Cumulative Reflection on a Formal Education in Computer Engineering
Before I entered college, I already knew that I wanted to major in computer engineering. At the time, it was a hard decision to make between computer science or engineering, since I was unsure whether I wanted to focus purely on computer software and the theory behind it or if I wanted to integrate some ideas involving computer hardware into my studies. Still, I ended up choosing the latter as my major, as I wanted to gain as broad of a knowledge in computers as I possibly could. I don’t regret making this decision one bit, as it led me down the path to where I am professionally today.
A majority of the benefit came from learning that I will never at any given point know everything about computers. I came into college underestimating just how broad the subject matter was, and deceived myself into thinking concepts wouldn’t reach far beyond the introductory level courses that I was taking during my freshman year. I fondly remember being in my problem solving course having learned C and taking my object oriented programming classes with prior knowledge of Java. With my pre-existing knowledge, I was able to focus more on the concepts being taught to us and came out of those classes knowing how to apply them to a professional environment.
However, this flipped around near the middle of my sophomore year. It was at this point that my studies started to dive deeper into the side of computer engineering that focused on hardware and the physics behind it. The conceptual aspects of this subject were easy for me to grasp. This was shown through my understanding of what was taught to me during my courses in digital logic and classical physics. Still, the application of those ideas during my embedded systems and computer organization courses proved difficult. This isn’t to mention the undergraduate assistantship at Iowa State’s Virtual Reality Applications Center (VRAC) that I took up around the same time. On top of everything else, that job forced me to realize that what I had thought was an extensive knowledge of programming languages and their application in the real world was really a base level of programming that needed to be built on through experience.
Luckily, I had my love for my major on my side, and was able to persevere through those tough times. From that point forward, I was not only learning technical skills, but personal ones as well. In particular, the fact that a project will sometimes have to be submitted in an unfinished or imperfect state in favor of more important matters was apparent during my sophomore year. Keeping this in mind was what pushed me forward to obtain what I came to this school searching for. Since then, I have taken courses on electronic circuits and signals and embedded system design to gain a greater understanding of how modern hardware design works. I’ve taken courses on algorithm analysis, operating system structure, and computer networking to broaden and deepen my understanding of how I can apply my software skills to practical projects. My experience developing my skills at the VRAC eventually landed me a job at a company outside of the university system, and this in combination with my courses on professional development and industry ethics has more than prepared me for entering a real full-time career in technology.
In addition to my required courses, I have also taken courses in Human Computer Interaction (HCI), an interest I had developed in my time working at the VRAC. In short, HCI deals with humans’ use of computers to improve their everyday lives. As such, the field goes far beyond just computer science and engineering and spans multiple disciplines, a quality that wasn’t apparent to me before I researched it but which became a primary reason for my deep interest in the subject when it was. It is for this reason that I plan on continuing my education into the realm of HCI, whether it be through university studies or through professional experience. I believe this is the path that will allow me to have the most impact on the world. I would say that I happened upon the subject on my own, but without the drive and knowledge that I had developed throughout my time in undergraduate studies, I know that I would not have even known about it in the first place, and for that reason I am immensely grateful.
A majority of the benefit came from learning that I will never at any given point know everything about computers. I came into college underestimating just how broad the subject matter was, and deceived myself into thinking concepts wouldn’t reach far beyond the introductory level courses that I was taking during my freshman year. I fondly remember being in my problem solving course having learned C and taking my object oriented programming classes with prior knowledge of Java. With my pre-existing knowledge, I was able to focus more on the concepts being taught to us and came out of those classes knowing how to apply them to a professional environment.
However, this flipped around near the middle of my sophomore year. It was at this point that my studies started to dive deeper into the side of computer engineering that focused on hardware and the physics behind it. The conceptual aspects of this subject were easy for me to grasp. This was shown through my understanding of what was taught to me during my courses in digital logic and classical physics. Still, the application of those ideas during my embedded systems and computer organization courses proved difficult. This isn’t to mention the undergraduate assistantship at Iowa State’s Virtual Reality Applications Center (VRAC) that I took up around the same time. On top of everything else, that job forced me to realize that what I had thought was an extensive knowledge of programming languages and their application in the real world was really a base level of programming that needed to be built on through experience.
Luckily, I had my love for my major on my side, and was able to persevere through those tough times. From that point forward, I was not only learning technical skills, but personal ones as well. In particular, the fact that a project will sometimes have to be submitted in an unfinished or imperfect state in favor of more important matters was apparent during my sophomore year. Keeping this in mind was what pushed me forward to obtain what I came to this school searching for. Since then, I have taken courses on electronic circuits and signals and embedded system design to gain a greater understanding of how modern hardware design works. I’ve taken courses on algorithm analysis, operating system structure, and computer networking to broaden and deepen my understanding of how I can apply my software skills to practical projects. My experience developing my skills at the VRAC eventually landed me a job at a company outside of the university system, and this in combination with my courses on professional development and industry ethics has more than prepared me for entering a real full-time career in technology.
In addition to my required courses, I have also taken courses in Human Computer Interaction (HCI), an interest I had developed in my time working at the VRAC. In short, HCI deals with humans’ use of computers to improve their everyday lives. As such, the field goes far beyond just computer science and engineering and spans multiple disciplines, a quality that wasn’t apparent to me before I researched it but which became a primary reason for my deep interest in the subject when it was. It is for this reason that I plan on continuing my education into the realm of HCI, whether it be through university studies or through professional experience. I believe this is the path that will allow me to have the most impact on the world. I would say that I happened upon the subject on my own, but without the drive and knowledge that I had developed throughout my time in undergraduate studies, I know that I would not have even known about it in the first place, and for that reason I am immensely grateful.
General Education Reflection
I pride myself on having a broad range of interests outside of technology. This is something I find very important to the application of my technical knowledge, especially with my interest in Human-Computer Interaction, a discipline that depends on human culture as much as it does on technology. It’s for this reason that I take my general education courses very seriously, and I have dedicated them to learning more about the human experience and communicating that experience to other people.
When it comes to the current state of human livelihood I think about culture and politics. I had some preemptive education on this very topic coming into college which included European history, the artistic and idealistic movements of Europe, and the US government and how it functions. This background helped me to understand the related courses that I was able to take during my time at college. For example, I was (interestingly) able to take a course on Russian current events in the Fall of 2021 with some surface level knowledge on the country’s past. The benefit from this course was almost immediate, since Russia’s war on Ukraine began just months after I finished the curriculum. With this course under my belt, I’m not only able to understand the significance of technology during the war, but also the cultural significance of having modern technology available to all parties involved, emphasizing the ethical aspect of my major on the global scale.
It’s arguably not as impactful as a course that relates directly to a current-day war, but I also had the opportunity to learn about the diversity of American culture by taking a course that introduced its culinary history. Art is a dear subject to me, and the culinary arts are far from an exception. In fact, I believe that a culture is at one of its most visible states during a meal prepared by people who identify themselves with it. My course in American food and culture was a great demonstration of this. Throughout the course, I learned about America’s cultural landscape almost as if it was a topological map. Simply by navigating through the history of American cuisine as we know it today, I started to notice how much it’s been influenced by the cuisine of a variety of different countries and time periods, perfectly demonstrating the importance of multiple denominations within the country’s borders and their respective histories. The course didn’t just enrich my life by improving my cooking skills, but it also helped me understand where different people stand in America’s cultural and political climate. This is crucial in the development of products aimed towards specific groups of people since needs and desires vary from background to background.
These are ideas I want to communicate to other people after college, along with all of the other information included in my main line of studies. Though my professional communications course was meant to teach me how to do just that, I never felt that it was enough. I believe that it is necessary to talk about foreign topics in an interesting way so that the audience will want to know more about what is being said and engage in conversation without feeling forced into doing so. I took an introductory course in creative writing to fill the hole that I think the professional communication course left in my curriculum. There, students shared their pieces of writing with each other to gather opinions on how they could communicate their stories better. There were lessons of humility to be had throughout the course, as I was not as good of a writer as I thought I was before the course. Given the correct pointers, I had easily found what I was looking for, which was the ability to express myself more creatively through writing. This is a skill that I have heard has been sought after by managers since it implies an ability to write interesting, concise documents.
With my ability to understand cultural backgrounds outside of my own and to communicate with people creatively as well as I can effectively, I can see myself in a prosperous position in the near future. My job has already benefited from my general education. I’ve written plenty of documents detailing specific work-related problems and how to solve them, and with plans to release our product to an audience consisting of multiple backgrounds, my perspective on the diversity of people in the US has come in great use when considering what decisions should be made when implementing solutions. For this reason, I think what I’ve chosen to learn for the purposes of broadening my base of knowledge during my university studies will propel me upwards in the workplace and in life alike.
When it comes to the current state of human livelihood I think about culture and politics. I had some preemptive education on this very topic coming into college which included European history, the artistic and idealistic movements of Europe, and the US government and how it functions. This background helped me to understand the related courses that I was able to take during my time at college. For example, I was (interestingly) able to take a course on Russian current events in the Fall of 2021 with some surface level knowledge on the country’s past. The benefit from this course was almost immediate, since Russia’s war on Ukraine began just months after I finished the curriculum. With this course under my belt, I’m not only able to understand the significance of technology during the war, but also the cultural significance of having modern technology available to all parties involved, emphasizing the ethical aspect of my major on the global scale.
It’s arguably not as impactful as a course that relates directly to a current-day war, but I also had the opportunity to learn about the diversity of American culture by taking a course that introduced its culinary history. Art is a dear subject to me, and the culinary arts are far from an exception. In fact, I believe that a culture is at one of its most visible states during a meal prepared by people who identify themselves with it. My course in American food and culture was a great demonstration of this. Throughout the course, I learned about America’s cultural landscape almost as if it was a topological map. Simply by navigating through the history of American cuisine as we know it today, I started to notice how much it’s been influenced by the cuisine of a variety of different countries and time periods, perfectly demonstrating the importance of multiple denominations within the country’s borders and their respective histories. The course didn’t just enrich my life by improving my cooking skills, but it also helped me understand where different people stand in America’s cultural and political climate. This is crucial in the development of products aimed towards specific groups of people since needs and desires vary from background to background.
These are ideas I want to communicate to other people after college, along with all of the other information included in my main line of studies. Though my professional communications course was meant to teach me how to do just that, I never felt that it was enough. I believe that it is necessary to talk about foreign topics in an interesting way so that the audience will want to know more about what is being said and engage in conversation without feeling forced into doing so. I took an introductory course in creative writing to fill the hole that I think the professional communication course left in my curriculum. There, students shared their pieces of writing with each other to gather opinions on how they could communicate their stories better. There were lessons of humility to be had throughout the course, as I was not as good of a writer as I thought I was before the course. Given the correct pointers, I had easily found what I was looking for, which was the ability to express myself more creatively through writing. This is a skill that I have heard has been sought after by managers since it implies an ability to write interesting, concise documents.
With my ability to understand cultural backgrounds outside of my own and to communicate with people creatively as well as I can effectively, I can see myself in a prosperous position in the near future. My job has already benefited from my general education. I’ve written plenty of documents detailing specific work-related problems and how to solve them, and with plans to release our product to an audience consisting of multiple backgrounds, my perspective on the diversity of people in the US has come in great use when considering what decisions should be made when implementing solutions. For this reason, I think what I’ve chosen to learn for the purposes of broadening my base of knowledge during my university studies will propel me upwards in the workplace and in life alike.