SELF EVALUATION
Knowing Yourself Is Important
During this project, I learned more about myself. I want to describe myself in two different aspects: my strengths and my weaknesses.
Strengths:
1. I am very hardworking. I can spent tons of time on one project if I think that is import.
2. I have a strong technical knowledge and skills, such as Creo, Solidworks, and MATLAB, which makes me learning really fast.
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Weaknesses:
1. Not really good at communicate efficiently with my American friends. Since UIUC has a lot of Chinese students, I always spend a lot of time with my Chinese friends rather than my American friends. This makes me lack of ability to express my thought clearly and efficiently. Thus, in the future, I would spend more time with my American friends, and enhance my communication skills.
2. Not really good at manufacturing. To be honest, before this class, I have no idea how to fix a gear on the rod. I don't know what is D-shaft nor push nut, not to mention tapping and drilling. This is because in the first two years of my college life, I spend most of time on theoretical things rather than real world things, which makes me lack of real world experience. Thankfully, my team has Ian and Alan who are really proficient in manufacturing. They taught me a lot and I believe I should learn more by myself in the future.
WHAT DID I LEARN IN THIS CLASS
Learning and Learning
In ME 370, there are many main subject ares. I learned a lot from those subjects.
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1. I reviewed a lot of kinematic knowledge in "kinematic fundamentals" area. Since I have been working as a course assistant for TAM 212 (Introduction to Dynamics) for 4 semesters, I am pretty familiar with those subjects. Nevertheless, I believe this subject is still the most important one in this class.
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2. Graphical linage synthesis is one of the most interesting subject I learned in this class. I still remember the HW asking us to predict the curve and draw the output crank which can move back and forth twice in one crank cycle.
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3. PVA and DFA analyses are the most difficult ones in this class. It requires not only a complete understanding of basic principles, but also requires a high MATLAB simulation skills. I learned those subjects during the lab sections as well as some project deliverable.
COURSE HIGHLIGHTS AND CHALLENGES
Real World Real Challenge
I believe the most important highlight of this class is that it is the first class that makes me step out of my comfort zone and start working with other students. At the same time, this is also the most challenge part to me. As I said before, I did not have much experience of working with others. Thankfully, my teammates are nice and patient. They tolerate my mistakes and show me how to work in real world as a engineer.
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In the future, I may forget some of those technical knowledge, but I will never forget how to work in a team, how to communicate with others, and how to work as a real-world engineer.