Romina Rivadeneira

CPR E 494

CPR E 494 Assignment: General Education Reflection

One of the things we tend to forget as engineers is the importance of various perspectives. I
believe it is vital to be able to understand other persons point of view. For example, an
engineer working in a project; said project manager wants certain specifications you, for
one reason or the other, do not agree with. A disagreement is easily solved by making ends
meet, but in order to do that, one has to understand how to analyze different perspectives.
This is what drove me to take a minor in Sociology. I found it immensely interesting to
evaluate how people develop in different societies and situationsas well as examining the
situation itself. This seems to be a topic far away from what we learn as future engineers,
but I would say it is one of the vital components. As I mentioned above, understanding the
issue also involves understanding the stance of people involved in said issue.
Over the years, I have taken several sociology classes that had sufficed both my minor and
General Education components. Each course has helped me grow as a future leader and
engineer. One direct example could be my Social Psychology class (SOC 305); this course
helped me understand different societies stances, needs, partitions, and how to effectively
approach these. Upon learning about society in general, I furthered my knowledge with my
Sex and Gender in Society course (SOC 327). As a female engineer, I found this class
tremendously refreshing and helped me reflect on my future short and long term goals.
With that, my sociology courses helped me understand real world issues I was not even
aware ofor fully informed of. For instance, my Social Class and Inequality course (SOC
331) taught me about the vast amount of problems concerning different working classes,
races and genders in the United States. Additionally, I also got to study extensively the
wage gap between men and women, and the evolution of jobs offered to them.
Understanding these components has helped me gain the will to serve the society and make
it better with my degree.
Personally, I aspire to become a world-changing engineer. My goal is to innovate and create
something to help society. Both in the working environment and societal impact. It is
important to keep on encouraging all groups to further their education and go for what they
are passionate about. This has been heavily emphasized in all my Sociology courses, and I
absolutely agree with that.
Computer Engineers mostly deal with inorganic machines in order to complete a project,
but these projects serve a real public. That may raise questions such as:
Would everyone be able to understand my project?
What specifications do I need to satisfy for my client?
What kind of impact am I looking to give?
What is the main goal of this project?
Why would this help others?
All these questions have been easier to answer thanks to my General Education courses in
Sociology. I take a step back, analyze said conditions, think about my audience and start
devising a plan of execution.

Romina Rivadeneira

CPR E 494

Additionally, one other important point to stress about my General Education courses, is
that they have helped me tremendously on how to effectively work on a team and be a
leader. As an engineer, it is imperative to be able to take both the place of a follower and a
leader. I seek to follow and be followed, and to learn and provide that learning opportunity.
My education and leadership experience serving the community at Iowa State has
complemented my personal growth and has helped me develop a professional mindset for
my future endeavors.
The real-time and hands-on experience of a Computer Engineer give the perfect
opportunity to apply this general knowledge. A project is ground-breaking when it defies
what the public already knows. In order to be innovative, one has to comprehend the
different perspectives to satisfy in our society.
In conclusion, I strongly believe one of the major reasons I have been able to succeed in my
personal growth and as a future engineer has been the understanding my General Education
courses have provided me. That sense of global understanding and being able to deeply
analyze the environment of a situation has helped on my critical thinking skillswhich will
carry over future projects and career as a true Computer Engineer with aspirations to make
a difference.