The Profession of Engineering

My perspective about what engineering is and what it's like at Illinois has changed dramatically throughout my first semester here at college. IFoundry has really broken down the barriers in defining a traditional engineer. The "cold war" engineer analogy fits very well, and after sitting through the lectures and thinking about the missing basics and what iFoundry is pushing I found out how much more there is to being an engineer than simply knowing facts. My belief is that an engineer should, even though traditionally known to simply be the "specialist" in math and science, really cross the boundaries between math/science and business. I feel it is super important for engineers to be good with working in groups. Most importantly being able to talk to the business people, those who are making the decisions, the "higher ups". Lectures on email etiquette and report writing aimed at these skills. It's super important for an engineer to know "the politics of business" and I feel the lecture that discussed the study that looked at what first year graduates in the workplace. There is so much more to engineering than knowing the right formula and all these lectures have really opened my eyes in how I can be successful.

I feel people can be super successful in whatever they field they choose to pursue (medical, law, politics, business, etc) by starting as an engineering. The lecture that discussed how engineering relates to pretty much every aspect of life and every profession was very interesting. You learn a certain skill set that I feel you cannot learn from any other department than engineering. I also believe if you end up moving into the business side of a company, having a technical background will be VERY beneficial and helpful. If you know what you're managing it makes it easier to make decisions and set realistic goals for the people below you.

IFoundry has been an excellent experience and I believe every lecture in the course is very relevant information, I'm very glad I took this course!