Topic outline

• Final Essay
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    Graded Assignment Week 14. Final Essay

    Make a submission Receive a grade

    Please review the instructions below and the rubric as attached pdf in great detail. If anything is unclear, do let us know!

    
    

    Deadline 14 January 2022 9am

    
    

    Why this assignment?

    During this course, you have explored what engineers can do: how you wish to contribute to challenging, reimagining and shaping society. This does not mean you now need to know definitively what you want to do as a professional engineer. This course was a chance to explore potential avenues, which we hope you have done. In this final essay, you focus on one potential career path, to explore how that field connects to society, which capabilities you then might need, and how your time at Aalto could help you develop those.

    Instructions

    Write an essay of approximately 2,000 words (~4 pages) in which you cover the sections described below. The number of words is an indication of the length, it is fine to have 20% less or more for each section - quality in terms of clarity, relevance and specificity matters more than quantity as such. As this is one of the two assignments that largely determines your grade on the course, check out the grading rubric before you start.

    
    

    Part I. Potential career

    1. Identify a promising career direction (~350 words). What do you see as one potential, promising career direction for yourself? Do some research and immerse yourself in this potential future career direction, focusing specifically on your role and professional responsibilities.

    1. What kind of work might this career direction mean in practice? What kind of position or organization could you work in, what could be key tasks or responsibilities in this career direction?

    2. What kind of societal impact would you have in this field and role? What kind of issues might you contribute to, and how might society shape your work?

    
    

    Part II. Needed capabilities in the career direction

    2. Skills (~250 words). Identify three skills that you might need in this future career landscape. Justify in depth why you have chosen exactly these three skills as useful in the promising career direction you identified.

    3. Knowledge areas (~250 words). Identify three knowledge areas that you might need in this future career landscape. Justify in depth why you have chosen exactly these three knowledge areas as useful in the promising career direction you identified.

    4. Attitudes (~250 words). Identify three attitudes that you might need in this future career landscape. Justify in depth why you have chosen exactly these three attitudes as useful in the promising career direction you identified.

    
    

    Part III. Learning journey

    5. Skills (~300 words). Choose one of the skills you identified in question 2 that seems relevant for you:

    1. Describe why this skill is desirable, viable, and feasible for you;

    2. Develop a reasonable and meaningful learning goal for you to improve this skill this academic year;

    3. Identify a potentially relevant course (at Aalto or elsewhere) that might support you in achieving this goal, explaining why and how this could be useful in reaching the learning goal;

    4. Identify a potentially relevant extra-curricular activity (hobby, work, association, self-study) that might support you in achieving this goal, explaining why and how this could be useful in reaching the learning goal.

    6. Knowledge areas (~300 words). Choose one of the knowledge areas you identified in question 3 that seems relevant for you:

    1. Describe why this knowledge area is desirable, viable, and feasible for you;

    2. Develop a reasonable and meaningful learning goal for you to improve this knowledge area this academic year;

    3. Identify a potentially relevant course (at Aalto or elsewhere) that might support you in achieving this goal, explaining why and how this could be useful in reaching the learning goal;

    4. Identify a potentially relevant extra-curricular activity (hobby, work, association, self-study) that might support you in achieving this goal, explaining why and how this could be useful in reaching the learning goal.

    7. Attitudes (~300 words). Choose one of the attitudes  you identified in question 3 that seems relevant for you:

    1. Describe why this attitude is desirable, viable, and feasible for you;

    2. Develop a reasonable and meaningful learning goal for you to improve this attitude this academic year;

    3. Identify a potentially relevant course (at Aalto or elsewhere) that might support you in achieving this goal, explaining why and how this could be useful in reaching the learning goal;

    4. Identify a potentially relevant extra-curricular activity (hobby, work, association, self-study) that might support you in achieving this goal, explaining why and how this could be useful in reaching the learning goal.

    
    

    
    

    
    
    

    Example of an identified capability clearly linked to a chosen career direction

    In my ideal future career landscape as the leading designer of Scuderia Ferrari F1 team, I will have to posses and master multiple skills, knowledge and attitudes to be able to do well, better than well, to be honest, as I will harness the potential and skill of my fellow engineers and build the best possible car with the resources and regulations we have at hand. For this assignment I have chosen 3 skills, knowledge and attitudes I think, at this part of my studies, to be the most beneficiary to me and the team in my future position.

    The first skill as a team leader is project management, and to be more specific the way that I can supervise each sub-project of the overall design and that I am able to keep a clear picture of how those sub-project intervene with one another, since aerodynamic design can not be modular, it is rather fluent. Changing on part in front of the car will force consequent changes downstream, towards the back end of the car. Therefore, knowing how each part is developed and keeping open discussion between sub-groups is paramount.