Justin Lindley
jmlindle@purdue.edu
February 1st, 2012
ECE 400 – Professional Statement
One of the deciding factors in choosing a university was which one would provide not only an adequate education in electrical engineering, but which would challenge my limits academically. I feel Purdue has not only prepared me to tackle employment in my field, I feel they have turned it into a light at the end of my academic career. Along with my academic experience, I feel that the work experience I have had while pursuing my degree has given me a glimpse of that light and assuaged many fears of what the industry might be like. Finally, I've learned that I am able to go above and beyond normal job descriptions with computer knowledge gleaned from academia and years of ongoing interest in computing. In the following narrative I will expand on each of these topics in turn to explain what makes me a driven, prepared, and versatile engineer.
My education has never been about attaining the best marks or being the top scorer on exams. It has always been about pushing myself and learning as much as I can about the things that interest me. I believe when I graduate I will have put Purdue through it's paces and thoroughly gotten my money's worth. I came into college with the knowledge that I was not particularly strong in electromagnetic fields in high school, but it was something that particularly interested me. I ultimately chose electrical engineering because I thought it would yield the most challenge, and there is no question it has. I chose to broaden my degree and pursue both computer science and psychology as minors. My goal from the beginning was to be achieve a mix of electrical engineering, computer engineering, and computer science (psychology being a personal interest). I have maintained a respectable and consistent grade point average while taking a very full course load and navigating hardships most students gladly do not face. And have also been a teaching assistant for first year engineering these past two semesters as well. By the time I graduate I will have exceeded multiple graduations requirements and been a part of multiple team-based projects. I believe everything I've said here and done at Purdue speaks to my competency and marketability as an engineer as well as my unique drive and ambition as a person.
Education would be nothing without practicality, and my internship with Hewlett-Packard taught me a great deal they never touch on in class. There isn't much of substitute for job experience, and in my short, seven months I came to understand quite a bit about engineering in industry. One of the most important things I learned was to chase after every opportunity presented, even if it is out of your way. By making my supervisor aware of an interest in improving myself wherever I could, I signed up to take advantage of classes offered while I was interning and completed a beginning class on lean sigma methodology as well as numerous online lectures on computing. I will be certain to carry this lesson on wherever I may go in life as well as employment, and believe this to be an invaluable realization as I continue on in my career.
Finally, my love of computing, both hardware and software, has proven to be of particular value in many aspects. I have been interested in computers since my family purchased their first one when I was 7 and have been hooked since. I have learned many different programming languages (including two different assembly languages), built computers from stacks of parts, and became my neighborhood IT person when I was in high school. This ties in to my decision not to fully commit to computer science, electrical engineering, or computer engineering. The fact is simply that I couldn't choose one if I wanted to.
I have aimed to be a well-rounded, technically-minded individual making the most of my college career while challenging myself to improve upon my knowledge whenever and wherever possible. I believe this philosophy coupled with my academics, job experience, and personal ambition more than adequately qualify me for whatever I choose to challenge myself with as I begin my transition into industry and begin my career as an engineer.
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