Josh Heiser

Iowa State University

Fall 2019
CPRE 494 Cumulative Reflection
When I came to Iowa State in the Fall of 2016, I had no programming skills and little
knowledge of the Computer Engineering field in general. While at Iowa State, I have been able
to be learn a lot of material through hands on experience and course material. These two things
combined have taught me how to solve engineering problems, conduct research, and work in a
team-based environment. Because of this, I believe the knowledge that I have learned while at
Iowa State, combined with my continued passion to learn will enable me to be a successful
engineer.
When it comes to Designing Systems or Processes, Iowa State has done a good job
focusing on this in their curriculum. It does a good job because there are many classes that talk
about both Design Systems and Design Processes. For example, in Senior Design, my team and I
were required to write a design document. This document required us to describe the system that
we would be designing to complete the project. My courses also talked a lot about the Design
processes especially in Software Engineering 319 and 339, which were two elective engineering
courses that I took. For example, these classes talked about the various design diagrams that
Software Engineers are required to design.
Iowa State has also done a good job of focusing teams to work in team environments.
Many of the courses that are required for students to take at Iowa State require these. For
example, Computer Science 309, Computer Science 311, Software Engineering 319, and
Computer Engineering 288 were just a few of many classes that I took at Iowa State that teach
team work. Because of these classes, I learned many important teamwork skills that will apply to
the real world. For example, I learned how to properly split work and how to calmly confront
someone who is not contributing to the team. Because of the knowledge that I have gained from
the courses, I have been able to successfully transition these team work skills into my internships
where team work was required. Due to this, I believe that Iowa State has done a good job of
emphasizing team environments.
While at Iowa State, there have been multiple courses that I have took which have
focused on professional and ethical responsibilities. For example, Computer Engineering 294
and 394 have talked a lot about the responsibilities that Engineers have. I have also had
discussions about these certain actions that companies have taken and if they are ethical. For
example, in my Computer Engineering 294 class, we talked about how ethical it would be for a
police department to take recordings from voice assistants, such as Siri and Google assistant.
Because of these courses, I have learned many of the IEEE ethics that engineers are required to
have. Additionally, I have applied this knowledge to my internships that I have worked at, and I
now know that being ethical is something that I must think about before I design an engineering
solution.
When I needed to solve problems in class, I generally did not use outside resources. Most
all the problems that I needed to solve I was able to figure out through lecture notes that were
provided or in the textbooks for the classes that were required. If I still did not know how to do a
 Josh Heiser
Iowa State University
Fall 2019
problem at this point, my next step was to talk to a Teaching Assistant or professor to seek help,
and they were usually able to help me fix the problem. Another resource that I sometime would
use when I was struggling was to ask other students for help. I also would meet up with students
to discuss materials that we learned in class or to study for exams. These three combined steps
that I took usually allowed me to solve all the engineering problems that I had in my engineering
courses.
While I did not participate in many of the learning activities, I did participate in many
Iowa State sponsored clubs that helped me understand the importance of lifelong learning. For
example, I participated in the Iowa State Hackathon, where I gained a lot of knowledge about
Android app development and the Google Cloud Platform. I also participated in IASG, which
taught me a lot about cybersecurity and social engineering. These clubs helped me understand
the importance of life long learning because it they taught me that there is a lot more to learn
then what has been taught in my Computer Engineering courses. Because of my belief in
continued learning, I have begun to take free online in order to continue to learn more about
Computer Engineering, even after I have left Iowa State. I also plan on continuing to go to events
like the ISU hackathon, as these events allowed me to gain valuable knowledge that I did not
have the chance to learn in the classroom.
Overall, looking back on the past four years, Iowa State has done a great job of teaching
me about Computer Engineering. I am privileged for having the opportunity to spend four years
here, learning many of the key concepts of computer engineering. There is still a lot for me to
learn, but I believe my knowledge from Iowa State and my continued passion to learn will enable
me to be a great engineer both now and in the future.