Communication Reflection
Over the Fast Robots course this semester, I developed a portfolio of project milestones as my mobile robot grew in complexity. This portfolio was built as part of the class requirements, but will have utility well after the semester ends. I intend on attaching it to my personal projects and experiences website, as it will strengthen the technical competency track record I seek to demonstrate. I intend for this portfolio to be one of the key indicators of comfort with high-level microcontroller software, and autonomy concepts. While my personal website, and by extension this portfolio, is accessible for anyone to view, my target audience is potential employers, potential teammates, and fellow robotics enthusiasts. By documenting the milestones thoroughly I can convey my desire to improve as an engineer, my preference for experiential learning, and my growth arc with such topics. With the Fast Robots portfolio in particular, I can potentially also inspire ideas among visitors on robotics project ideas, and have it serve as a means to make new connections with like-minded individuals. In structuring the portfolio to achieve these outcomes, I focused on optics, concision, and jargon.
Optics describes the experience of a visitor to the portfolio, irrespective of the textual content present. By choosing a minimalistic, professional template, I communicate a maturity and thoughtfulness attractive to my target audience. By limiting the number of colors and fonts present, I showcase the content of the website in the least distracting manner possible, focusing attention on the technical skillsets I want noted. My second focus, concision, describes the effort to minimize word count without loss of detail. For each of the milestone pages, I ensure to use a mix of different artifact modes, including text descriptions, code snippets, photos, videos, and data visualizations. This keeps the content suited for a rapid once-over, as my target audience are likely uninterested in investing much time, by visually communicating the skillsets exercised and outcomes achieved at that milestone. Descriptions were kept short and their contribution to the end product emphasized. The classic narrative approach to describing technical processes was replaced with short after-the-fact justifications. Finally, I put thought into ensuring the technical skillsets covered were consistently and clearly brought out. By bringing the technical terminology covered in class to the portfolio, I ensure the overarching technically-orientation purposes of the portfolio are satisfied.
While I am confident my final portfolio is successful, I have come across other successful portfolios that are structured differently. For example, I have seen portfolios that are brightly colored at the cost of professionalism, but have a polished user experience and are easily navigable. My opinion of the technical standing of the makers of such portfolios is similar to the opinion I generate looking at my own, yet they’ve been able to incorporate a more charismatic feel to their work. By bringing more personality into their pages, I feel more compelled to meet the makers than I do when I view my own pages. While I noticed this trend early on in the semester, I opted not to change the styling of my own in the interest of time. In future, however, this is a lesson I will carry into the next iteration of my personal website, or any next stand-alone portfolios I make.
Overall, I found the experience of developing a complete portfolio for this class engaging and meaningful. I intend on having this portfolio be a live add-on to my website and hope that, alongside my aforementioned objectives, it can showcase my ability to communicate effectively online.