization of generic classes. This uses interfaces and underlying ACE's [middleware] CDR_Stream through which we insert the host machine's Endian Byte order and then insert Standardized primitive data types. ACE is a framework for portable and robust C++ network programming. </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/SubhaDesikan.bmp" width="200" border=""><center>Subha Desikan<br>MSCS 2004</center></td> <td class="top"> Many thanks to Professor Fawcett for the remarkable amount of training he has imparted to me, in the various courses I have taken up with him: OOD, Design Patterns, SMA, COM, ... I have not just learned technology, but best practices, in design and development, and in the attitude one must adopt towards software engineering. His positive attitude and always helping tendency has really benefited me a great deal. I wish him the very best for all time !!<p></p> I am currently with Mphasis, working on a permanent contract with Fedex at Orlando, FL. Never dreamed I could escape snow this winter ! Fedex has a really huge set of software components working on Solaris, which take care of about 19 million service transactions per day. Their current software is not scalable, and will not be able to handle the expected increase in transactions to 20 million unless they port their software to Linux to cut costs, at the same time, ensuring affordable scalabillity. I am working on this porting initiative currently. <p></p> Best Regards, Subha </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/BrunoGoveas.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Bruno Goveas<br>MSCE 1999</center></td> <td class="top"> Hi Dr. Fawcett, Meena was discharged today from the hospital, after the birth of our daughter Ria. So far Ria has been very good, hope she continues that way. <p></p> As you know, I work for HP, currently for a division called Intelligent Fabric Engineering. We develop software to manage HP SANs. The plan is for me to start a parallel team in India. I will start one small project and then take it from there. <p></p> Things are fine with me. My MBA is almost over. If everything goes well the move back to India will occur in March, next year. All the concerned VPs have approved my proposed plan, I am currently working out minor details like the actual work, job title, salary etc.. <p></p> I will give you a call sometime when I get a chance and fill you in on everything. Hope you are keeping fine Dr. Fawcett. -Bruno </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/MuratGungor.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Murat Gungor<br>Ph.D. 2006</center></td> <td class="top"> Hi Dr. Fawcett:<p></p> After returning to Turkey, I started work at TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) as a Senior Researcher. The division in which I work mainly focuses on software development for governmental needs. I was lucky that I joined the team at the time when the software project officially began, which will be a good experience of an industrial size project from start to end. Three months have already passed but still we have not start coding yet, but are producing required documentations, such as the SRS, High Level Design Document etc. Now, I deeply understand the value of Software Studio, which was a useful practice from real software development life. <p></p> Up to now, my responsibility includes the analysis module for the project, which involves mostly data mining. The project will be implemented with Java and .NET - my part will be in Java. However, understanding the principles of OOP, OOA and OOD will be a great help. I only need to get familiar with the existing libraries and Java development tools. <p></p> With this occasion, I would like to express my gratitude to you one more time. You were a role model for me, not only for academic but also socially as well. <p></p> Respectfully, Murat Gungor, PhD </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/jiangang_guo.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Jiangang Guo<br>MSCE 1995</center></td> <td class="top"> I am currently working in the Information Technology unit of University of California at Davis. My responsibilities include development and maintenance of the campus wide financial information systems. <p></p> Before I joined UC Davis, I worked as a project leader at Oracle Corporation in Redwood City, California. My job was to design and develop Internet based E-Business software, including Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) applications. Through all these years, I greatly benefited from the knowledge and skills I learned at Syracuse University, especially from the graduate software design courses taught by Dr. Fawcett. I miss the golden years I spent at Syracuse. <!-- I am working as a project leader at Oracle Corporation in Redwood City, California. My job is designing and developing Internet based E-Business software, including Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) applications. My current project is a supply chain collaborative planning project.<p/> Before I joined Oracle four years ago, I designed and developed educational, medical and financial software systems in different companies. Through all these years, I greatly benefited from the knowledge and skills I learned in the software design courses at Syracuse. --> </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/AmolHardikar.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Amol Hardikar<br>MSCS 2004</center></td> <td class="top"> Hello Dr. Fawcett<p></p> I am a tester at Microsoft in the Windows Core OS Division. My group is responsible for delivering engineering technology and test tools for all of Windows. I spend most of my day writing C# code and the rest debugging it! <p></p> I use model-based testing approach i.e. designing a  model that mimics the expected behavior of the target software. A model can be thought of as a finite state machine, although it s more than that. I then automate the test cases generated by the model, using C# and sit back and watch the show! I am automating the target software s UI a lot these days and it is amusing to watch invisible hands manipulate the UI through a bunch of user scenarios. <p></p> Then there s testing internal components and APIs down below, where the light of the GUI never shines. Loads of text logs is the only eye-candy here. In my job I use knowledge of finite automata, graph theory, C# and .NET framework. Design Patterns steps in to help once in a while. Currently we re heads down and driving hard to ship Windows Vista. <p></p> Everything I learned at Syracuse University has helped me prepare for my career ahead. The courses I took under you have been particularly invaluable. Software Studio and Design Patterns courses probably had the most impact. I still have your course handouts and the gang of four s Design Patterns book next to me here at work. Yes, I refer to them too :) <p></p> Best Regards,<br> Amol Hardikar </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/PoHaoHsieh.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Po-Hoa Hsieh<br>MSCE 2007</center></td> <td class="top"> Life and study in Syracuse was great, and it was like yesterday as if you just smiled and said " yes and no ". During that time, I took SMA, OOD, IP, DP, and Studio from you and they were all great experiences. Learning from you and those smart students helped build my skills and confidence. <p></p> Currently I am working with Arphic Tech. in Taiwan. We sell computer fonts and my job is to maintain existing systems and to develop new ones. I use c/c++ and java at work mostly and probably will do c# on .Net framework on future projects. All those coding and design principles and techniques I learned in SU really help me to survive the real world, not to mention your demanding projects are just like the real-life projects. If one can survive your courses, he/she may definitely survive the professional world. <p></p> Here is a list of something I think I was benefited from or something I should do: Go to every help sessions even if you have to stay up all night long. No late projects, begin to work ASAP. Ask as many questions as you can, bother the TA's as much as possible. Polish your own code and feel the improvements. <p></p> At present time, it is the Chinese New Year, and many of us in Taiwan have a break for about a week. I wish you continue to have great health, spirits, and enjoy teaching in SU. You helped me develop a mind set to select software development as a career. Thank you, Sir, again and again. <p></p> Sincerely, Po-Hao Hsieh </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/YiYangHuang.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Yi-Yang Huang<br>MSSIS 2003</center></td> <td class="top"> I have good news and bad news. The good news is  Ya! I got a job. And the bad one is  Ah~~ I got to work, now! The new job is with a mobile phone company in Taipei which mainly serves ODM for Motorola. My current assignment is to build a cell phone simulator for PCs. So, everyday I have to review a lot of C code which formerly ran on cell phones. <p></p>Although I left America almost two months ago and haven t seen you for a while, I think of you very often. Every time I spend several hours trying to find out where a global variable comes from, I think about you. When I look at a function with 233 lines and it also contains some mysterious global functions, your face always pops up with a big smile and says  Now you know! Yes, now I know!<p></p> I have taken most of your courses and only have missed DP and IP (what a pity!). I still remember the midterm of OOD (wow!), the final project of SWMAA, the most complex stuff in the world (COM), the 10 choices of AWP and those nights with my team when I took Software Studio. I really liked all of them, although I nearly spent most of my time on them. It seems almost all of my graduate memory was to struggle with those interesting projects and your crucial requirements. However, to be honest, when I presented those projects in interviews and got more than 8 offers within two weeks I know I did something more than worthwhile in SU.<p></p> All I want to say is thank you. Maybe someday when you are too old to teach and even too old to remember yourself, I will take a break and fly to Syracuse. I can remind you some of your students (like Goldie!), those old jokes of yours (still remember most of them, ha!) and what a great teacher you are, dear Dr. <br> Don t worry; I ll always keep in touch! - Huang, Yi-Yang </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/SridharIyer.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Sridhar Iyer<br>MSCS 2007</center></td> <td class="top"> "The word "Fawcett" has become an adjective in Syracuse University. There are Fawcett courses, Fawcett Fan club, Fawcett quotes.. etc etc. I took two of them(SMA and OOD) and really loved the Object oriented Design course. IMHO It should be made a core course. I have never in my life seen such an energetic person with so much industrial and academic experience. What is more interesting is that he is really affable and can teach anyone to write the most elegant C++ code. Dr Fawcett.. I salute you .. and I am a "Fawcett Fan" for life. <p></p> I currently work as software engineer at Mailshell Inc, Santa Clara CA. Mailshell provides anti spam engines to larger software vendors (AVG antivirus suite, panda software, secure computing etc). My task is to enhance the engine's SDK and improve the classifier (bayesian, scoring based etc). In a regular day's work I use C/C++ with a bunch of throw away scripts in ruby, perl, bash etc(on Linux). I sometimes co-ordinate projects with an outsourced offshore team and the teachings from SMA has really helped me keep miscommunication to a bare minimum and progress more quantifiable. OOD on the other hand really helped in understanding and writing the advanced code I was exposed to after graduation in the industry. In fact I still find myself going to the website for help. </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/MontyJain.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Monty Jain<br>MSCS 2006</center></td> <td class="top"> I am curretly working as SDET in the AntiMalware Team at Microsoft. Our Team is responsible for delivering the core anti-malware engine to various Microsoft Security Products like Vista(Windows Defender), OneCare, MSRT, FCS, Messenger, Hotmail, Exchange etc. We help protect Windows customers against hackers and those bad guys who write malicious code. This is an exciting team since we have realeases every month, apart from other big releases. I work in C++, C, C#, Assembly etc. I am also working on an exciting project for rewriting our Test Infrastruture in Managed Code which wil test Unmanged Code. <p></p> Ever since I have joined this team it has grown and we have teams working in US, Australia, China, Ireland, and Israel. The team also gives me exposure to cross-group collabration. We have very tight schedules in terms of releases and those deadlines remind me of your deadlines (I was on time everytime). All the courses I took SMA, OOD and also my Independent study have helped me to achieve whatever I have (still long way to go). I still use your comment style and refer to projects we did in your courses. <p></p> Thanks Dr. Fawcett and SU for giving me this rewarding Career at Microsoft </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/amitkale.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Amit Kale<br>MSCS 2001</center></td> <td class="top"> It was a pleasant surprise to see this list of former students. I work in Syracuse for Select Energy (formerly Niagara Mohawk Energy Marketing) as a .NET developer. Though I was unfortunate to have graduated before the time .NET courses were included by Dr. Fawcett, the basics of OOD are always carried along and implemented, thanks to him. I took OOD and Software Studio at SU. Of these, I feel Studio is "high efforts high returns" course. It not only seasons you as a developer, but also improves your typing skills thanks to the specs and the Mid term! <p></p> I wish him good luck and health and hope he keeps teaching year after year. </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/jKamdar.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Jaimeen Kamdar<br>MSCS 2004</center></td> <td class="top"> Hello Dr Fawcett, I am doing fine here in Nokia, Dallas, Texas. I am working as an RF Engineer. I am in the design team developing RF units for a new GSM Mobile Base Station. I am also working on automated testing of those units. We use C++ for that. I have taken OOD and SW Studio offered by you. I think SW Studio is the best course offered in the department. When i joined Nokia, nothing looked new to me, everything worked exactly the way you showed us in Studio. My Manager is really impressed by the way i am communicating with other teams and working in groups. I dedicate all these to you Dr Fawcett and your beautiful courses. <p></p> I will keep in touch and also keep you updated with my progress. <p></p> Thanks for everything, Jaimeen. </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/SergeyKaramov.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Sergey Karamov<br>MSCS 2002</center></td> <td class="top"> Born in Baku, USSR<br> 1993  MS in Physics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology<br> 1996  Assistant Professor at Theoretical Physics Department of Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology<br> 2002  MS in Computer Science from Syracuse University<br> 2003  PhD in Physics from Syracuse University<br> 2004  Senior Software Engineer at Global Networking Solutions division of L3 Communications<br> 2006  Software Design Engineer at Microsoft Corporation, MED division, Image Update team<p></p> Since 2006 I've been working on Windows Devices Core OS Image Update team, part of Microsoft's Mobile and Embedded Devices initiatives, targeting mobile devices, entertainment devices, GPS and automotive devices. </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/ShreeniwasKelkar.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Shreeniwas Kelkar<br>MSCS 1999</center></td> <td class="top"> After completing my MS in Computer Science from SU in December 1999, I joined Microsoft Corp. to work for the Windows Security team. My team is responsible for most of the security features in Windows like Authorization, Authentication, Public Key Infrastructure, Credentials Management and the like. Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to work on many cool security technologies like CryptoAPIs, Certificate Server, Authenticode, SMIME and Authorization to name a few along with many other Windows technologies.<p></p> I deal with software written in C, C++, C#, perl, VT, batch scripts and a host of other custom tools. Many of the good habits I learned through Dr. Fawcett's software engineering courses, I apply to almost all aspects of my daily work in varying degrees. </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/sarfarazk.bmp" width="200" border=""><center>Sarfaraz Killedar<br>MSCE 2004</center></td> <td class="top"> Sir, I am doing great. After working for IBM as a consultant in Lexington, KY, I moved to Atlanta, GA and work for Hanna Strategies as a software engineer tech lead. I'm managing a team of 6 developers in Shanghai, China working on AutoCAD 2007 for Autodesk using VC++, COM and the ObjectARX C++ API for AutoCAD based products. I am enjoying my new role very much. OOD, SMA and Distributed Objects courses are really helping me a lot in my job. Sir, I am really very grateful, to have taken these courses under you. </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/BharatKrishna.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Bharat Krishna<br>MSCS 1994<br>PhD 2005</center></td> <td class="top"> Dear Dr. Fawcett, Hope all is well in Syracuse. I am working as a Staff Cad Engineer in the Enterprise Chipset Division of Intel Corp. in Santa Clara, CA. In my 10 years @ Intel, I have led a team in development of DataPath Automation CAD tools and am now involved in Physical Design of Enterprise Server Chipsets. Some microprocessor projects that I have helped with are Pentium II, Pentium IV and Centrino. The Chipset projects I have worked on are the E7505 and E8500, which was introduced just last month. <p></p> Learning for the Software Studio class, where I was the project architect prepared me the most for the workplace. It taught me not only about software development, but also about team dynamics. It taught me the challenges of working with people and deadline pressures. In this and OOD class I developed strong software development fundamentals. I learned to do things right the first time and put in requirement effort in planning a project for successful completion. <p></p> Thank you for teaching such useful classes and wish you all the best. Regards, Bharat Krishna </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/ramaswamy2.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Ramaswamy Krishnan-Chittur<br>MSCE 2005</center></td> <td class="top"> I am in the Windows Shell team, at Microsoft, and the experience so far has been excellent; The first  big thing I did was to develop a small SDK sample for the PDC conference (in LA later this year). Right now, I am working on developing automated tests. Though I prefer .NET, most of the code base here is in C++; and COM is used all over the place. I do a lot of learning every day during work, but I do feel comfortable with the code floating around in here, and for that I must sincerely thank you. <p></p> I have taken four of Dr. Fawcett s courses (SMA, OOD, Distributed Objects, Studio) besides doing a thesis, and an independent study under him. These are excellent courses, and Dr. Fawcett is a wonderful teacher. My thesis work on AOP that I did under Dr Fawcett was the most enjoyable learning experience for me at SU. I should stress that I learned a lot of new things during my thesis. Two other courses that I have found equally enjoyable and educative are Dr. Per Brinch Hansen s  Message Parallelism in Java , and  Compiler Design . <p></p> I strongly recommend the following courses to new students: SMA, OOD, Distributed Objects, Software Studio, and Design Patterns by Dr. Fawcett, and Message Parallelism, and Compiler Design by Dr. Per Brinch Hansen. <p></p> [Added recently]<br> I am currently in the Windows User Experience team (formerly called Shell). For Vista, I tested icons/thumbnails and shlwapi, besides developing a framework for logon ui automation. I get to work on various technologies including Windows Services, DCOM and UI automation. I am also in the review team where I get to review code and design documents, and decide on test frameworks and harnesses. Microsoft is a great place to work! <p></p> Good luck to the new students at SU. Thank you Dr. Fawcett. </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/Ganesh4.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Ganesh Krishnamurthy<br>MSCS 2000</center></td> <td class="top"> I joined a communications start-up called Presenter.com in San Jose, CA. My team members had an average of 12 years of experience and yet I became a Software Architect within 2 years. Dr. Fawcett's courses like OOD, COM and Studio helped me achieve this and a 'Recognition Award' from the company too. </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/Kutagulla.jpg" width="200" border=""> <img src="students/DivyanandKutagulla.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Divyanand Kutagulla<br>MSCE 2004</center></td> <td class="top"> Hi Dr Fawcett, How are you? I am fine and am now well settled in my current job with Microchip Technology Inc. here in Chandler AZ. I work as a CAD Engineer with Microchip. As a CAD Engineer, I am responsible for the setup and usage of various build systems used for chip synthesis. I also support design engineers in their design activities. My activities include developing and deploying support infrastructure  scripts, configuration files etc. for the various design environments, primarily the UNIX environment. My development is spread across Tcl (Tool Control Language), Makefiles, UNIX Shell scripting and Perl. I assist Principal CAD Engneers in assessing the efficiency of existing chip design flows. We evaluate new EDA tools that can used to streamline existing design flows. <p></p> While at SU, I took your Software Modelling and Analysis &amp; Object Oriented Design classes. Although I could not take the Design Patterns and IP classes, I did an independent study related to Design Patterns under your guidance. I implemented an Action Item Tracker in C# using ASP.NET technology for my final project which was again under your guidance. I also participated in the Software Testing brown-bag seminars held in 2003-2004. Although I am a CAD (hardware) guy, I found ALL of the work I did under you extremely useful for most of my CAD courses at SU. I implemented an Automated Chip Layout Generator for my CSE 788 class under Dr Chen using the Composite and the Visitor Design Patterns. This project also made use of the guidelines that were presented in the Testing brown bag seminar on Assertions. I used your concept of writing good test stubs for the all of my CAD programming assignments. Thank you so much suopporting my interest of CAD!!! Above all else, doing my course work under you built my character, gave me the self-confidence. I hope to continue to push hard and do well and bring good name to You and to SU. <p></p> My work has been keeping me quite busy. There isn't a single day when I am not learning something new. A couple of months back, I received an Achievement Award from my division in recognition of my efforts in co-developing a Low Power Design Flow. <p></p> I have very happy news to share with you: This November 27th I got engaged and legally married to Ms Sowmya. She is a Software Engineer from the same hometown, Mysore. The religious ceremony is scheduled to be held on April 22nd and 23rd 2007 after which my wife will join me here in the US. See attached pictures of my engagement ceremony. <p></p> Thank You! Take Care, Divyanand </td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="students/JeetendraKukreja.jpg" width="200" border=""><center>Jeetendra Kukreja<br>MSCS 2006</center></td> <td class="top"> I am an SDET on the Expression Blend team at Microsoft. What does that mean? Expression Blend is a very nice tool to author .NET 3.0 applications using the interesting and powerful new features provided by Windows Presentation Framework. I still remember the last project I did in the DO course where you had this requirement of a scaling feature for the apps UI. Pretty easy with WPF, in fact that s actually one of options provided for the Expression Blend UI itself. Now with Microsoft announcing the new cross platform runtime for the browser, called Silverlight, Blend also supports authoring of cross platform applications for the browser. Sounds great & . But someone needs to test this. That s where I come in .. along with a few others on my team. <p></p> As my team grew with the new platform still evolving and Blend being the primary authoring tool for the platform, we were the first team to create a Framework to support UI automation of WPF apps (Blend itself is a completely managed app built on WPF). Since I joined, a year back, I have added pieces to this framework and extended it to support Silverlight testing as well. It was very easy to understand the whole architecture and begin contributing as it felt very similar to what I did in my first course with you, Software Modeling and Analysis where we designed and implemented all those variations of Test Harnesses. That was the first time I used C# and that s all I use now (a little bit of Javascript since Silverlight has arrived). <p></p> It s fun going through all those PM specs and writing Test specs although they might not be as complete as the specs we had to write in Software Studio for the Repository Testbed System. I think SWS and Object Oriented Design were easily the most important courses for my education in this field. Still remember working on that generic Graph class - Graph&lt;VertexType, EdgeType&gt;. All that experience working on a team in SWS paid off tremendously as I realized working is how well you can do something but working on a team is that + how well you can deal with people on your team and other teams that you have to work with. <p></p> Nothing can compare to the [Software Studio] Qualification Test experience, sitting hours in Madlab and finally getting it done. I thought I had also seen the last of COM when I completed DO but that was not to be. Although Blend is mostly a managed app it has some native code in it and I had to go through it to understand where our coverage was weak and what we were not hitting in out tests. We have interesting tools that we use to measure code coverage and I get to be the lucky one on my team to use those and make sure that our tests provide a healthy code coverage for the product. <p></p> All the courses that you take are worth every bit of effort put in them (ensuring that the complexity is less than 10, all methods and classes and are commented and many more, I used to hate to lose marks for that kind of stuff). <p></p> I am very proud that my team has shipped version 1 of Expression Blend a few months back and