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Grimes, Joe

Cumulative GPA: 0.76/4.00 with 36 evaluations
Presents Material Clearly: 0.52
Recognizes Student Difficulties: 1.00

Computer Science Department, Cal Poly, SLO
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CPE 315 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 12:10 pm, Apr 2, 2013 Report Evaluation		Seriously don't take this guy. Like others I went ahead and took Grimes to stick with the flowchart, despite all the warnings from these ratings and I regret my decision. Even though I got an A in the class I couldn't tell you what I learned...Grimes is a sweet guy but just should not be teaching anymore. This is a good course, but not with Grimes. I won't even describe his class because you shouldn't take him to begin with! DON'T DO IT

CPE 315 Junior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 12:37 pm, Dec 16, 2012 Report Evaluation		Oh god... I decided to go ahead and take this class with Grimes (to get it over with) despite warnings from others. Please, especially if you are a CSC/SE student, do NOT take this class with Grimes. All the projects are heavily geared towards CPE students and if you do not have a SOLID understanding of Assembly and building parts of a CPU with Logisim circuits, you will... struggle is an understatement. Wait until another professor teaches this class because it isn't a pre-req for anything and can be put off until Senior year.

CPE 315 Sophomore Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 12:40 am, Apr 30, 2012 Report Evaluation		As bad as they say. You learn more from the book and the class has a broken design favoring CPE students (vs CSC) and whoever gets partnered up with them because they've done this before.

CSC 315 Junior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 3:34 pm, Apr 6, 2012 Report Evaluation		http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnOfSfKvqlY that about sums up every explanation he gives, there really is no better example. he is so scatter-brained that he is impossible to follow. he contradicts himself all the time while trying to change his meaning whenever a student exposes a flaw in his logic. its pretty annoying that is away that he doesn't know the material well enough to convey it but still rambles on. take it with Lupo if you can, he is like the Workmann of upper division CSC/CPE.

CSC 315 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 3:34 pm, Nov 7, 2011 Report Evaluation		This professor's teaching style is to put slides on blackboard (yes blackboard...) before class, expect you to have read them, and then will give you a quiz on them at the beginning of each class before discussing the material. A lot of the material, particularly programming assignments, are vaguely worded and I'm convinced this is so he can judge how far along you are on a program by what questions you are asking. All of the programs are done with a partner he assigns and you are stuck with for the entire quarter. If you actually ask questions in class, he can do a pretty good job of explaining the material. However, you have to ask questions. If you don't, he assumes you are completely fine with the material and doesn't cover it fully.

CSC 225 Sophomore Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 10:02 pm, May 8, 2011 Report Evaluation		Refer to the review 4 posts below this one.

CSC 315 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 9:31 pm, Apr 7, 2011 Report Evaluation		This guy is AWESOME. Sure he can't teach, but he is a really nice guy. And if you are struggling in the class. He will help you out in any way he can. But just be prepared for the Final, cause it is really hard and it's 40% of your grade. DON'T MESS UP. For all those who say he is a bad professor, shame on you! You just never asked for help.



EE 0 Sophomore Grade Earned: N/A Elective 10:34 pm, May 6, 2010 Report Evaluation		Wow, my roommates bitch about this guy constantly. I feel sorry for them. I haven\'t taken him, but I just heard \"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRAAAAAHHHH GRRRIIIMMMMEEESSSSSSS!!!!!!\" like 30 seconds ago.

CSC 315 Junior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 12:28 pm, Apr 12, 2010 Report Evaluation		I normally don\'t take PolyRatings for face value, but holy fucking wow. These people were not kidding. This professor doesn\'t teach. At all. He pulls up a slide and asks, \"do you have questions?\". That is his entire \"lecture\". Of fucking course we have questions you idiot, you never taught us anything about the slides!

CPE 315 Senior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 12:55 pm, Apr 9, 2010 Report Evaluation		Mother of God.

CSC 315 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 2:14 am, Apr 7, 2010 Report Evaluation		Without a doubt the worst professor I have ever had at Cal Poly. It is not that he is too difficult or that he is mean - he is really a nice guy and easy to get along with. The problem is that he literally knows nothing about the material. Every time a student asked a question he would either say that \'that is definitely something worth looking into\' without ever answering it, or he would rely on other students to try to answer it. As a result you could rarely really know what the correct answer to anything was because he didn\'t tell us and he wasn\'t ever clear about whether or not a student\'s answer was right. He did not write any of is own course material - all the powerpoint slides were used from a professor at another university. The labs he gave us were mostly broken - they included scripts that needed to be run to do the lab but didn\'t work - students had to fix his stuff before they could get started on the actual assignment. Or, you would just wait until his TA posted a fix on the discussion board, hopefully giving you enough time to do the lab. His TA should probably be doing his job, to be honest, he seemed to do all the work regarding labs and answering student questions. Also, one of his \'assignments\' throughout the quarter was having us do his job for him - the team project was us reviewing his lesson plans and submitting revisions on how to improve it. Our \'capstone project\' was to write a complete week-long learning module on multicore processing. We were obviously never taught about multiprocessing in class, presumably since it wasn\'t around last time he taught this course (14 years ago), hence he needed us to teach him. In summary, Professor Grimes is a nice guy, but is absolutely clueless and should be avoided at all costs. Don\'t waste your tuition, you will learn nothing.

CSC 315 Junior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 4:51 pm, Feb 17, 2010 Report Evaluation		Absolutely horrible. When I get a professor I\'m disappointed with I always try to make due. This class... physically made me sick. He does not know a thing. Maybe once upon a time 14yrs ago when he last taught this class he knew something, but its gone, completely, gone. If you ask him a question about the lab he will never be able to help and his way of saying I have no idea is \"that\'s something I want you to figure out.\" His quizzes/tests are open note and open book but they\'re so subjective you\'ll get plenty of them wrong no matter what you say. The worst part of the class is the cold-calling. I hate cold-calling but here and there its do-able. This is 3-5 questions he cold calls on people about per powerpoint slide. Its every day nonstop and if you aren\'t there or don\'t know the answer you lose points making it hard to get an A. The constant answers from students who just guess and/or say the wrong answer makes it extremely difficult to take correct notes and figure out what he\'s even talking about.

CSC 464 Senior Grade Earned: B Elective 1:59 pm, Jan 8, 2007 Report Evaluation		Hmmm, well based on what i've seen below...for the most part correct. Grimes has good intentions but for the most part, me and my fellow students ended up fending for ourselves in this class. Admittedly the structure of the class probably reflects poorly on Grimes ability to teach it however, it seemed during lectures that many questions were answered inadequately which showed on our exam grades. Many of the students questioned why we even had the lecture portion of the class since almost all material learned for this course came from lab, programming, individual work, and class notes which the students did themselves. All of my questions which were not answered adequately in lecture, were answered adequately online by one of the other professors. Grimes, you seem like a nice guy but you really need to add substance to the lecture portion of this course, hybrid or not.



CSC 464 Senior Grade Earned: B Elective 1:03 am, Mar 30, 2006 Report Evaluation		You will be surprised to know how bad this guy is teaching networks at Cal Poly. Avoid at all costs.

CSC 464 Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 2:10 pm, Aug 12, 2005 Report Evaluation		Grimes is a very busy man at Cal Poly (which he will let you know) and as a result is not prepared to teach the class. Trust me, don't expect Grimes to clarify any questions you have. He doesn't know much about the subject. Most questions from students were directed back at the class, or answered in a confusing, non-helpful manner. My quarter the grading was VERY subjective. Example being first quiz, first question, "What was the most important thing you learned from the first lecture". I explained what I felt was important and got a 3 out of 10. Hmm, I don't think that is fair. The one bonus taking Grimes is you can get away with not doing all aspects of the programs and still pass.

CPE 464 Senior Grade Earned: B Elective 5:16 pm, Jun 20, 2005 Report Evaluation		You will be surprised to know how bad this guy is teaching networks at Cal Poly. Avoid at all costs.

CPE 464 Senior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 2:08 pm, Jun 16, 2005 Report Evaluation		this guy is an ass, plain and simple...he is a fucking jerk that cant convey the material...he cant teach, he cant answer questions, if it wasnt for the 8 TA's he has nothing would get done...i hate this guy so much, and i hope he keels over soon...DONT TAKE HIM!

CSC 464 Senior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 2:10 pm, Jun 3, 2005 Report Evaluation		Please help yourself by not taking the class, or else take it to satisfy the course list, and learn the material someplace else.

CPE 464 Senior Grade Earned: B Elective 2:30 pm, Mar 29, 2005 Report Evaluation		Grimes should be forced to retire from Cal Poly. He is a disgrace to the Cal Poly CSC department.



CSC 464 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 1:06 am, Mar 27, 2005 Report Evaluation		This class is ridiculous. The material is awesome but why i payed for full time status and took this class is beyond me. I taught myself almost everything except when other students helped me or when the Lab TA's helped. My point being Grimes didnt do anything in this class. Hes the nicest guy but for the love of god this class sucked.

CPE 464 Junior Grade Earned: B Elective 12:48 am, Mar 26, 2005 Report Evaluation		First of all, Grimes has no idea about Networks. He is a nice guy though. Like the previous comment says, there is enough time to finish programs, but it's only worth 10% of the grade. The programs are the same as Smith's. Quiz questions are often stupid, but he repeats a lot from previous quarters. Make sure you get as much quizzes as possible from previous quarters. They are open book/note. Midterm was not so bad, but final was extremely confusing and stupid. My grade dropped from an "A" to a "B" because of the grade I got in the final exam. Moral of the story: take Smith eventhough he is hard. In this class, you won't learn anything for sure, and there is no guarantee for a good grade. BTW, labs are fun.

CPE 464 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 12:52 pm, Mar 24, 2005 Report Evaluation		Grimes is a very kind man with good intentions but he is past his prime on teaching. His class is easier than Smiths but you will not leave with the same understanding of Networks as you would with Smith. Grimes skips many of the slides and rarely goes over any slide with the detail necessary to learn it. There are weekly quizzes, weekly homework, a midterm, and final. The programs are reasonable and there is plenty of time to do them. You can get extra credit for turning in the programs early. The programs are only 10% of your grade so they barely mean anything. The Lab is fun and very hands on. Just be aware, the lectures are nothing to be excited about.

CPE 464 Junior Grade Earned: C Elective 11:07 pm, Feb 16, 2005 Report Evaluation		What a waste of time!

CPE 464 Junior Grade Earned: B Elective 1:37 am, Jan 15, 2005 Report Evaluation		Joe is a nice guy, but he has no business teaching this course. Having said that, I'm happy with the grade I got. But I didn't learn much though.

CPE 464 Senior Grade Earned: C Elective 12:16 am, Jan 7, 2005 Report Evaluation		You are not gonna learn anything about computer networks from Grimes. I recommend not to take this class with Grimes. Wait until Smith teaches this course. If you are taking this course anyways with Grimes, just buy the lecture notes and read them at home. Don't bother going to the class.



CPE 464 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Elective 1:39 pm, Dec 17, 2004 Report Evaluation		Seriously, Prof.Grimes has no credibility teaching CPE 464. He knows nothing much about networks, and he doesn't bother learning about it. He can't give answers to even basic networking questions. Most of the times, he gives wrong answers. He skips many topics and asks us to skim through it, or doesn't explain well, but he asks them on the quizzes. Like someone else said, I got really annoyed when the TA had to explain the concept one more time. Many times people got really low grades, like less than 5 out of 20 in quizzes. Most of the quiz and test questions were pulled out of his ass. Most of them were really confusing or didn't make much sense. Fortunately the grading on midterm was liberal, and the class average was like 90%. The difficulty level on the final was similar, but whomever I talked to, got a lower grade than expected. Programs are kinda challenging, and they take up a lot of time. But they account for only 10% of the overall grade. Labs and homework account of 10% which is not hard to get points. 20% is for quizzes, and the rest for midterm and final exam. I was familiar with a lot of the concepts in networks, and I'm not so bad at programming. I didn't learn anything new in this course. The CSc department should take this guy out of teaching 464, and let instructors like Hugh Smith teach this course. The only thing good about this course is that the TA and Lab Assistants know more about networks than Grimes, and they are always there to help. Taking this course with Grimes is a mistake.

CPE 464 Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 7:15 pm, Mar 23, 2003 Report Evaluation		I agree with most of the other evaluations I've read, and I'm just throwing my two cents in for statistical purposes: Joe Grimes IS a nice guy, and he would be a great professor if he were more familiar with the material. (I believe he even won a distinguished teaching award at one point.) The problem is, he has absolutely no business teaching this class. There were so many times that he couldn't answer students' basic questions, and he'd frequently even give incorrect answers. I grew very annoyed with him after our guest lecturer had to re-teach us a couple of algorithms. The lab T/As and the frequent guest lecturer were awesome, but Joe Grimes should do the students a service by removing himself from the picture.

CPE 464 Senior Grade Earned: Credit Elective 4:22 pm, Jun 6, 2002 Report Evaluation		Dr. Grimes knows nothing about networking. His lectures consisted of reading material directly off slides. If you asked him a question, he would field the question to the class, and if no one knew, he would keep it open till next lecture. If you asked him to explain one of the bullets on the slides, half the time he doesn't know what they mean. Lab and programs have nothing to do with lecture or with each other. He will not answer lab or program questions in class, because he knows nothing about them. Quizzez, labs, and programs are graded by TAs. On the plus side, he's a nice guy.

CPE 315 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 8:42 pm, Aug 1, 2001 Report Evaluation		Dr. Grimes lectures well, but his tests are a bit difficult. He allows the use of any course material you might want to use which helps alot on the test. Lab is standard, just don't procrastinate too much and you should do well. Overall good professor and if you work hard you should do well.

CPE 315 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 8:42 pm, Aug 1, 2001 Report Evaluation		he's a really nice guy, but he just doesn't lecture well. the only reason i learned something in that class was because of the lab. his tests are hard (usually open note, and as a tip: bring every single paper you can scrounge up from the class) but the curve is high. if you want to learn the material before you have to write the code for it, i'd recommend you find another teacher.

CPE 315 Junior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 8:42 pm, Aug 1, 2001 Report Evaluation		Excellent Professor. Considerate of all students. Enthusiastic and interested in subject matter. Highly recommend him.



CPE 315 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 6:33 pm, Jun 18, 2001 Report Evaluation		Grimes is encouraging and supportive - he is awesome!

CPE 315 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 3:05 pm, Aug 2, 2000 Report Evaluation		Joe is a great person but not the best professor of a technical class such as this. I found his lectures to be highly general and simplistic. The labs were then highly technical and difficult. To fill that gap, my recommendation is find a good lab partner and go figure stuff out because you won't learn it in his lecture. You are better off finding another professor or waiting a quarter for someone else to teach it. Tests were confusingly written (lots of errors) but not too difficult. I got an A- in the class.

CPE 315 Sophomore Grade Earned: C Required (Support) 7:15 pm, Jun 14, 2000 Report Evaluation		I think for the most part we all think highly of Dr. Grimes, but the fact is this last quarter he never seemed prepared for class, he wasn't very good at clarifying student questions, and he just seemed pretty scatterbrained at times. I know with all the other things he has to do he really didn't have the time to teach our class to begin with, so make sure if you take him he's teaching it because he's scheduled to teach it, not because they figured out at the last minute a new prof. is a terrible teacher (ahem.. Ruan).

CPE 460 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 5:33 pm, Nov 2, 1999 Report Evaluation		Dr. Grimes is the best senior project advisor of all time!!!!

CPE 315 Sophomore Grade Earned: C General Ed 3:38 pm, Sep 19, 1999 Report Evaluation		take it in the face rocky

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