In this chapter of John Medina’s book The Brain Rules, he speaks about survival. Survival is something that all species must go through, we were able the adapt due to evolution. Since we continue to evolve the way we think and the way we live. He speaks about the ways our brain adapts, to our changing environment. This helps us survive in the sense that you are able to change along with your surroundings. Such as beliefs on certain aspects of the world, this is your mind changing how you think to adapt to the life you are living. This chapter was enlightening since I really never thought about survival as a sense of evolution.

In John Medina’s first rule he speaks about exercise. The brain can be trained in numerous ways, exercise is one of them. Exercise should be a huge part of our lives as it increases blood flow to our brain but also increases our cognitive skills. He also speaks about the difference in someone who’s brain has been properly exercised and another who’s brain has been poorly exercised. Just through showing the differences in these two caught my interest. A brain that is exercised, can show significant improvement in ones ability to do difficult tasks. In all, this book The Brain Rules has caught my attention, I look forward to reading the rest of this book.

Kevin Franco

English

My name is Kevin Franco, I am a freshman at New York City College of Technology. I have to chosen to major in Computer Engineering. I believe this is the best career path for me because I love to get my hands dirty and do hands-on work, not to mention that since I was a child I was always into technology. Technology has rapidly developed and grown that job opportunities will surely be increasing due to the need for Computer Engineers which in my opinion is a steady job. In this essay, I will do these things in order, I will give you background details on my major; mentioning sources, as well as my plan after my graduation. I will then support my reasoning for entering this major and end with a few tips regarding my major to help those that are incoming freshman.

Computer Engineering is a growing field in today’s world, mainly because of the rapid growth of technology. In my major, you learn about many things, these courses consist of knowing important details about electrical currents, as well as, how to put together electrical components. After graduation, I will try to work in a store that repairs electrical devices, so that I can get the feel for what I will be doing in my life. I will be going for my Bachelors degree, I will have to get a 128-130 credits, most of them being from my majors required course. With all these courses I will take over 8 semesters to accomplish this(New York College City of Technology.College Catalog 2014-2015.2014.PDF.17.Nov.2015). After I get my Bachelors degree I will be more than qualified to excel in my career path.  Experience is also something that I will need for a high paying job. After I gain experience in my field of work, I plan to apply to a major company such as intel or microsoft. Those companies are thought of highly, I believe that I will benefit a lot from such a continuously growing company.

Technology is forever growing. According to studies, technology has been growing at an incredible rate. A good example of the growth of technology would be that in 2001; we just had phones for SMS and calls but by 2011, we completely evolved, we had mobile phones with touchscreen and had cameras with amazing quality. This alone shows how we have continuously grown from phones with a single use changed, into a phone with multiple uses and is able to connect to internet with its 3G technology. To even further prove my point, from 2011 to 2014, we completely changed; we enhanced all the technology we had already, from 3G data connections to 4G data connections. We improved the capability of the camera and the processors within 4 years. This will only continue to improve, showing the never-ending growth of technology.

Job opportunities will be pretty high for me since I will be coming out of school with a bachelors degree. In City Tech’s College Catalog(pg 221), it speaks of all the necessary requirements to graduate with that degree. I am required to take 82 courses pertaining to my major. I believe that with all the courses I will be have taken, I will be more than qualified to apply for a job at any major company. The hunt for jobs will never be a long one, Computer Engineers are always needed due to technological advancements.

Computer Engineering is a very stable job. The starting salary for a beginning Computer Engineer is approximately $64,000, during the next twenty years the money that I gain will continue to increase, as long as I keep gaining experience. Computer Engineering hourly rate can range from $7.89-$40.02 (www.payscale.com). Stable jobs are important in life, with this pay scale, I will progressively keep earning more money.

City Tech has a variety of opportunities and courses for my major. In the College Catalog, it shows all the different choices for Computer Engineering, I plan to use these skills I acquire to focus on getting a job. Not only that, the time management that is required in college will ultimately become a habit, which will lead to productive work. I will be transferring to New Rochelle after I complete my 4 years in CIty Tech. I interviewed a student in New Rochelle that has been doing Computer Engineering for a while now, here are his responses:

1) What kind of skills have you acquired over the years in Computer Engineering?

As of now, I am exposed to several different types of programming languages. I have learned Python, Java, and C. I have also learned how to write proper lab reports as well as how to use very high level lab equipment such as ​Oscilliscopes and DC power supplies. I also have experience using very computer engineering software such as using Altera Suite which contains applications to generate waveforms of signals and also to model real world circuits. Those circuits are then created in the real world on our breadboards. I also know how to write machine code that we use to make things happen with our microprocessors (small CPU’s that do really basic things like add or divide). There are really so much I’ve learned in the past two years. I wish I had more time to explain it all.

2) How time consuming is this major?

The major is definitely time consuming. I would say that on average I spend about 15-20 hours dedicated to doing lab work and other assignments that are related to computer engineering. It may sound like a lot at first, but it’s only about an average of 3 hours a day which isn’t much considering that a full time job is about 40 hours a week.

3) What do you personally enjoy about this major? Why did you choose it?

There is definitely a love-hate relationship that I have with this major. Like I said above, it’s very time consuming and it requires a lot of dedication to your work. It’s also very challenging which I enjoy. I like problem solving. I enjoy finding several solutions to a single problem. It’s the whole engineering aspect that there are clearly better ways to do the same outcome. I’ve always enjoyed taking apart computers and learning more about hardware. I’ve been doing since I was 10. I guess I knew at a young age what I wanted to do more or less.

4) What is your advice to someone interested in entering this field?

My first piece of advice is make sure that you want to go into the engineering field. It isn’t for the weak of heart or those who really aren’t math or science orientated. Make sure that you know that you want to do engineering as soon as possible. It’s very easy to switch out of engineering once you know that you don’t want to become an engineering. However, it’s very hard to switch back in and catch up with the first of the people in your major. Another piece of advice that I have is that you have to be willing to put in time to learn new material and to spend long hours in lab trying to finish your assignments. Having a rigid schedule can definitely help when trying to plan your week with all labs, assignments, tests and quizzes so you can dedicate time to those other classes that aren’t engineering related. Lastly, have fun. Yes, computer engineering (CE) is not the easiest thing in the world to do and sometimes it pushes you up against a wall. But there are moments where you do have fun in CE and you can catch breaks every now then. Try taking a non engineering course at some point. A routine separate from CE is enough to keep you going for the rest of your career.

Incoming Freshman are usually confused about how to maneuver around in college, Computer Engineering has a lot of courses that you must take, some freshman might not know what these would be. If you do not know what is required of you it can lead to some mistakes during your first semester. I recommend students that are interested in any course, should research their major using the College Catalog, provided to you by the school website. It will substantially increase your knowledge on your major and make college life much easier.

New York College City of Technology.College Catalog 2014-2015.2014.PDF.17.Nov.2015

Rosas, Joshua. Personal interview. 1 December 2014.

2014 PayScale, Inc.Computer Engineering payroll.web.4 Dec.2014

Taylor, Glyn. “The Future Is Coming Much Faster Than We Think”.7.4.2014.Web.Dec.4.2014

2003-2014 Education Portal.Computer Engineers: Career Info & Job Description.Web.Dec.4.2014