Job Posting Analyzation

    For our final set of assignments for my English 321 class, we wanted to end on something extremely practical and immediately applicable. We were tasked with finding a job posting, researching the company, and making a cover letter. I managed to find a posting for a mechanical engineering internship by VEi Global.
    First thing I did upon finding the job posting was to go to VEi's website. There at the bottom of the page, I found three different files that detailed what their goals are, their main services, and the kinds of people that work there. They tend to work on planning and designing of industrial level developments and factories. Thus they had need for many different types of engineers.

    Then I searched the company's name in Google. Most of the results were just reviews, listings, or employee LinkedIn profiles. However I did come across a few interesting results. One was a ND Supreme Court ruling, and the other was on the NDSCS website. It turns out that the president of VEi is part of the Architectural Drafting and Estimating Technology advisory committee for NDSCS. This brings the company a lot of credibility and would make anyone want to work there more. The court ruling however could be taken a few different ways. In the case, a local ethanol plant and VEi had a dispute over some services and payment, breaches of contract and alleged negligence for both parties. VEi ended up winning the case. This leads me to believe that they either, did nothing wrong to begin with, or at the very least were careful enough in there approaches, as is important in engineering, that even though there were allegations against them, they were able to justify everything.

    The most important things I discovered in my research were at the bottom of the VEi's website. Those documents clearly showed who they are and what they are trying to do. So in order to increase my chances of getting an interview and job, I tried to integrate parts of it, as well as parts of the job posting itself, into my cover letter and résumé. This was accomplished by first changing the objective portion of my résumé to directly mention the company and position. I also mentioned the position again in the cover letter. Additionally I added courses relevant to the requirements in the job listing in both the résumé and cover letter. Lastly in my cover letter, I mentioned things like meeting deadlines and budgets as these were directly mentioned in their mission statement and a few other times on the website.

Collaboration

    Some things are just to big to be accomplished by one person; that is when we turn to the power of the group. We use it to break down work into smaller manageable chunks for the individual.  No one person can do everything for every project nor do they have the time. The field of mechanical engineering is not an exception, nor is our group project of redesigning a website for class. Through some quick research and a lot of personal experience in groups, the keys to a successful group can be broken up into four parts: establishing an organizational pattern, separating work, establishing communication, and recombining efforts.

    The first step that should be taken in any sort of group work or collaboration should be establishing the organizational style of the group and the roles of the individuals. This may be done explicitly such as someone being named group leader and others being formally put into other positions. It can also be done implicitly where there is no formal leader and everyone just naturally fills a role. This implicit form of organization was that our group chose for our redesign project. We all naturally filled roles and there was no established positions. This would probably only work for smaller groups though.

    Once the organization has formally or informally established, it is about this time that the work gets separated. Again this can be done directly by whomever is in charge at this point or it can be done indirectly where everyone just starts working on different things. You have to be careful if it is done indirectly to make sure nothing gets forgotten since there is less organization that way. Our group never explicitly assigned pieces of the proposal until the very end of the assignment to avoid forgetting something. We have a shared Google Doc open in which we all work on parts of it as we have free time and motivation, all while using our group text to communicate and adding comments throughout the document.

    That is where communication comes in. This is probably the most important part in group collaboration. There has to be some way to communicate inside the group. This can be a group text, a chat system, group meetings, emails or some combination thereof. Our group opted for a group text to communicate as this was the most natural, and we also used group meetings in class to help communicate goals. We also left notes inside the shared document that shared suggestions, concerns, and work to be done.

    The last part should be the recombination of work. The most likely situation is that at some point the group had either individuals or subgroups working on different tasks, so the naturally everything must be brought back together and made whole. This can only be done if communication has been kept up and goals are set. There also needs to be a time frame for this set up since multiple pieces have to be brought together at this point. Our group tends to meet a few minutes before class or meeting to go over everything.

Instructional Video

    For my class ME 213 we had to use the fprintf function to display some information. The teacher provided some notes on how to do it but they were all very confusing so I decided to do some searching online to see if I could understand it better. Most of the websites weren't very helpful. Then I went to YouTube to see if there were some instructional videos, and there were but again they weren't very good. So for the instructional video assignment I decided it would be a good idea to help others out so they don't have to go searching for this information when they get stuck.

Usability

    Many times in our lives we will have to learn how to do something new. We generally learn by following direction whether they be written, oral, face-to-face, or video. We can usually tell when the instructions are good, because we can finish our task without any trouble. This is similar to the way we can tell if a website is good after we've tried to use it. This is called usability. We want our instructions or websites to have high usability. In my case I will be testing the usability of a script for an instructional video that will be made soon.

    Usability is usually checked through usability tests or surveys, which ask a series of question about the material. It may seem obvious, but the question choice plays a very large part its ability to provide useful information about the subject. The questions should guide the user's feedback into something meaningful for the creator that can be used for improvement. I drew inspiration for my questions from this website that had some examples. The three main questions I chose for the usability test because they were the ones most fitting to my script wereI:

• What was your first impression after reading the script?
• Were you able to understand where the new pieces of the example were coming from? If not, which parts and why?
• What would you change about the script specifically?

   Normally it would be best to perform a usability test on my target audience of people that had the baseline knowledge necessary for understanding my script, however since we conducted the tests in class only some of the testers understood what was happening in my script. That being said, I was still able to gather some useful feedback for making my video.

    The test I conducted was on my script which outlined the basics of the fprintf function in MatLab, a programming language designed primarily for large calculations. It can be confusing for many of the engineers who take the class because they don't usually have any programming experience. I want be able to show my viewers how to use the function step-by-step, while pointing out its interesting features. The test was supposed to be able to show me how to do that more effectively.

    The script that was reviewed was mostly the final draft, aside from alterations that came from the usability test. It was reviewed by three classmates during class time. Two of the testers had taken MatLab; the other had heard of it but had no experience with it. The testers were first asked to look at a consent form to understand what was being asked of them, and then they were told to read through the script editing it as they read through it with comments. Next they were asked five questions: the three listed above, one asking for any recommendations for the video, and the last one was a confidence test. It asked the tester if they felt they could use the function along with some given information to create a desired result by referencing the script.

    The result I gathered were quite helpful. The tester that had no experience with MatLab said that he felt that the script seemed like a good set of instructions, but since he had no prior knowledge, he was still confused as to how everything worked. This was to be expected though, and had little impact on revising the script for the video. The first of the two testers that had used MatLab mentioned he had struggled some while in the class for MatLab and that was showing here. He said that to him reading MatLab instructions is always confusing, but felt that I had done it well enough that he could mostly follow them. He also said that video format will be much better for my instructions. His final comment was that I should provide a better introduction for the function, and be more specific about when someone would use it. The last tester also had experience with the program. He said that he found the script very easy to follow, but that again video would be much better for these kind of instructions.

   From the testers feedback, I have gathered three main things. The first is that video is going to be the best way to share my instructions, but I have to make sure that I show everything step-by-step because MatLab can be confusing. The second is that I have to provide a better explanation of what the function I am discussing can be used for so that people stay and finish the video. The last thing is that my script is a good baseline for making the video, though it will need minor alterations as previously mentioned.

Innovation Review

    The mechanical engineering field is largely designing or improving designs of machines. In order to do that the engineers have to do a lot of calculations to see if designs are viable or actually improvements over the older version. They can use 3D modeling programs on the computer to create the objects and then run simulations on those generated objects. This can be a bit cumbersome as computer screens are 2D and the engineer is trying to work with 3D pieces. That is why the onset of virtual and augmented reality devices is so exciting for engineers.

    Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are quite similar, with the main difference being that VR immerses the user in an artificial 3D word while AR overlays its content onto and interacts with the real world. Both however could be used to interact with artificial 3D objects in a real space. This would be the main advantage for engineers: being able to see and "touch" the items that are being worked with. This is a large step up from having to do these things in 2D or creating a new real world prototype every time a small change is made. The reason all of this is relevant is that there will be roughly a dozen VR and AR hardware launches in the next year.

    2016 will really be the start of consumer level reality devices. To compare all of the different devices coming out , we have to create some sort of frame work to check all of the devices against. The first criteria should be price of the device, because as we all know price will affect which companies will be able to use it in their businesses. The second thing we look at should be the capabilities in terms of specifications. Next we can examine the overall design and appeal of the hardware. Lastly we check the reputability of the company.

Microsoft HoloLens

    All of these criteria can looked into now before any of the products launch. Instead of trying to look at all of these characteristics for each piece of hardware that will be available this year, for purpose of this blog I am going to look at the most popular in the respective reality types. The first representing VR, Oculus Rift, is launching on March 28th. The second representing AR, Microsoft HoloLens, is launching March 30th. In terms of price, Rift is $600 and HoloLens is $3,000. In terms of specifications those can be found on this website for Oculus Rift and this site for Microsoft HoloLens. These specs are hard to compare since they are performing very different tasks for the most part, however the main difference seems to be Hololens has a built in computer while Rift gets fed information from a nearby users computer and is therefore limited by it. Next we will look at the styles. The Rift has a large black oval for an eye piece, looking like swimming goggles that have been combined with small headphones. It also has a strap that goes over the around the head and over its crest. The HoloLens has slightly tinted eye pieces and goes all the way around the head. Lastly both companies are reputable. Though Oculus is only 4 years old, they have garnered a lot of attention and were bought for $2 billion by Facebook. Microsoft has been around since 1975 and has been one of the main faces of the computing industry.

Oculus Rift

    In terms of which of these devices would be better for using in the engineering field, I can't say. It will be interesting to see in the next few months how companies decided to incorporate these. They both have their obvious pros and cons. But the obvious one both have right now is the availability of compatible programs for doing engineering simulations and modeling. In the near future, we should be able to draw new criteria from our experiences with the technology to determine what characteristics we should be looking for in our virtual and augmented reality hardware.

Design

    Through some brief searching, there seems to be a consensus on what does and does not work in online communication. The wording isn't always that same and some of the finer points might be different, but the main ideas seem to point in the same direction. To sum up what I found here, designs should have contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity.

    To exemplify these principles, we can look at this blog. The first principle is contrast. This means that things that are not alike should be quite noticeably different. You can see this by looking at the the differences in the font sizes from the title to the actual post. There are also different backgrounds for the posts and the site. You can see contrast in the noticeable separation of the post from the sidebar and the borders around pictures separating them from the text. Also there is the double space between each paragraph to give the reader a chance to pause.

    The next principle is repetition. This means thing that are similar, should be similar. This can be seen in using the same color scheme, text font, and paragraph format throughout the whole blog. It can also be seen in the similar sizes of all the posts. There placing of the title and side bar are also consistent throughout the blog. There is also common voice throughout the blog in that it doesn't seem like many different people are contributing.

   The third principle is alignment. This is meant to mean that everything should direct the reader and be where it is expected. This is seen in this blog by the centralization of the body and that all of the paragraphs line up. The title is also in line with the edge of the post's background, and the post and sidebar are directly across from each other at the top. In posts with pictures, they are always right, left, or center aligned and not somewhere in between. In the Introducing Experts post, there are both left and right aligned post, but they have balance and are not placed in such a way as to crowd part of the page. In the other two post, the pictures are centered and about halfway through the post to give readers a place to pause.

    The final principle is proximity. Proximity is meant to keep relevant pieces together. One example is that the hyperlinks to sources are at the first mention of something, or in the case of some pictures on the picture themselves. Another example would be in the sidebar. The Blog Archive keeps all blogs that were created organized chronologically. In the About Me section, it gives a brief biography, but it also gives a link to my Google+ page for more information. After the post, all of the various ways to share the blog on social media are also grouped together.

    With these four logical, and simple principles, I  have accomplished my task of creating a visually appealing blog with minimal effort. The principles of alignment and repetition helped establish a baseline between all of the posts. Contrast helped spark interest in the various areas of the blog, and proximity kept all of the information relevant in each part of the blog together.

Introducing Experts in the Field

    In general, mechanical engineering is not a field that someone goes into with the interest of becoming famous. However there are a few that have made names for themselves. They are those that become media icons through television and those that became successful entrepreneurs. I would like to highlight one of each.

    First off is William Nye, more commonly called Bill Nye, the Science Guy. He was a mechanical engineer, but quit to become an entertainer. He became famous in he show titled Bill Nye the Science Guy. In it, he tried to teach kids about different science topics. Since the end of his show, he has been active in politics. His main focus has been educating the public on a variety of scientific topics. These include global warming and GMOs. He has advocated strongly for international action against global warming and has expressed that he is for the use of GMOs. Bill has also made a number of guest appearances in high profile places such as on television and in the White House trying to spread his message of using the sciences as the basis of facts instead of opinions.

    Next we have Elon Musk. Though does not technically have a degree in  mechanical engineering, he is another key figure in the field. He is the CEO of Tesla Motors, a leading electric car company, a co-founder of SpaceX, the leading private space company in the US. He has also put into the work the Hyperloop, a proposed hypersonic rail system . With all three of these projects, he is pushing the envelope for transportation and as such is a key figure in the mechanical engineering field. In December 2015, he announce the creation of OpenAI, an open-souce non-profit AI research company. This is another large opening for mechanical engineers to get involved in.

    The last prominent figures to take a look at aren't people. They are the nations of China and India.  Since the turn of the millennium, they have been producing between 5 and 10 times the number of engineers the US and Europe have been producing. This mean that we have to be able to communicate with them. Dave Schmidt, an engineer in Underwood, says that there a number of times he has had to create a technical document such as blue prints or an analysis of some kind that has to be sent off to an overseas company. When he does these he has to be sure of his writing and the standards for the technical document to avoid any confusions that could arise from the language barrier. Dave's other writing includes reviews of his subordinates as he has an immediate supervisory position.