On se bat depuis 2 mois pour avoir des arrangements dans nos cours. C’est beaucoup trop théoriques, et même les matières supposées pratiques se retrouvent enseignées au tableau, avec des élèves studieux qui recopient sans broncher.
Mais voilà, dans 4 mois, nous serons en stage et nous devrons être prêts. Et puis la théorie à apprendre par coeur, c’est pas trop notre truc, faut bien l’avouer. Quand le prof de Network Programming nous “enseigne” le C et les IPC, il marque au tableau un programme que lui même a appris par coeur. Ensuite, les élèves recopient sur leur cahier le programme. Ensuite, on va dans la salle de TP. Ensuite, on recopie tous le programme sur l’ordinateur et on clique sur Compiler. Et ensuite, c’est fini, on connait le C et les IPC !
Je ne peux pas trop blamer, je reconnais la chance qu’on a. Eux ont appris à programmer sur leurs cahiers et n’ont pas eu un accès à l’informatique comme nous. Mais eux reconnaissent quand même que ce n’est pas une méthode pour apprendre une matière !
Pour arranger mon programme à ma guise, j’ai donc décidé de négocier avec mon chef de Département. Après une première entrevue, plus aucune nouvelle. Normal, à l’indienne… On attend que ça retombre tranquilement…
Mais moi, je les voulais ces arrangements ! Pas question de perdre mon temps pendant un autre trimestre. Voici donc le mail tueur que j’ai envoyé au chef de département :

Respected sir,

As I didn’t receive any news from you and the trimester begins from today, I want to inform that I will not attend these 3 classes : Operation Support Systems, Protocol Architecture & Applications, Broadband Access Technology.

Instead of those, I will follow 3 electives : Intelligent Networks, Adv. Network Management and Security, and 3G/4G.
I will also write projects (one or multiple) which will include as many subjects as possible and I will give reports to the concerned teachers.

The first trimester was interesting and gave us the needed background in Networking. However, the second trimester was fully useless as far as the courses are concerned. We all agree to say that it was only “by heart” things, and I’m very sad to look at what I’ve really learnt during these past 3 months.
The worth thing is in Network Programming (although every one is telling NP stands for No Programming), where we had to learn programs by heart. As a matter of fact, I studied this very subject in my college and I can explain what is Network Programming. It has nothing to do with what we have done in class, and moreover what companies want.

I don’t want to waste my time anymore and will concentrate on what companies are looking for : people who can make programs in Networking, people who can take decisions in the networking field using their knowledge.
I’m still looking for knowledge, that’s why I will fully attend the 3 classes I choosed. But I also need to implement these knowledge and get used to solve problems, to give reports and also act in an autonomous way.

An engineer is defined in my country like someone who is autonomous and can solve problems in initiative ways.
That is what I have done during my second trimester project and I’m pleased to hear the teacher’s comments about it.
However, I’m afraid the indian definition of being an engineer is too far away from what I need to be effective on the french job market.

Please allow me to make the arrangements I’m asking for and begin to look for project’s ideas. I will talk to MRS Saha, Joshi and Mohinisudhan about this as soon as you give me authorisation.

Best regards,
Jonathan Vaslin