Perhaps the most characteristic
aspects of the internet are its permanence and accessibility. However, in consideration of our final
digital portfolio assignment, these aspects are very unnerving. The likelihood of a future employer seeing
the work that I am putting together, the text that I am typing right now, is
intimidating. Nevertheless, this is the
purpose of the assignment. Looking back
at some of the work I am revising for inclusion, though, I cannot help but
worry a bit about how I will feel about these blog posts a few more terms down
the road. The nature of my process:
write, let it sit, read it, throw it away, write a new one.
This class has
aided my understanding of professional writing, and other courses have honed my
abilities at constructing and formatting reports and papers. There is undoubtedly much revision work to be
done. I have found numerous documents
that I consider worthy inclusions. Some
are recent, such as a digital electronics laboratory report from only a few
weeks ago or an engineering design proposal from my last term. Some are from a bit further back, such as a
physics laboratory report and Matlab programming project from last year. In regards to a revision from this class, I
look forward to delving deeper into my AMD Kaveri microprocessor architecture
evaluation. It may not be my “most annoying”
assignment, but it is the one most relevant to my ideal career, and the one I am most
passionate about. All of these works have something to
say about different sectors of my discipline, from application of hard science and
mathematics to more specific implementations and applications of particular
techniques or programming languages.
I am a bit torn on
the value of my inclusions in conformity to the class requirements. Much of my engineering professional writing
has consisted of quick, concise writing, with tables and graphs doing most of
the talking. Raw data and ten page
appendices of sketches, tables, and photographs do not seem to contribute much
in the form of human language, but I suppose I can say they are worth thousands
of words. Formatting and presentation
will hopefully play a large part in doing what language cannot. As I have discussed before, there is the
matter of code. Is it language? I believe so.
Is it professional writing? For
me, yes. It is not general enough,
though, to be a cornerstone of the material I will showcase here. Ultimately, I do not know how well-received this
portfolio will be in a professional writing course, but it is a thorough and
diverse representation of my discipline.
I look forward to continuing to explore, alter, and compose it into a
reasonably clear portrait of both passions and qualifications.
This digital
portfolio will include a cover letter and four “cornerstone” works that highlight my
professional writing skill. The values
and contributions of each of these works will be highlighted on their respective
pages. To continue to make this a
valuable professional resource, I intend to include several programming
projects. I will post the source code
and find a way to incorporate an embedded view or video of the output. I also hope to include a separate section
highlighting personal projects and side experience, including LED lighting
projects, reverse engineering and modifications, perhaps even some 3D modelling
and design. I could also incorporate a
more personal about me page that highlights hobbies and relevant pages. Maybe I’m being a bit too thorough…