Blog 6 - Second Interview Preparation

Carl La Russa

North

9/18/14

Blog 6

   1.) My mentor, Del Shindell, has worked at several companies that manufactured tracking devices for the military and for civilians. Before he started his own company, Mr. Shindell worked at Hughes Aircraft, which designed and built GPS tracking units for the military. The units were installed in torpedoes, submarines, planes, and other military machines. Del was in charge of the finances at Hughes the entire time he worked there. He rubbed shoulders with a lot of other people who designed the tracking units and other military contractors who worked at Hughes. 18 years after retiring from Hughes, Del started his own company called Sygmatech in 2003 with a couple other guys who also worked for Hughes. Del is currently the President of the company, he is also in charge over the marketing of his tracking devices. Currently, he is contracting with Odyssey Tours, a bus company located in Placentia, California and provides them with units that he personally installed in each bus that track each one of their buses. 

2.)      - How did your experience at Hughes affect how  you run your company today?

          - What were your specific duties at Hughes aircraft?

          - What lead you to get the job at Hughes?

          - Were you ever required to report to the military on specific projects or just to your own boss?

          - What other people worked with you and what did they do?   

Blog 5 Mentorship and Research Reflection

Carl la Russa

North

Mentorship and Research Reflection

1.) The process of finding my mentor actually wasn't that difficult. My next door neighbor Del Shindell, has been working with GPS systems for about 50 years and has a vast knowledge on this subject including a number of people he has worked with or met while working. Over the past two years I've been doing various jobs for him around his house but I wasn't sure where I was going to do my mentorship. I knew Mr.Shindell worked with tracking units but I wasn't if that's what I really wanted to do until I started asking him about what he did. After about a week of going over to his house and having him talk to me about he has worked with and what he is doing currently, I couldn't resist asking him if he could mentor me over the next year on his job and how his products work. He finally said yes and then began working with his devices and I even got one installed in my own car.

2.) The most important article that I've read so far has been the article on how GPS works by Business Insider. This article really helped grasp how GPS actually works and how it serves our many needs on this planet anywhere from tracking a car to tracking a missile in mid-flight on it's way to its target. The article went into depth on how the military's use of GPS is a whole lot different from the civilian's use. The military receives super accurate readings on an object or person's location whereas a civilian gets a much less accurate reading. 

August Extra Post

Carl La Russa

North

Extra Post

                   Hello everyone, I'm Carl and for my summer mentor ship I worked with my mentor on GPS tracking units and his tracking website. Him and I installed several units into neighbors cars and worked on tracking units that were having problems running. We also worked on the tracking website (below) where the vehicles that have the units installed in them can be tracked. There were several issues with the website where data from the vehicle was not being transmitted to the server so I helped my mentor troubleshoot the problem and then figure out how to fix it. I was also given homework, which was to design a brochure describing his tracking products and website. All in all I had a great time working alongside my mentor learning cool new things everyday.

Blog 4: Interview Preparation

Carl La Russa

8/26/14

North

Interview 1

1.) I plan on interviewing my mentor for Interview 1 because I want to learn more about how his company runs and what he is responsible for in his company. I may also be given phone numbers or emails to people who my mentor might know that work with my topic and that I may be able to interview later on.

2.) The questions I will be asking my mentor will have to do with his responsibilities in his company and how he works with his colleagues on developing tracking units and software. I also plan on asking him questions about how he thinks his company will evolve to meet the needs of the future with technology advancing ever so quickly. Finally, I will be asking him about how him and his company plan to expand their business throughout the U.S.

Blog 3: Topic Choice and Working EQ

Carl La Russa

8/22/13

North

Research

1.) Topic: GPS Tracking Units 

2.) How does tracking a person in a vehicle via GPS affect their driving style?

3.) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10S455hXqVUHIRBz5eQo1KssOAqNPieMLhCosPM1Ehe0/edit#gid=0

Summer Mentorship Component Blog #2

Carl La Russa

8/18/14

North

Blog #2

Mentorship

1.) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fmdzlWyzenRCBV__ssFuoojPW1i-1EvZX8YWRcAE-Bc/edit#gid=472874349

2.) Del Shindell (President of Sygmatech Inc.)   Cell: (909)-576-1150

3.)      1.) How is the Senior Project setup?

           

          2.) What is the total amount of hours that you need to spend with a mentor?

          3.) Is there a final presentation you must do that explains what you've done over the course of your 

                project?

          4.) Can I attend the final presentation? 

4.) The most important thing I gained from this experience was learning the concepts on how the tracking devices transmit data through satellites to the tracking website. I believe this is important because if you're not able to grasp the concept on how something works than you won't know how to work with it.

5.) My senior project topic is GPS Vehicle Tracking. The summer mentorship that I completed along with my mentor Del Shindell helped me choose this topic because my mentor has worked with satellite tracking systems his entire life and he is very knowledgeable in his profession. Having someone who knows and has a passion for what their doing makes a big difference when working with them. Therefore I decided to work with my mentor to research and learn his profession.

Blog 1: 2 hour presentations

1.) What presentations did you see?
          

• Karate
• Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
• Radio Field Engineer
• Structural Engineering
• Auto Repair
• Auto Repair Shop
• Military Defense Systems
• Business Management
• Music Shop
• Soccer
• Architecture
• Strength Training
• Business IT
• Public Defender
• Magic the Gathering
• Programming

2.)   What questions do you have that haven't been answered about the senior project? This can be about the senior project in general, any components or about a presentation topic you saw or what they said.  

     - 1.) What are the requirements for the activities? In some of the presentations that I saw, some presenters had several activities while others only had one.

     - 2.) What are the time requirements for speaking and the overall presentation?

     - 3.) Are props / examples and professional dress optional?




3. What has the most important part of the senior project based on what you are seeing in the 2-hour presentations?

       From what I have seen, most presenters have been try to stall for time because their speaking portions were too short. Another thing that I noticed, was that all of the presenters spoke loud and clearly or at least tried to which helped the audience hear what they were saying during the presentation. One final thing that I noticed, was that some presenters were more engaging during their presentations which kept the audience awake while other presenters spoke with a monotone voice and did not engage their audience which resulted in the audience falling asleep.


4. What topic are you considering doing and why?

    For my senior project, I am considering doing GPS tracking devices and how they are used in transportation. My next door neighbor, Del Shindell, has worked with tracking systems for most of his life for either military use or civilian use. Today, Mr. Shindell contracts with Odyssey Tours, a bus company, in Placentia California where he installs tracking devices in their buses to monitor how long the bus has been on the road, how fast it is going, fuel percentage, battery voltage, and a bunch of other information relayed from the bus's on board computer through the tracking device and to Odyssey Tours HQ. Mr. Shindell also sells tracking devices for regular cars and has installed one in my car and his car for testing. After hearing about all this, I became very interested in how the devices actually connect with the vehicle and relay a plethora of information to a central computer. This eventually convinced me to use this for my senior project.


5. What are you doing for your summer mentor-ship?

   I will be spending time with my mentor Del Shindell learning how the tracking website works with the devices and how the devices themselves interact with the vehicles they are installed in.