Process of Becoming a World Class Engineer
Lara El Said
UIN: 723008730
Group 4
Date turned in: 11/06/2015
ENGR 112-101
Introduction
My passion to become an engineer was not an inherited trait but instead my
passion has grown ever since I was about 10 years old and due to my
passion for both math and science as well as solving problems. As I grew
older I realized that success is attitude, effort as well as approach. At an
early age I wasnt able to decide which major specifically in engineering do I
want to pursue, but setting my career goal was never hard for me. Ive
always seen with a career that is able to make a difference and change the
world into a better place. One of the factors that pushed me towards desiring
to offer something to this world is my appreciation to the opportunity I had to
be an educated person. Later on in my high school year I realized that my
passion for chemistry thats why I chose chemical engineering to be my
major. I linked both my ambition to fulfill my goal and my passion towards
math and science specifically towards chemistry to come up with my
preferred major which is chemical engineering. My long-term goal is not only
becoming an engineer but also becoming a successful world class engineer.
To become this person I would face some obstacles as well as complications
that I need to overcome. For that reason I should be able to come up with a
plan, to understand where does a world class chemical engineer stands and
where I am in order to be able to know how to move from the place I stand to
the place I want to reach, therefore I need to make my own roadmap. This
report will discuss what actions and activities I am required to take and
perform as well as my responsibilities to fulfill my dream in becoming a
world-class engineer.
Goals and desire to become an engineer
A person without goals is a lost person. Goals give directions to the person to
know where they are going toward their life, to know what pathway to take,
and to change the attitude and lifestyle in order to take actions for the
person to reach his goal. As Brian Tracy said in Eat that Frog Goals are the
fuel in the furnace of achievement. Therefore I believe that at first I need to
set my goals even before setting my plans, in order for the plans to be
successful I need to know where I want to reach. Setting a goal may not be
easy, but the payoff is definitely worth the effort (Raymond B. Landis). Being
an engineer would fulfill my goals, one of my goals is to benefit the society. I
would like to apply my skillful knowledge to offer something beneficial to this
world. Engineering offers me the opportunity to achieve my goals and make
a change in this world. Engineering would give me the chance to make a
difference in this world by developing my intellectual stimulation by
creatively thinking outside the box since engineering is about my passion of
solving problems and also about applying science to our real world. So in
other words being an engineering would mean achieving my goals in many
aspects, such as engineering would also fulfill my other goals such as having
an exciting work environment and a prestigious career as well as being
financially satisfied. Which added my enthusiastic of being an engineer and
fulfilling my dream is the opportunities that engineering offer such as job
satisfaction, improvement of communication, social impact and many others.
These goals cant be fulfilled by only attending an engineering university and
getting an engineering degree but instead by being a world class engineer
which involves hard work with planning and commitment. Setting up my goal
is my first step of becoming a world class engineer, now Im supposed to
take actions. Goals would give my life directions.
Small goals built up to the big goal
Big goals which is the persons major goal needs time to be achieved
therefore the person needs to patient and motivated to work on their goal for
later on, this can be done by breaking down the big goal into small goals at
the beginning. Small goals will build the pathway of big goals. Therefore I
decided to start fulfilling my small goals which will lead me to the path of my
large goal. My small goals that will lead me into the pathway of becoming a
world class engineer include graduating within 4 years from university with
an outstanding GPA, participate in activities as well as engineering clubs that
would aid me later on in my career, and participating in researches; all of
these will help me gain experience for my larger goal which is becoming a
world class engineer. The small goals are the building blocks and bases for
my big goal.
Commitment to the goal
In order to achieve my goals I have to be committed to them. With
commitment everything is possible. Thats why although I would face stress
from the workload and challenges I should not give up and lose my
commitment but instead I still should be as much as I was or even more
enthusiastic about becoming a world class chemical engineer. As Mario
Andretti said Desire is the key to motivation, but its determination and
commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to
excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek. If I was not
committed there would always be an indecision.
Strategies to be committed to my goal:
1. Understanding what an engineer is:
First thing I should do to be committed to my goal is to understand
what exactly my goal is. Understanding what engineering is not a
simple thing such as a definition but instead engineering is a process.
Therefore I began by researching and found out that engineers make
dreams come true by applying science to the real world and solving
problems.
2. Taking past engineers as role models:
Other successful engineers would motivate me to stay committed to
my goal. Therefore I looked at the table of the engineers among the
200 wealthiest individuals and was reminded of the great chances that
I might have in my life if I stayed committed. I searched about Sergey
Brin which is the co-founder of google and took him as my role model
to keep me committed to my goal, since role models helps the person
to stay committed to their goal.
3. Making a roadmap:
Developing a roadmap would encourage the person to reach till the
end of their goals. Developing my roadmap for the next 4 years Ill
spent in university before graduation encouraged me to stay
committed to my goal since engineering is a process that should be
taken step by step. Developing my roadmap broke down the step by
step into 4 years which will help me to succeed in the engineering
program and encourage me to complete till the end since after each
step which is each semester in this case I would be more confident and
dedicated to accomplish my goal. Refer to Appendix 1 for the roadmap
Ive created for my degree plan.
4. Seeking a source of motivation:
There would come a time where I wouldnt be motivated and wont feel
like putting the same effort as before. Therefore I should have a source
of motivation to keep me committed to my goal. I set my source of
motivation to be rewarding myself from time to time when completing
the required tasks.
Being prepared to Change from a high school to a university student
At the beginning of my destiny I faced some difficulty by changing from a
high school student to a university student. I came to a realization that high
schools way of studying doesnt work in university and I need to change my
attitude towards this thing. In high school time was organized for the
students and studying one day before the test was enough for me to even
ace the test while in university I had an education flip the first thing is that
time is not structured, students should be able to manage their own time and
studying one day before the test is not enough since connections about the
concepts should be made for the topic to be more clear. In addition the
materials covered in the university are for sure more dense than the ones in
high school.
Moreover, I realized that I have some mistakes that I tend to do as a
university student that I should fix in order to maximize my chances of
succeeding therefore I decided to take an action toward these mistakes. My
first mistake I did as a university student is Studying 100% alone. Studying
with others is useful since it helps a student to fix any misunderstandings he
had about the topic and studying with others would help you exchange
information which yields into learning from others knowledge as well as
experience. For that reason I committed myself that I need to collaboratively
study with others in a while. Another mistake that I did is I avoided
professors outside the class but it turned out that students who interact with
professors outside the class are the strong students. At the beginning of my
university path I didnt like going to a professors office but later on I realized
that when I started to go to the offices to clarify stuff and ask questions my
academic performance improved.
All of these important stuff I should take care of when moving from a high
school student to a university student. As I mentioned before in university
time is not organized as in high school therefore managing time is such an
important factor for a university student to succeed.
Changing attitudes in order to succeed in courses
I have acknowledged some specific strategies that would help me to perform
an outstanding performance in my courses to be able to become a world
class engineering. The strategies include:
1. Devoting my time to study
I should be able to dedicate some time for studying which would come
from managing my time. To be a successful student I need to practice
more, therefore devoting more time to my studies would improve my
performance in the course.
2. Not piling up the studies
Studying after each lecture would not pile the studies for later on and
by that would save me time and effort for later on. Therefore I should
be able to review the materials covered in class as soon as possible
after the lecture to help in the process of studying for an exam.
3. Studying with others
As mentioned previously collaboratively studying with others would fix
any misunderstanding I had towards the subject as well as help me
gain knowledge and experience from others which will improve my
performance in the courses. Another beneficial side of studying in
groups is that the student would be motivated to study when
surrounded by a studying environment.
4. Interacting with professors
As I also mentioned before students should not avoid professors.
Professors are here to help students. Since also professors contribute
in my learning and grades I should be able to leave a positive reflection
about myself and that occurs by respecting them, avoiding any
behaviors they dislike as well as showing interest in the studies.
5. Being prepared before the lecture
Preparing the studies before going to class would help me to interact
more in class and have a background about what the professor is
explaining and that will help me into understanding the material more
and being more focused. Preparing the material before class can
happen by checking the syllabus, reading lecture notes (if available)
before attending the class, or even reading the content from the book.
6. Planning a successful studying schedule
Coming up with a successful studying schedule will help me organize
and manage my time in studying. This is done by setting up my
priorities in the studying according to the urgency and importance of
the subject. Planning a successful studying schedule would show me
how much effort I need to put in each course.
7. Avoid procrastination
Procrastinating will pile up the work and makes the student to stress
later on. One way that helped me to avoid procrastination is to always
remind myself that there is more of work to be done by this I would
pressurize myself to start working.
8. Build self-esteem and manage stress
I should never give up even though the work might seem complicated I
need to keep reminding myself with effort Ill be able to achieve
anything and by that Ill also avoid stress.
9. Ask questions
At the beginning I didnt like to ask questions, but later on I realized
that who asks questions get stuff cleared up before the exam therefore
performs well. Thats why I decided whenever Im lost in a certain topic
Im supposed to ask questions and not be shy.
10.
Leading a healthy life
Leading a healthy life is one of the factors that most students neglect
the importance of. Health contributes to the mental abilities as well as
productivity. As they say a sound mind in a healthy body. To lead a
healthy life I should exercise, eat nutritionally, exercise almost daily,
and get enough sleep at night (try to get an eight hour sleep).
11.
Using campus resources
The university offers many academic resources that would aid me to
academically perform well. I should use these resources wisely to
improve my academic achievements. These resources include
consulting an academic advisor, seeking help from tutoring centers, as
well as attending any workshops that would be useful academically
such as time/stress managing workshop, or even writing a report/essay
workshop.
Time management and specifying priorities
To be able to manage time in university is a critical part that not all students
are able to do. However to be a world class engineering I should be able to
manage my time wisely. Managing my time would give me enough time to
study and practice to excel academically and will also reduce my stress level.
One helpful technique to manage my time was using the urgent-important
matrix. The urgent-important matrix helped me to distinguish the activities
from importance and urgency in order to make a progress toward my goal.
This matrix showed me how not to confuse urgent activities with important
activities in order not to waste my time and devote my energy while not
fulfilling the needed result. This matrix helped me to learn how to apply time
management to my life. The matrix is divided into 4 quadrants. Quadrant 1
which is urgent and important is used for crisis tasks. Quadrant 2 which has
the important but not urgent tasks is used for goals and planning. Quadrant
3 which is the urgent but not important tasks include the interruptions. The
last quadrant which is quadrant 4 has the not urgent and not important tasks
which are the distractions that I am supposed to avoid. Refer to figure 1 to
check my urgent-important matrix with the tasks.
I-Urgent and Important
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
making last minute changes
attending project meetings
doing project report
solving a problem (crisis)
attending lectures and doing the
assignments
III- Urgent, Not Important
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
unimportant requests from others
transform data into knowledge
set up research
improving research skills
disagreement from
II- Not Urgent, Important
1) Planning and scheduling
2) designing the project
3) testing the project
4) system development
5) preparing for exams early
IV- Not Urgent, Not
Important
1)
2)
3)
4)
unnecessary web-surfing
adjusting equipment
over production
relaxing excessively
misunderstanding among teams
5) wasting time
-
Figure 1: urgent-important matrix
I am supposed to spend the majority of my time on the important but not
urgent tasks, since they are the tasks that pay off for the long term and help
me fulfill my goals. Therefore I should try to move activities into quadrant II
by starting the required tasks of the project early although they are not
urgent at the moment. So in other words the task that would be urgent at
one point in the future should be moved to quadrant II and not neglected
because by spending my time to complete the tasks in quadrant II I would
avoid the pressure that I would face later on in quadrant I since they are
urgent tasks. So by starting to work on the activities earlier which means
that moving the required activities into quadrant II and make it priority would
pay off in the long term since I would complete the task before it becomes
urgent, by that I would save time for the future in the urgent and important
tasks. Quadrant 2 is the milestone of quadrant 1
Improving learning skills
I should understand what my learning skills are since the learning style
would affect my pathway to my goal. I need to understand what type of
learning skills I have to be able to find a productive way to learn and work on
the other learning skills that I need to gain to be able to reach my goal of
becoming a world class engineer. To understand my learning style and skills I
did a survey that revealed to me what my learning styles are. Check figure 2
for the results of the survey.
Result Analysis
The results revealed that
Im fairly well balanced on
the two dimension of the
scale of all the learning
styles. It was revealed that I
am an active learner as well
as a reflective learner, I am
a sensing learner as well as
an intuitive learner, I am a
visual and verbal learner, and a sequential and global learner. In other words
I am able to perform with two opposite learning styles.
The results showed that I can learn in both situations by being active or
silent since active learners learn by working with groups and being active by
finding a way to apply the information and reflective learners learn by
thinking quietly about the material by writing notes. The second scale shows
that I do not like memorizing instead I like to connect the information I know
to real life problems, and read the whole question carefully to prevent
careless mistakes. I liked that Im well balanced for the characteristics of the
second scale since this will aid me in the engineering world. The third scale
showed that Im both visual and verbal learner which means that I can learn
from pictures, figures, drawings and other similar stuff or by written and
spoken explanations such as notes or group discussions. The last scale is the
scale that made me surprised the most since I thought that Im more of a
global learner than a sequential one. Since global learners first skim through
the entire chapter then suddenly get it which means they learn in large
jumps while sequential learners tend to fill in skipped steps so they
understand in linear and logical steps by also relating older topics to things
that they already know so they make connections.
How to improve my learning process
The results showed me that I can improve my behavior in order to develop
my academic success. I can change my behavior regarding two
characteristics first by improving my reflective side since Im mildly more
active and improving my global learning since Im also mildly more
sequential. To be able to cope with various learning styles would give me the
opportunity to be able to cope in any learning environment. Therefore I
would like to work on strengthening each of learning skill to be able to be a
world class engineer. I am planning to strengthen my weakness in some of
the learning styles such as to start to think of the material a little bit more
before trying it and seeing how it works. Secondly to strengthen a little bit of
my global thinking I should start relating new topics into previous topics
(make connections), this will make me to understand the topic more.
Team work and leadership skills
Team work is a very important thing to engineers especially in the future in
my career. Therefore to be a world-class engineer I should be able to be an
effective leader to be able to work in teams. An engineer should be able to
have good communication skill since engineering would include design
project teams, laboratory groups, research teams and other types of work
that would include working in groups. To improve my team work skills I
should work on these techniques:
Listening cautiously to others would improve my way of
communicating with others. I should practice to be able to explain my
ideas clearly and freely
I should improve my management skills, to be able to manage task I
should also work on organization. First of all I should be able set goals
for the meetings and that is accomplished by being organized by
setting an agenda. To be a good leader I should make sure that all the
team members should participate in meetings as well as the projects.
Developing integrity and ethical behaviors
To become a world class engineer the most important trait of an engineer
should not be neglected which is integrity. Therefore honor is the most
important trait to me, I believe a person can build their integrity by
interacting with trustfulness professional people that worship integrity and
honor. A person can also build his integrity by facing challenges and
respecting other peoples properties. Every single person likes the type of
people who do not cheat or steal as well as treats everyone equally with no
exceptions in other words a person with high manners. These are the traits
and behaviors that I seek on having in my personality to become a world
class engineer.
Summary
To be a world class engineer is not a simple thing and needs an effort to
reach to this stage. To reach to this level I need to understand where do I
stand and what steps I should take to improve my behavior towards the best.
All of whats been mentioned from setting small goals to lead to long terms,
time management, working on improving my learning styles, deciding
priorities, up unit developing some important traits such as being a good
leader, having good communicating skills as well as developing the essential
ethical behaviors, all will help into becoming a world-class engineer and
improving who I am today and where to I stand. To fulfill my dream it needs
an effort therefore Ive created a list to be able to identify where I need to
strengthen myself. One important thing that will help me reach my goal to
become a world class engineer is my desire and dedication to be one.
Appendix 1
Yea
r
2014, Fall
Credit
s
Yea
r
2015, Spring
Credit
s
CHEM 107
CHEM 102
CHEM 117
CHEM 112
ENGL 104
ENGR 111
MATH 150
MATH 151
UGST
PHYS 218
POLS
Total Credits
Year
12
2015,
Summer
Credits
Total Credits
Year
17
2015, Fall
Credits
ENGR 112
2 CHEM 227
MATH 152
4 CHEM 237
CHEN 204
MATH 251
PHYS 208
ENGL 251
Total Credits
6 Total Credits
17
Yea
r
2016, Spring
Credit
s
Yea
r
2016, Summer
MEEN 221
3 ENGL 210
CHEM 228
CHEM 238
CHEN 205
MATH 380
HIST 105
Total Credits
Yea
r
2016, Fall
16 Total Credits
Credi
ts
Yea
r
2017, Spring
Credit
s
3
Credit
s
CHEM 316
CHEM 322
CHEM 318
CHEN 323
CHEN 304
CHEN 382
CHEN 313
ECEN 215
CHEN 354
POLYS 207
CHEN 320
ENGR 482
Total Credits
18
Total Credits
15
Yea
r
2017, Fall
Credi
ts
Yea
r
2018, Spring
Credit
s
CHEN 414
CHEN 426
CHEN 424
CHEN 433
CHEN 425
CHEN 461
CHEN 455
CHEN 451
CHEN 464
CHEN 459
CHEN 481
HLTH 236
HIST 106
Total Credits
17
Total Credits
16
Work-Cited
Landis, Raymond B. Studying Engineering: A road Map to a Rewarding
Career, 4th Edition, Discovery Press, Los Angeles, California, 2012.