Joey Freeland

10-21-16

General Education Reflection

Although my time at Iowa State University has been heavily focused on engineering
courses, I had the opportunity to take several general education classes as well. These courses
helped make me a well-rounded engineer and prepared me for working in a professional
environment.
My choice of general education courses was heavily influenced by my career goals. I
want to eventually leave the technical route and become a project manager or some other
leadership position. I took Leadership in a Diverse Society, a class heavily focused on
leadership skills and their ethical implications. The class was participation based, allowing me
to discuss leadership strategies with other students from different backgrounds. When working
as an engineering leader, you encounter many different people and ethical scenarios, and I feel
more prepared for that environment.
In addition, general education components have helped me gain a wider perspective of
problem solving. As engineers, we are used to approaching a problem from a technical
perspective. We try to find a solution with high performance and ease of implementation.
However, these are not always the primary concerns. You have to consider ethics, cultural
implications, and economics. There are usually many different sides to any given problem, and
the best solution considers all of them. Personally I have grown the most in the area of
economics. Most of the engineering decisions Ive been involved in are business-driven, and
technical specifications take a backseat to profit. Being an engineering manager requires a
strong business foundation, and I believe my courses at Iowa State have prepared me for that.
Finally, my non-engineering courses have helped me see the implications of my work.
Rockwell Collins is a defense contractor, and many of their products are used in the military
operations of the United States, as well as other countries. To some people, I am a simple
computer programmer. But to others, my work has global and political implications that I did
not previously consider. In addition, I am bound to a certain code of engineering ethics.
Rockwell is held accountable for my work, and recent engineering scandals have only increased
ethical awareness. Without certain classes, I would not have seen the far-reaching implications
of the work I do.

General education courses are a very important piece of any engineers coursework. In
addition to engineering and technical courses, the engineer of todays world needs to consider
the ethical and social implications of their work. I value the information I learned in my various
classes, and I believe that they have prepared me for working in todays rapidly-changing world.