Blog Post 4: Reflection on Learning

Finally, the semester is coming to an end. Taking ES2007S was one of the best decisions I have made this semester because it has provided me with essential communications skills which will benefit me in the workplace.

Having taken ES2331(Communicating Engineering) last semester, I became really interested in improving my communication skills. Feeling that I still have more to improve on, I decided to take up ES2007S to further improve my communication skills, which is one of the skills many engineers lack in. ES2007s gave me more than what I asked for as it provided me with knowledge in résumé writing, cover letter writing, personal statement writing amongst others.

Personally speaking, before I took this module, I had no résumé of my own, I had no cover letter of my own, I had no personal statement of my own, because I had no idea how to write/structure them. Taking this module, it taught me how to structure a good resume and cover letter and more importantly, how to use the 7 Cs to make your résumé and cover letter stand out from the crowd. I also learnt how to analyse job advertisements on the web so that I can prepare my résumé and cover letter better.

Other than the technical skills I learnt from this module, I also improved my interpersonal skills. Having to juggle 6 projects this semester, the interpersonal skills I have learnt from this module is put to good use as I learnt how to handle conflicts when they arise. More importantly, I learnt how to be self aware and motivated so that I can contribute more to the project groups that I am in.

To end of the final blog post of this semester, I would like to thank Mdm Fazilah for being providing so much guidance throughout the semester and also to my classmates for making class so enjoyable. I believe that the skills I have attained will serve me well in the future.

P.S I got an internship thanks to my résumé and cover letter. Taking this module is certainly worth it:D

Blog Post 3: Reflection on Team-based Research Project Proposal

The team-based research project proposal has finally come to an end after a terrific oral presentation by Team Algaenergy. This whole research project has been a really enriching experience providing me with a myriad of experiences.

I would like to thank all my groupmates, Michelle, Haikal, Baskar and Jieyang for being such cooperative groupmates throughout the whole project. All of us had different working style but we managed to make the most out of each others expertise to make the best out of the project. Jieyang organised meetings and provided many templates which helped in the team's administration. Haikal kept the team's spirit up and was a joy to work with. Baskar provided the team with so much technical information which helped us alot in the project. Michelle was the brain behind the oral presentation slides. Everyone played their part which led to the success of our final report and presentation.

I believe the key success factor for our project is that we all believed in making our project credible, because credibility is one of the most important key to persuasion. All of us researched on the topic so that we are able to back up our proposal with statistics and evidence. We also went one step further to interview professors and graduate students in the field so that we are able to get first hand information on the topic. Although all these took time and effort, it was worthy as I feel it really helped boost up the credibility of our proposal. This is one of the skills I will bring forward to my own projects and presentations in the future as well.

However not all is green as our team had our own low points as well where we almost changed topic because we felt that our topic was too large scale and we may not have enough expertise and credibility to persuade the audience. Instead of giving up, we decided to put in more effort into our proposal to make it more credible. Thinking back, it was a good decision to persevere on.

I believe that the skills attained from this whole research project experience is invaluable and will help all of us in the future at the workplace where collaboration is common. More importantly, I believe that the bonds of friendship forged during this project is even more invaluable and I hope we will stay in contact in the future.

TEAM ALGAENERGY:D