Participating in the UW CoMotion Mary Gates Innovation Scholars summer program will prepare me for a career in software engineering. This opportunity would allow me to learn both soft and technical skills, as well as allow me to grow as a professional to prepare me for a fulfilling and exciting career.
I will learn skills to evolve from a classroom learner to a professional engineer. I have learned algorithms and concepts in my Computer Engineering major classes, but theoretical concepts and homework projects differ from the challenges of real-world applications I would see in a career as a software engineer. Working on a real-world Project would teach me skills necessary in the engineering world not learned in my academic experiences. In my classes, I only work with other Computer Science and Engineering students. This program would give me
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As a student, most of my work is defined and informally done. In the workplace, a professional generally has informally defined work to be done formally. In other words, a homework is created to guide the student to an already solved Solution without restrictions on exactly how or where they solve it. In contrast, employees in the professional workplace are solving new unsolved problems, so they venture into uncharted territory, while working in a formal setting. An internship is a nice middle ground between these two extremes, with mentors available to help guide interns if they start to get lost when approaching a problem, and an established work that emulates future professional workplaces. I hope to grow my professional communication skills as well. I will learn about communicating with team members through collaboration and meetings, and how to communicate with the public during presentations at the culminating event and the Undergraduate Research Symposium. I will also make new network connections which will help me grow in my professional