Cumulative Reflection

Throughout my college career at Iowa State University I was given countless opportunities to develop
both my hard and soft technical skills. This was not only within the classroom, but within the campus
culture in general. As an ABET accredited organization, Iowa State University has a program that
advances in both technical difficulty and collaboration as you progress. Furthermore, there are
individual classes that focus on standard industry processes to learn specifically applicable mechanisms.
I would categorize the education I received in pursuit of my degree as follows: lab courses, industry
standards courses, and campus opportunities. Though the content of these subjects vastly differs from
each other, they do all serve the same purpose to provide a comprehensive understanding of basic
computer engineering.

The most useful classes that I took at Iowa State are the typical engineering lab courses. Though the
subjects taught in these classes do not necessarily correlate with my career, the practices we followed
to complete the hands-on labs were supremely useful. These labs teach students how to identify a
problem, develop a solution, and work within a team. They also serve to train students on how to use
new and unfamiliar lab equipment, many of which they will reuse for their career. Practical classes are
undoubtedly beneficial towards critical thinking, though I experienced the most growth with teamwork.
Prior to university, I had worked on only a handful of collaborative technical projects, so the experience I
gained within a team is invaluable. Within the actual field of engineering, good teamwork is an
expectation and necessary to complete product development on schedule. Once such project I
completed at Iowa State that stressed these skills was an autonomous rover. This was a large-scale
project that required hardware changes, software development, and a team. It was only through
leveraging each members’ individual strengths that we were able to complete the project by the
deadline. By learning to remove personal ego from collaborations and consider all ideas, I’ve seen the
benefits of these classes within my own work.

While I favored the practical lab courses I took, the industry standards courses do directly correspond to
the industry and I have personally used the knowledge I gained from them within my career. Upon
graduation, employers do not expect a new hire to have a full understanding of the work they will be
implementing. As such, specific software/hardware training is a given when acquiring a full-time
position. However, employers do expect incoming software engineers to have a comprehensive
knowledge of industry standards and practices. These practices can cover coding standards, team
organization, product development, software tools, and architecture. Some of the specific knowledge I
gained that I have found beneficial is the AGILE project management methodology, UML diagrams,
C/C++ standards, and version control. I have used all these individual topics at Collins Aerospace and
directly applied the knowledge I gained from those courses. One specific example of this is a co-op that I
had taken with Collins Aerospace, immediately after taking a computer science standards course. As a
result of this course, when I was given the opportunity to lead development on a product, I already had
the necessary architecture and process knowledge.
In addition to offered courses, Iowa State boasts a wide selection of extra-curricular and campus
activities. I have joined multiple technical clubs as well as participating in undergraduate research,
career fairs, and hackathons. All of these opportunities have challenged me in different ways and each
organization has required their own amount of contribution. What I enjoyed the most of these
opportunities is that you can pick clubs and events that align with your interests and what you wish to
learn. Upon entering university, I wanted to continue my participation in robotics and as such, joined the
robotics club. Once I had gained further experience and wanted to learn on a separate subject, I joined a
general engineering club, Critical Tinkerers. It was a great experience being able to switch clubs so easily
and that there was such a vast selection of clubs and interests available. I also appreciated the general
engineering campus events such as career fairs and hackathons. Career fairs are a great way to network
with employers and speak with students that are currently employed within the industry. I personally
favored hackathons for employer networking though as it allowed students dedicated time to speak
closely with companies. It was through speaking with Rockwell Collins during the Spring 2017 hackathon
that led to an interview, and subsequent employment with the company.

Now that my time at Iowa State is reaching an end, I do feel a bit nostalgic when thinking on those
project development sprints that permeated our education. Although stressful, it was typically a fun
experience to identify various technologies and work to implement a practical solution. To continue my
goal of lifelong learning once I graduate this May, I aim to complete many small projects at home.
Though these projects will not carry much risk or a specific deadline, it will give me the opportunity to
learn new and entertaining technologies. I also wish to explore some non-engineering fields such as
wood or metal working to develop further skills. I believe that through diligent practice on nearly any
topic, the skills you learn while gaining proficiency in a particular subject can be applied to your
knowledge base as a whole.