It has been quite a journey in ME 250! Having the perception of this was going to be a fairly easy class, I was blown out of the water by the amount of work during the first few weeks of the semester. Before I realized how mentally unprepared I was, I had already fallen behind on my homework grade. It was also difficult to grasp the important aspects of the class. For a while, I didn’t know how to apply the lecture materials on the homework or project. But as it was getting deep into the semester, I started to get a hang of the class. Seeking help from the GSIs and using design principle in my project analysis, I was adjusted to the right mode for this class. The biggest lesson I learned from this class was to never underestimate a class just because some older people said it was easy.
Looking back to all the busy work I did, it was probably the most important knowledge in engineering. From CAD to design principle then to machining, I have never left a class without learning. As an amateur to machining, I was completely unfamiliar to milling and drilling. Thanks to my experienced teammates who showed me how to use operate those machines without having catastrophic failure. Speaking of the team, I am very pleased with how well we were able to work together. Since day one, everyone showed strong professionalism. Although there were a lot of difficult and time-consuming tasks during the semester, all the members had always been dedicated and willing to contribute to team’s success. Through the semester, I think work was divided evenly and everyone always stayed with team until all the work was collectively completed. When the workload got heavier, everyone was able to overcome their busy schedules and accommodate other members. After every meeting, we always planned out the agenda for next meeting. Thinking ahead, I could always leave enough time so we never had to rush at the last minute.
Maintaining good team chemistry really came a long way toward our team’s success. The key to working in a team is personality. Fortunately, we get along with each other very well. Late night at the Dude, a joke or two could really make time go faster. Although bouncing ideas off each other sometimes could be vigorous, everyone was able to keep it professional and finally reach the best solution.
Despite the fact this class required a lot of work than the ones from previous semesters, I think ME 250 definitely prepare me better for ME 350. I found it very rewarding when we won the competition at the end of the term. All the hard work and all the late night parties at the Dude finally got paid off.
To make ME 250 a better experience in the future, it is important to have clear instructions about the game and materials from day one. Time management, in my opinion, is another component of this course needs to be improved. Students should be given more than one month for machining; at the beginning of the semester, the focus of the class should not only be on analysis because any change during machining will make the previous analysis completely useless. I really think this is the most interesting course I have taken and have faith in this class will become an excellent learning experience for future students.
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