Delwar Hussain
December 13, 2018
An engineer’s reflection:
Lesson learned in Writing for Engineering class
Why do I need to take an English writing class, I am an engineering student? That was the question I had when I was told to take this class. My thought was probably because it is part of my major requirements. But after spending 4 months, I can honestly say, the information I have retained from this class is far more valuable than I had thought. From learning about resume writing to research about a technical description, it was truly an informative class session and a very important part of my college experience.
One of the first assignment that I worked on was writing a resume. I had to search for an internship or a job posting on my field of study, and create a resume tailor to that specific job or internships requirement. The firsts obstacle I faced was matching my skill to the job requirements. It proved to be a difficult task simply because I didn’t have a lot of experience in my field of study. But the trick I learned was to differentiate my soft and hard skills and used them to my advantage. I have learned that even simple skills such communications can be used to match a harder skill requirement.
The 2nd assignment was the hardest for me. The task was to find a currently employed engineer in my field of study and interview him/her. Than write an essay about the interview. The 2nd part was somewhat easy, but finding an engineer proved to be a rather difficult task. In the end using modern social media I found a computer engineer. A recent CCNY graduate and currently employed at computer engineering firm. We did the interview in a NYC Public Library. This was my first ever sit down with an actual computer engineer. As I was asking him questions the thing that surprised me the most was that his job didn’t include him sitting in a cubicle 8 to 10 hours a day and writing codes. It was more collaborative and group based. The job consisted of writing emails, RFPs and presentations. His life didn’t involve around computers. He had time for family and friends. I went in to the meeting fearing that my interviewees perspective on his job and life will deter me from pursuing a career in computer engineering, but I left the interview with much more determination and understanding on my field of study. This interview assignment was one of the most stressful and rewarding task I had in this class.
Most of us college students have some kind of experience in writing a lab report from our previous school life. Mostly in high school about some lab we begrudgingly did in chemistry, bio or physics class. The lab report for this class was about rolling a pair of die at least 100 times, recording and analyzing the data. Also to include search references and appendix. Two things that I have learned from this lab assignment was what is an appendix and that Microsoft excel is an amazing tool in producing large numbers of random die roll and house to a very extensive formula database. I don’t think I have ever had to include an appendix in anything before this class. But I have learned that an appendix is the detail explanation of the process that is too big to explain in the lab itself. But my favorite part was to work in the Microsoft excel, and learning how to use different functions and equations. One other thing that I liked about this assignment was the little cyber trip we took to the CCNY Public Library. We learned about the resources and the database that the library provides.
RFP. Never heard of it before this class. It stands for Request for Proposal. That was the 4th assignment I worked on in this class. The task of that assignment was to work within a group, choose a specific problem within CCNY and propose a solution to that problem. Our group consisted of 4 people and was very appropriately named “The A Team”. Working in a group in any setting carries some complications. Number one being everyone choosing a single problem and working on it. However; after this initial obstacle the group worked rather effortlessly and in sync. We chose to tackle the CCNY shuttle bus system. Our goal was to make it efficient for CCNY students, while make it cost effective for CCNY transportation budget committee. I loved working in the group. It gave me a chance to get to know my classmates, as well as to see where I stand in comparison to my peers. This assignment gave us a chance to understand real life group working obstacles and how to overcome them.
Secure Digital Association and SD-3C, LLC is sole enforcer of all SD memory cards and its copyright infringements. Never knew that. The 5th assignment in this class was to write a technical description. The task was to find an object or a process that is connected to my major and write a technical description about the topic. As a computer engineer major I chose MicroSD cards. In my research I have found out that MicroSD card is relatively new, but with a very intriguing history. At the beginning it was called TF or Trans Flash. Named after its use of flash memory to store data. But due to naming conflict with T-Mobile it was renamed MicroSD Card. I have also learned that all MicroSD card are not made equal. Depending on the buyers purpose a MicroSD card can go from a simple memory card to a very large and complicated data storage device. The writings on a MicroSD card such as “V30” (Video recording at 30 megabytes per second) tells the buyer that it is good for photography use while, MicroSD card with “A1” (Application 1) written on it is best for computer application storage.
Almost all the assignment in this class came with a presentation. We had to present what we had done, learned and answer questions from our peers. Presentations were never one of my strongest suite. I always get my though jumbled and forget half of what I have learned. But in doing more and more presentations I found them to much more bearable, even enjoyable. I enjoyed standing in front of everyone and presenting my data. But the most amazing part for me was how attentive and understanding people really are and that when they ask questions it’s not just for them but a refresher for me as well. Of all the assignments and tests and everything I have done in this class, getting over my fear of giving presentations is one of my biggest achievement in this class. As all college class this one also had a test, but was called Quest. A mashup between Quiz and test. I have learned that my most challenging area in this class is understanding punctuations. This is where I lost a lot of my points.
At the beginning of every class we all have a certain goal we want to achieve. For this class as the name suggest was to improve on our writing. But writing as I have learned specially in college comes with some rather rules. One of my main problem was how to use APA (American Psychological Association) and MLA (Modern Language Association) style. In this course we mostly used APA style. Taking information from different resources and synthesizing my own words and projects. For some of the projects we had to do research and in this class we learned about the CCNY online library resources and its extensive books and scholarly journals. We also had to work within a group setting for one of our projects RFP (Request for Proposal). Where we learned about group collaboration and drafting proposals. In doing all those projects technology played a big role. For the lab report I used Microsoft excel and for my technical description I chose MicroSD Memory card. Doing those projects and attending the class overall, two things that was always constant were A and P audience and purpose and reading. Every project, every assignment required reading either online or our text books and then writing or presenting our projects we had keep in mind our audience and the reason we were doing it.
Taking an English class for a computer engineering major might sound illogical; But as someone who is at the end of this class I can definitely say it is the furthest thing from being that. Learning to write a resume, do an interview, find research and finally being able to present are all integral part of any career. Having these skills and qualities are what make a person standout in the world of competitive job market and I intend to take these lessons and practice them for as long as I can. Because writing code might become my future but without proper communication skills, even the most hardened skills are somewhat inadequate.
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