Month: October 2011

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Solder on, Solder off

Well, after I finished my physics and programming homework, I got out the solder kit & started the exercises. My initial thoughts? Simultaneously I thought that this is super fun and this is super scary at the same time. Second, this kit is listed under “Toys and Games” on Amazon.com . What kind of parent lets their kid play with 800 degree molten metal? When I was attempting to tin the tip for the first time, the solder popped and freaked me out. So far my practice solder patches and such look alright but it doesn’t really matter. The whole point of this is just to get some practice before I try a “real” project.

I set up a sorta sketchy ventilation system that involved a box fan and an open window but I’m not really sure how to do it correctly. I felt like most of the fumes were going right out the window but it still made me a little nervous. I also began to realize the tools I need such as good needle nose pliers, a better wire cutter/stripper, better safety glasses and such. Can’t wait to try again though!

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Self Taught

Before I decided to go into engineering, like any good lawyer-to-be, I researched the heck out of engineering, electronics and careers in the field. One thing I kept hearing from successful engineers is that they learned the most from tinkering around. So far, this approach has been incredibly successful in my quest to learn my first programming language (java). I’ve learned so much more from just sitting around and writing programs based on examples from the book.

Our programming book has lots of sample programs that I always go through and physically re-type, run and then mess around with. Is this tedious? Yes. Has it taught me invaluable lessons? Yes. Often you retype the program and see just what happens when you forget a semicolon there, or put a semicolon after something that isn’t supposed to have one. I’ve seen what happens when you accidentally put a char in double quotes or forget brackets after an if statement. Once you actually make the mistake, it really sticks in your mind how to fix it and how to avoid it in the future.

So, this weekend, I plan to make my first foray into PCBs and soldering. I bought a cheap beginner kit where you build an alarm so if I fry the tips of the basic soldering iron, or nuke the multimeter that’s included in the kit it’s not that big of a deal. So many engineers that I’ve talked to say that playing around with things like this helps so much with the learning process. It also seems like it might be pretty fun! I’ll post some pictures of my disastrous attempts later.

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Lifetime Learning

I love to learn. I sometimes do crazy things like read books that aren’t assigned in school. I had a classmate today that was AMAZED that I would pick up a book on my own that was related to my schoolwork but not required. A few weeks ago I started (and finished! I couldn’t help it) a biography on Paul Dirac. To explain why I would pick up a biography on a British physicist/mathematician, I have to first explain my adoration for Richard Feynman. When I was in high school, I read Richard Feynman’s book, Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman and adored it. The book is full of the most wonderful anecdotes and gives the reader an inspired, almost giddy love of math and science. I then got my hands on his physics lectures and other books and generally learned all about Feynman. Feynman had great respect for Dirac and so I wanted to learn more about Paul Dirac. I marched down to my local bookstore and picked up “The Strangest Man” by Graham Farmelo. I loved the book. Dirac is one of those physicists of the time that often gets overlooked for more flamboyant characters like Schrodinger , Heisenberg and Feynman himself.

Right now, I’m in my physicist phase but if any of you have any great recommendations of books on great engineers, send them my way!

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Braggart

So I already bragged a little on Twitter but I thought it was only fair to subject my blog readers to this as well. First round of tests was a success! I’m talking, A on a test with an average of 66 and a 95 on a test with a 77 average. This is exciting, oh so very exciting. I worked hard and it paid off. Now, not too long ago, I worked hard in law school and I was mediocre. I was smack in the middle.

Now, before my law school experience, I was what some might call a “high achiever.” In elementary school, I regularly won the monthly Continental Math League competitions. In middle school, I was a member of our Math Counts team (and yes, that is just as cool as it sounds. We had t-shirts, and got pizza at our practices, scoped out the one cute boy that would show up at competitions, it was awesome.) I was a National Merit Scholar. I was an officer in college in the Biochemistry and Genetics Society.

As I was finishing up my undergraduate studies, I realized that I had a few choices with a biochemistry degree. I knew I didn’t want to do med/vet school. I briefly considered pharmacy school but then decided that law school would be a great choice because I could work on biomedical patents. Then I realized that every patent attorney working in the “bio” field had a PhD or at least a M.S. So, I went back to my true love, math and engineering. It’s so exciting and I really do love it.

Now I do realize that I have a totally unfair advantage over these 18 year olds in my classes. I have some “life” under my belt. I’ve learned how to deal with difficult people, I know how to manage time, I file my own taxes every year, I know what a dollar is, I know how much each class costs and therefore how important it is to do well, I know when to ask for help, I know how to deal with emergencies and crises, I know what’s important and what isn’t. I put in the time I need to succeed in these classes and magically it’s working.

Let’s hope I sound this optimistic in a month!

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Internships

Today in our Intro to Engineering class we talked about internships. I giggled a little inside when one of the speakers stressed that being engineers, we needed to have something on our resume that indicated that we know how to communicate to others. Does law school convey that? I sure hope so.

I started thinking about getting internships and what my future will look like. to be honest, I’m not entirely sure what the rest of my years will look like. I would really like to work in industry for a little while but I’m not sure what a prospective employer will see when they skim down my resume and find that J.D. and B.S. in Biochemistry. Will that elicit a response akin to “Wow! Those sure are nice extras!” or will it be closer to “Huh. Why would she want to work for us? What on earth made her go back for an engineering degree?” I’m going to seek out some of the better connected professors so I can try and get those questions answered. I love this new path so much and I don’t want my past to hurt my chances. I’m hoping that I can demonstrate that my prior degrees are just icing on a very well-rounded cake.

The speakers on internships also stressed having a high GPA. As if I needed that reminder. However, I was reminded of a few things. When speaking of GPAs, the magic number seemed to be a 3.0 in engineering. Here I am, freaking out at the possibility of getting an A- as opposed to an A or A+. Calm down, Katie. Take a deep breath. Study hard but remember that you can only do your best. As I said earlier on Twitter, compared to the bar exam, my physics test tomorrow will be easy as pie.

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First Round of Tests

Well, the title of this post is pretty straightforward.  I have my first round of tests next week. I’ve been working really hard and generally I’ve been doing well on homework assignments and quizzes but the first tests? Eek! I’m just a little nervous, I guess. It shouldn’t be that surprising but I actually feel more confident in my more difficult subjects because I’ve spent more time working on them. Physics in particular was kinda easy-peasy so I didn’t devote very much time to it. Now the first test is sneaking up on me and I’m feeling a little behind. Hopefully I can get down to it and still do well.

So, other than tests, what’s going on? Well. Bar results are about a month away. I’d really like to pass. Nothing we can do about it for now so I’m trying not to think about bar results at all. I’m just going to focus on this engineering adventure (!!!) and keep going. Well, off to perfect projectile motion and Newton’s laws.