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Creative outlets – Just do it.

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 11:02:00 -0500

Creativity is an innate human quality. One can see it throughout their lives. When children have imaginary friends and play make-believe to the dreams that every one of us has each night, creativity is something we do not let go of all our lives. Every human achievement is a result of the creative processes of individuals, whether it be a thought, idea, design or a combination of these.

For me, creativity is the most beautiful thing to see. Creative writing, music, art, movies, products, ideas, designs, plans and even creative sports plays are absolutely thrilling. There usually is a reason for some movies to do extremely well at the box office and there usually is a reason why certain products do well in the market - a new idea or new feature perhaps. And sometimes a product is as good as its competitors for a much lower price and this could be a result of a creative manufacturing, distributing and marketing process for that product. My point here is that creativity is not only extremely important for each one of us because of how the world works, it is also our intrinsic nature and I argue that this makes it necessary for everyone to have a creative outlet in their lives.

My argument is based on how creative outlets have impacted my life. I really cannot count how many outlets I have had over the course of my short life so far – some have been replaced by others, and some have stayed with me all the way. However, apart from the more explicit forms of creativity, like art, music etc., there are also some activities that you might not characterize as creative but in their basic form are extremely creative. This includes sports and games, cooking, mathematics, academic research and even fantasy football. Presently being a busy, overworked and underpaid graduate student, there is not much time for creative outlets. However, I still make it a point to play, mix, and produce music every week. I am also taking a class that focuses on creative product design for challenging marketplaces and once my hurt ankle heals I will be trying to create magic on the soccer pitch. Jokes apart, for me, a creative production of my own is a superb feeling. It refreshes my mind and also relaxes me from the stress of work and school. It acts like a lubricating oil for the gears of my brain and helps me be more productive with everything else. And on top of it all, I have something I can claim is my own – something that is an expression of me, Sudeep Gowrishankar.

Sudeep was born and raised in India, has a bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois, and is currently working towards his Master’s degree.

Guy Kawasai: The Art of the Start

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:16:00 -0500

Guy Kawasai: The Art of the Start

Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 13:26:00 -0500

Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action

Coming Up Corporate

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 11:11:00 -0500

I am not a sellout. Being my own boss would be a dream come true. But when I finished college two years ago, I didn’t have that million dollar idea. I didn’t have all the tools to navigate the world outside of college. And perhaps the most daunting of all, I didn’t have any money. Actually, not having money would have been a blessing; it would mean I was even. But I wasn’t even even! I owed money. Money I didn’t have.

So I decided to go to work. I never did want to work for “The Man.” All you hear about is shady business practices and working the next 35 years and somehow fitting a wife, kids, and life in there somewhere. Almost two years have gone by in Corporate America and I’ve had my fair share of cubicles and TPS reports. But it all could be a blessing in disguise.

Everything I’ve learned in the workplace will help me start my own business when I find something I am truly passionate about. A corporation is, after all, a business. Learning to network, and creating relationships is a skill best learned with practice, and in a corporate environment, it’s a survival skill. Negotiations, efficient and effective design, providing a service, working with people, all challenges you’ll find in the workplace. And within a corporation, having an entrepreneurial mindset puts you a cut above the rest. You approach problems as if this were your business, as if every roadblock was taking money out of your own pocket, or food off your table. The challenge is to keep that mentality and that fire alive. Its true corporations can steal your soul. It’s easy to become complacent and fall into the trap of collecting checks and waiting until retirement. But I know I didn’t take my job for checks, I’m in this jungle to learn. I’m learning how to forge relationships that may help jumpstart my future business ventures. I’m finding opportunities for business ventures. I’m learning that I might just have what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

Some people will say that working for a major corporation is just spending my time lining someone else’s pockets. And it could it be true. But “The Man” has given me something else, too. The professional development courses, the interactions with business leaders, interactions with customers. I’m helping this business, but I’m also bettering myself and building my brand. These are all things I wouldn’t have seen had I marched right out into the world from college thinking I had it all. What lectures and labs couldn’t teach, I’m learning now. As with most things in life, you have to learn to walk before you can run; learn to follow before you can lead. It might not be the most direct path to becoming an entrepreneur, but I believe it’s a good start. And instead of extinguishing that entrepreneurial spirit, it’s added fuel to the fire.

-Matt Garcia

Matt Garcia has a bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois and currently works for Navistar.

"Do all of your work as though you had a thousand years to live, and as you would if you knew you..."

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:41:18 -0500

“Do all of your work as though you had a thousand years to live, and as you would if you knew you would die tomorrow.”

- Mother Ann Le

Be SMART & STUPID

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 18:49:00 -0500

The message behind this video is at the core of design thinking versus traditional engineering thinking. However, you really need the best of both worlds to be truly successful.

Engineering typically pursues the perfection and refinement of an idea into the form of functional technology. However, too often, engineers find an idea and pursue it before questioning the validity of the idea.

Oppositely, in the design world, they encourage brainstorming ideas. When you brainstorm, they encourage stupidity and wild ideas. Many designers promote that that the only way to come up with a good idea is to come up with many ideas.

Two great engineers have something to say about this notion. Einstein says “imagination is more important than knowledge” and “anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new”. Thomas Edison adds that “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work” in reference to his development of the light bulb.

I argue that in order to be extremely innovative, you have to be a bit smart, a bit stupid.

-Ehsan Noursalehi

Ehsan has a bachelors in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and is currently a first year Master of Fine Arts student in Industrial Design.

Definitions of Success & Charting Life's Goals

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 12:29:00 -0500

I’ve got money on my mind.

It’s one of the things I think about the most. But not in the way you’d think. The thought of buying a Maybach[1] doesn’t keep me up at night. And dreams of a large mansion don’t keep me in a peaceful slumber. The money that I think about isn’t necessarily my own, its everyone’s. For over a year now I’ve been wrestling with how important money is to my happiness, and that of others.

I think about this because its relevant to my life and those of my generation, and not because it’s an interesting academic or philosophical exercise.

For those who want the academic side of this discussion, there’s plenty out there. We know that millionaires think a few million just isn’t cutting it[2]. We know that everyone seems to think they’re middle class[3]. I think, but don’t know, that everyone believing they’re middle class means that the poor simply don’t know how righteously angry they should be, and the rich don’t realize how greedy they are (and realizing this is not hard, since we also know there are websites that can help us realize just how greedy they, and we, are[4]). We know that money buys some forms of happiness, such as life satisfaction, but it doesn’t do much for worry, depression, stress, and enjoyment past $70-80K a year[5]. Coincidentally, we also know that close relationships and religious faith do lead to happiness[6]. That’s what the academic world knows right now (though tomorrow what we know could be hopelessly incorrect; that’s the beauty of, and gaping flaw in, the scientific method). But more than what academia tells us, what’s important to know is our own gut feeling on this question.

Over a year ago I graduated from law school. For less than a year now I’ve been working for a big law firm in New York City. Working for a big law firm means I get to work on interesting cases, learn from good lawyers, and figure out what ‘being a lawyer’ actually means. More germane to this discussion, it also provides some great benefits and perks for someone in their mid-twenties: I get free dinner after 8pm if I’m at work, free car service home after 9pm, free lunches from time to time, all kinds of 401K’s and insurance, a corporate Amex card, and am given a phone number to a corporate service that will tell me where I can find the gym/pizza place/zip car/contractor/etc. that matches my needs. I also make more money than I would want, if it weren’t for college loans. I am in no way a millionaire but would fit comfortably into society’s definition of “success” for a 26 year old. Yet what I now know, independent of what academic research can teach me, is that that the monetary definition of success is not going to lead to happiness. Working on interesting cases and with friendly people might provide happiness. Gaining satisfaction from my work might. Having happy and healthy relationships with family and friends will. And what I’ve learned with the most certainty is that religious commitment definitely will.

If society’s ultimate goal is happiness (though I’d argue happiness is really a consequence of achieving the goal, not the ultimate goal), then we should be defining success in an entirely different way. Success shouldn’t be tied to a variable that has little impact on our happiness. A person pursuing their interests, regardless of how much financial benefit those interests will provide, should be seen as a success. So too should someone who engages in life long study, focuses on bettering themselves every day, is improving the community they live in, or has a truly great family life. These people are almost certainly going to be happy. They are almost certainly going to live a life they will not regret. If those very same people make $40K a year, why should we change the way we view their happiness and success?

-Hadi Nilforoshan

Hadi is a law graduate of the University of Chicago and is a lawyer in New York City.

[1] Though if someone would like to buy me one, I’m particular to a metallic black exterior

[2] http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2011%2F03%2F15%2FBUKP1IAIJ4.DTL

[3] http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/everyone-is-middle-class-right/

[4] http://www.globalrichlist.com/

[5] http://inequalitiesblog.wordpress.com/2011/08/17/does-money-buy-happiness/

[6] http://www.davidmyers.org/davidmyers/assets/Funds.friends.faith.pdf

How Bad Do You Want to be Successful?

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:45:00 -0500

How Bad Do You Want to be Successful?

Reining in Your Dreams?

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 14:14:00 -0500

I just read an article in the LA times talking about how people in my generation (I guess we’re the millenials?) are lowering their expectations about career and financial based success. I have to say, I’m not surprised by the article. I feel the crunch and I have a job that I like and a modicum of financial stability. I guess for me, the debate comes back to wrestling with that “American Dream”. I know it’s overused and now it’s more of a pipe dream than anything else these days, but it’s still there and real. Now, to repeat a resolve that is emerging among our peers—we need a new dream. I’m not going to spend time talking about economics that I only mildly understand—that’s for someone else. I’m not smart enough to come up with that new dream, but I want to focus on our comparison mentality and why change should start there.

America is about comparison. Who is better? What is better? How can we be the best? This mentality theoretically feeds our self-fulfilling market prophecy that if we are constantly comparing ourselves, it drives us to be better, provide the best goods and services, therefore making us the best, which we always want because being the best means success. Theoretically then, this constant competition will lead us “victory over the world”. But why spend time just trying to get to the point where we get to yell, “O’Doyle Rules!”?

You should be your best, but I encourage young people to stop the cycle of comparison and instead focus on true, long-lasting collaboration.

As a graduate of a liberal arts institution, I will probably never be rich and/or famous, or even have a picket fence. I’m cool with that. What I’d rather have is a generation of Americans whose goals are understanding ideas, perceptions, and thought processes of people with different backgrounds and different goals.

-Mona Ghadiri

Mona is a recent graduate from Grinnell College with degrees in Anthropology and History. Her focii were mass media communications and collective identity. She currently works for the Grinnell College Communications Office as a staff writer and researcher.

How Grass Made Me Rich

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 21:44:00 -0500

I had just finished 7th grade when we moved to our new home in Naperville. It was the start of summer, I had no plans. Except one. Make money. Lots of it.

The previous summer, one of my friend’s moms was begging him to mow the lawn. My friend avoided house chores like they were the plague. One day, I said “I will mow the lawn for you”. Really, I just felt bad for the mom, at that time I did not intend on making $20. But – I did! Unexpectedly, the mom reached into her purse and handed me a $20 bill. This was the first time I had experienced “earning” money in exchange for work.

That night, I told the story to my parents, and convinced them to buy me a lawn mower for $120 from Wal-Mart. Since I had nothing better to do, I filled that mower with gas and the next day I knocked on every door on our block. To my surprise, it was quite easy to find clients! It probably had something to do with a 14 year old boy asking to do work (they probably thought it was cute). I didn’t care about that – my mind was focused on earning those $20 bills.

Now, to make a long story into something short and sweet, here is an outline of what happened next:

1) Within 2 days I found 10 clients in our new Naperville neighborhood.

2) Within 1 summer I saved enough money to buy a truck (yes I was only 15 years old)

3) My first lawnmower cost $120. My second, $350. My third through fifth mowers cost $15,000.

4) I had over 100 regular clients by the time I was a Junior in high school

5) I attracted a business partner my first year of college, and sold the business after graduating

Yes – you can say I was very determined, but that is not how I felt while I was growing through this. I just felt like I was doing what anyone would do if they knew how easy it was to earn a $20 bill, except I found a way to repeat that and turn it into a money making machine! Really though, this story is not about earning $20 bills. The skills I acquired during my lawn mowing days have helped me advance my professional career in the hedge fund industry very rapidly. My lawn mowing story was all we discussed in my first job interview. The management skills I learned from handling 100+ lawn mowing clients soon proved to make me quite valuable to my new company. Within 8 months they quadrupled my salary! I was making more than senior people that had worked in the industry 10 to 15 years!

Today, I am the Chief Operating Officer of a very successful hedge fund servicing company. I use management skills and work ethics that I mastered because of the lawn mowing business, every single day. Our company has won several awards, among them, the top rated business in our industry.

So what is this story really about? It’s not about mowing lawns, earning $20, or maybe getting lucky and being in the right place, at the right time, and impressing the right people. This story is really about finding something you like to do, and doing everything you can to do it as best as you can. I truly believe that once you find something you enjoy doing, and you put in the hard work to do it as well as you possibly can, then success will just be the most probable, mathematical outcome.

-Anonymous

"Most people are searching for a path to success that is both easy and certain. Most paths are..."

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 22:56:27 -0500

“Most people are searching for a path to success that is both easy and certain. Most paths are neither.”

- Seth Godin

Practical Prototyping. Part 2: 3D

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:25:00 -0500

Part 2 of the Series: Cardboard and Foam - Working in 3 Dimensions

Pencil and paper can take you a long way. In this medium you can draw things out just as you envision them, but that can become a limitation. While on paper you can create images and words that describe how something might work, you still need to discover if it will work, and if it does work, how does it feel in reality. Reading that sentence, you may be thinking that there is no way to fully answer these questions without a fully functional prototype. While that is true, we often think we are ready for a full blown prototype long before we really are. Materials like cardboard and foam can bridge the gap between paper, and even higher quality prototypes.

Not Just Cardboard and Foam

While the title of this article suggests I am only going to talk about the two aforementioned materials, there are a really quite a few different options that will allow us to build prototypes of the same Fidelity. When you are attempting to create a prototype of any kind, it’s important to consider what your goals are. Are you only interested in seeing how big your design will be in reality, or do you need to see if a specific feature will work? Maybe you need to know how part of a design feels when your hold it in your hand. All of these considerations will help you decide what level of fidelity you need in your prototype, and what materials might be useful to meet your goals. If you just need to see how big your design is, you can build a relatively low fidelity mock-up, and your material choice is pretty flexible. If, on the other hand, you want to see how a specific feature will work, you may need to choose prototyping materials that will replicate the properties of the final design more effectively, and build a prototype of relatively higher fidelity.

Materials to Consider

Many of us don’t realize how many great prototyping materials are sitting all around us. Two key considerations for materials when building a low fidelity prototype are the cost of the material, and how easy it is to work with. These two factors make a material like cardboard extremely attractive for prototyping. The kind of cardboard that cereal boxes are made out of, for example, is very easy to work with, and replicates the properties of sheet metal very well. One of my engineering professors once said that if you can build it by cutting and folding paper or cardboard, you can usually build it with sheet metal.

Foams can be very useful when your goals are to replicate shape and form. If you are trying to design a new handle for your device, try carving it out of foam. You can use Styrofoam since it’s pretty easy to find for free, but probably the best foam can be found at the hardware store. If you’re looking for high quality prototyping foam, look for the insulation at your favorite hardware store, and find the sheets of insulation foam. It’s not too expensive, and can be easily cut with a hot wire cutter (available at craft stores) or a hot knife (available at the hardware store), plus it’s not nearly as messy to work with.

Since we’ve already considered one material found in the kitchen, what about aluminum foil? It’s very easy to manipulate, and can be purchased in large supply at low cost. Other ideas are disposable plastic cups, popsicle sticks, toothpicks, Elmer’s Glue, and even paper. It may sound like I’m suggesting we go back to our kindergarten roots, and that’s kind of true, but the difference lies in how you approach it. Take time and care in the construction of your prototypes. Think about what materials will best produce the results you are looking for. Remember one of the key benefits of this type of prototyping is that when you’ve created your model, it’s easy to make changes. If you use typical engineering materials and you need to make a change, it’s usually necessary to go all the way back to square one and start over. With many of the materials I mentioned above, it might be as simple as getting out your scissors.

Duct Tape

It may seem odd that I have devoted a whole section to duct tape, but it truly is one of the most useful prototyping materials. Think about all of the people you have heard of, or even know, who have created wallets, purses, shoes, or even entire outfits from duct tape. This should make it pretty clear that the flexibility of duct tape as a prototyping material is very high. In my own experience, duct tape has been used to replicate everything from straps of Velcro, to plastic sheets, to layers of fabric. Duct tape is quick and easy to use, and even comes in different colors, to help you distinguish different features of your design.

Look for Analogs

When prototyping, don’t re-invent the wheel. If you want to see how a specific feature will work, look for an analog product that incorporates this feature. Study how it works, how it is made, and try to learn as much as possible from its design. It’s highly likely that some engineer or designer spent many hours trying to design the best way to accomplish the same goal you are working towards. After you have learned from the work of others, go back to your design, work for awhile, and then examine the analog product again. It’s likely that your own design experience will help you appreciate some features of the analog product’s design even more.

Do it All Over Again

You won’t stumble onto the perfect design the first time. If you get to the point with cardboard and these types of materials that you feel like you are stuck, go back to paper and pencil. Identify the problems you still need to overcome and work on them individually. Push your design on paper again, and then prototype with these low fidelity methods. Keep repeating this loop until you can’t learn any more without increasing fidelity. When you get to that point, you’ll be ready for the next article in this series Tougher Materials - Wood and Steel.

-Adam Booher

Adam has a Bachelors in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and works for IPT as the Director of Engineering.

Tangibly Passionate: 5 steps to Turning Inspirations into Realities

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 10:39:48 -0500

Passion. It’s an observable energy, both powerful and captivating in nature. You feel it within yourself and can see in others. It makes you want to change the world, fall in love, and be a better person. As seen through the lives of the greatest leaders in history, from the Ghandis to the Roosevelts to the modern day Steve Jobs, the ability to harness this whirlwind of passionate energy is truly a gift. In the words of Vincent Van Gogh,

“Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you were put on earth to do. With such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling.”

So how do you discover & harness your passion? Here are 5 steps to help you turn all that inspires you into tangible realities.

Step 1: Find your intuitive time lapse

When you become so engulfed in something that the passing hours become secondary to the fluid present moment, you experience what feels like a lapse of time. Your mind and actions align and all of your energy becomes in sync with the task at hand. Be aware of these moments; it is here that you will discover what truly inspires you. Whether it is when you’re around children, researching a topic of interest, or even just engaging in your favorite hobby, search intrinsically for what you enjoy most about life. Having a conscious awareness of the things that inspire you can guide your pursuit of life happiness.

You’ll find that certain passions start to become reoccurring motifs in your life. Once you uncover the ones truly worth investing in, grasp on and move forward with confidence.

Step 2: Write. Write. And when you start to doubt yourself-write again.

What inspires you? Why do you want to pursue this? How are you going to share your aspirations with the world? What can you do as an individual to make an impact? Take 5 minutes to write everything on your mind. Your hopes, your goals, your fears.

Once you get it all down in words and on paper, it no longer is just an idea. Writing becomes the blueprint for your plan of action. It organizes your thoughts and makes them real; allowing you to then go forth and start sharing them.

Step 3: Surround yourself with equally passionate people.

Maybe it’s finding a community that share in your passion. Or maybe it’s connecting with friends that have passions in drastically different places. Either way, optimism is infectious and highly contagious. Find the go-getters, the start-ups, the originals paving their own path. Friend them. Start cultivating your own environment to thrive in. Take every opportunity you can to meet interesting people because you never know where a random relationship can take you. The more people aware of you & your pursuit of passion, the more people there are going to be that are willing to help.

Step 4: Do work.

Start making power plays. You’ve got the puzzle pieces in front of you, time to start connecting for the big picture. How are you going to make your vision a reality? What immediate steps do you need to take? Whether it’s starting a company, designing something new & innovative, or even just finding ways to share your passion, commit to it.

Actually acting on it is the hardest part; it is here that the fear of failure sets in. You must remember that failure isn’t a thing, it’s an idea. Don’t think-just do. Once you start acting, everything will start falling into place.

Step 5: Rewind. Reflect. Repeat.

In the life of a go-getter, the focus so easily becomes about what more you can do. How can you expand? Who else should you reach out to? What do you need to do to move forward?

The stress and worries are constantly about the future. But sometimes you just need to take a step back. Look behind you. Give gratitude for all that you’ve already done, and feel confident in your ability to move forward and continue positively impacting the world. Embrace the current moment, and smile.

“Kid, you’ll move mountains.” –Dr. Seuss

-Michelle Lenzen

Michelle is an Advertising major and Business minor at the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign and is a Marketing Intern for the Technology Entrepreneur Center.

Another Review of Tina Seelig’s “What I wish I knew when I was 20”

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 23:18:36 -0500

Ok, I’ll admit it, the only reason I read this book was because it was written by the Director of the Stanford Entrepreneurship Network. I figured since the author, Tina Seeling, is a leader of other successful leaders, she probably has at least some useful information to pass on to a wannabe entrepreneur like me. Boy was I right!

This book is full of eye opening stories which are especially useful for young people like myself looking for permission to think, and more importantly, act outside the box. For those of you who don’t know, “What I wish I knew when I was 20” is a crash course through Tina Seelig’s experiences and observations as an entrepreneur. The book started out as a checklist of things Dr. Seeling wanted to make sure to teach her son. It ended up being a bestselling book which she gave to her son for his 20^th birthday. Many of the stories are anecdotal, which is one of the major appeals for me. Dr. Seelig talks about everything from how you should approach problems, to creativity, to quiting a job you don’t like, and even how you should live your life in general.

My favorite story has to be how Tina Seelig got herself into Stanford Medical School. Shortly after completing her BA at the University of Rochester, Dr. Seelig decided to pursue a PhD in something she wasn’t interested in at a school which I forget the name of (I think it was University of Minnesota). This was mostly due to pressure from her parents and peers. I identified strongly with this story because many of my own decisions have been adversely affected by suggestions from parents and peers. After her first year in the PhD program, she decided that it wasn’t for her so she packed her bags and moved to California. She spent half a year working odd jobs to support herself, and also spent a lot of time thinking about what she wanted to do with her life. During this time, she frequented the local library to read up on scientific advances in the field of neuroscience. As she grew more interested in neuroscience, she decided that she wanted to get back into a PhD program.

The difference was that this time she was motivated by her own desire to succeed. She emailed all of the professors and researchers at a local university (Stanford Medical School) in order to see if any of them needed help with their research. At first she didn’t get replies but after a couple of months she got an answer from a Professor who was doing experimental research on live patients and needed an extra hand. Dr. Seelig described how over night she went from bumming on the ocean to wearing scrubs in an operating room at SMS. When I read this, I literally fell out of my chair in amazement. Some simple emails, with a little bit of persistence, got her into a research lab at a top university. After spending another six months in this lab, she eventually got a letter of recommendation from that same professor, which ultimately led to her acceptance into Stanford Medical School. Wow!

The overall lesson from this story is that there are other opportunities for you if you are unsatisfied with your current situation. All you have to do is listen to your gut feeling and put forth the appropriate amount of work. Although this seems like common sense, it gave me comfort reading this from someone who has actually succeeded by doing this. There are numerous success stories like this in this book. Dr. Seelig has had the privilege of becoming friends with lots of interesting people, and she writes about many of their stories. I recommend her book to anyone who is interested in entrepreneurship or even just career advice at large.

Dr. Seelig stresses that there is no one path to success, and anyone can be successful if they put time and effort into what they are passionate about. You might be wondering how someone with a PhD in neuroscience ended up teaching entrepreneurship to engineers. If you are, make sure to pick up this book to find out. It’s a really short read and the lessons in it will surely help you on your journey.

-Ali Razfar

Ali studied Biomedical Engineering for 2 years at Illinois Institute of Technology before transferring to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to study Computer Science.

Adapting to a Career in Technology

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 16:19:00 -0500

During my seventh semester of college, I realized that I was studying the wrong subject.

I was sitting in a tax class, one of twelve accounting classes that I took at the University of Illinois, when I realized that I didn’t want to be an accountant. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t see myself being happy in the field.

Fortunately, I knew where I wanted to explore my career options. I found my exploratory engineering classes far more interesting and challenging than my business classes. I loved the problem-solving nature of the discipline, and I wanted more of it. More than that, I wanted to feel like I was making things, and not just reporting on and measuring them.

My next move took me down a path that I hadn’t imagined when I began college. I accepted a full-time position with Accenture in systems consulting, and haven’t looked back since. I also began working with a technology startup, Contendable, through connections I had made at Illinois. I’m very happy with the decision that I made; I am now doing meaningful work that I enjoy.

That being said, I’ve run into three challenges working in technology without a technical background.

The first is that I lack the fundamental understanding of programming that is hammered into engineers from day 1 of their education. This has been the most challenging to overcome, as much of the problem-solving that needs to be done in technology involves sifting through many lines of code to an issue in the program. I’m still dealing with this issue, and it has proven to be the most difficult to overcome. I think that the best solution is to gain experience in programming, however basic. There are introductory Java and Python classes all over the web, and I have already viewed several videos from the Kahn Academy. I plan to pursue this self-taught curriculum to give myself a better understanding of how to work with developers.

The second is that I don’t speak the language. When I first started my job, it seemed like everyone was speaking in a foreign tongue. I felt completely lost. I overcame this issue by asking to attend every meeting that my supervisor would allow, and making a notation every time someone said a word or acronym that I did not understand. I made sure to look up the word after I heard it, or to ask someone about it. This lead to a small dictionary I still reference when I am confused about a technical issue. I still feel like I’m behind, but I’m working to catch up.

The third problem is that people with a business background and engineering background often approach problems in different ways. While many business cases and models involve making assumptions and hypotheses about circumstances and facts, technical problems are often much more practical in that you cannot make many assumptions about how to solve the issue. You cannot explain your assumptions or talk your way out of broken code, you have to fix it. This, to me, is the most exciting part of working in a technical field, and I do not see it as a problem to overcome, but rather a new way of learning. I’ve jumped into these problems with both feet, asking our developers to walk me through the issue as I try to solve it with them. I think that the only way to become proficient in this method is by constantly challenging yourself with new problems and approaching each one head-on.

I become more comfortable in a technology atmosphere as each day passes, and I can’t see myself working in any other field. I’m excited about what I will be able to build in the coming years.

-Andrew Chapello

Andrew Chapello graduated from the University of Illinois in 2010 with a degree in accountancy and a minor in Technology & Management. He currently works as a consultant for Accenture and for an early-stage technology firm, Contendable.

Practical Prototyping. Part 1: Pen & Paper

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:36:00 -0500

In my last article, The Value of Getting Your Hands Dirty, I talked about the importance of working with your hands. I sincerely believe that it is vital for engineers to compliment their technical tranining with practical experience. There is no replacement for the insight gained from knowing something first hand and observing it with your own senses. This applies far beyond engineering. Professionals in all careers should know the ins and outs of the true substance of their work.

That being said, I would like to share a few of my thoughts and tips about how to get your hands dirty as an engineer. When I am working with a design idea, I find it extreemly beneficial to build a prototype (usually many prototypes). A prototype dosen’t have to mean a fully functioning model either, it can be anything from a drawing on paper to a CAD model and beyond.

In this series of articles, I hope to speak to several different prototyping methods that I have experience with. If you have other methods that work well for you, please share them in the comments.

1) The Power of Pencil and Paper

2) Cardboard and Foam - working in 3 dimensions

3) Tougher Materials - Wood and Steel

4) The Powers and Pitfalls of Computer Modeling

The first section, The Power of Pen and Paper is presented below.

1) The Power of Pen and Paper

We are blessed to have a huge number of powerful tools at our fingertips in today’s world. The ability of computers to make our lives easier is truly amazing. As a result it seems obvious to go straight to this high-powered technology when designing.

Don’t.

Always remember, the most powerful tool you have as a designer and engineer is your mind. Don’t be afraid to give yourself time to think. With computer aided design software, you can sometimes create things faster than you have time to fully understand them, and this can lead to designs that will never work in the real world, but more about this later.

Take Your Time

With a pencil (or pen) and paper, you have the opportunity to really get in touch with your work. It takes time and skill to draw. Use that time to develop your drawing skill and really understand your design. With a pencil and paper you can feel the shape of every curve you draw, and take the time to appreciate each element of a design.

Don’t Get Caught Up in the Details

A pencil and paper gives you the opportunity to control your level of detail. Use this to your advantage, and stay abstract until you are ready. When you only have a vauge idea of where a design is going, quickly scribble it out on paper, and add in notes and ideas for features with text and arrows (words can be as effective as pictures sometimes). You don’t need to decide how every piece of the puzzle is going to work right away, and you shouldn’t. When you’re ready to increase your resolution, start a new page, and keep the old one for reference. Avoid erasing or throwing away old design ideas because they will come in handy later.

Use Pencil and Paper to Communicate

Design ideas are usually tough to explain in words, and no one will quickly explain an idea by creating a CAD model. Be ready to communicate your ideas to other designers and engineers by drawing them out. When you draw to communicate, focus on the main principles you want to convey. If your focus is a new headlight for a car, don’t get caught up drawing the spoiler. Often disagreements in design work result from poor communication of ideas, and the people you work with will appreciate your ability to share your thoughts effectivily.

Collaborate

There are a lot of great digital tools for sharing ideas, but nothing beats a stack of blank paper and a bunch of pens, pencils, sharpies, and markers. Spead out your ideas on a big table. Gain inspiration from others, and build on their ideas. There is a reason you are working as a team. Encourage others to flesh out their own ideas on paper. If you’re skeptical of an idea, it might be because it won’t work, but it could be because you don’t understand it. Either way, encouraging your partners to draw out their ideas will help.

Keep it Up

Push your pencil and paper work as far as it will go. The more you think on paper, the easier the next steps will be. It is said that “good writing is clear thinking made visible.” I believe the same is true for good design drawing.

Check out Part 2.

-Adam Booher

Adam has a Bachelors in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and works for IPT as the Director of Engineering.

Writing is creative, in and out of itself.

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:20:00 -0500

A reaction to: “On Writing for the Public”

Most of us are trained extensively in our crafts, whether it be art, business, engineering, literature or matchstick making. This is a result of either an arduous curriculum in college or a long stint of working in a certain profession, doing something over and over until it becomes second nature to us. Very soon, one becomes so proficient that decisions are made and opinions are formed in a split second with a high degree of confidence and authority. This is also true with day-to-day activities and most importantly in my opinion, with values and morals. This is where writing takes on a different role.

When writing about such topics and expressing opinions, I have often experienced gaps in my logic. I certainly know what my opinion about something is and I am extremely sure about it, but when writing for an audience, the reasons and logic for that opinion sometimes fail me.

For example, when I was writing an article for this very website ‘The Value of Trying New Things’, I was sure that I wanted people to try new things, but it took me a long time to express why because I had never formulated those thoughts before. I had formulated opinions and was very sure of them, but since I had never written or expressed it to anyone else before, I was at a loss. Writing forced me to logically think and put those ideas and concepts into words ready to be articulated. Now, if someone asks me why I value trying new things, I know exactly what to say, without having to think about it.

This is a very refreshing feeling and, writing can do that for you. What’s more? It will also lead you to other questions and new ideas. And this is certainly the creative process and it can be sparked through writing. So the next time you are not feeling very creative and want a recharge on those creative juices, try writing!

-Sudeep Gowrishankar

Sudeep was born and raised in India, has a bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois, and currently works at Yaskawa America as a Product Engineering Co-op.

On Writing for the Public

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 21:44:00 -0500

I’m not an engineer. I’m not a businesswoman. In fact, I am an anthropologist and a writer—things that seem far off from the purview of this blog, but my goal is to share another perspective, one that draws attention to issues as seen from the outside.

I’m not even that great of a writer, but I’m convinced being a good writer is more valuable than any major, any job, or any award or grant, no matter the discipline. Why? Regardless of inspiration, design, engineering, or business, if individuals cannot write for a public audience or for more than themselves, they will stagnate. When I think about engineering or business, what I see is a monolith that operates within its own sphere that has its own language and culture employed to roar into the future. They try to simultaneously create, research, and innovate, but I don’t feel like they reach out. The answer to cure this sentiment is in making writing for a public audience a priority. There is a difference between educating your consumers and them understanding.

Making writing for a public audience a priority in businesses, labs, and offices means a commitment to sharing ideas, creating goals, and clearly expressing thought in ways a wider audience (and hopefully your colleagues) will understand. Being able to write for a public audience is crucial because the reality is, there is no funding for those who cannot articulate their ideas or over articulate their goals to funding boards or the NSF. There is no reason for someone to donate to a non-profit without a clearly worded and easily understood mission statement. Innovation is great. Creativity is necessary. But we need good writing that can be geared towards a wider audience that forces those in companies to really look at and be able to synthesize what exactly they are doing.

In the end, as Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, writes, “Greatness is not a function of circumstance, greatness is largely a matter of conscious choice and discipline.” Where I come from, we don’t call writing for a public audience “dumbing it down”. Instead we look at it as a choice, a chance to connect, and to foster growth. It may seem like a waste of time to put effort into conveying ideas to a public audience, but I promise as an outsider, we appreciate it.

-Mona Ghadiri

Mona is a recent graduate from Grinnell College with degrees in Anthropology and History. Her focii were mass media communications and collective identity. She currently works for the Grinnell College Communications Office as a staff writer and researcher.

Make your own Mentors in Life

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 11:27:00 -0500

I feel like one of the biggest things that differentiated me from my college classmates was that I had a mentor for almost every class. There was always an upperclassman who had taken the class before and I always asked them for advice before I signed up. I treated these friends/acquaintances like my mentors.

A lot of students like to go to their fellow classmates for help in a class. That can be helpful at times. However, the benefit of going and getting advice from a “mentor” is that they have already gone through the entire experience. Even if they did poorly in the course, they can probably still tell you how to get a good grade.

However, making your own mentors is not just limited to coursework, its a habitual thing. I identify people who I think have experience and knowledge about a particular topic, and I ask for their insight. I have noticed that if you approach these “mentors” the right way, they really appreciate that you acknowledge their insight and that you want to learn from them.

So I encourage you to make your own mentors. When someone might know more about a topic than you do, seek their insight. You can learn a lot of stuff, much faster, and make fewer costly mistakes if you find the right mentors.

Just to clarify, the idea behind this article strongly resonates with the idea behind this IDEB website. So far, this site has been getting a positive response from the community, and I wanted to thank everyone who has contributed to this project by either reading and/or writing articles.

-Ehsan Noursalehi

We made a Facebook fan page! Check us out...

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 21:06:00 -0500

We made a Facebook fan page! Check us out here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/IDEB/226409927401299