Project 3

ENGL 2100/SLCC

Elba Espinoza

December 9, 2015
Salt Lake Community College
elba.espinoza3@gmail.com

November 23, 2015

Elba Espinoza
3841 S 6800 W
West Valley, UT 84128
L3 Communications
Attn: Human Resources
640 2200W
Salt Lake City, UT 84116
Dear Sir/Maam,
I am writing this letter to apply for the current position you have open for a
Production Scheduler. I will work hard and meet all requirements as a valuable L3
employee. I am a professional and hard working individual who would loved to be
part of the L3s family.
As my resume states, I have over six years of experience and training as a
production scheduler working for the United States Air Force. Being in the military
not only helped me get familiar with production scheduling, but also gave me
discipline, management, and leadership skills that I would be a great addition to
your company.
I had the chance in the past of working with one of your teams while stationed in
Florida, and I was impressed by L3s professionalism and work ethic that I wanted
to apply to your company as soon as I left my military career.
I am currently a student at Salt Lake Community College and Im planning to major
in Mechanical Engineering. I also have plans to advance my future career in your
company as an engineer once Ive obtained my diploma.
My resume is enclosed. Please contact at your convenience to schedule an interview.
Thank you for your time and attention to this request.
Sincerely,

Elba Espinoza

Table of Contents
1. Page 1: The TRAC-A Rotodome AEW Surveillance
Radar Antenna A description of the TRAC-A
antenna and its utility to make future clients
interested in its functions and capabilities.
2. Page 2: How to use effective time management at
work 10 steps to help use the most of your time at
work and be a more effective employee. This will
help any employer help their employees be more
efficient and less stressed.
3. Page 3: Inside the world of a Mechanical Engineer
(Project 1) - A sample paper of my first project in
ENGL 2100 at SLCC. It shows some of my capabilities
of communication, research and professionalism.
4. Page 4: References shows the sources of my data.
5. Page 5: Resume My personal resume tailored for a
Production Scheduling position. It provides a list of
my knowledge, skills and training.

TRAC-A Rotodome AEW Surveillance Radar Antenna

Improving Communications

(Figure 1. Title source: chinese-military-aviation.blogspot.com)

The TRAC-A (Total Radiatioon Aperture Control) AEW antenna is designed to go on top
of the military aircraft type E-2C Hawkeye. It provides protection to not only the United
States of America, but also countries like France, Egypt, Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan
are using it as air support for their naval security.
Here is a more detailed description provided by the L-3 Communications official website:

(Figure 2. Title source: gizmodo.com)

*No specific ISO standards for this item*

How to use effective time management at work

(Figure 3. Title source: teamworkandleadership.com)

1. The first thing to do is to get an agenda/calendar. This could either be a book
calendar or an office large-size one to keep at your desk. Electronic calendars
like in a cellphone or computer are also an option. Make sure your
calendar is for the current year
2. If using electronic calendars, make sure you set reminder alarms 10-30
minutes prior a meeting and a sufficient prior time for more complex tasks.
3. After obtaining an agenda or calendar, spend some time writing ALL your
work deadlines/tasks including meetings, documents, emails, etc. using as
much information as possible like time, place, time to complete, names and
phone numbers (Tip: Use specific color pens/pencils to prioritize your
tasks/deadlines. For example, red could mean it needs to be done as soon as
possible while blue colored tasks could wait. Using numbers is also an
option).
4. Now you have your calendar updated, make sure you build a habit of looking
at it first thing in the morning before starting your workday and keep
checking it after every task is completed. It is recommended to keep updating
it every time a new task/deadline is assigned.
5. Check or scratch completed tasks.

(Figure 4. Title source: psprop.net)

6. Make sure you are aware of the time.

7. Plan ahead. If you have some free time make sure to complete some of future
tasks. This might help alleviate some stress and will get you ahead of your
schedule.
8. Stick to your schedule. Make sure you follow the schedule that you created
prioritizing the closer deadlines and completing every task.
9. Avoid any distractions when your schedule is tight. Distractions like social
media, personal phone calls, or entertainment could throw your schedule off.
10. After a week, study your schedule and analyze where youve spent the most
time and how you could minimize that time to spend in more important
tasks.

Inside the World of a Mechanical Engineer

Inside the World of a Mechanical Engineer

Elba Espinoza
ENG 2100
September 25, 2015

Inside the World of a Mechanical Engineer

Abstract
This report is about the organizational culture of Mechanical Engineering. In
this research project Ive included information about (1) my research process, (2) the
data found, and (3) my own opinions about the findings. I found this career field not
only interesting, but also important because mechanical engineering affects all of us;
therefore its important to understand the environment that the mechanical engineers are
being raised on. Ive also done this project because Im interested in the different aspects
of this career field such as inventing, innovating, improving, and designing things that
will make this world a better place.

Inside the World of a Mechanical Engineer

Introduction
In her book Is There an Engineer Inside You? Celeste Baine (2003) introduces
mechanical engineering as the wheels of the world, and it is. Machines run todays
society and it is more important than ever to design and maintain these machines to make
our daily lives less complicated and effective. Thats the job of a mechanical engineer.
Since the invention of the wheel, mechanical engineering has been evolving based on the
technology available, manufacturing demands and the goals and priorities of the agency
that the engineer is working for. It was surprising to find out how the organizational
culture of a mechanical engineer varies depending on different factors such as: the
companys goals, beliefs, size, budget, etc.
Methodology
In the process of this research, Ive used three researches. The first one was the
Internet, the second were books, and the third was an interview. Besides the expectations,
the interview was able to provide a lot more information than the Internet did.
Internet Resources
The most accessible form of research I had was the Internet, so I used it first. I
looked at specific information about the organizational culture of mechanical
engineering, and the information was scarce. I knew I had to tweak the key words a bit to
make the search more specific so I typed The life of a Mechanical Engineer, Women
in Mechanical Engineering, or searched for specific companies that I knew employed
mechanical engineers, such as Boeing, Ford and GE.
I was able to find a few articles and company information that helped me with my
research.

Inside the World of a Mechanical Engineer

Books
As part of my research, I obtained two books from the Salt Lake Community
College library. At first, I was disappointed by not being able to find a specific book
about mechanical engineering organizational culture, but I found two books with
descriptive information about engineering in general and both had an specific section for
mechanical engineering.
I found both books to be very helpful but not very informational since they both
gave more information about mechanical engineering but not much the organizational
cultures.
Personal Interview
The personal interview part of my research was the most stressful part of this
project. The first thing I did was to schedule a meeting with a mechanical engineer
employed in the same company that my dad works for. He told me he was unavailable for
an interview but he was going to answer my questions by email, but I never received an
email back. Do to these circumstances, I contacted a mechanical engineer at Bio Fire
Company and he returned my phone call a couple of days later meeting up with me that
week.
This interview surpassed my expectations and it was the most informative out-of
the three research methods. The engineer did not only answer my questions, but he also
offered me a tour around the company and around his work place, which gave me the
feel of what the life of a mechanical engineer really was like.

Inside the World of a Mechanical Engineer

Results
As I mentioned before, the organizational culture of mechanical engineering
varies according to the company. In the book Careers in Engineering author Geraldine
Garner describes the different environments a mechanical engineer could be exposed to
work in, for example laboratories, field-testing and in settings that are mainly about
computers (Garner, 2003, p. 113). Also, some engineers work alone and some have to
work with other engineers, even outside of their genre of engineering to make a project
work. This also depends on the generation the engineer comes from; studies has shown
that the older generation of mechanical engineers prefer to interact less with others and
work alone, while the new generation are used to communicating and working with other
engineers more comfortably (Baine, 2003, p. 139) This drastic change in the culture of
mechanical engineering is due to the fact that the demand for mechanical engineers is
growing and expected to grow even more (Baine, 2003, p. 139).
Baine writes in her book after she describes the expected growth of this genre of
engineering:
Among the changes affecting the profession an entrepreneurial mentality
will pervade the profession, and mechanical engineers are expected to exploit the
powerful capabilities of Internet to interact with associates (Baine, 2003, p. 139)
This change in the mechanical engineering culture was apparent to me during the
interview with Mr. Moore (the supervisor of the mechanical engineering department at
Bio Fire Company). When I asked him weather his job was teamwork oriented or if he
worked more by himself, he quickly replied with defiantly teamwork oriented and
smiled.

He also mentioned that to get the job done at Bio Fire Company, mechanical

Inside the World of a Mechanical Engineer

engineers had to work with at least five different genres of engineering, including
electrical, chemical, and programing.
According to Mr. Moore, the way they communicate with each other varies from
phone calls to emails, but they prefer face-to-face conversations. He also stressed the
importance of paperwork within his job. He mentioned that 50% of his job was
paperwork. The main type of paperwork was written reports. He said that everything
he did had to be annotated to find discrepancies on the engineered equipment and to
avoid them in the future.
Discussion
Mechanical engineering can adapt to your needs and wants. Weather you like to
work with computers or hands-on on the field you will be able to find a comfortable work
environment if you do your research. Some mechanical engineering organizational
cultures allow the engineers to work by themselves in quiet office settings and others
require a lot of communication and interaction with other engineers. I've also found that
female engineers are scars, making this career field a male-majority career field I've
found this to be the most controversial side of Mechanical Engineering because, in my
experience with female engineers, it is hard to adapt to this kind of environment.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Engineering in general is becoming very demanding because we want to
fulfill our need of growth and improvement, and mechanical engineering is not the
exception. If one is looking into perusing a career in mechanical engineering, being able
to adapt is key. As the mechanical engineering world changes, so does its organizational
culture and its important to do some research and understand the values, goals, and
expectations before deciding to join a specific company.
My main recommendation will be, as I mentioned before, to do some specif research
depending on the company one is interested on, and to try to adapt learning their culture.

Inside the World of a Mechanical Engineer

Appendices
Personal Interview

Inside the World of a Mechanical Engineer

References
Baine, C. (2004). In Is There an Engineer Inside You? (pp. 138139). Belmont:
Professional Publications, Inc.
Garner, G. (2003). 11. In Careers in Engineering (p. 113). New York : McGraw
Hill Companies .
Mechanical Engineering: Info and Writing Guide for the Curious Student.
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://engineeringwriting.weebly.com/organizational-culturewhat-its-like-out-there.html
TRAC-A Rotodome AEW Surveillance Radar Antenna. L-3 Communication.
N.p., 21 Aug. 2012. Web. 8 Dec. 2015.

Elba Espinoza
Phone: 801-448-1177
E-mail: elyee33@gmail.com

Summary of Qualifications
Over six years of experience planning, scheduling, and documenting the production of aerospace
equipment. Recognized by superiors by outstanding performance, stratigic planning and great attention to
detail. Extensive experience developing short and long term inspections, time changes, and forecasts to
ensure maximum equipment availability.

Education
Currently Attending Salt Lake Community College
Community College of the Airforce (Aug 2014)
High School Diploma (June 2007)

Experience
Maintenance Management Production Scheduler (June 2008 September 2014)
United States Air Force

Planned, scheduled, organized and documented the use and maintenance of aerospace vehicles, to incluce
time changes, and production schedules .

Skills

Communication Skills (Communicated effectively among different departments )

Team Coordination (Coordinated with team members for Planned Order and productionOrder)
Conflict Resolution (Resolved different conlficts to ensure performance of schedule )
Data Entry/ Computer System (Used military systems to maintain and update records.
Leadership/ Management Skills (Goal-driven leader who maintains a productive climate)

Accomplishments
Maintanance Management System Professional of the Year
Air Force Achievment Medal
Air Force Good Conduct Medal