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[[Image:Nuvola apps important.png|25px|left]] 1/7/2013 Winter Personal Update
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[[Image:Nuvola apps important.png|25px|left]] 8/25/2013 Yahoo APM!
 
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This has been a stressful semester, probably making it my least favorite at [[MIT]].  Why? A bunch of reasons.
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==Yahoo APM==
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[[File:Marissa and Michael.jpg|thumb|Me with Marissa Mayer]]
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[[File:Yahoo APMs 13.jpg|thumb|The 2013 Yahoo APMs]]
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I am about 1 month into my new job at [[Yahoo]] as an Associate Product Manager or [[APM]].  After I finished classes at MIT, but before I was set to start at Oracle, Yahoo offered me to join Marissa Mayer's new APM program at Yahoo. Marissa started the program back when she had just joined Google - as a way to find and develop new Product Managers out of school, which she thought would be faster than hiring experienced PMs from the industry. This article describes the role http://www.wired.com/business/2012/07/marissas-secret-weapon-for-recruiting-new-yahoo-talent/ though that article overblows things slightly.
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I’m super happy where I am at.  This is the type of job I was aiming for throughout MIT; I think I was well-prepared by MIT; and I think .Yahoo is also in a very interesting state at the moment.  They are rapidly redoing everything.  This makes new grads are handed large chunks of the product to manage, because they are so understaffed for what the need is.  In addition, they are in the midst of a huge culture change.  They are replacing their cube farms with open desks.  They are rebuilding teams, which were previously laid off.  It’s very interesting to work with people on either side of the culture change and to experience the before-and-after at the same time.
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I’m in charge of designing the platform Yahoo uses to know where you are, and I help designing the membership, accounts, and security features of Yahoo.  The work is very similar to what I did at MIT – brainstorming solutions, designing schemes, working with other stakeholders to refine plans and achieve consensus. 
  
=====Benchmarking=====
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As an APM, I’m part of Yahoo’s inner circle – giving it the feel of a small companyMy experience working with administrators at MIT prepared me very well for working with the executives at Yahoo.  It's probably the best business/leadership/PM experience possible in the world for someone just out of school.  I think it's rivals management consulting in terms of business experience - since you're directly responsible for something, but still involved at a high level.  I think one learns by doing and by being exposed to stuffThe greater scope and responsibility one has, the more one learns, I believe.
I think the biggest difference is that I coveted more the things which others covetedWhereas I was comfortable with the level of my coding ability and grades in prior semesters, I felt much more pressure this semester to improve my performance to be more like the other studentsWhereas before I was happy to buck the trend and spurn the things most other students valued, I tried to join the pack this semesterFor example, I had wanted to improve my academic performance, especially in CS classes.  That made it particularly stressful.
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I also spent a great deal of time worrying about what distinguishes top performers from average students at MITAre they inherently smarter?  Or did they make certain choices earlier?  Do they have a head start since they have previous knowledge/exposure? Or is it something else? I was obsessed with benchmarking myself versus other students this semester.
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==Mountain View==
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[[File:Mountain View Home.jpg|thumb|Mountain View Home]]
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[[File:Chevy Volt.jpg|thumb|Chevy Volt]]
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I'm settled into my new place in [[Mountain View]]. [http://www.flickr.com/photos/theplaz/sets/72157634601732288/ Photos] I'm sharing a house with 2 other guys, who were friends of friendsI've purchased a [[Chevy Volt]]. [http://www.flickr.com/photos/theplaz/sets/72157634595577805/ Photos] It goes 40 miles in a charge, but after that it can use gas. In almost 2 months, I haven't gone to the gas station once!
  
=====Classes=====
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I'm meeting a lot of new people hereEveryone seems to be a friend of a friend at least, and about 20-30% have heard of me before! That's kinda scarey!
[[File:Fall 2012 Pens.jpg|thumb|42 pens used this semester]]
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[[File:Fall 2012 Paper.jpg|thumb|36" of paper]]
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I was only taking 5 classesBut I did more "work" than last semester.  As always, I tracked the amount of pens and paper I used.  This semester I used 34 blue pens (for notetaking) and 8 black pens (for problem solving).  Last semester, I took 7 classes but only used 27 blue pens and 2 black pens. That's a 44% increase in usage of pen ink! I used 36 inches of paper, versus 29 inches last semester.  That includes both written and printed notes.
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The grades focused paid off marginally; I ended up with a term GPA of 4.4, which did not budge my overall GPA which has been stuck on 4.3 for quite a few semesters.  I ended up with an A in [[6.858 Security]], which was I was somewhat surprised by.  I was doing ok on the exams, plus I didn't think our project was rigorous enough.  But the professor really liked our project.  I enjoyed the class, though I would replace the obscure research systems with more real life systems, like the ones from Security Now.  I got a B- in [[6.046 Advanced Algorithms]] which really presently surprised me.  I've traditionally gotten straight Cs in math-style classes because it's not really my way of thinking.  I was worried about even passing, but the B- made me pretty happy.  I ended up with a point under the average on the final!  [[STS.085 Technology Ethics]] was a great deal of fun, including the final [[copyright project]].  I ended up with an A-.  [[14.72 Capitalism and its Critics]] was a difficult, but intellectually stimulating exercise in philosophy.  The class' material was not what I expected going in, but I had fun being in the class with my friend.  I ended up with an A- as well.  However, I ended up with a C in [[7.012 Biology]].  I am super upset about this.  It's not that I didn’t put time into it, I certainly did try.  The concepts felt challenging at first; but I got help from my Bio friend, and things started making sense the more I studied them.  It was a good intellectual challenge, that I thought I had mastered to a large extent. Much of the disappointment here is that I was competing with Freshmen.  Plus, I had gotten Cs in all my freshmen classes.  Had I learned nothing at MIT in meta/problem solving skills???  I feel much better at problem solving since freshmen years, but the data didn't seem to show it.  Had I got a B, I would have a 4.6 GPA for the term, which would have been tied for my max term GPA.  Plus, I would have had a monotonically increasing yearly GPA - though there is still time for that!
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==Leaving MIT==
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I had my best semester ever, my last semester at MIT.  I had 5 As and one B-.  I was literally 10 points away from a 5.0!
  
I noticed I ended up doing homework more on my own this semester. I remember writing the opposite last semesterI don’t fully know why the changed happened.  I think the nature of the work was different.  In addition, all of the people I lived next to this semester at Baker House have been super amazingI don’t know how I can match living at Baker House from both a physical perspective and intellectual perspective ever in my life again!
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[[File:Pens MIT Spring 2013.jpg|thumb|Pens|200px]]
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[[File:Paper MIT Spring 2013.jpg|thumb|Paper|200px]]
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This semester I used 32 inches of paper, as well as 31 pensHere is a chart of usage over time:
  
=====Baker President=====
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[[File:Pens and Paper Usage.png]]
Being [[Baker President]] was more stressful this semester, for a number of reasons.  It seems like with everything we did, we ran into problems - way more than other semesters.  I'm kinda glad my term is over at the end of [[IAP]].  Being President of Baker was still a great experience - in terms of building a team, supervising people, building connections, and engaging stakeholders.  It was certainly worth the trouble for the experience.  The [[Rooming Review]], [[Security Plan]], [[CPW]], [[REX]], and all our events were tons of fun.  We had [http://www.flickr.com/photos/theplaz/sets/72157632328754537/ dodgeball], [http://www.flickr.com/photos/theplaz/sets/72157632332642246/ a magic show], [http://www.flickr.com/photos/theplaz/sets/72157632332687318/ a winter formal], [http://www.flickr.com/photos/theplaz/sets/72157632328857523/ a Poker Tournament], and [http://www.flickr.com/photos/theplaz/sets/72157632332669180/ Iron Chef], among others.  I'm super proud of my core team - I could not have done it without the dedicated group of volunteers on Baker Exec.  Plus we had some good results: Baker had the [http://tech.mit.edu/V132/N33/graphics/housing-lotteryresults.html highest retention rate of any dorm during FYRE]; a large improvement in our performance from prior years.  In addition, students that lived in Baker rated their [http://tech.mit.edu/V132/N59/pressure/breakdown/residence/index.htm happiness the highest of any living group at MIT].
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=====Next Term=====
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I wrote up two white papers on MIT Policy.  [[A Framework for Community Engagement]] is a refinement of the community engagement process which administrators currently follow. [[Problem Solving Teams]] proposes having students work as "management consultants" on the Institute’s biggest problemsThis joins [[Unrelenting Advocacy]], about how stundets should act like lobbyists and consultantsThis rounds up my [MIT Policy White Papers] series.
Next term will be my last term at MIT.  I have 4 required classes left, plus a paper.  For my management degree, I have to take either [[15.053 or 15.058 Linear Programming/Optimization]], as well as [[15.075 Statistical Thinking and Data Analysis]].  For Course 6, I need to take one more AUS or CS Lab class; I am looking at [[6.170 Software Studio]] most closely, with [[6.814 Databases]] as an option.  I also need to do an [[AUP]].  I am planning on working on something relating to [https://panopticlick.eff.org/ Penopticlick] with [http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/hal/hal.html Prof. Hal Abelson]I also need to take one more HASS-D.  I am looking at [[4.605 History of Architecture|4.605, the History of Architecture]], with [[21H.142 The Age of Reason]] as a fallbackI also want to take a [[Harvard]] class, but I am unsure which one and if I can get the logistics to work.
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=====After MIT=====
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[[File:MIT Graduation.jpg|thumb|MIT Graduation]]
In part this semester was stressful was because I was looking for a job in [[Silicon Valley/Bay Area]].  This turned out to be much more difficult than I was anticipating, and took far longer than I had planned.  I was looking for something more unique than a standard developer role.  But, I also didn't know exactly what I wanted.  Some of my most favorite internships have been from jobs that were custom crafted - they certainly weren't posted externally.  This necessitated an expansive  search, which took a great deal of time.  Also, I focused on Silicon Valley, which was more difficult because I had no experience there, since I had taken a more circular route, thinking it would provide a valuable perspective.  I thought this would ultimately add more value, but I think most didn’t see it that way, since that was not their own background. Also leaving MIT for interviews, for even one day during the semester, was very hard since I had to squeeze the weeks' work into 4 days.  I visited San Francisco [http://www.flickr.com/photos/theplaz/sets/72157632332609118/ once], [http://www.flickr.com/photos/theplaz/sets/72157632332661934/ twice], and [http://www.flickr.com/photos/theplaz/sets/72157632328852205/ Bozeman, MT].
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Graduation was a super rainy affair - it was pretty miserable. [http://www.flickr.com/photos/theplaz/sets/72157634578617238/ Photos] However, I'm happy to say that I've now graduated. It was sad to leave all of the stuff I really liked about MIT behind.
  
In addition, full-time recruiting was different since things felt so much more permanent.  Companies has much longer interview cycles, and companies are less willing to take a chanceFor me, making a decision to specialize somewhere was much more difficult thank picking an internship, where I valued diversity.  I spent a lot of time thinking and rethinking which  route I wanted to takeEven after 6 internships at a variety of places from state-owned to self-owned, 250,000 employees to 10 employees, Fortune 100s to startups, tech to banking, etc, I'm not 100% confident of the way I want to go.  I wrote this long paper [[What Drives Me and What I Want to Do]] at the start of my search, but it was of little practical help.
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I used the time I was off (3 weeks at MIT, 3 weeks at home, and 3 weeks in CA) to get organized and clean up my stuff.  I emptied some boxes I hadn’t touched in years.  I scanned more paperHowever, I have still not managed to post my MIT stuff or more from the archives.
  
What standard do you use to judge an opportunity?  Do you go to the place that matches your strengths or that you have the most to learn from?  Do you go where you can learn the most or where you can add the most value?  Do you care about the long term path that each position puts you on?  If someone offers to let you skip the usual prerequisites is that as a good offer, or do the prereqs provide valuable perspective?  What parts of the job do you value?  Responsibility? Ability to problem solve?  What aspects matter the most?  One opportunity looks better under one metric than another.
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==Personal Style==
 
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I also spent some time to reflect on my [[Personal Style]].  I spent several months iterating on this - and it ended up being quite lengthy!  I wanted to record this, because I know with will update over time, and I wanted to make a record of it.  I think it's also helpful for people to know how I approach problem solving.
I'm almost certain I want a PM role over a development role - having experienced both.  I'm still happy I did both a technical and business path.  While the problem solving of engineering is fun - it's not what really excites me.  However, it's important that I keep my tech skills to notch.  But what gets you more experience?  A strategy role at a 10 person firm, a 100 person firm, or a 100,000 person firm?  They both offer a different experience and put you on a different long-term path.  One can always switch paths, though it’s more difficult.
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--[[User:ThePlaz|ThePlaz]] ([[User talk:ThePlaz|talk]]) 02:55, 25 August 2013 (EDT)
 
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In the end, I looked at where I had chosen to naturally spend my time at MIT. What did I reach for when I had a spare moment?  What decisions felt right for me at the time - when I was not obsessing over every pro and con?  Ultimately I ended up taking a role as a Product Strategy Manager at Oracle in their Cloud Customer Experience apps department.  [[Why Oracle]].  At Oracle I can help companies develop great customer experiences.  I think I have a lot to learn from Oracle - how to develop strategy, how to build valuations, etc.
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I think part of the reason Oracle chose me was because of the unique perspective I can add.  A good manager must balance fitting in and standing out.  I'm not there to accept at face value the way Oracle has always done things.  Many existing conventions are valuable, but leader must also know where to push the envelope and establish thought leadership.  Plus, I don't intent on becoming complacent.  Even if it is just on the side, it's very important to keep my spark alive and to continue to keep up my skills in tech and product management on the cutting edge.
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I am not 100% confident that I made the right choice.  I've had a few people try to talk me out of my decision.  It's probably 80% of what I want.  It's the riskiest approach: it could either be super great or super lame.  I think I have the most to learn here, which I could not learn elsewhere.  My perspective on all this changes day by day, though I'm trying to avoid the recency bias.
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=====Winter Break=====
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I've been super busy over the past two weeks, since school ended.  I've been wrapping up my work for the semester, studying programming, and preparing [[MBA Applications|MBA school applications]].  Some MBA schools let one apply now, and then, if accepted, you have an option to attend starting in two years.  This ended up being much harder than I thought, but I ended up thinking a good deal more about my future plans, writing and rewriting the essays.
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Stanford asked me "[[What Matters to You and Why]]" and "[[What Do You Want To Do - Really!]]"  I wrote that I enjoy building manufactured experiences - building well-engineered experiences that surprise and delight users, and have a natural business case.  The two flanks of that which I also enjoy are problem solving/engineering and the technocratic aspects of management.  I think this is a good metric to keep in mind.  I still think my decision would be the same, regardless.  I also wrote [[What Did You Do Well]] and [[What Is Something You WIsh You Did Better]] for HBS.
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=====IAP/San Francisco=====
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My goal for this [[IAP]] is to get much better at programmingMIT Computer Science teaches you about the big concepts, but less of the more practical aspects of it.  Plus, I spent a good deal of time at MIT focusing on the management side of my education both at MIT and in internships.  I ended up getting an externship at [[CardSpring]], a [[San Francisco]] start-up that helps companies set call backs on the use of credit cards.
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I am staying at this Hacker Hostel in the Castro neighborhood in San Francisco.  It's a great neighborhood.  The people the first day were ok, but the people now are much better.  There are plenty of interesting conversations.  Living with others in the same room turned out to be not quite as bad as I thought.  However, the place is a bit dirty and cold - which detracts from the experience [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs]. 
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I'm also concertedly trying to live differently than I do at MIT.  At MIT my life is all about productivity.  I feel bad about not spending time checking things off my to-do list.  My goal for IAP is to engage in more intellectual conversations than just crunch through a stack of work.  I am certainly more of a planner than a spontaneous person.  I've already noticed my personality changing - being less time pressured and gravitating more to valuable experiences.  Being spontaneous is kinda fun..!  I've noticed most others at MIT are more spontaneous.  Would it help me improve my skills more than my aggressively trying to crunch through work?  (Thinking about benchmarking again…) I settled into that work-drive drive through [[Learning to Learn]] and [[Working Out a System]] - and I've been afraid I'll end up even worse by switching.  It would probably be better for me to pick up the hard topics, but time is just the problem at MIT!  Will my personality change back with the pressures of MIT?
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At MIT, I've just never hung out much with the programming community.  I always ascribed this due to not having time I always wanted to be more connected with the folks in SIPB - I just subconsciously ended up making other choices at MIT. I never really get into that community really.  Was that the right choice?  Should I have lived in EC?  I think my perspective would have been very different - because I would have had different friends…  But on the other hand I said coming into MIT that I had no interest in inventing a 5% improvement in compression.  Other MIT students would have loved to use some obscure math principle to make an incremental improvement in an existing technology. 
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I had a great first week at [[CardSpring]].  I'm really happy they are giving me a shot this IAP.  I've worked there three days and it's been fun to listen in with what is going on.  Everyone is super smart - on both the tech and business sides.  Everything is leaner - things get done.  Though tech challenges are mostly around scaling up the system, edge cases, etc.  However, everything seems to be about engineering prowess - which is intellectually challenging.  It’s  also very interesting just to sit in the office and watch them work - from an anthropological perspective.  There is a lot to learn, but I think I am learning the material and fitting in better than I expected.  I think I undersold my coding ability over the last semester - I just needed a 2 week refresher and update on the latest material.  It is interesting to reenter this world I have not focused on, but I still think I prefer PM over software engineering.
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There really is this feeling of scrappiness and problem-solving here - that is missing in many other organizations.  On one hand it just seem to fit my culture more.  I hope to be able to bring some of that spirit to my future experiences.  I wish I could be more like that.
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Still I'm really enjoying my time here in San Francisco.  I'm meeting new cool people everyday - at a rate far higher than anywhere else that I have lived!  Plus, I am meeting up with my existing friends - I have something planned with a friend pretty much every day this week!  I'm super glad I chose to come to San Francisco after MIT!
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I'm trying to find an apartment with someone else from the tech community, not just since it's cheaper, but to keep me from becoming isolated.  Originally this turned out more difficult than I was expecting, since way fewer of my friends are going to San Francisco, than I imagined.  But in the past few days I now have 2-3 serious possibilities, but no slam dunk.
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=====Closing=====
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This semester my self confidence was at an all time low.  MIT is hard.  It's especially hard since you are competing with the best.  Plus, one tends to comparing themselves against the best of others - taking the very best aspect of each person and combining it into this mythical person.  However, San Francisco has brought back some my perspective.  Things still ended up pretty good!  My term GPA ended up pretty good.  By many measures, I ended up with a very good job, even if it was not exactly what I had in mind at the start of the term.
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--[[User:ThePlaz|ThePlaz]] 02:21, 8 January 2013 (EST)
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Recent Activity from around the Web
 
Recent Activity from around the Web
 
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Latest revision as of 07:31, 25 August 2013

Resume

Welcome to ThePlaz.com

the site for all things Michael Plasmeier (ThePlaz)

This site is a wiki. That means that anybody (including YOU) can edit and change the information found here. (Editing help)

My site contains mostly my homework and projects as well as various stuff from my life. (Site Mission Statement)

Leave Plaz a (public) message File icon.gif or send me a (private) e-mail.Mail icon.gif

MIT Senior edit

Fall
  • Schedule
  • 7.012 Intro to Biology
  • 6.046 Advanced Algorithms
  • 6.858 Computer and Network Security
  • 14.72 Capitalism and its Critics
  • STS.085 Ethics and the Law on the Electronic Frontier
  • 2.009 Product Design Process (Listener)
  • 15.062 Data Mining (Listener)
Spring

MIT Junior edit

Fall
  • 6.004 Computation Structures
  • 6.005 Elements of Software Construction
  • 6.034 Artificial Intelligence
  • STS.011 Ethics and Politics in Science and Technology
  • 15.387 Technology Sales and Sales Management
  • 15.665 Power and Negotiation
  • 18.03 Differential Equations
  • Working out a System - How I take 7 classes at MIT and thrive
Spring
  • Spring Schedule
  • 6.033 Computer System Engineering
  • 6.813 User Interface Design and Implementation
  • 6.006 Introduction to Algorithms
  • 15.571 Business Strategy and the Role of IT
  • 15.565 Digital Evolution: Managing Web 3.0
  • 15.301 Managerial Psychology Laboratory
  • 18.06 Linear Algebra

MIT Sophomore edit

Fall
  • 6.01 Intro to EECS (Potpourri Introduction)
  • 6.041 Probabilistic Systems Analysis
  • 14.01 Principles of Microeconomics
  • 15.501 Corporate Financial Accounting
  • 15.567 Econ of Information
  • 16.71 Airline Industry
Spring
  • 4.211 The Present and Future City
  • 6.02 Intro to EECS 2 (Communications)
  • 6.042 Math for Computer Science (Potpourri Introduction)
  • 14.02 Microeconomics
  • 15.279 Intro to Managerial Communications
  • 15.401 Intro to Finance
  • 15.761 Operations Research
  • ESD.051 Engineering, Innovation, and Design (Listener)
Politics

MIT Freshman edit

Fall

  • 8.01 Physics: Mechanics - Prof. Greytak
  • 3.091 Intro to Solid State Chemistry - Prof. Sadoway
  • 18.01 Single Variable Calculus - Prof. Brubaker
  • MAS.110 Fundamentals of Computational Media Design - Prof. Bove
  • 6.A53 Entrepreneurship and China Advising Seminar - Dr. Eng
  • SocialSaver UROP at the MIT Media Lab
  • Learning to Learn at MIT - My "near fail" experience that caused me to pull it together

Spring

Other Stuff

Nuvola apps kpovmodeler.png AP Physics (Science)

30px-OneNote.png Open OneNote Notebook

Note: Works only in Internet Explorer and Opera. Firefox refuses to support MHT. More info

Nuvola USA flag.png AP US Government (History)

30px-OneNote.png Open OneNote Notebook

Note: Works only in Internet Explorer and Opera. Firefox refuses to support MHT. More info

Nuvola apps package wordprocessing.png English 12 (English)

Nuvola apps kbrunch.png Calculus (Math)

30px-OneNote.png Open OneNote Notebook

Note: Works only in Internet Explorer and Opera. Firefox refuses to support MHT. More info

Nuvola apps edu languages.png AP Psychology (Psychology)

Nuvola apps package editors.png AP Micro Econ (Economics)

Nuvola apps bug.png Biology (Science)

Nuvola apps kmplot.png PreCalc (Math)

Nuvola USA flag.png American Studies (History)

  • Projects
  • Notes from Out of Many Textbook
  • FTCE test : FTCE test failure reveals how to rip through the FTCE test.
developed Headline Notetaking Format

Nuvola USA flag pen.png English 11 (English)

Nuvola apps edu mathematics.png IAG 4H (Math)

Nuvola apps edu science.png Chemistry (Science)

Nuvola apps package network.png World Cultures (History)

Nuvola apps korganizer.png AP Macro Economics (Economics)

Nuvola apps file-manager.png English 10 (English)

Nuvola apps kig.png IAG 3H (Math)

Nuvola apps bookcase.png English 9 (English)

Nuvola apps kverbos.png Western Civ (History)

Projects

Outlines

Maps and Creative
French Revolution Napoleon-peque.jpg

Essays and Reports

Nuvola apps edu phi.png IPS (Science)

Nuvola apps kcalc.png IAG 2H and IAG 1H (Math)

Nuvola apps kate.png Latin

Latin 3

Projects
Notes
Journals

Double Entry Journals have 2 components: What I Learned (a summery), and Personal Response (a reflection)

Latin 2

Projects
  1. Roman Travel Project
  2. Sejanus
  3. Echo and Narcissus Myth
  4. The Journey of the Hero
Journals

Latin 1

Money-256x256.png Entrepreneurship (Business)

30px-OneNote.png Open OneNote Notebook

Note: Works only in Internet Explorer and Opera. Firefox refuses to support MHT. More info

Nuvola apps personal.png Business Law (Business)

30px-OneNote.png Open OneNote Notebook

Note: Works only in Internet Explorer and Opera. Firefox refuses to support MHT. More info

Nuvola apps amarok.png Pop Music (Music)

Nuvola filesystems folder blue open.png Other edit

Nuvola filesystems folder blue open.png 8th Grade

Nuvola filesystems folder blue open.png 7th Grade

Nuvola apps kuser.png About Me edit

Michael Plasmeier Spring 2009 Narrow.JPG
Michael Plasmeier
"ThePlaz"
Yahoo APM: Membership and Geo Platforms

My name is Michael Plasmeier, but almost everyone calls me Plaz. I am a Associate Product Manager at Yahoo - working on the Membership and Geo-related platforms teams. I graduated from MIT in 2013 in Computer Science and Management. I am halfway between the tech and the business world, doing both web development and product development. My interest in doing both started while I was working on GridView, an app I built after 10th Grade that reached 1.3 million users on Facebook.

Internships

Last IAP, I was a Software Development Extern doing testing in Ruby on the back end at CardSpring. Last summer, I was Product Manager at Disney Parks and Resorts Online where I worked on a project for Disney Cruise Line. Last January, I worked in management/strategy consulting at Altman Vilandrie & Company. The previous summer, I was a web developer at NextJump, an online affiliate advertising firm in New York. Prior to that, I was an extern in the Office of the Chief Scientist at State Street. My freshman summer I worked at Deutsche Bahn, the German national railroad, where I designed the smartphone version Touch&Travel, an app that lets you pay for the train with your phone.

MIT

At MIT I was heavily involved in classes, usually taking 7 classes a term, while being involved in student government. (I wrote about how I do it in Working out a System.) senior was dedicated to wrapping up requirements. Junior year at MIT I focused on EECS classes, as well as being elected president of Baker House. My second year at MIT focused on management classes. I was also involved in the vendor selection and implementation of the new dining plan. Freshman year, I took core classes and served on the Athena and Printing Committee. (I wrote about just hanging on freshmen year in Learning to Learn.)

Websites

I built a lot of web projects in high school. My most popular project, was GridView [1], an app for Facebook which lets you add the profile pics of all of you're friends to your Facebook profile. GridView had over 1.3 million users and made me some money.

I hosted and produced the video podcast Tecker 911 [2] along with some of my friends. Tecker 911 was a series of 100 5-15 minute shows each which covers a technology topic in a way which is relevant for ordinary people, with a focus towards students and our community. Tecker 911 was also shown on our local public access channel Channel 11.

I started SeniorQuoter, [3] an open-source web application for senior quotes collections for high school yearbooks. In 11th Grade, I lead a Dynamic Website Building Instruction and Practical Experience Group Study at my high school. I helped 4 other students learn PHP and MySQL and then I project managed version 2 of SeniorQuoter, the administration interface.

Tecker and Conflicter were question and answer services I built in 10th Grade. They never really caught on, but they were the perfect way to learn PHP. Dictionary Robot is something I tarted last year, but abandoned later. In 10th Grade, I was a member of Team 484 and in 11th Grade I was their webmaster.

In 8th and 9th Grades I wrote bunch of programs for the TI-83+.

Tech

My first two years at MIT, I was a regular on The Weekly Spin, a weekly take on tech stories and tech policy.

On my Tech page I have had a few pages about Devices I own and other small things that I have built. For example, I also made some improvements for MediaWiki, the software that runs ThePlaz.com and Wikipedia. I made a new skin for MediaWiki and a few MediaWiki extensions


Other Accounts

I also tag a lot of stories on Delicious. I also have over 70,000 photos on Flickr. I Tweet kinda regularly. I also post things to YouTube. And of course I have a Facebook. It all comes together on my FriendFeed.

Website Content

On my site you will find:

  • Updates on what I am involved in
  • Links to my other projects
  • My comments on the world
  • Photos and videos I have taken
  • School work and notes I have made
School Work

I hope that this knowledge will help people less-fortunate than me persevere and succeed. All of my work is under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 license, meaning that you may use it and re-post it anywhere as long as you post my name/nickname, provide a link back to my site, and don't make money off my work. Many people visit my site from overseas where the school system is not as good. See Site Mission Statement for more

    • For 9th Grade I have posted projects I did on the computer
    • For 10th Grade I have posted not only my work I made on a computer but laboriously scanned all of my handwritten notes and worksheets
    • For 11th Grade I am only posting my own notes (no worksheets) from very structured classes; I am scaling back
    • For 12th Grade I used a tablet PC, so I have posted my OneNote notebooks from the class
    • For MIT Freshman year, I used a tablet PC for the first semester; realized this was a bad idea; so I used paper which I scanned and released as large PDFs the second semester. Note MIT actually does the same thing I do with MIT OCW.
    • For MIT Sophomore I will continue to post large, comprehensive PDFs.
    • See also my Notes Key
Tech

Theweeklyspin.png The Weekly Spin

The Weekly Spin is a weekly rant about technology and tech policy with Michael Gdovin. We often cover the cell phone industry, the FCC, DRM, and Michael likes to throw in some Apple rumors.

Download the latest episodes: TheWeeklySpin.com Audio Podcast

Nuvola apps laptop pcmcia.png Student Tools edit

Nuvola apps knewsticker.png News edit

ThePlaz in often mentioned or interviewed in the news

MIT
MIT Dining
MITx/EdX
Baker Piano Drop
Tecker 911
GridView
ThePlaz.com Praise
  • Sam's Praise about my site
  • Baron Harkonnen's Thanks
  • Thanks for uploading Flickr photos
  • Uses Many ThePlaz.com Wiki features
  • A Drexel professor told me on the first day of class that I take very good notes and I would graduate suma cum laude from Harvard due to the quality of my notes at Gov School
  • Hi I saw your page about that download for the ferris wheel unit for IMP4, I didn't download it but even the info you had on the page helped me out. I have no idea what I'm doing and just started this year- i really get stuck on my homework EVERY night. Right now im working on HW 2 "As the ferris wheel turns" and i have no idea what I'm doing. But i just wanted to say thanks cause I'm gonna download that once I'm farther into the unit!--A Facebook user (J. S.)
  • Just wanted to let you know: I stole your headline method of note taking from your website and it is completely saving my life in American Studies. -Rebecca C.
  • Hey, you do have one of the best designed websites I have seen lately. Good job. A little flashy, but still functional. --Email comment 8/18/2010
Videos

Nuvola apps multimedia.png Video edit

Tecker 911 Logo.png Tecker 911

Nuvola filesystems camera.png Photos edit

Trips/Vacations
Universities
MIT
Haverford High School
Places/Events/Daytrips

(need to update)

Tech/Unboxing/Products
Pictures on the Wikimedia Commons

TI-83--rotated.png TI-83+ Stuff edit

Nuvola apps kcmprocessor.png Tech Stuff edit

I am a lot into technology. Here are links to some of my web sites as well as modifications and how-to articles about other software.

My Websites
Devices
MediaWiki Tweaks
Essays/Thoughts
Other

Nuvola apps gaim.png Miscellaneous edit

Nuvola apps remote.png Site Statistics edit

For up-to-date info see Special:Statistics

There are 6,499 total pages in the database, including 1,578 pages in the main namespace and 5,000 files uploaded. These counts do not include OneNote notebooks on minisites or SkyDrive, and count multi-page files (PDF and Word) as one page.

There have been a total of 5,163,449 page views, and 16,470 page edits since ThePlaz.com was setup. That comes to 2.53 average edits per page, and 313.51 views per edit.