Name: Travina Beaton
Section: ENG 1101, D371
Date: 05/13/15
College: NYCCT

PROJECT # 2

Exploring City Tech’s Computer Engineering Technology Major and a Career in Computer Engineering.

I am Travina Beaton and I am a student at New York City College of Technology. I am currently studying Computer Engineering to acquire a job in that field as my future career. I am looking forward to working for Viacom as an Information Technology Specialist or at Apple as an engineer after I graduate college. This is the best career for me because I am fascinated with technology and computers in particular. I realized that the best way I learn is doing hands-on activities with personal computers. I believe that if I do get a job in this field, it would be my passion instead of a dead end. In the following, I will discuss further on my major and how it will open many opportunities for my career path.
The City Tech Course Catalog mentions that students studying Computer Engineering will take Electromechanical Engineering as an Associates. Electromechanical Engineering allows students to build their own devices, repair, install, upgrade and test mechanical systems in computers. This program will help me learn how to assemble components of computers, such as power supply boxes, and learning electric components such as resistors, capacitors, diodes, and more. It will also help me learn how to read schematic symbols, which are electronic symbols, and draw circuits connecting the symbols. I plan to apply what I learn at City Tech to engineering internships I work for in the future. There are many engineering jobs. The City Tech Article states “Among the employers of the graduates of this program are Con Edison, General Electric (GE), Verizon, Cable Version, Apple, Logic Control, Lutron Electronics, JetBlue, MTA, NYC Transit, NYPD, and the elevator industry”. According to an article written by Roger Moncarz, called “Computer Engineers”, to qualify for a computer engineering job, one “must have strong problem-solving and analytical skills. They also must be able to communicate effectively with team members, other staff, and the customers they meet. And because they often deal with a number of tasks simultaneously, computer engineers must be able to concentrate and pay attention to detail”.

I became fascinated with technology because in my four years of high school, I took A + Computer and was very interested in learning the different components inside the computers and their functions. A+ Computer is general knowledge of PCs, including installation and configuration, hardware and software upgrading, safety procedures, diagnostics, maintenance and repair. At the time, I did not know what I wanted as my career. The class had a lot of hands-on activities with Dell desktops. The activities involved the components on the motherboard and the computer tower. I learned how to connect electrical cables, install processors, hard drives, and many more. The activities made me want to know more about building computers by scratch and installing the electrical components. Unfortunately, my teacher for the A+ computer class did not teach it. After graduating high school, I wanted to learn more in depth on how to build computers. I became confused as to the difference between computer engineering and computer science. According to “Computer Engineering A Good Major?” by a Youtuber named Engineering Truth, “computer science tends to be more on the programming side, how operating systems work, how databases work. While computer engineering, you’re going to focus more on the hardware and how the hardware communicates to the software”. After watching the video, I had figured out that computer engineering would be the ideal major for me.
I realized that I learn better by hands on because as I learned A+ Computer in high school, I almost never paid attention. There were long lectures and a lot of note taking that I never looked back into. The only time I paid attention was when I performed the hands on activities. I took the CompTIA A+ certification test and failed horribly. The CompTIA A+ exam tests your ability to troubleshoot networking and security issues within operating systems such as Android, Windows, Apple, and more. There are two tests, CompTIA A+ 801 and CompTIA A+ 802. As stated in the Wikibook titled “A+ Certification/Basic Exam Info”, ‘The CompTIA A+ 801 and 802 exams both consist of 90 questions each. A passing score on the CompTIA A+ 801 exam is 675, and a passing score on the CompTIA 802 exam is 700’. My score was not anywhere close to 675 on the first exam. Therefore, I did not qualify to take the last test. I did not find networking and software informations interesting. Learning about the hardware caught my attention a lot because I had to learn by doing hands-on activities.
I believe that working in the computer engineering field would be my passion because I find that many people acquire jobs just because of the pay. People do not have the job that they want. Therefore, it causes a lot of dissatisfaction and a feeling of being stuck. These types of people work because they feel as though they are obligated to; it would not matter what job it is, what matters to them is the money. Personally, I do not think that is the way of living. Alyson Shontell, a Buisiness Insider emplyee, mentioned in an article she wrote named “80% Hate Their Jobs — But Should You Choose A Passion Or A Paycheck?”, that unhappy employees try to stick with their jobs. I would not want to be one of those dissatisfied employees. I believe that having passion in what you do brings out motivation and determination to reach the top. If you do not have any passion in your job, you would not want to excel in the field. As Shontell stated in her article, “without passion, people will be choosing between the lesser of two stresses: stress from being unemployed versus the stress of being in a dead-end job”. I think that more people should employ in a job that they would be passionate about. I found my passion when I was just a kid. I often fixed electronics in my home for family. I learned more about engineering from the customer support technicians of the internet providers and computer companies of desktops I have had such as Dell, Optimum, and Direct TV. Every time I needed troubleshooting on my computer or of any cables and wires, I would find information online on how to troubleshoot any problems I had.
My education at City Tech prepares me for my future career by giving me information on how each class that are related to my major would help me on my path to my career as a computer engineer. The Course Catalog shows what classes I would need to take, how many credits I need to advance, the jobs that hire for this field, and many more. It mentally prepares me for what to expect in the future for my college career. In order for me to graduate with an Associate’s degree, I would need 36 credits. The City Tech Course Catalog shows the required classes needed to graduate. This information helps me decide on classes I will take that are required.
This major is ideal for anyone that loves technology and likes to learn by doing hands on activities. Computer Engineering is a blend of electrical engineering and computer science. In result, engineers use knowledge of computer hardware and software to keep up with the latest innovation. I am looking forward to accomplishing my goals in my college career by being determined, focused and continuing to have passion in this field. I believe that is the only way to succeed as a computer engineer.

Works Cited
New York City College of Technology (City Tech). “Computer Engineering Technology”. New York City College of Technology College Catalog 2014-2015. Web. 01 May 2015.

Engineering Truth. “Computer Engineering A Good Major?” Online video clip.                        Youtube. Youtube, 16 July 2013. Web. 02 May 2015.

Shontell, Alyson. “80% Hate Their Jobs — But Should You Choose A Passion Or A Paycheck?”       Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 4 Oct. 2010. Web. 02 May 2015.
“A Certification/Basic Exam Info.” – Wikibooks, Open Books for an Open World. Web. 02 May 2015.
United States. “Computer Hardware Engineers.” Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Department of Labor. Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2014-2015 Edition. Web. 04 May 2015.

Introduction

In this essay, I first recorded my day of thoughts. After, I realized that my thoughts are futuristic but unorganized. I had to focus more on what would be beneficial for me. Therefore, I ignored the non-important thoughts and paid more attention to the important ones. I realized that the important thoughts are all on one topic which is my career in the future. I wrote down my career goals and how I plan on accomplishing each goal. This essay helped me a lot on organizing my thoughts and creating a path for my future.

Thinking In Writing

I was in the school library on Thursday just reminiscing about my goals from high school. I remember every day I thought about the WNBA, I wrote journals on how to improve my skills and gain more confidence so that by the time I graduate I’ll be in a Division 1 school on a basketball team and people that know me will see me on tv and say “she did it”. I was on a couple of sports teams. Softball, and bowling. But I just realized something, I think the best kind of person to be is an independent person. I’m at my best and I actually get somewhere by myself. For example, basketball. I use to have a horrible jump-shot freshman year. I couldn’t tell if it was going in or if I was going to miss. I did have a normal jump shot form though. So, in order to fix my jump shot, to make it more accurate, I decided that at my gym period in school, I’d sit on the bleachers and watch the boys play their pick up games and I would point out myself who I enjoy watching because of his skill and the way his shooting form is. I did point out one player. I didn’t know his name and still don’t know his name up to this day, but I watched him play often, and when I went home, I would go out in my back yard and try to imitate his jump shot form the best way I can. And to my surprise, the shots were more accurate and I felt comfortable with it. But I thought to myself, I need to know how and when to release the ball while I am up in the air. I put that to the side until my sophomore year. I heard about this player name Jabari Peters and he is phenomenal. He was a shooting guard too, so I was intrigued. I saw one of his games on YouTube, and I fell in love with the way he shoots, I definitely told myself “I’m going to shoot like him, I’m going to learn his shooting mechanics and by next month, I will be one the purest female shooters in Grady High School”. and sure enough, by the next month, I accomplished my goal. I learned from his jump shots that it’s best when you release the ball at the peak of your shot or a bit before, jumping high is beneficial for your shot, and having a high arc is best too, it also makes your jump shot look SEXY. I practiced in my back yard every day, keeping those key things in my mind, “high arc, release at peak”, I use to quickly exhale a little when I know I was at the peak of my shot. After a month, I finally got accustomed to my new jump shot form and I fell in love with it. I accomplished my goal by myself, with the help of a few videos of Jabari Peters, the guy that I enjoyed watching, but never communicated with. I think that independent people who has their goals are able to accomplish them better by being focused, logically thinking, committing, and executing their plans on their own. Getting help from others is nice, but to me, I’d rather watch and learn. On Friday I was sitting on my bed one night supposedly doing home work and didn’t realize I was sitting there for almost an hour just thinking. What was I thinking about? Honestly a million of thoughts ran through my head at once that I couldn’t keep up. It always happen to me, I always zone out, and then when some one ask what am I thinking about. I think to myself “What exactly WAS I thinking about?” when someone takes me out of my zone, my mind suddenly goes empty. No thoughts at all, then I forget what I was thinking about because my mind is always filled with millions of random things.

Thinking Visually 

https://instagram.com/p/zPHmtly4ay/?taken-by=missbea00

I thought “I can’t wait to get my Humvee license so I can drive those” I imagined myself riding around the city in this, standing out, looking cool. This photo made me more motivated on getting my military driver’s license. Shortly after, I took a road test, or what the Army calls it “Driver’s training”, and I passed!

https://instagram.com/p/zPH4CQS4bD/?taken-by=missbea00

This vehicle is called a LTAS. It stands for Long-Term rumor Strategy. I took a photo of this for the same reason I took a photo of the Humvee, to motivate me to drive this and get a license for this truck so that I can ride around in it.

https://instagram.com/p/zPHxYvS4a_/?taken-by=missbea00

“Life is actually not like a box of chocolates, because you know what you are going to get, you’re just not prepared for it” I thought, as I stood at Forrest Gump’s bench at my job. Yes, this is actually the bench he sat on. This photo represents my thoughts on being mentally and/or physically prepared of what comes my way in life. Whether it is obstacles or just being alert in the military. “always be on your toes”.

Thinking Reflectively

In this essay, I first recorded my day of thoughts. After, I realized that my thoughts are futuristic but unorganized. I had to focus more on what would be beneficial for me. Therefore, I ignored the non-important thoughts and paid more attention to the important ones. I realized that the important thoughts are all on one topic which is my career in the future. I wrote down my career goals and how I plan on accomplishing each goal. This essay helped me a lot on organizing my thoughts and creating a path for my future.

Five years from now, I imagine myself as an ambitious, successful Air Force officer. I have re-enlisted into the Air force reserves as a computer engineer since my contract with the Army was done. Before I re-enlisted, I finally gotten my driver’s license for two military vehicles. I can drive the Humvee and LTAS. It is always exciting to drive those vehicles around whenever I deploy to other states. Last year, in 2019, I graduated NYC College of Technology with a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer engineering and landed a job at Viacom as an Information Technology specialist. Ever since I started working in the building as a security guard in 2014, I have always dreamed of working for them in that field. In 2020, I have made that dream a reality. My family is wealthy and financially stable. I have learned that in life, we attract whatever we think and feel, whether it is good or bad. In this essay, I argue with my past self how organizing your small term goals can help build a path to accomplishing your long term goals.

My first long-term goal was to become an Air Force officer. In order for me to qualify for the Air Force, I had to accomplish my small-term goals. Therefore, I took the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test and met the score requirement for the branch. The ASVAB consists of ten tests, although four tests are scored and combined to compute the final score. When I was in the Army, I heard from many veterans that out of all the military branches, the Air Force is very hard to qualify for, mainly because they require a high ASVAB score. When I heard that, I remembered the photo I took of Forrest Gump’s quote on his bench and my thoughts on it. I thought “life is actually not like a box of chocolates, because you know what you are going to get, you are just not prepared for it”. The photo made me think that I always have to be mentally and physically prepared of any obstacles I face in life. Therefore, my obstacle in that situation was passing the test. I had to be mentally prepared for the test by studying very often and taking a lot of practice tests, so I did. I faced my challenge and won.

My second long-term goal was to have my military driver’s license before I re-enlist. Ever since I joined the Army, I had always wanted to drive the military vehicles. The vehicles are mostly used for combat and transporting items. The bulletproof vehicles, or up armored vehicles, are used for combat and soft-topped vehicles are for transportation. The Humvees and the Long Term Armor Strategy (LTAS) vehicles are multipurpose. Some are up armored and others has soft tops. I use to always imagine myself riding in those vehicles and one day, while I was on duty, right before my eyes, I was in the driving seat of a Humvee, riding around a military base. I did not have a license then, but I lied my way into getting inside and taking the vehicle for a spin on the road. Afterwards, I had gotten in trouble for telling my Sergeant that I have a New York State driver’s license. I realized then, that getting a New York State driver’s license, taking driving classes for the Humvee and the LTAS, and passing my road test for the vehicles would be my short-term goals. I took a photo of the Humvee and the LTAS that same day and thought “I can’t wait to get my licenses so I can drive these without supervision” The photos made me motivated on getting my state driver’s license. Afterwards, I took my road test for my state driver’s license, passed, and finally received my license. I told my Sergeant the next time I went on duty that I received my state license. I took the driving classes for both the Humvee and the LTAS, qualified for the road test. I then aced my road test with flying colors and received my driver’s license for both the LTAS and Humvee. That was the most exciting moment of my Army career.

My final long term goal was having a job as a computer engineer. When I was in high school, I took a class called A+ Computer. A Plus Computer is general knowledge of PCs, including installation and configuration, hardware and software upgrading, safety procedures, diagnostics, maintenance and repair. In order to be certified, one must be trained in operating PCs and pass the A plus test which consists of two exams. One of those exams covers the fundamentals of computer technology, installation and configuration of PCs, laptops, hardware, and networking. The other exam covers skills required to install and configure PC and mobile operating systems. I recall taking the A plus test and horribly failed because I had never took the class serious. I had always thought the class was boring because most of the time, my teacher gave lectures instead of having us learn hands on. When we would perform our tasks hands-on, of what we learned, I was always focused and motivated on completing my tasks. One day, after I graduated from high school, I was throwing out my notebooks I used for my high school classes. As I picked up my notebook from A Plus and read some pages of the notes I wrote down, I thought “this information would be useful for me, I should keep the notebook so it can help me pursue my future career”. Although I did not take the information I learned into consideration in high school for my career, I realized that I learn better by hands-on and I figured that if I study computer engineering in college, my engineering classes would consist of hands on performance of building PCs. I pursued my career, received my Bachelor’s Degree, and landed a job at Viacom as a Information Technology Specialist.

In order for me to accomplish all of my long term goals, I would have focus on accomplishing my short-term goals for every long term goal I have.Having short term goals helps me from becoming lost and not having a path to accomplishing my long term goals. I feel that my short term goals are like having step by step procedures that I would have to go through to be prepared for that final step, which is the long term goal. It would take a lot of effort and time but if I stay on track with my goals and stay strong-willed, I will be successful in life.