After Completing the HRDK Skilled Technology Transfer Program

To complete the Skilled Technology Transfer Program, I stayed at the Global Institute For Transferring Skills in Incheon from July 25th to the 29th when I'm writing this, for 5 days. (The location is quite surprising—I thought it was Bucheon but it's Incheon. Refer to the map below)

Anyway, I'm going to write about my impressions, what I learned, and a retrospective from staying there.

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TL;DR

Things NOT to Bring

1. Towels: The dormitory provides unlimited towels. Definitely don't bring them—I didn't know and brought 3 towels, only making my bag heavier.
2. Toothbrush, Toothpaste: They hand out a toiletry set(?) during the first day orientation. It includes toothbrush and toothpaste, so they're completely unnecessary.
3. Too Many Clothes: Unless you're going to date someone there Just bring pajamas + 2 sets of clothes.

Things You MUST Bring

1. Something to Study: I mean books or something. Or at least subscribe to xcloud to play games. (It gets boring)
2. Router: They said the National Intelligence Service came for a security audit and disabled the public WiFi. If you want to disconnect from the digital world for 5 days, not bringing a router is also an option. (Alternative: a laptop with an ethernet port)
3. Some Snacks: There's no convenience store inside the facility. Not even a vending machine!! The nearest convenience store is 300m away, so it's wise to bring snacks instead of extra clothes.
4. Power Strip: The dormitory is 2 people per room, but there are only about 3 power outlets. Bring a power strip!!

TIPS

1. It may vary depending on the instructor, but the training room is free to use. In my case with the network room, after the training program ended and we ate dinner, we could use it freely until 10 PM.
2. For computer fields, install Parsec on the practice computers. You can connect from the dormitory and continue the practice you were doing during class. Being able to stream high-spec games until dawn is a bonus.

First Day Story

Because I woke up a bit late, I took the 11:20 AM bus, which was the second shuttle. Exit through exit 2 at Songnae Station and go straight to catch the bus—simply put, look for the CU convenience store. The bus has "Skilled Technology Transfer blah blah" written all over it, so you don't need to worry about not finding it.

The first day... I was quite disappointed because they taught the OSI 7 Layer again. I've heard that explanation probably 7 times in my life... heh

Other than that, it was a day for getting used to the facilities and figuring out how to spend the next 5 days. Surprisingly, the training program ends at 6 PM, and after dinner, you get free time. On the first day, I was so excited that I stayed up chatting and playing until 2 AM. If you're okay with dozing off during the next day's training and skipping breakfast, staying up until 2 AM is also a good choice. LOL Just go to bed early—it's best to sleep by at least midnight.

Second Day Story

Nothing special. This is probably when you'll first figure out how to tackle breakfast. You have to finish eating by 8:30 AM, so you need to arrive at the cafeteria by at least 8 AM, making it tough to wake up. (If you enter later than 8, the nutritionist will give you a look) There's no blaring music to wake you up in the morning, and no wake-up call either. Just wake up on your own, wash up, eat, and head to the training room by 8:50 AM.

This day I think we did LAN cable making practice...? Hmm.. I can't remember.

I was pretty tired this day so I did laundry and went to bed before midnight.

Days 3, 4, 5

After writing about the second day, I realized there's not much to write about. I'll combine the remaining days into one.

The training program suddenly got harder, and I completely adapted to dormitory life. To exaggerate, it was slightly more comfortable than home.

A special event was that a friend from the same school dropped out midway, which was easier than I thought. Just say "I want to leave" and you can quit and leave.

We learned STP, VTP, VLSM, OSPF, RIP, EIGRP, STATIC routing, redistribution, virtual link, frame relay, etc., and there were assignments like this:

It covers redistribution of various routing protocols and includes almost everything we learned in the training. Anyway, after solving it about twice, it becomes manageable and fun.

Uh... overall, it's nearly impossible to follow the class content without knowing anything. The explanations are incredibly fast, the labs are fast... it's the perfect situation for spacing out and sleeping. In fact, Flash games and Tetris were quite popular hehe (I recommend "Flamingo Long Walk")

It was fun, and this time it was the professional course, but next time I'll visit again for the advanced course.

I'll end this post with a photo of myself turning into a turtle while solving assignments :)

PS) I dedicate this post to Jaewoo, who is going through tremendous psychological changes.