My junior year at college was a lot of work but also a lot of fun. I took several Computer Science classes, and I loved every one of them. Sometimes the programming assignments took an exorbitant amount of time, but I enjoyed working on them, so I didn't mind.
There was a two week stretch where I was working on a major assignment, and I was not getting much sleep. After finishing the code, I scrambled to write enough documentation to explain what I had done. When I finally pressed 'Submit' late Friday night to turn in my program, I immediately went to sleep. I think I slept 20 hours over the next two days, but the late nights turned out to be a good investment. My work on that one assignment drastically changed my life.
When I got to class on Tuesday, our guest Teaching Assistant, Joanna, was there. I was surprised, as I thought she was only teaching the class for the prior two weeks because our regular TA, Jack, had to travel to meetings in Washington, D.C. to meet with one of the federal agencies that funded his research. Joanna said Jack couldn't make it today, so she was here one more time. She started the class by announcing our next assignment was similar to our prior assignment - the one that cost me two weeks of sleep - but there were some changes to the requirements. She then proceeded to list what some of my classmates considered major changes. In some cases, she added new requirements. In other cases, she took some of the "givens" from the prior assignment and said, "Oh, sorry, what I told you was wrong." Then she gave us totally
different
givens. If you hadn't written the program well, this could almost amount to a complete rewrite.
"So," she started, "how long will you need to make these changes?" Then she pointed to a guy in the front row.
"About 2 months!" he answered, bringing lots of laughter from everyone.
She called on someone else who said she'd need at least half as much time as it took to write the first program. Then she looked down at her notes.
"Is Richard Nelson here?" she asked.
I raised my hand.
"How long will it take you, Mr. Nelson."
"I think I understood everything you said," I started. "I think I'll need about ten minutes."
"Bullshit!" someone behind me said, and Joanna just smiled.
"How could you possibly make those changes in ten minutes?" Joanna asked, her smile giving away that she already knew the answer.
"All those changes just require some new run-time parameters or adding records to my meta-data tables."
"Please show us the design of some of those tables," she replied. "Here is your documentation, in case you don't remember."
I walked up to the board and started showing how I structured the tables that drove my logic. I didn't need my documentation; I spent so many late nights on that program, it was still stuck in my brain.
A few people asked questions, but they were easy to answer.
"That's a nice design," Joanna said, "but did you consider this?"
She then suggested a couple of simple changes that would have made the code even simpler.
"Wow, no, I didn't. But I should have!" I said. "That's brilliant."
I took my seat and Joanna continued talking about different techniques we could have used. As class wrapped up, she said there was no assignment for the next class, and no one had to modify their program. A few people cheered.
"That's it for today," she finished, and everyone started filing out.
As I walked to the front of the class, Joanna turned to me.
"Richard, can you stick around for a minute?"
"Sure," I replied.
After everyone left, Joanna sat on the front of the desk.
"You did a really nice job on that last assignment. You were the only one who got every feature working, and your solution was quite elegant."
I tried to hide my internal smile; I don't know if I was successful.
"Are you interested in a part-time job during the school year, and, if it works out, full time during the summer?"
"Oh, YEAH!" I said, perhaps a little too excitedly.
"We're looking for another person to do some programming on one of Professor Teller's research projects. We were thinking we'd look for another PhD student, but I think you'd work out better. Can you talk to him at 2:30 this afternoon? I'm supposed to meet with him then."
"Absolutely," I said.
At 2:25, I opened the outer door to the office where the research project was housed. Professor Teller's office was behind another door inside. As soon as I walked in, I froze. There she was. "The girl." I didn't know her name, but I had seen her walking the halls. She was the prettiest girl I had ever seen. She had a small, round face with friendly, brown eyes and a small nose. She usually wore her light brunette hair pulled back in a ponytail with a colored scrunchie. She was tall and thin, with small breasts. Her ass had a tiny curve to it; it was perfect. When she looked up at me and smiled, I melted.
"Hi, are you Richard?" she asked?
I nodded, almost unable to speak.
"Hi, I'm Tracy. C'mon in. Professor Teller is expecting you. He's finishing up a call, so you can have a seat until he's done."
I nodded again and croaked out a "Thanks."
After a couple of minutes, Tracy softly said, "Don't be nervous - he's actually a really nice guy."
The smile she flashed could make a person facing a firing squad feel comfortable.
After a couple more minutes, a buzzer on Tracy's desk went off.
"He's ready for you," she said. "Go on in."
I opened the door, and Professor Teller stood up. He was a tall, imposing man. He also had a reputation as a bigwig in the Computer Science community, both within the university and in the research community. He didn't exactly smile as he extended his hand, but he didn't look mean.
"How do you do, Richard. Please have a seat."
He didn't introduce himself, even though this was our first meeting. He just assumed I knew who he was.
"Joanna had some very good things to say about you," he started. "We need someone to help her with some programming work. Are you interested in doing that?"
"Yes, sir, very much so."
"Would you be able to spend about 10 hours a week during the rest of the school year and then go full time in the summer?"
"Yes, sir."
"Most of the stuff she's working on right now is funded by a few government grants and some private corporate sponsors. We'd be able to pick up your tuition and pay you 25% of the research assistant salary during the year, and then full-time research assistant pay during the summer. Would that be okay with you?"
Did he ask me if it would be okay? He's going to pay my tuition, pay me a salary, and I get to work with the smartest computer science person I've ever met, while doing something I love?
"Yes, sir, that would be great."
"Okay," he said. "Tracy will set up all the paperwork."
He then turned to his computer and started looking at email. I took this as a sign we were done.
When I walked out of his office, Tracy turned and flashed her warm smile.
"All good?" she asked.
I nodded.
"Have a seat," she said, pointing to the chair next to her desk. "I need to get a little information so we can submit the paperwork." Then she leaned toward me and, in a quiet voice, asked, "did he say 'goodbye' or 'thank you' or anything, or did he just start looking at his email," she said with a chuckle.
I laughed.
"He just turned to his computer and started looking at email. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do, but it looked like he was done with me."
Tracy laughed.
"Yeah, that's how you know when the conversation is over. He just ignores you and starts reading something. You'll get used to it."
The more Tracy smiled and talked to me, the more I fell in love with her.
I later found out that Tracy lived with her boyfriend, Clark. Four years ago, when Clark was a senior, Tracy suspended her college studies so she could support them. He was now finishing up his third year of law school. Once he graduated and got a job, she planned to finish her degree and they could live happily ever after. She was smart, organized, and, although soft-spoken, had a great sense of humor. Combine that with her looks, and she was pretty-much perfect.
Holly was another admin who worked in the office. She, too, was friendly, but in a very different way than Tracy. She was loud, very direct, and flirty. She carried a little extra weight and had big boobs, which she didn't mind putting on display. On more than one occasion, she wore skirts that were so short that, when she was sitting in a chair facing me, I could tell you the color of her panties. She'd make an effort to pull the skirt down, but sometimes there just wasn't enough material. I liked Holly, and I didn't mind looking at whatever she was displaying, but she wasn't the first person I'd pick to be my girlfriend.
After I finished filling out paperwork for Tracy, I almost danced my way home. This had been an INCREDIBLE day. I couldn't wait to start my job on Monday.
I was told I could work whenever it fit in my schedule. On Monday, I was done with classes at 1:00. I stopped in the office, and Tracy greeted me with a warm smile.
"Welcome to the zoo," she said with a chuckle. "You'll be working in the office with Joanna. C'mon, I'll show you where."
We walked side-by-side down the hall and around a corner. She opened the door to a smaller office that had two desks. Joanna was sitting at one.
"Oh, hi!" she said when we walked in.
"Hi," I responded.