prefessional_statement_johnjachna_ECE400S12
Professional Statement for John W. Jachna
Even as a kid, I was sure that I wanted to be an engineer. After completing my collegiate education, internships, and personal experiences, I have finally fulfilled my goals and have gained a truly unique set of skills and abilities I am ready to apply this to industry. I will be a 2013 graduate of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering. The Electrical and Computer Engineering curriculum at Purdue is accredited the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). ABET “provides assurance that a college or university program meets the quality standards established by the profession for which the program prepares its students.1” Every course in this program has a clear set of Learning Outcomes that I have demonstrated to pass each class. Some coursework relevant to my career as an engineer includes ECE classes such as Advanced C programming, Data Structures and Algorithms, Linear Circuit Analysis, Digital System Design, and Microprocessor Systems and Interfacing. I have also taken more general courses in engineering problem solving and design such as Turning Ideas Into Innovation and Engineering Environmental Sustainability. These classes emphasized teamwork and group problem solving to open-ended projects. My educational background is part of what makes me a strong candidate for a career in engineering.
In addition to my Purdue education, I have also spent four summers as a Systems Engineering Intern with Lextech Global Services located in Lisle, Illinois. Lextech is a software development company with a range of clients that have very unique and interesting needs. As an intern, I worked on a variety of these client projects as well as performing some internal duties. I have been involved in some design opportunities such as creating documents, screen flow diagrams, and mockups for a potential client iPhone application and creating and compiling UML diagram documentation for a national defense software system. I have also been involved in development, working on projects such as developing upgrades to an iPhone video surveillance application, developing a Java backend component to a video server, and creating the PHP web interface for a golf cart GPS tracking system. I also had the opportunity to working with quality assurance and customer support by developing and implementing exhaustive test plans for iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, and web applications as well as responding to customer inquiries. Lextech is organized into teams of three to five engineers all with unique skill sets and backgrounds and age ranges from just a year or two older than me to several decades. I experienced how teams work in industry and am comfortable working with them. Since I started interning in 2008, the technology world has shifted greatly, and I had the unique experience of seeing Lextech transition from mainly a web development company to getting in on the ground floor of the mobile technology revolution. I learned much from observing how mobile technology took off in this corporate setting, and I have a strong understanding of customer needs and the lifecycle of a project as it moves from an idea to design to development to testing.
I believe my education and work experiences listed above already separate me from my peers, but my personal experiences and skills truly set me apart. One of my strongest qualities is my leadership ability. From a young age I began practicing these skills in the Boy Scouts of America. Through hard work, perseverance, and strong leadership demonstration, I achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. When I moved on to college, I became a member of Alpha Tau Omega Leadership Development Fraternity. While a member, my peers elected me to the position of Risk Manager. As Risk Manager, I was responsible for keeping the chapter house a safe environment and for working with the local authorities and fire marshal to maintain safe living conditions for the 55 residents living in the house. I was also responsible for educating our members on relevant laws, regulations, and rules from the government and our national fraternity. Additionally, I was responsible for the safety of our social functions and the hundreds of attending guests. I delegated some responsible by assigning members to work the functions and monitor the environment and to ensure that we were following laws and guidelines established for functions. In addition to these duties, the risk manager is also a member of the chapter’s executive board. The executive board was responsible for running the day-to-day operations of the chapter, approving collective actions, and resolving any conflicts or issues that arose. Outside of my fraternity, I also enjoy learning new programming languages, specifically Cocoa/Objective-C for iPhone programming. Through school, work, and personal exploration, I have become proficient in C, Objective-C, HTML, MATLAB, PHP, Python, Bash, MySQL, and Java. I also have experience using software tools such as Jira, Confluence, XCode, Eclipse, Subversion, and Drupal.
Even though I have accomplished much, I know I am just at the beginning of my professional journey. I look forward to contributing to the world by solving problems and making life better for people around the world. I hope one day to earn a masters in business administration and lead a team of engineers. My education, work experience, and personal achievements and experiences have contributed to my skills and abilities throughout my education process, and I am confident that now more than ever I am capable of succeeding in any engineering environment I need to work in.
Citations
[1] ABET. (2011). About ABET [Online]. Available: http://www.abet.org/about-abet/
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