Thomas | Whole Life Concept

Introduction:
The purpose of this assignment is to help me understand what my passion is and what all I need
to do to make my passion a career. My research to find my passion involved talking to others, self
evaluation, searching online, and reading. The major I have chosen is computer engineering and I seek to
get an occupation that allows me to pursue my passion.
Passion:
I have a passion in designing. Although I was not aware at the time, this passion stemmed from
my youth. As a child, I would always receive LEGO sets for holidays or my birthdays. After building the
cover image, I destroyed the product and used my creativity to design various structures. I constructed
ships, robots, cars, castles, and many other infrastructures. I soon realized that I was better than most kids
at designing structures because I would have to design all of my peers buildings to play with. I was
fascinated by the designing process. As I grew older, I matured from playing with LEGO pieces to
building cars with model car kits. I would always build the different cars I received but my true joy was to
take apart the cars after building and mix and match the different parts to create a totally new and unique
car. They were not always the prettiest sights to see but I was proud of the fact that I created a new design.
My understanding of passion and strengths developed greatly once I entered high school. My
freshmen year I was enrolled in introduction to project lead the way. This class introduced me to the
AutoCAD software. The first ever design I created was a wooden pencil. I was fascinated by the idea that
I could design anything I imagined without the materials. I would have frequent talks with my teacher
before and after class about the software. I went to tutoring every week to learn about the tools and
shortcuts on AutoCAD and discovered my strengths were persistence and hard work. For my final project
I was tasked to create a product that stores could sell during Halloween. I spent all my extra time making
sketches and visualizing different designs for my product. I ended up designing a mini candy machine in
the shape of cat that was able to separate that different candies in it. I discovered that all the assignment in
that class was not actual work to me. I enjoyed creating each and every design because even though there
were many parameters, I was able to be in complete control and make make imagination become reality.
What gives me the edge over most people is how early I learned to use designing software. Most
people learn to use AutoCAD or software languages like C++ in college or even later on in life. However,
I learned to use designing programs during my freshmen and sophomore years in high school. My
character traits will also allow me to stand out from most people. My traits include hard work,
consistency, and perfectionism. I would work each day on honing my skills with each software after
finishing all my homework and whenever I came across an obstacle I would use all the resources
available to overcome the difficulty. Even though my hard work and consistency are traits I highly value,
my perfectionism is the character trait I value the most. I spent hours upon hours finding the most
miniscule errors in my designs and fix every single one of them. My perfectionism gives me the
competitive edge over my peers because I will not release a design unless I feel that there are no
significant flaws and all the little errors are dealt with. My experiences with designing websites will also
help me stand out. In my junior year of high school, I was contacted by my friends family to create a
website for a charity event. They told me they owned a local Mediterranean restaurant and how one of
their employee was diagnosed with cancer. So they contacted me and two other of my friends to see who
could design the best website to collect online donations. The time allotted to us for this task was two
weeks. All three of us finished with two days to spare but only I spent the last two days making sure all
the coding was right and making the website look aesthetically pleasing. Due to the fact that my website
design looked better than the other two, the family chose me and with the website the restaurant ended up
collecting seven hundred and thirty-five dollars.
Impact:

Thomas | Whole Life Concept

One of my goals I seek to achieve is to work in Silicon Valley for companies such as Google,
Facebook, Intel, or Apple. These companies research groundbreaking technologies that will impact the
world in a beneficial manner every single day. And every year they release innovative products that help
make peoples daily lives easier. The current age we live in is driven by technology that is why companies
such as Google and Apple will always stay relevant. I want to use my passion to innovate new
technologies and make them more practical. Recently Facebook bought the Oculus Rift, a device that
allows people to enter virtual reality1. This technology is very new but the product itself is too bulky and
must be connected to a computer or console to work. It would not be practical to carry the bulky goggles
anywhere just to enter virtual reality. Using my passion of design, I want to design a sleek portable device
that enables the user to enter virtual reality without having to put a massive headset on. I also seek to
integrate Bluetooth with the device so that it may be accessible to anyone without a computer.
Another goal I have is to work for an automobile company such as BMW or Tesla. Companies
such as Tesla have made auto-piloted cars a reality. However, the models with such technology are well
over a hundred grand. I seek to design cars with this type of technology but have them more cost efficient
so they are more accessible to the consumer. By making auto-piloted cars more accessible, accidents and
vehicular man slaughter will significantly reduce. Over 37,000 people die to automobile related accidents
and 2.35 million are left injured every year 2. Not only will the death toll decrease but the roads will be a
safer place.
I also have a goal to design robots. When I was a sophomore in high school I would visit a
retirement home to volunteer. Although I saw some employees happy to be there, for most of them this
was another opportunity to get paid. I also realized that the retirement home was understaffed and all the
retirees were not getting the proper attention they deserved. I believe the solution to this problem is
robots. Robotics is a relatively new technology that has untapped potential. The robots currently available
on the market are very expensive and the processing power is much slower than a human being. My goal
is to design a robot in the shape of a human, that has all the capabilities of human beings as well as the
processing power. As it currently stands, super computers have the highest processing power out of all the
various technologies. But if I can design a micro-processor with all the capabilities of a super computer,
highly functioning robots will be a reality and the uses would be endless. Robots could be used to reach
areas of the world not capable to human beings, travel to unknown galaxies, or even give company to old
age folks in a retirement home.
Design will always be in the world no matter what happens but many situations can affect the
designing in beneficial ways. I believe disasters, economic crisis, and the constant need for new
technology allows the designing process to evolve. When hurricane Katrina happened over fifty failures
of flood walls and levees happened. Due to the failures 80% of New Orleans became flooded 3. Although
the devastation was tragic, it allowed people to improve designs on flood control systems. Economic
crisis is another factor that can affect design. When such a situation occurs designers must be able to
redesign products to be as efficient while use cheaper materials in a cost efficient manner. The need for
new technology is what drives design the most. Every year a new iPhone is released with features such as
a larger screen or having a thickness much less than its predecessors. Technology is always changing and
what may seem futuristic at the moment will most likely become an artifact in the coming years. That is
why design will always continue to evolve and develop.
Knowledge, Application, Skills, and Abilities:
As it stands, no matter what job I get in computer engineering I will be practically useless to
workforce and I will not be able to turn my passion into a career. In order to change this, I must earn an
engineering degree so I will be able to understand and use engineering skills in my career. I will also learn
more about how to use different calculations using calculus and physics. In order to achieve my goals, I
will need to also get experience in my field. This will be gained during internships.

Thomas | Whole Life Concept

I have decided to pursue computer engineering. When I was trying to decide my major I was
debating to choose computer science. I decided to choose computer engineering over computer science
because computer engineering is broader field that uses my passion and aligns with my various goals
while computer science is strictly programming. With computer engineering almost aspects of technology
are available to understand such as hardware, software, and networking. I think is the right major for me
because I am passionate about designing new products and I have had a long time fascination with
technology. Computer engineering seems like a good major to pursue because it combines my passion for
designing and my interest for technology. However, my major concern for this major is the amount of
work in future years. It will be difficult to stay on top of all my work and get a G.P.A higher than a 3.3 but
I believe if I work hard enough and use all the resources given to me I will be able to do it.
In order to turn my passion into my career I must pursue my major in computer engineering. By
taking classes such as Engineering Simulation, Senior Design, Global and Intercultural Connections, and
Introduction to Robotics. All of these classes will broaden my academic horizons. Not only has
technology advanced in the past two decades but it has also improved globalization. Today we live in a
globally connected society. Global and Intercultural Connections will help me learn about other cultures
and help me interact with them. Senior Design will also give me a better understanding of the process to
actually design products and how to depict the schematics.
If I follow the academic plan, then I will be taking Java my junior year. By the time I take Java I
will have already taken two C++ classes. Although they are both programming languages they have
different uses. C++ is primarily used to program games while Java is used for basic software. Learning
Java will help me pursue my passion because with that knowledge I will be able to write programs to
design various websites.
Another class I plan to take my senior year is Introduction to Robotics. This class will help me
get a better understanding of robotics so I can hopefully achieve my goal to design a
highly functioning robot. While I take the class I will learn about sensor inputs, input and output
interface. Once I learn about sensor inputs the different interfaces I will be able to start my own projects
out of class and hopefully getting more understanding and experience from it.
Engineering Simulation will be another class that will help lead me to my goals. In this class I
will learn about the theory of simulation, characteristic of simulators, and tradeoffs in simulation studies.
These concepts will escalate my knowledge of simulations drastically. I want to be able to virtual reality
easily available to everyone in a practical portable fashion. By understanding such concepts in class I will
be able to apply the knowledge to design prototypes for this product.
There are special skills I need to develop in order to achieve my goals. These skills include
communication, leadership, and problem solving. I can gain the problem solving skills by taking classes
such as calculus and physics. These classes will help develop my critical thinking skills. I plan on joining
the Leadership Fellows program next semester. This program will help improve my communication and
leadership skills by going over topics such as public speaking, leadership styles, teambuilding, and
meeting management4. By completing the classes and this program I will gain the skills necessary to
make my passion a career.

Reflection and Conclusion:

Thomas | Whole Life Concept

My passion is design. I plan on using my passion to design innovative technologies to help

positively impact society. The technology accessible to us now may seem spectacular but there is always
room for improvement. A processor can be designed to have higher processing power or a robot could be
designed to do more advanced functions. Technology is a growing field that must be able to produce new
products every few years. I will use my knowledge I receive during my four year at UNCC and start
designing new technologies for the future.
The whole life concept model is an outline that will help highlight someones passion. It allows
people to identify what their passion is and what all they must do to achieve said passion. By using the
whole life concept model I was able to understand what my true passion was, what knowledge I need to
gain to make my passion a career, and how I would use my passion and the knowledge I gained to impact
society. I learned that my true passion was design. The knowledge and skills I needed to actively pursue
my passion were leadership, critical thinking, communication, knowledge on robotics, programming, and
math. And I would impact society my providing technology capable of making someones life easier.
After completing this assignment, my perceptions of my major has greatly changed. At the
beginning of the semester I had a lot of doubts about whether or not I should pursue computer
engineering. However, after completing all my research and using the whole life paper model I have made
the conclusion that I picked the right path. I have discovered the classes I will need to take to pursue this
major and the other activities I must partake in to gain the necessary skill. I believe computer engineering
was the best choice for me because it combined my interest for technology and my passion for design.
I am more committed to computer engineering now than I ever was before. I was able to
understand what I truly wanted out of my passion and I learned of the different job opportunities that will
enable me to fulfill my passion.

Works Cited:

Thomas | Whole Life Concept

1. Nield, David. "How Oculus Rift Works: Everything You Need to Know about the VR Sensation."
Wareable. June 15, 2015. Accessed November 6, 2015.
2."Road Crash Statistics." Association For Safe International Road Travel. Accessed November 6, 2015.
http://asirt.org/initiatives/informing-road-users/road-safety-facts/road-crash-statistics.
3.McQuaid, John. "Levees' Weakness Well-Known Before Breaches." Levees.org. September 2, 2005.
Accessed November 6, 2015.
4."Leadership Fellows." UNC Charlotte. Accessed November 6, 2015.
http://leadership.uncc.edu/leadership-fellows.