Independent Component 1

Due Date:  Friday 2/6 at 8AM

·       LITERAL

I, Matthew Ibarra, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.

1.       Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component.

Since my Independent Component (IC) consisted solely of drafting projects, my work was primarily experience-based. Drafting, in essence, is like driving is the sense that I will only improve my skills with practice. Therefore, it is a bit difficult to attribute my improvement in drafting to a single source such as an article or book. 

However, I do not mean --- in the slightest --- to say that I didn't receive help along the way. It was a collaboration of effort from me and the drafting team at my mentorship. For example, I did ask for small tips from time to time from Jason and Yagi, my fellow drafters at BERG. Yagi guided me in the right direction for initiating my First Floor Plan Project. He briefly explained to me about the concepts of layers in AutoCAD and assisted me in making sure I was using the appropriate scale and units for my project. Jason gave me small drafting tips about copying, rotating, and filleting objects\lines in Microstation. I also used a list of basic commands for AutoCAD that Yagi showed me to help me with my drafting.

2.       Update your hours in your Senior Project Hours link. Make sure it is clearly labeled with hours for individual sessions as well as total hours.

Done.

3.       Explain what you completed. 

For my IC, I completed a series of computer-aided drafting and design (C.A.D.D.) projects using computer programs such as Microstation and AutoCAD. Some of the drafting projects I did over the past few months were a biohazard symbol, a helmet from a Disney movie, and a floor plan of my mentorship building. For the most part, the projects I completed were chosen and designed by me --- meaning that I had full creative control over the methodology of my projects. The order in which I chose to do these projects was completely random. It just so happened that each project I did was slightly harder in difficulty and more time-consuming than the last. The reason I ended up doing random drafting projects --- as opposed to, say, one of my mentor's old drafting projects --- was because many of his old projects were either private or government-affiliated --- Meaning: It is illegal. But in the end, the source of the drafting work I receive mattered not because what really counted was the practice. 

·       INTERPRETIVE 

1.       Defend your work and explain its significance to your project and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc.) of the 30 hours of work.  

As previously explained, I completed a series of C.A.D.D. projects using computer programs such as Microstation and AutoCAD for my Independent Component. Although my IC does not directly pertain to my current EQ, I believe that drafting is an integral building block for a well-rounded foundation in my topic. It helps develop communication skills, patience, and problem solving skills, which are all crucial to drafting in a team-environment, like the one at my mentorship.

That being said, one does not become an expert drafter overnight. As my fellow drafter Jason once told me, you just have to keep on practicing; be able to use both programs proficiently because that's what the industry is using right now. And it's true; the program you use and the scale you design in is often dictated by the client --- whether it be a utility company or a home-user. For example, my mentor, Allen Barreno, told me that Southern California Edison requires that their designs be done using Microstation. 

Allen also told me that when he was in high school, his father would put him to do drafting work on the computer. In the beginning he would get paid "by the drawing" because his inexperience made him slow, but as he practiced more and more, he became so experienced that it became too expensive for his dad to pay him "by the drawing", so he decided to pay him by the hour instead. 

I had a similar experience to my mentor in the beginning; I was slow, very inexperienced, yet very eager to learn. Day one: sit, set up, breathe, click, draft, leave. Repeat. 

Line... Circle... Curve... 

Rectangle... Triangle... Square...

Basics... Basics... and more basics. 

Again and again until it was time for me to initiate my IC. 

By that time, I had already gained enough knowledge about the basics of drafting. I was ready to try something challenging... something daunting... something government-affiliated... 

But my mentor said NO.

Instead, he gave me two options: jail or Camp Caddlake. I chose Caddlake, of course, but I didn't exactly know what I was getting myself into. According to my mentor, the basic schedule would be as follows:

"As soon as you begin your Independent Component, you are to begin drafting a floor plan of the mentorship building. A copy of the floor plan will be provided by one of your fellow draftsmen."

The Mr. Sir-Barreno of my imagination looked up at me. "When you are not working on the floor plan, you are to be working on another drafting project of your choice. It doesn't matter what it is so long as it's appropriate. Any questions?"

I shook my head as motivation to keep myself awake.

"Good. Now get to work", he said.

It didn't take long for me to realise that the floor plan would take longer than I originally expected:

Day 1 - Five hours in

Day 3 - Eight hours in

Day 5 - About Twelve and a half hours in

Bathrooms - Deceivingly Simple

Sinks - Half an hour down the drain

This is why hours fly by like bullets across my computer screen.

This is why I draft biohazard symbols and Disney helmets at my mentorship. 

Bamax Helmet Project - About 9 hours

Biohazard Symbol Project - About 7 hours

This is why Friday afternoon smells like Happy Hour with a hint of techno and Tagalog.  This is why I love being a drafter.

·       APPLIED

1.       How did the component help you understand the foundation of your topic better?  Please include specific examples to illustrate this. 

My IC helped me understand the foundation of my topic better by demonstrating how drafting is a fundamental skill that all engineers must have. More specifically, it showed me how as technology evolves, the methodology of an engineer changes as well. Decades ago, engineers would draw their designs on paper, and make copies of them using the blueprint process. Nowadays, power engineers draw their designs using computer aided design techniques and transfer them as a digital file to a computer printer to be printed. At my mentorship, this is exactly how the designers, drafters, and engineers exchange their work and ideas. For example, during one of my mentor’s recent projects, he had to make design changes to an electrical substation on paper and give the paper to one of his drafters to edit the design via Microstation and had him print out the edited design. After that, he checked the drafter’s work, and then sent the design out to his client for approval.

Grading Criteria 

• Updated log in Senior Project Hours Link 
• Evidence of 30 hours of work 
• LIA submitted to blog