The research I conducted aligns with my opening goals, and I can enhance it considering how what I am learning is going to transfer into a future professional context. In the graduate program, “I hoped to gain a comprehensive understanding of the factors at play in global climate change so that I could launch myself into a position that took strides to sustain the earth” (Friedman 2022). I am grateful that I did accomplish gaining a comprehensive understanding of the factors at play in global climate change through the graduate degree because it brought realization of my newfound values and skillset, as well as informed my ultimate decision to return to work in the renewable energy industry.

From there, I applied to work at a variety of positions in the utility-scale solar industry. Initially, since I was not invited to interview for any of the utility-scale solar positions, I decided to seek out a Customer Success position at a SaaS (Software as a Service) technology company because it aligned with my newfound values and skillset. However, I did not yet see how the position in SaaS would align with my original value of taking strides to sustain the earth. So, at the time I wrote Reflection 1, I aimed “to make this last course a valuable learning experience by focusing on investigating the global climate change problem in the context of the SaaS technology industry” (Friedman 2022). However, since then, my ultimate goal changed because, after multiple rounds of interviewing, I accepted an Asset Management Analyst position at a utility-scale solar company called Cypress Creek Renewables. Now, to make the last five weeks of this course a valuable learning experience, I decided to focus on investigating the global climate change problem in the context of efficient data analysis to grow my competency in the data analysis skill useful to the new professional position. Specifically, I changed my capstone project’s focus from investigating how Saas technology can be used to tackle global climate change to particularly exploring how it is a valuable tool for conducting necessary, broad integrative analyses given the large quantity of diverse global climate change data.

From there, the feedback I gained helped refine my argument. My classmate gave great Permission Memo draft feedback to “talk about the large amounts of data with numbers or examples of the diverse types of metrics” (Hughes 2022). As a response, I added “by 2030, NASA in itself will have produced 300+ petabytes of climate data that differs in formal, spatiotemporal resolution and study objective” as a powerful, specific statistic to help thoroughly describe the problem. From there, my professor gave great Permission Memo final draft feedback as he said, “[although] the problem is clear and that is an important first step, I am not sure that I see your discussion or presentation of the solution to the problem that you are describing” (Hay 2022). It prompted me to focus on gathering sources that clearly outlined my solution to the problem with numerical statistics. The research I gathered to complete the Annotated Reference List is going to enhance the solution by providing specific examples of projects that used SaaS technology to efficiently analyze global climate change data.

Now, I see how what I am learning is going to not only transfer to my next professional context but also continues to enhance my self-knowledge. For instance, by learning key words and concepts associated with data analytics through this project, I am going to understand and effectively participate in conversations with my fellow asset management team members who have data-oriented mental frameworks and use the terminology related to data analysis efficiency on a daily basis. Additionally, after learning about how awareness of language choices constitutes building arguments, I can leverage rhetoric strategies to make a significant impact. While working on my capstone report, I have noticed my high level of organization helps me do well in detail-oriented, difficult endeavors that I may have never done before. However, I need to work on having more regular, frequent drafting sessions for shorter time periods as opposed to having intermittent infrequent drafting sessions for longer time periods. I also want to build my skill of remembering to read my writing aloud because it is going to immensely support me in the revision stage and help me prepare for the capstone presentation. My self-knowledge is going to support me in achieving new goals going forward. In conclusion, my new goal for the next five weeks is to apply the writing principles from the course and self-knowledge to complete the capstone report and presentation in accordance with my revised thesis statement.