Deniz Tazegul
Iowa State University
CPRE 494: Cumulative Reflection
I started my journey as a Computer Engineering student in the Fall of 2020, at
the height of COVID lockdowns across the country. To say I had an abnormal start to
college would be an understatement. Nearly all my starting classes were online, a wall
of black squares and names of students I should be meeting, ready to learn with them
for the next four years. One class I did have in person was CPRE 185, Problem Solving
for Computer Engineering. This class taught me the basics of C programming, but more
so showed me how an engineer can tackle large tasks. It taught me to be rigorous and
detailed and creative in Iowa State, to take steps outside of my comfort zone and learn
from those that knew more than me. These lessons were the foundation of my learning
here at Iowa State University.
With online classes and social distancing regulations, collaboration with
teammates was almost nonexistent for the first year I was at college. But that changed
beginning in my sophomore year. From then on, I was fortunate enough to have
complex lab assignments with my peers, ranging from simple programming projects to
designing and testing electrical circuitry on breadboards and analyzing radio signals
using MATLAB. Having the opportunity to work with my peers often throughout my
learning experience has helped me in a professional environment.
Through the career fair at Iowa State University, I was offered a job as a Software
Engineering Co-op at Collins Aerospace. While the position focused primarily on strictly
programming and more computer science than I am interested in, it has set me up on a
great path for success. Collins Aerospace is a phenomenal place to explore as an
engineer with an incredible network of passionate engineers and managers to help me
develop my career goals. I have learned an incredible amount on the job regarding
teamwork, software development, how to ask questions professionally, and even some
company finances. These are not topics that I feel I would have been able to learn as a
student in a class. This job has also opened some opportunities in fields I am more
interested in as well, and when the time comes, I am excited to jump aboard on that
adventure.
There were plenty of opportunities at Iowa State to explore different career paths,
one of which is in research. As part of the freshman honors program, I was able to help
with research for one semester on a computer vision number identifier. This allowed me
to explore academics and research as a potential area of study or as a career. I have
always been interested in technological advancements and how groups of researchers
are able to discover the limits of technology and push past them. Iowa State provided a
great opportunity for me to explore this, and to discover that research is not something
that would suit my development goals. Despite that, I am grateful for the opportunity to
narrow down the path available to me to something I can excel at.
Now this does not mean everything at Iowa State was perfect; If I were to do it all
again there are some things I would change. There are some classes I took that I don’t
think helped me much as an engineer and just served to take time away from my other
passions. I would have liked to explore clubs at Iowa State more. There are some
incredible clubs here that accomplish some impressive feats of engineering. Getting
involved in clubs would have helped me explore some more niche interests and get me
applying my in class learning earlier than a Co-op. Despite not making the best use of
Iowa States many resources, I am still in a great place to start an engineering career.
I could never have guessed what four years at Iowa State would have ended up
as when I first toured campus in 2019. Thinking back on my time here, I don’t think
there could have been a better choice for my undergraduate education. The
opportunities here that have helped me develop into a strong learner and hopeful
engineer. Iowa State University has really set up my future better than I could have
imagined, setting me up for a successful future with the skills needed to achieve my
goals.
