Missing Basics

The general engineering curriculum at U of I is riddled with math and science and other technical classes such as Engineering Design Analysis. However, the curriculum still affords Illinois general engineers the opportunity to exercise some of the “missing basics”—that is, the skill set not taught in standard engineering classes but still considered an imperative aspect of any successful corporate engineer. A prime example is the opportunity for general engineers to engage in a team-based design project in the class GE 494. This class allows senior engineering students to assume a project for an industry partner, thus giving them invaluable real-world experience. This allows them to learn missing basics not taught in the classroom including communication, teamwork, business skills, and others. As David A. Goldberg says in The Entrepreneurial Engineer, “The average engineer studies many long years, plunges into the real world, and finds that a tough part of the job was left as an exercise to the reader.” GE 494 allows students to taste the vastly different corporate world and assimilate their skills while still going through college.


Three important skills I would like to work on this semester include organization, communication, and the ability to set more short term goals. Organization is an important skill to learn in any career and one that I only adequately practiced throughout high school. My action plan for developing this skill would be to write down everything in my iBook and to plan to take fifteen minutes a week organizing my dorm room. Communication is another invaluable skill used anywhere in life, and it is not explicitly taught in high school. I want to be able to efficiently and effectively communicate my ideas to other team members and coworkers in order to be a functioning member of the team. In order to improve these skills, I will pay particular attention to communication while working in teams for the construction of the steam car, making sure I outline my ideas clearly and effectively. Setting short term goals is a very important skill in terms of planning and in terms of completing tasks efficiently. My plan to improve this skill is to consciously set specific goals when working on individual projects, such as deciding to finish up a paper before a certain time. This will force me to work efficiently and effectively in order to meet my deadline.