Cumulative Reflection

Kirkland Keith

Iowa State University has been a great school for many people, including myself, and has
brought me much further in life than many of my other potential options. In many ways, it has
prepared me for my future career by teaching me different ways to approach different kinds of
problems. It has done this by pushing me towards working in project-oriented groups, attending
both class lectures and guest lecture settings, and working on projects both unrelated to school
and for extracurricular activities. For me, there are three classes that stood out to me throughout
my educational career. These classes, I feel, are key in having prepared me for my future.

One of the classes that has pushed me towards growing as a future engineer has been
Computer Science (Com S) 311, otherwise known as Algorithm Design. Algorithm Design has
been a class that has pushed me farther out of my comfort zone than any other class, and it's
for good reason. Focused on designing algorithms in a way that makes them both plausible and
efficient and then implementing them, it has forced me to work both in and outside of the box.
Doing so has allowed me to understand many different design perspectives when building an
algorithm, but has also helped me to recognize problems that are often common within the
programming field.

Rather than just working on a problem put before me from start to finish, it has been rewarding
to be able to not only identify familiar problems, but to understand how to formulate many
different solutions to solve the problems. Many times, it had made me question whether I
needed to focus on the aspect of design (coming up with clean code that is understandable) or
focus on efficiency (code that does what I need to exceptionally well, but at the risk of losing
other aspects).

Furthermore, I felt that despite it pushing me a bit more than some other classes, it was also
one of the classes where I could find more help. My lecturer and Teaching Assistants (TAs)
were always ready to put out a helping hand when it was needed. Essentially experts in the
subject, it was incredibly helpful to their eyes on my work as they were always able to point me
in the right direction or offer me the resources to successfully understands any issue that I may
have been dealing with.

The other two classes I participated in were Com S 309, Software Development Practices, and
Com S 319, Software Construction and User Interfaces. Both of these classes took a large
focus on working not only in a team, but also in developing a product that could potentially be
used by clients or customers. By working on the team, it made us focus on putting our
personnel in places where we felt they would best succeed. As such, it forced me to take on the
responsibilities of not only fulfilling the project for myself, but also ensuring that I am doing my
best to complete the project for the remainder of my team members’ sake. As such, I have
needed to act as professional as possible.

In addition, these projects have forced me to understand ethical responsibilities because each
product focuses on serving customers. As such, I have had to make sure I never negatively
affect the privacy of users. This has become increasingly important as in other classes, we have
taken a look at ethical issues in today’s world and have directly learned the outcomes.

Furthermore, attending ISU has made me realize that I should never stop learning. I have spent
time at multiple internships, learning languages that I never would have thought of learning
while in school. It, however, made me realize that what I learned at ISU was incredibly helpful in
helping me learn these new languages.

Overall, my time at ISU has been extremely helpful for my career. The education I received at
ISU has been an experience I cannot imagine being without as it has not only opened many
doors for me, but has also forced me into the necessary situations that would force me to deal
with things that once made me uncomfortable.