Introduction to an Aspiring Engineer
Hi! I am John Sholeen. I am a Junior studying petroleum engineering here at OU. I chose petroleum engineering because I wanted to work offshore. This summer I will be working as a drilling intern in the Gulf of Mexico.
Although my classes were engaging last semester, I was more interested in the machine learning research I was doing. Last semester I attempted to create and train a convolution neural network to accurately segment images. I was moderately successful in my attempt. The network I trained was able to accurately segment images from the training set, but it struggled when presented with new images. Overall it was a good first step, and I am excited to continue this semester.
Over the break I watched the first season of Counterpart, a Starz show starring J. K. Simmons. The dark atmosphere of the show engrossed me in the story and I couldn't stop watching. The way the plot developed was unexpected and interesting. The choices the characters made felt real and events in the story had stakes because you care about what happens to the characters. The second season has just started so I am excited to start watching that.
Right now my main hobbies are soccer and golf. I enjoy playing both, but I prefer to not do it in the cold weather. I think that sports are great hobbies because they have such low barriers to entry. If I had more time I would want to try building/working on cars. One of the projects that seems fun would be building a Superlite SL-C.
To take this a step further, it would be cool to design and fabricate my own monocoque chassis, but that is probably just a pipe dream.
I don't have a very set career path that I want to take. I enjoy engineering, but I am also fascinated with financial markets. In the future I might want to leverage my machine learning knowledge to start trading securities using an automated system. I think it could be an interesting endeavor.
I am looking forward to this semester and this class because I think this blog will allow me to work on transforming ideas into writing much faster than I am normally able.
Although my classes were engaging last semester, I was more interested in the machine learning research I was doing. Last semester I attempted to create and train a convolution neural network to accurately segment images. I was moderately successful in my attempt. The network I trained was able to accurately segment images from the training set, but it struggled when presented with new images. Overall it was a good first step, and I am excited to continue this semester.
Right now my main hobbies are soccer and golf. I enjoy playing both, but I prefer to not do it in the cold weather. I think that sports are great hobbies because they have such low barriers to entry. If I had more time I would want to try building/working on cars. One of the projects that seems fun would be building a Superlite SL-C.
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| SL-C Roadster. Source |
I don't have a very set career path that I want to take. I enjoy engineering, but I am also fascinated with financial markets. In the future I might want to leverage my machine learning knowledge to start trading securities using an automated system. I think it could be an interesting endeavor.
I am looking forward to this semester and this class because I think this blog will allow me to work on transforming ideas into writing much faster than I am normally able.
Hi John,
ReplyDeleteIt is a pleasure to get to know you. I honestly do not like engineering. My brother graduated last year with his mechanical engineering degree, so I have seen the work he has to do. I love chemistry and biology, but physics is just not my cup of tea. I'm glad you like it and want to be a petroleum engineer or something to do with the financial market. I love Mexico and I hope you have a great time drilling there.
Your classmate,
Joanna Yoon
Hi John,
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to meet you. When I joined OU, I actually wanted to become a biomedical engineer, but I could not understand chemistry and physics. Now I am a psychology major, but I still am not entirely sure what I want to do after I finish my degree. It's really nice that you want to do something in engineering as you seem very passionate about it.
Best of luck!
I, too, dislike cold weather. I find cars such a cool hobby, I think people underestimate how complicated and intricate they really are! As much as I try to understand the project you described yourself working on, I couldn't quite understand it, maybe that's a hint into how complicated and intricate it was. To hear your excited for this semester after something that sound so difficult tells me you're on the right path!
ReplyDeleteHey John! I am a mechanical engineering major and I am very interested in petroleum engineering. Working on an off shore drilling rig in the gulf of Mexico sounds riveting to me! I am a mechanic and worked as one in a shop for many years, so I share your love of cars. I still like to work on cars to decompress whenever I can. I don't own any nice cars right now but one day I would like to own a Chevelle.
ReplyDeleteThat's a super cool dream car. Would you want it all original or would you swap a newer motor in it?
DeleteI love old cars but newer motors are better in virtually every aspect. I would definitely want to put a newer motor in it with all the modern amenities and such.
DeleteHey John,
ReplyDeleteI'm really impressed with your post. Although you don't know exactly what you want to do with your career, you seem to know yourself extremely well; that's not something a lot of people can say. I wish I had the brain for engineering. Everyone always talks about how smart engineers are and how much money they make so I would consider myself pretty lucky if it was a field I actually enjoyed.
Hi John! I am also an engineering major. I am in computer engineering! I also don't have a set plan this for my career and really enjoy stocks. I have been investing since I was in 7th grade. Have you started doing any investing? Also I am a big golf fan, but I am not that good.
ReplyDeleteI do a little investing. I mainly invest in ETFs from companies like Vanguard. They have no fees. Recently I've been thinking about what strategy I am using, and realized that I basically and short volatility on everything. My next step is to figure out an investment strategy that will incorporate more long volatility positions.
DeleteVery cool. I had invested in VAW, VDE, VPU since I was in 7th grade. I decided to get out of them recently because I wasn't getting any type of the gains I was hoping to get. I was up only 40-60% after all these years so I decided to go into other companies. I like to be kinda aggressive and look to get gains of at least 10-20% a year if possible. I do play earnings sometimes, but I don't mess with options at all haha.
DeleteHi John!
ReplyDeleteI think it is so cool that you are so confident in your passion for engineering. I honestly am a little bit jealous because I'm not quite sure what I want to do yet, and I'm a senior!!! I also love sports like soccer. I hate the cold as well and I think it is much easier to work out when it's warmer outside.
Hey John, its wonderful that Petroleum engineering is giving you the option to work offshore. Congratulations on your internship, I would love to stay in the gulf of mexico. Part of the reason I chose to be a performance major was that it puts me in the position to travel to all kinds of intriguing places, it would seem your major does this as well! Your research project from last semester seems quite fascinating, although a lot of that information did go over my head.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, neural networks: that sounds so cool, John! There is a lot of buzz about machine learning in education too, and a lot of hype about it. For image processing, AI can be pretty amazing... for natural language processing: ouch, there is still a long way to go. I'm waiting on a grammar checker that actually knows (accurately knows!) what a comma splice is, ha ha. You are so lucky to have all those amazing engineering paths of discovery in front of you; when I was in college back in the 80s, the Internet (as we know it) didn't even exist yet. But now... everybody has access to ideas and information that were impossible to imagine back then!
ReplyDeleteAnd I had not even heard about this Counterpart show before, but seeing J. K. Simmons there got my attention right away; he is such a great actor, so thank you for that tip!
I hope you will enjoy this India class... it's surely a good sign that they have a god who is divine engineer of the cosmos, the All-Maker, Vishwakarman! You can read more about him here: Vishvakarman
Hey John, that is awesome you have an internship! Even though you may not know exactly what you want to do, there are so many options out there for you to find your passion! I too love soccer, I used to play club and in high school but I tore my ACL and really killed it for me for a while, but now I am back and still loving the sport, just not this terrible weather with it haha.
ReplyDeleteJohn,
ReplyDeleteYour internship sounds awesome! Getting to spend time in the Gulf of Mexico seems like a great way to spend the work day. Congratulations by the way on landing an internship. I think we can all vouch for how hard it is to land internships in college. I love to play soccer too, I played for 13 years before I finally called it quits to join the military. Good luck this semester!
Hi John~
ReplyDeleteI didn't expect to learn so much reading your intro. Convolutional neural networks? I had no idea. When it comes to TV shows, they can never keep my attention long enough for me to finish them. It's always interesting to come across a show that's a little different than all the others. I'm sure J.K. Simmons is great, he usually is. I can appreciate a nice car any day, although my dream would be to live in a city where I never needed to drive ever again. Hopefully you can turn your pipe dream into reality!
Hi John,
ReplyDeleteI am also interested in Neural Networks. Last semester I took a really cool data mining class where we got to play around with them. I am also attempting to build a cool game in C#, but I'm struggling with back propagation.
It's really cool that you are interested in both Engineering and Finance. Maybe you can go for an MBA after you get you Engineering degree. People with MBA's and STEM undergrads are highly sought after.
Best,
Kevin
Wow Sholeen, that's some pretty neat stuff. Regarding the car, I'm partial to the Nissan Z series, specifically the 280z and the Z31 300zx, I think it would be really cool to turn a Z31 into a drifter, either way they're both gorgeous cars. Also convolutional neural networks sounds interesting. I'm a Computer Engineering student but I don't really program much. Did you use Python for making your neural network?
ReplyDeleteAnyways cant wait to read your stories!
Hi John! I have a friend who is majoring in petroleum engineering and I always listen to her talk about how crazy some of the classes are; so props to you for wanting to do PE! I, however, do not enjoy engineering. I'd rather work in the microscopic part of the world, aka Microbiology! I don't know much about cars so I have no idea what you were talking about for that project haha. Best of luck!
ReplyDeleteHi John,
ReplyDeleteYour interests are so cool! Engineering is really wonderful because of all of the cool things you get to do. I am so interested in your internship in the Gulf of Mexico! I also have very mixed passions, but finally found my way through medicine. Every engineer I have met is so knowledgeable in so many different things and you sure fall in the group. I love how expansive the world truly is. I hope to hear more from you!
Hey John,
ReplyDeleteI got to say, you got some pretty cool plans for your future! Did you play soccer growing up? I am a pretty big premier league fan (Man City all day) and surprisingly I am a big MLS fan too (even though there is pretty wack talent over here compared to across the pond. Good luck on your internship! The Gulf is supposed to be beautiful so I couldn't imagine a better place to spend the summer
Matthew, I have basically played soccer since I was 6 years old. Also right now I pull for Liverpool because they are so fun to watch. Have you been watching the champions league games these past two weeks?
DeleteHi John!
ReplyDeleteI'm also on the engineering struggle bus, but I'm studying biomedical, not petroleum. One of my favorite parts of the engineering program at OU is how many opportunities there are for research! The work you are doing on image segmentation is awesome, and it sounds like it would have applications in all sorts of different fields, even something like medical imaging.
Hi John,
ReplyDeleteI'm an engineer too. I'm a mechanical engineering student, though. Its neat that you are getting into AI. I do a lot with robotics, but have not really interacted with it, and its awesome that you saw success with your first try. I find AI fascinating because we so often try and personify or humanize it, but it just defies our logic, because it doesn't have logic. Just endless layers of pattern recognition. If you're interested in building/designing cars, you may check out Sooner Racing Team in the EPF. You can learn more at sae.ou.edu. Every year they design, build, and compete a formula 1 style car.
Hello there, John!
ReplyDeletePetroleum Engineering sounds very fun and complicated... definitely out of my comfort zone as a music major! I am very envious of people who are naturally inclined with more complex subject, and engineering majors are certainly studying a complicated subject. I'm not very familiar with robotics, but I've always been fascinated by those fighting robot shows. My brother would have a lot more in common with you than I do, but I certainly look forward to reading more of your posts!
Hi John!
ReplyDeleteI am glad you are enjoying all of your engineering classes, and I am sure you will find a way to use what you learn to pursue the career path of your choice. While you don't know exactly where the world is taking you, I think this is a very exciting time. You get the opportunity to choose what you want to do. That is one thing that I have loved about college so far.
Hi John! It is super cool that your major is Petroleum Engineering! My boyfriend's is Electrical Engineering so I understand a bit of your strife. Did you ever consider majoring in something more tailored to the financial market? Now I understand very little about cars and especially working on cars, outside of being a Mario Kart fanatic, but I can appreciate your love of the hobby! Nice meeting you!
ReplyDeleteI considered majoring in finance/accounting, but those majors are more tailored to dealing with capital markets and corporate debenture/securitization. Although that sounds fun and interesting, I find that I care less about the process of raising corporate capital and more about the nature of markets themselves. This would have put me in an economics major. I find economics to be interesting but to be very frank the degree and OU leaves a lot to be desired. I am currently considering a masters in data science, which I think would help me on the path to analyzing markets. It would also make me more marketable. Thanks for commenting!
DeleteHI John. Good luck with engineering! I could not do it. It is just so hard and structured. But to each their own cup of tea. I love soccer. I played for 10 years growing up. DO you play in IM Leagues? I know the season is starting like now. If so, good luck, unless we are playing against each other.
ReplyDeleteYeah I am playing on an IM league in the men's open. Are you playing IMs as well?
DeleteJohn, it was great to get to know you through your post. It seems like you have a lot of cool career opportunities ahead of you. Your research sounds interesting and I hope that you continue to be successful in your attempts. Your fascination with cars is also cool. One day I hope to fully restore a 1985 BMW M3. Good luck to you on your future endeavors.
ReplyDeleteHi there John!
ReplyDeleteYou have so many interesting things you are working on! I have to admit, I was a little lost with the engineering lingo, but that's ok! You have some serious interest, and I love how you are connecting your various ideas together, such as with the automated system and the financial market. Sometimes I am blown away with all that college kids do! Hopefully it will be warm soon enough and you are able to hit up the golf course! Thanks for sharing!
Hello John,
ReplyDeleteIt was nice getting to know you through your introduction. You have so many interests! Congratulations on your internship! I hope that this brings you closer to your goals! I look forward to seeing more from you.
Hello John! That is great you have an internship! I like how you have a busy plate but still find time for the things you are passionate about and enjoy in your free time. It is cool that you are a Petroleum Engineering major which sounds complicated and exciting compared to my major. I wish you the best of luck!
ReplyDeleteHi John,
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to meet you, well at least through your introduction. I'm not smart enough to be an engineer, but I do know quite a lot of people that are and are pursuing engineering here at OU. I like how you have so many interests and that you are so passionate about your work. I think it is fantastic that you get to work in the Gulf of Mexico this summer and I hope you have a great time. Have a great day and the best of luck toward your future!
Hey John, first thing I want to say is that I really enjoy the color palette of your blog. The dark greys are nice, and it's a nice change from most of the other blogs that have lighter themes. I think its cool that your dream is to build a car. That sounds ridiculously hard, but it would pretty tight to be able to say you built a whole car. Good luck with the semester, man.
ReplyDeleteI can't use anything that isn't a dark theme. I also have OLED screens so the black colors look amazing.
DeleteHi John,
ReplyDeleteIt is great to meet you. I hope you are enjoying your semester. That is awesome that you are pursuing a petroleum engineering degree. It is also cool to see how passionate about it you are by the way you talk about it. Interning this summer in the Gulf of Mexico sounds super exciting. I hope you have a great time. I say let your passions lead you to your next destination! Also I have never heard of the show "Counterpart" so I will have to look into it! It sounds interesting.
Hey John,
ReplyDeleteIt was great reading your introduction, you seem very relaxed and I can appreciate that. I also play soccer; I have played since I was a kid. I agree that sports are a great way to be active because you get to be around people and you don’t have to know anything going into it. Good luck in your internship and figuring out what you want to do in the future.
Hi John!
ReplyDeleteI think it is very amazing that you are majoring in petroleum engineering. I also liked the show that you watched over the break. I have heard about the show before but I haven't watched a trailer for it. I think it has a very interesting concept and I want to watch during my next break. I think it is really good that soccer is your hobby because it is one of my hobbies as well.