Selden B6 - Course Reflection

Reflect on course and its effect on your profession and your future.

This is the only course I have taken that I really associate with the term "digital building". It encompassed both technology in buildings, new and existing, as well as the construction of them. It was definitely a unique course that allowed for a good introduction into the world of sensors, databases, AI, etc. when it comes to the world of building construction.

Effect on My Profession

My ideal career would be working at, or owning, a design-build residential firm. The presence of these emerging technologies in modern homes is already taking place with systems like Alexa, Nest, and Google Home. There is no doubt that this technology trend will continue as it has in many other industries already.

I feel this course has prepared me to not only understand these technologies, but also begin to look for new areas they can be implemented. I feel my project for this course (creating a sensor network in combination with an AI system within a home), is a very viable idea that I would be eager to actually implement one day.
From a background perspective, the programs we are using to create these projects are also evolving at a rapid pace. Having a deeper understanding of them now - especially in relation to databases - will help me to use them to their full potential moving forward. Being able to maximize the abilities of these programs will lead to a more efficient work flow, as well as a more organized approach to design.

Effect on My Future

This ties into the above section a bit, as my profession will be the large portion of my future. For my immediate future, being able to describe the topics we learned in this course to potential employers would be a great asset in job hunting, as firms are often looking to young hires for knowledge on emerging technologies and systems.

Beyond that at its core, a course like prepares its students to be receptive and curious about new technologies on a grand scale. We've already seen in our lifetimes how fast technology advances (just compare my first Rarz phone to my current Samsung), so it is important, in engineering especially, to keep up on these new technologies to ensure that the work we are doing is the most accurate and up to date as possible.

In Conclusion

I learned far more than the above statements in this class. My favorite aspect, although broad, was seeing the applications of these new technologies, and being made to think about upcoming methods as well. 

Prior to this class I had never had much interaction with the technical side of these technologies, like actually creating a database instead of simply using the information from one. I learned that that side of things wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but it did give me a good understanding of the underlying functions that I will be able to call upon when using these systems in the future.

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