My biggest concern before starting this course was making grammatical errors since English is not my first language. Through the course, this fact actually bugged me a lot, and sometimes, slowed me down to absorb new writing techniques from the course. Particularly for the peer review assignments, I was so afraid of giving feedback to someone who is a native speaker or a more fluent English speaker than I am. However, as continuing this course, I realized that ENGL 301 is a class for improving professional writing techniques that I could improve regardless of my fluency level of English in terms of grammar. Further, presenting these writing skills in my work also indicates my level of English, and is as essential as eliminating grammatical errors to express my professionality.

Thinking this in my mind, I could focus on learning new writing skills and on improving my other weakness, verbosity. I often over-think and tend to put all my thought in one place instead of prioritizing and concisely expressing the main idea. It frequently causes vague the main point of my writing. Memorandum and peer review assignments were significantly helpful to practice clear and concise writing. These assignments required getting to the point without wrapping ideas in unnecessary words so that the reader could grasp the main point at a glance. However, I sometimes miss essential detailed information, which is another weak point that I need to keep working on.

Another huge improvement in my writing is keeping a positive and objective voice when giving constructive advice. “You-Attitude” lesson was significantly beneficial to exercise giving suggestions with avoiding criticizing the writer’s error and generalized corrections. After learning this technique, I was able to edit my errors in my previous work such as using imperative verbs and pronouns. Writing a business email was one of my strengths that I built from my 5 years of work experience, and with the “You-Attitude” skill, I feel more confident in writing a business email.

The application package assignment was great preparation for my future job hunting as a student in a Co-op program. Nevertheless of the importance of the application package, I had not had any opportunity of learning how to write a resume, cover letter, and request letter for reference properly. I benefited a lot from this lesson, and highly recommend it to my friends who will be out to the job market soon.

Creating a web folio was another major challenge of this course after writing a formal report for me. I had not had a Web Folio and had not used many social media such as LinkedIn and Facebook. Thus, when I checked the requirements of this assignment, I felt a bit overwhelmed in terms of how to design, what visuals to include, and so on. The instruction of this assignment helped me a lot to organize and decide the structure of my web folio. And the Best Practice of LinkedIn assignment gave me an idea of the importance of having a source where people can see who I am so that I can open potential career opportunities. To be honest, this web folio, my first ever web folio, is clumsy compared to the web folios by social media experts, yet, it was an excellent practice of getting familiar with the tactic that I can utilize for future career opportunities.

In addition to this, revisiting my previous assignments for the Best Work page was essential to reinforce the writing skills that I have gained through the course. I found errors that I had not realized when I submitted. Indeed, my writing skill has been noticeably improved. I am so glad that I successfully completed this course!

Jieun Kim

1500 Pendrell st

Vancouver, BC V6G 3A5

jieunkxx@student.ubc.ca

OBJECTIVE

• Agile Developer position at SAP iXp Intern

SUMMARY OF SKILLS

• Programming/Scripting: Java, C/C++, Shell, awk, Perl, SKILL, R
• Other Skills: Unix/Linux, MacOS, Windows, Microsoft Office Specialist (Words, Excel, Power point)

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE AND ACTIVITIES

Process Design Kits (PDK) Engineer, Samsung Electronics, Yongin-si, Republic of Korea, Jan 2010 – Jan 2015

• Developed PDK such as LVS Regressions, LVS, ERC, and PEX decks for 7nm, 10nm, and 14nm technologies
• Executed PDK Quality Assurance for 20nm, 28nm, 32nm, and 45nm technologies
• Interfaced with design rule developers, process development engineers, device designers, and device modelers
• Supported foundry customers (Apple, Qualcomm, NVIDIA, etc.) to validate various Chip/Block level issues
• Coordinated EDA Vendors (Synopsys, Mentor, Cadence, etc.)
• Managed and trained junior engineers by providing technical direction in the physical design flow

PROJECTS

Graphic Manipulation Using C++ (Academic) – C++, OOP, Data Structures, Algorithms,  Jan – Apr 2021

• Implemented algorithm analysis methods, searching and sorting algorithms to encode, decode and compress images
• Used dynamic memory programming and optimal runtime management

Tennis Partner Matching System (Academic) – Java, JSON, JUnit, Swing,  Jan – Apr 2021

• Designed and implemented a tennis partner matching desktop application
• Implemented JSON parser, and a simple GUI using Java Swing to search queries
• Used Test Driven Development using JUnit to ensure complete code coverage

Data Analysis – Implication of Vaccination to Life Expectancy (Academic) – R,  Jan – Apr 2021

• Conducted multiple regression analysis and visualization to measure the impact of immunization coverage on Life expectancy

OTHER EXPERIENCE

Food Service Supervisor, Kahve, Vancouver, Canada,  Mar 2018 – Jul 2020

Food Service Supervisor, Platform7, Vancouver, Canada,  Jun 2017 – Mar 2018

Barista, The Pennydrop, Melbourne, Australia Feb 2016 – Mar 2017

AWARDS

Best team of the year, Samsung Electronics, 2014

Best team of the year, Samsung Electronics, 2013

Kyung Hee Overseas Exploration Scholarships, Kyung Hee University, 2009

Empirical Philosophy from Elderly Scholarship, Kyung Hee University, 2007

OTHER ACTIVITIES AND INVOLVEMENT

New employees’ orientation preparation team, Samsung Electronics, Republic of Korea, 2010

Freshmen mentoring, Kyung Hee University, Republic of Korea, 2009

International students assistants, Kyung Hee University, Republic of Korea, 2009

UN World Civic Youth Forum, Kyung Hee University, Republic of Korea, 2009

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Computer Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, Sep 2020 ~ Current

Bachelor of Electronic Engineering, Kyung Hee University Yongin-si, Republic of Korea, Feb 2010

REFERENCE

Available on request

Writing with the Right Attitude: You attitude

This assignment was beneficial to learn new writing skills that I hadn’t really considered much in my previous writings. I found it a bit challenging at the beginning to identify where not to use and where to use the “You-Attitude”. With the use of “You-Attitude”, giving suggestions with avoiding criticizing the writer’s error and giving generalized corrections were challenging but worthwhile. This assignment was a good practice to keep a positive and objective tone and voice while advising corrections as well as reinforce the professional e-mail writing schemes.

Writing Business Letters

I really enjoyed this assignment. I wrote two letters, one of which is a complaint letter to a company requiring some compensation for the dissatisfaction of the service/product, and another letter from the company’s point of view that responds to the complaint letter delivering “no” to the demands while keeping courteous appreciation of the complainant’s correspondence. I have been the complainant, but haven’t put myself in the shoes of the company. I used my real-life experience as a customer with my cellphone provider that happened through the phone. Now I understood writing an email saying “no” including appreciation of the customer is not simple as it looks, but rather, it requires professional writing skills and a well-organized structure.

Drafting Formal Reports

Writing the formal report draft was not progressed as I planned due to the difficulties of the data accessibility to estimate the construction budget and getting sufficient numbers of responses from the survey. These unexpected hurdles should have been considered before proceeding with the project. Due to the reasons, my draft version contains parts “WILL BE ADDED/UPDATED”. Nonetheless, the process of writing the formal report was a good exercise to utilize the writing skills gained from the previous units.

Review and Reflect: Peer Review of Formal Report Draft

I was given the opportunity to review Avani’s formal report draft. Her work was undoubtedly well written with a high level of completion. She presented professional and concise writing techniques throughout the report. Peer-reviewing such great work was an appreciation; her writing gave me insight and constructive criticism on my work such as the use of a content table and the use of appropriate and various types of visualizations. Moreover, how she cited references to support her assertion was inspiring, which implies her professionalism. These aforementioned points and many other excellent writing skills in her report helped me to reassess my own work.

301-Jieun-Kim-Formal-Report-Draft

Researching LinkedIn

I setup my LinkedIn account 7 years ago; however, I never utilized its functions even though I have been well-acknowledged of the advantages and the potential of LinkedIn that could help me boost my career path. I do not use any social media such as Facebook and Instagram because I am reluctant to be exposed to whom I do not know, and the same goes for LinkedIn. While researching LinkedIn profile tips, I noticed that the benefits of LinkedIn may outweigh my concerns. I should admit that I underestimated LinkedIn, and it has become an essential tool in the current job market.  I will reconsider the use of LinkedIn and in order to open doors to the opportunities that I would not be aware of without the help of networking that I can attain through LinkedIn.

Process of Report Proposal and Outline

To come up with a topic was the hardest part of writing the report proposal. My initial idea was related to my previous work which I thought I am knowledgeable enough to deliver practical solutions and persuade people in the field. (The topic was Implement post-layout simulation to ensure consistency and runtime error before release.) However, I noticed that I need to have direct contact with people from my previous work and have to have access to the data and resources to conduct simulations to include the results in my paper. There was no way to use the company’s system since I am no longer an employee. Thus, I had to change my report topic. It was hard to come up with a new topic considering all factors such as something I should have a certain level of knowledge to address problems and suggest realistic solutions. I eventually chose a topic that is deeply related to my daily life which is about the rooftop patio in the apartment I have lived since 2018. The topic is not what I can utilize my professions in computer science and electronic engineering, rather, construction and civil engineering. But the topic was interesting, and it is what I can also contribute to the community.

Writing outline and progress process helped me figure out what to include and exclude and set a due date for each step. Before doing this, all seemed too vague. I was actually overwhelmed by the amount of work and the packed schedule. Breaking it down into smaller tasks and having a plan mitigated my stress.

Peer Review

The peer-review assignments have been significantly beneficial to improve writing skills. I found that reviewing someone else’s writing is as difficult as writing my own, and it requires more skillsets and a comprehensive understanding of technical writing. At a glance, it was not easy to give feedback to the writer because it was well-written with no errors. To give constructive and productive feedback, I had to re-read the assignment instruction, the textbook, and the writing, which helped me to understand the task better. In addition, I could practice clear communication that is objective and specific.

The peer reviewed proposal helped me a lot to enhance my writing. Akaya kindly gave me very detailed feedback in each section, which was easy to find where and what she meant. Her suggestions to include more details in my research method and use less pronouns were definitely strengthen my writing.

Revised proposal: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl301-98a-2021sa/2021/06/28/301-jieun-kim-fo…proposal-revised/

Peer review of my proposal: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl301-98a-2021sa/2021/06/18/assignment-21-peer-review-for-jieuns-formal-report-proposal/

Report Outline: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl301-98a-2021sa/2021/06/25/83048/

I am an undergraduate student at UBC engaged in a technical writing project. I myself am a resident at Pendrell Mews, have been living in the apartment since 2018. The purpose of this survey is to obtain primary data for analysis and investigation that aims to provide recommendations for improving your experience with the rooftop patio at Pendrell Mews. The final formal report will be addressed to the Management Council. Together with the report, the data I gather from this survey will serve the ultimate purpose of providing recommendations for renovating the rooftop patio at this apartment. The survey contains 10 multiple-choice questions and short-answer questions, and it should take about 5 minutes of your time. Your responses are voluntary and anonymous. Thank you, I appreciate your generous participation in my survey.

* Q1~Q8. Please answer the following questions using the rating scale ranging from 1 to 5:

1 = Very Dissatisfied

5 = Very Satisfied

NA = Not Applicable

1.How do you rate the condition and appearance of the rooftop patio exterior?

1.    2.    3.    4.    5.   NA

2.How do you rate the overall cleanliness of the rooftop patio?

1.    2.    3.    4.    5.   NA

3.How do you rate the condition and appearance of the furniture at the rooftop patio?

1.    2.    3.    4.    5.   NA

4.How do you rate the adequacy of furniture at the rooftop patio?

1.    2.    3.    4.    5.   NA

5.How do you rate the condition and appearance of the garden area at the rooftop patio?

1.    2.    3.    4.    5.   NA

6.How do you rate the adequacy of the garden area at the rooftop patio?

1.    2.    3.    4.    5.   NA

7.How do you rate the safety of the rooftop patio?

1.    2.    3.    4.    5.   NA

8.How do you rate your overall experience at the rooftop patio?

1.    2.    3.    4.    5.   NA

9.Do you agree to the rooftop patio renovation plan?

1. Strongly disagree       2.Disagree       3.Neither agree nor disagree       4. Agree       5.Strongly agree.

10.Is there anything that can be improved on the rooftop patio? Comment briefly below.

Original writing process

I struggled at the beginning of writing the definition. I had not written this kind of writings which explains a term in my profession to non-technical readers. Most of the previous reports targeted people with a prior background or in the same field; thus, my writing often omitted the definition of the term or background explanation. The methods in the textbook helped me organize the structure of the text. I learned how to expand a technical term in three different levels of detail in the definition for non-technical readers. The term I would expand on should be something that the audience is likely to have been exposed to only about basic concepts, but not in detail. For example, the term RISC(Reduced instruction set computer) is not appropriate for this assignment since it requires a prior understanding of CPU instructions. Using this strategy, I chose CPU (Central Processing Unit) and set a scope of my level of detail in each level of definitions. 

Peer Review Process

The peer review process required me a better understanding of the assignment and the content of the lesson. As a non-technical reader, I suggested Ryan adjust the scope of detail where I did not understand his term, “HACCP,” thoroughly. I realized that my writing would not be easily understandable even though it targets non-technical readers. What I assumed they would know might not be the case. Other than that, I could not find any issue in his writing because it was well written and met all requirements. I had to review the textbook to provide constructive feedback on his work. In this process, I found minor issues with his writing as well as with my work. For instance, effective design of the structure and the use of visuals.  

Editing Process

Ryan’s feedback was very constructive and gently delivered with a friendly tone without insulting my work. I could improve my definition from his suggestion. He pointed out the content in the History of CPU could be elaborated upon more. I thought this section could give too much information for non-technical readers who might not have interested in how CPUs have evolved. However, taking his suggestion, I rewrote this part, giving the audience the essential information but not too stretched information. He also suggested that an example of specific program instruction would improve my definition; however, I think a specific instruction can be too technical and requires other terms to be explained beforehand. It can go beyond the scope of the detail. Thus, instead of having a specific example, I added an image of a general instruction to provide readers a better understanding of the term. Including the two suggestions, I re-structured my writing to have emphasized headings and a better separation and corrected grammar and typo errors.

Links

revised definition: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl301-98a-2021sa/2021/06/06/assignment-13-three-definitions-jieun-kim-revised/

peer’s review: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl301-98a-2021sa/2021/06/04/assignment-13-peer-review-for-ryans-definition-for-haccp/

reflection blog: https://blogs.ubc.ca/jieunk/2021/06/09/unit-one-reflection-blog/

Dear Avani,

This is Jieun Kim from ENGL301 course.
I am writing this letter to invite you to become a member of my professional writing team.
I read your application letter, and I am impressed with your various writing experiences and passion for writing and editing. I believe that you will be an excellent fit for the team.

I am a 3rd year BCS student with five years of working experience. My work experience involved technical writing, such as issuing Design manuals to customers. With a scientific background, I would like to work with you with experience as a writer/editor and a background in English literature. It would be valuable to obtain a new perspective and a new writing strategy from your knowledge. I am sure it will create a synergy effect and contribute to the team’s success.

If you are interested in team up with me, please let me know. I am looking forward to hearing from you soon. If you have any questions about me, please feel free to be in touch.  The attached document is my application letter.

Enclosure: 301 Jieun Kim Application Letter

Thank you.

Best regards,
Jieun

Jieun Kim
Computer Science (BCS)
University of British Columbia
Email: jieunkxx@student.ubc.ca
==============================================

Dear Ayako,

This is Jieun Kim from ENGL301 course.
I am writing this letter to invite you to become a member of my professional writing team.
I read your application letter, and I admire your learning philosophy. In particular, I agree with you that being open-minded and open to opposed opinions is essential. When it comes to a team project, I prioritize people who respect each other and reliable over their skills.   I believe you are the right person, and you will bring positive energy to the team.

I am a 3rd year BCS student with five years of working experience. My work experience involved technical writing, such as issuing application notes to the customer. I am have completed a number of team projects, which required independent and collaborative work. I am a team player who knows how to get along with others. I am sure my skillsets will be a great asset to the team. Please find the attached application letter for details about me.

If you are interested in team up with me, please let me know. I am looking forward to hearing from you soon. If you have any questions about me, please feel free to be in touch.

Enclosure: 301 Jieun Kim Application Letter

Thank you.

Best regards,
Jieun

Jieun Kim
Computer Science (BCS)
University of British Columbia
Email: jieunkxx@student.ubc.ca

==============================================

Dear Ryan,

This is Jieun Kim from ENGL301 course.
I am writing this letter to invite you to become a member of my professional writing team.
I read your application letter, and it caught my attention because we have something in common. I am a 3rd year BCS student with five years of working experience. My work experience also involved business writing such as issuing application notes to the customer. I am sure that your skill will be a great asset to the team.

I agree that students should develop enriched thinking and critical understanding before grades. I hope it will be an opportunity to team up with you and acquire such skills.

If you have any questions about me, please feel free to be in touch. Included with this letter is my application letter.

Thanks for your attention. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Thank you.

Best regards,
Jieun

Jieun Kim, Computer Science (BCS)
University of British Columbia
Email: jieunkxx@student.ubc.ca

Memorandum
To: Dr. Erika Paterson
From: Jieun Kim
Date: May, 26, 2021
Subject: Notification of Posted Application Letter

I am wiring this email to inform you that I have posted the assignment 1:2, my Application letter in order to apply to be a professional writing team member on my personal blog as indicated below.
Link: https://blogs.ubc.ca/jieunk/2021/05/26/301-jieun-kim-application-letter/

The application letter includes the following.
– Professional interest
– previous experience
– Strengths and weakness
– Learning Goal

Details are in the attached document.

Please let me know if there is any question regarding the application letter.

Thank you.

Best regards,
Jieun

301 Jieun Kim Application letter

Jieun Kim
3rd Year, Computer Science (BCS)
jieunkxx@student.ubc.ca

May 26, 2021

ENGL301 98A, Erika Paterson
University of British Columbia
Vancouver BC

Dear ENGL301 fellow students:

I am writing this letter to express my keen interest in the position of the professional writing team in ENGL301 98A course. I would love to be part of a team where I can contribute to the team’s success.

I am a 3rd-year Computer Science (BCS) student with a Bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering, with five years of work experience as a pre-silicon design verification engineer. I am looking for a career transition to Computer Science that can satisfy my interest while combining my previous work experience. I am applying for a Co-op program this term, hoping to explore how my skill-sets can be effectively applied in CS. Before heading out of the Co-op program, I would like to build a robust job application package through the resource provided in this course.

From my work experience, first, I built strong time management and organization skills by completing numerous time-matter projects. Second, I demonstrated professional writing skills by issuing a number of application notes and design manuals to customers. Finally, I worked on multiple team projects, which required independent and collaborative work. I am a team player who knows how to get along with other people. I am a slow writer. The brainstorming step takes me a while because I tend to overthink. My time management helps to compensate for this weakness; however, I would like to enhance this weakness through this course.
If you have any further questions about me, please do not hesitate to contact me for further information. You can reach me anytime by e-mailing at jieun.kxx@student.ubc.ca. I am hoping for your positive feedback.

Thanks for your kind consideration in advance. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,
Jieun Kim

301 Jieun Kim Application letter