I just finished yesterday with my second last term of my undergraduate program at UBC! This term I took a few required engineering classes but mostly worked towards getting the elective requirements completed. In this blog post, I’m reviewing the two engineering classes I took.
EECE 450 Economic Analysis of Engineering Projects
Professor: Steven Minns
Term: Fall 2014
Textbook: Engineering Economic Analysis: Third Canadian Edition; Donald G. Newnan, John Whittaker, Ted G. Eschenbach, Jerome P. Lavelle; Oxford University Press, 2010. Optional.
Website: Course folder on Connect. No other website or external forum usage.
This is a required class in the Engineering Program. Involving topics like interest, cash flows, present worth analysis, depreciation, taxes and inflation. Minimal math skills involved in this class.
This course had only the lecture component with no attendance taken. We had 4 assignments, with the best 3 accounting for 10% of the total grade. These assignments were usually 10-12 questions from the textbook. The professor usually handed out a scanned copy of the textbook questions for students who didn’t own a copy. There was also a midterm worth 20%, a simulation (explained below) worth 20% and the final worth 50%. The mid term and the final exam were similar in format with questions where you’re given a cash flow or a description of few alternatives and you have to use the numerical methods of analysis learnt in class to choose the better alternatives or make recommendations.
The simulation component was the Back Bay Battery strategic innovation simulation developed by Harvard Business School. In groups of 3, we had to play the part of management team of a nickel metal hydride battery manufacturer and determine R&D investments over the course of 8 simulated years. For all of these simulated years, we also had to estimate sales, variable costs and price reductions. This was my favourite part of this class! The simulation was really fun and during the practice rounds (unlimited tries) we were able to test out various strategies. The prof also offered a bonus of 5% for the team who earned the most profit in the simulation.
Full disclaimer I went to maybe 3-4 lectures this term for this class as it was way too early in the morning. However in the classes I did attend, the prof was very clear in his explanations and usually follows up every concept with working out a few examples in class.
EECE 443 Software Project Management
Professor: Philippe Kruchten
Term: Fall 2014
Textbook: Software Project Management: Fifth Edition; Bob Hughes & Mike Cotterall; McGraw-Hill, 2008. Optional.
Website: Lecture slides, assignments, resources on Piazza. Assignments submitted on Connect.
This is a required class in the Software Engineering program. Involving topics like cost estimating using models like Use Case Points, Function Points and COCOMO, risk analysis, configuration management, Agile/Waterfall, people management, ethics, etc. Most of these topics were very high level and easy to understand.
The class has a tutorial component along with the lectures but they were optional. Attendance isn’t taken in either. We had 8 assignments worth 40% of the grade. Most of the assignments were open ended and took up about 2-3 hours per week. For ex. one of the first assignments was making a risk table for a holiday vacation with some friends. The longest assigment was one where we had to make a Software Development Plan for an Investment Club application. The midterm was 15% and the final was 45%. Exams were open book and straighforward enough with multiple choice questions and short answers.
Kruchten is an engaging professor with lots of experience in the field. In fact, he was the Director of Process Development at Rational Software wikipedia link. His slides can be somewhat confusing but during lectures he makes sure to give tons of examples and/or stories from when he was developing software.
I will review the other classes I took this term in the next blog post!