Raed Albloushy
Iowa State University
Fall 2019
Cumulative Reflection
At first, I started my journey in the University of Iowa where I knew I wanted to be a
computer Engineering Student but at that time I was an open major Student till I transferred to
Iowa State in the Spring of 2017. I have never programmed before that Semester except for
simple Visual basic code that was practically given to us in high school. I knew I wanted to
major in something technological, so I was prepared to learn new things. My first Programing
course would be CPRE 185, it is during that course that I learned the idea of visualizing a
problem. I struggled much in understanding what I needed to do to solve the programing labs we
had but I went to office hours and I sat down with the Teaching assistants. I made them walk me
through the problem many times, even though they were explaining I still struggled, until they
told me that sometimes I had to have a pen and paper in front of me for programing. Once I took
that advice and I started drawing or sketching whatever I needed to do on a paper, I started
making progress. That transition from knowing what I needed to do to actually doing it, was
done after I started asking questions and learning to visualize. Thus, my Journey made a leap in
progress.
During my journey I also realized one important thing about Iowa State, that I think a
lot of students disregard. Many times, I found myself stuck in either a project, Homework or
even concepts taught in class. I found out that there will always be some place to seek help, for
basic Sciences like Calculus 2 or 3, SI or supplemental instruction helped me a lot in that regard.
In other classes like COM S 227, The academic Success Center offered tutoring group which
were free to me as an international Student. Other outside sources like Stack Overflow have
helped me greatly in learning and debugging my problems in classes like COMS 309 or CPRE
288. Basically, if you need help, there is probably some one or something out there willing to
help you, you are not the first Engineering Student, That is something that I think the sooner you
know the better for your career.
Other than visualizing a problem one of the main things I learned in Iowa State is
approaching a problem, I took a technical elective called CPRE 488, it was an embedded system
course. Mainly, that course consists of labs and it was during that course that I realized that the
way your approach a problem is very important in solving an engineering problem. That course
was a rigorous lab after lab ordeal with new problems in each lab. To solve these problems, you
had to approach them with a motivated spirit, you had to do these things because you want to. It
is harder to solve problems if you do not enjoy the process of solving it regardless of the
problem. This reflected greatly at my time during my internship in Siemens, Orlando, Florida. I
was given some tasks in things that I have never done before, but I pushed through and
eventually did achieve something. I compared my progress to my fellow intern who had not
taken much lab work yet and I noticed how he tended to give up much easily. Iowa state has
given me the persistence to power on through a problem.
Raed Albloushy
Iowa State University
Fall 2019
I was looking at job Requirements last summer and I realized that my Coursework is
not enough, it was then that I started doing my own personal projects using technologies that I
thought would be helpful in the job market. Like React Native and JavaScript. These outside
projects give me a chance to assimilate what I have learned and tests my abilities and
differentiate me from the pack. Besides my personal projects I learned many interesting and
useful concepts from fellow students in events like the ISU hackathon or just by talking to
Students in classes.
Finally, I see myself very differently from when I started my Computer Engineering
Journey. Iowa State has made me realize how it all beautifully connects from simple 0s or 1s in
CPRE 281 to MIPS processors in CPRE 381. Computers can be dissected from small to larger
scales just like cells, organs and systems of organs in humans. I learned all this process of
scalability during my time studying Computer engineering in Iowa State. Having said that, I
learned Something more important, that is, I’m what I build myself to be, because of either
Career fairs or my internship or my time meeting the amazing people In Iowa state and seeing
their achievements.
