Professional Development Topics

Ethical Issues in my Profession:

I was actually surprised at just how similar Chile was to the United States in a lot of ways. All the companies that we visited were set up very professionally and seemingly with the proper safely regulations. I never found myself saying “That would not be allowed in America.” However, I’m sure there are a lot of differences that could be pointed out upon closer observation, but for the most part everyone looked safe and happy. There are a lot of things that you do not see on the surface as far as government regulation of workers, environmental regulations etc. Chile does, from what I saw, embrace gender, race, religion, and lifestyle choices. There were women working in the factories and Universities. Although not the most diverse country, the people of Chile were very friendly and accepting towards us as Americans. As Chile grows into a more global country it will undoubtedly shift and develop more than it already has. It will be interesting to see how we take after other countries as they begin to grow and even surpass us in industry and technology gain and other countries such as Chile take a bigger part in the global economy.

Educational Breadth as Professional Development:

The disciplines of Business and Engineering go hand in hand when talking about the development of a country as a whole. Engineering is crucial to helping the country grow physically and develop itself into one that can function in a global marketplace. Strong business is important in establishing external trade outlets to expand the countries market, thus opening up more profit opportunities for them. It was interesting to visit somewhere like Chile because they are a country that is developed, but not quite as developed as the United States. It is interesting to see the world from a different countries perspective and discuss the issues of business and engineering as it pertains to that. I think the divergence in economy is great enough that you can get a good experience as a student when visiting. The world is becoming more and more globalized each day so there is not an astounding difference between the cultures, but there is enough of one to make you think professionally about how a student’s major can apply in a more in depth, worldly sense. As far as classes to take to prepare a student for a global economy, language classes are vital to not only facilitating business in the country, but also to understanding the basics of getting around within the country. Also, a foreign business class similar to the lecture we had on South American business might be helpful when understanding the most important aspects of a countries business.

Lifelong Learning, Continuing Education as Professional Development:

It seems that in an increasing number of aspects the world is changing faster than it ever has. I think that a lot of this is due to ever expanding technology and more applications of technology into everyday life. This is why it is important to become a lifelong learner, be flexible with your job, and be able to adapt to change. My major, computer engineering, is a direct example of this. The principles will always be the same, but there is always new, faster technology being developed and implemented. If you do not stay current with the industry, you will be left behind. An example where this was also true that we saw in Chile was in the company Bolsa de Comercio. Technology has vastly changed the way the brokers do business within the stock market. Everything is done electronically in real time mostly in other locations but the trading floor. The amount of informational wealth the new technology provided was immense, but the industry had to shift to accommodate this change and stay current. This trend is not going to die down either. To be a competitive, productive, valuable worker, one must embrace lifelong learning.

The Social Environment of Professional Life:

Like I said earlier, my experience in Chile was not as far off the United States as I thought it would be. A lot of their culture comes from United States culture. I was talking to a few of the students about television shows that are popular in the States and we were able to have a full conversation about them because they watched almost every one of them. A few of us went to the local mall in Viña del Mar and were slightly disappointed to find all the stores were stores we could easily find in the United States. It also seemed to me that a lot of the students at least knew what was going on with the politics of the US and the bigger current events. This may not seem like a great feat but it is actually a lot considering I did not know who the president of Chile was before the trip. It is and should be important to be aware of what is going on in the world, especially when working in the fields of business and engineering, so that you can relate to the people you are working with and have knowledge of where they are coming from. Having good relations with another person is key to having future successful business transactions with them. The US influences more than we think we do and this is an important thing to be aware of.

Functioning on Multi-Disciplinary Teams:

With an increasingly more globalized world, there are going to be more interactions between people of different backgrounds and cultures. How these people function collectively and communicate will dictate the success they can create together. The Plus 3 program has elements of this incorporated in different ways. We must work and communicate with students from the University of Santa Maria who are from a completely different background and culture all together. I really enjoyed talking with them and seeing their perspective on things. You learn a lot just by communicating with someone. We also had to work and communicate within ourselves as business and engineering students as well. The two majors are very different and we rarely get to work together when at the university. The major challenges in working with each other will be distributing the work as best as possible to the different members of the team and communicating together how we want the finished product to come out. Exchanging information in a group is ultimately a challenge in itself and even more so when different groups are involved. Effective communication is important to achieving a common goal within a team of people which is true whether it be in just writing a Plus 3 paper or something like doing global business within a company.