Last Wednesday I wrote down the skills that I have and will be happy to help my team with on this page. Last winter I actually compiled a long list of what I should learn/be able to do before I graduate. The list is HUGE because I was thinking of developing skills for four industries (Design, Aerospace, Research and Renewable Energy). Even though they have a lot in common, but all require different programming/software skills, background knowledge and hardware skills. I remember I was at loss putting this list together back in December but I what I ended up doing is listing every possible skill that I could ever learn or even be better at. I was overwhelmed by the amount of skills that I had to work on so instead of saying that I will have to learn all of them before  I graduate I decided to take every opportunity to work on some of the skills that I really can apply to my classes and some other that are a must be able to do to before graduation.  For the sake of this aspirations post I will try to summarize the skills that I am working on this semester.

Design:

Sketching: I want to be able to quickly convey my ideas in a meeting via an accurate sketch.

CAD: I only took a two week crash course on SolidWorks, which wasn’t good enough, so I would love to be more professional using Solidworks. Maybe take the CLAD exam.

Research:

Publications: Become a better reader and writer when reading publications

Programming: Build more efficient codes using Matlab and refresh on my C++ skills

Communication Skills:

I want to be able to explain complicated ideas in the simplest possible ways both verbally and written

I  want to be as clear as possible in discussions by saying the right words at the right time.

These are only a few that I am working on till May and I would love to able to ace all these skills and move on to the next set.

As for my dream job I would love to work on commercial jets concept designs and bring them to reality. This job will involve a ton of knowledge about aeroelasiticty, fluid-structure interaction and dynamic structural optimization. I have been involved in research for the latter but I am eager to learn more about aeroelasticity. I think this requires a Ph.D. degree to learn more about these complicated fields and contribute to them. So far I am going on that route. Hopefully  if all works out well I see myself being a lead Design Engineer on a new aircraft that Boeing is introducing.