First Engineering Training Course

Hi everyone, I’m Doyin Adesuyi-Dada, treasurer for Society of Women Engineer’s SWE chapter of Northern Illinois University! This month I created and taught a coding class for engineering students!

I was a bit nervous since unlike a lot of other majors, my Biomedical Engineering don’t utilize code as much as many of my counterparts: Electrical Engineering or Mechanical Engineering. But it was super easy and fun getting back into coding. If you’re new to coding, don’t be afraid. There are so many readily available and easy guides and programs online to help you get started, and if you have any questions, I’d be happy to help!

This is also coming from someone without an intense coding background. Besides a few stem classes/clubs that I had back in primary school, and NIU’s CSCI 240 course (Love professor Amy) that I took 2 years ago, I don’t have that much experience. Coding isn’t too complicated if you’ve got a lot of patience and keen eyes for any mistakes in your writing.

Our members practicing their coding.

I tailored my coding lab to the software system NIU promotes: Matlab. It’s a simple system derived from C, C++ and Java programming languages. While NIU does require their engineering students to take a C++ course, they use a different coding system than Matlab which can make it confusing for students unused to the system.

My best advice for anyone interested in learning is to just play around with the system, MatLab actually has many resources and training guides, many free and available to students on their page. If Matlab hasn’t answered it on their website, there is probably a YouTube video or Reddit post breaking down what you’re trying to do.

I don’t know the full extent of what every Engineering Major requires but from my experience we typically use the basics—matrices, simple calculations or functions, and declaring variables—all of which information is provided free of charge! And even if you aren’t an engineering student, coding can be a great way to simplify your projects or have some fun.

-Doyin Adesuyi-Dada, Treasurer