STEP Reflection

My STEP project involved building my own computer.  I had to research which parts were most vital for the functions I prioritized most, and had to budget accordingly.  I finally shared my experience with others on an online learning resource who might want to learn the same process of building a computer, providing a good starting place.

Throughout this project, I learned that I can be very successful at budgeting my resources and optimize hardware and equipment, something very important for any engineer to gain experience with.  Being able to utilize powerful hardware has opened up new gateways for product design, using online tools like SOLIDWORKS or COMSOL.  Building my own computer increases my appreciation for heavy duty equipment and the time and consideration it takes in ensuring that products work, since troubleshooting takes time and effort.  If those issues are nullified by having many revisions to a product’s design, then it saves both the consumer’s and company’s time and increases trust in the quality of products and customer satisfaction.

While building my computer, I ran into multiple minor problems that could not be simply solved.  This was because I had questions that were thought of as basics that are assumed to be understood by the computer industry.  The problem with that is nobody really answered those questions already, but I eventually had to go to advisors to understand what the solution was.  This brought to my attention a long forgotten problem that plagues many fields, the forgotten basics.

When a person chooses to enter a field at surface level, they may encounter problems that experts may have forgotten about and instead assume that their issues are as complex as their own.  This disparity creates a disconnect that becomes greater all of the time, making solving problems more and more difficult.  This follows the idea that “knowing enough about a subject to think you’re right but not enough to know you’re wrong.”  The only way to learn is from experience from a subject and I did not have enough experience to know when I was right or wrong.

This led me to create a lesson on how to build computers from my own experience, using Online Education Resources Commons.  From this platform I was able to provide feedback to those who would be interested in building a computer, but had no idea where to start.  This initial start would allow others to get a small grasp at the topic and get past that surface level knowledge through their own research and decision making.  This choice to uplift others who are ignorant to this subject has greatly influenced my decision making when it comes to both human interaction and actions in making a product as an engineer.

Understanding the possible disparity between experts and novices, I will make it a mission of my own fruition to change this.  Having higher communication between experts and novices will allow for better transparency in any industry.  This will not only educate those who may want to learn more easily, but also allow for the correction of many misconceptions that are held about many topics, including controversial ones.  Unfortunately this might not work for every subject, but even if it helps with one field, it could make a large impact that hopefully could ripple over time to other places.

The important thing I would have to consider while doing this would be the tone that this would be conducted in, since this is a problem currently faced all of the time around the globe.  Many who may be novices about a subject might not know that they are wrong, and might get a wrong impression if they are corrected a certain way.  The careful calculated communication between these two groups would be vital to establish good relations, which can be helpful in almost any situation.  Overall, my STEP Project has opened my eyes to a new experience and what it is like to act as a novice in a field filled with experts.