Open Post #6: How Detroit Can Become Silicon Valley and Vice Versa

In an article on Fortune, I learned that Detroit and the tech center of America, Silicon Valley, are becoming more and more like each other. The two cities are transition into the type of work the other city specializes in today.

For example, Detroit has been one of the biggest manufacturing cities for over 100 years. From the amount of automotive plants and companies that produce in this city, Detroit knows a thing or two about hardware. Silicon Valley is starting to get more into manufacturing than they have been since the internet first boomed. It states in the article that 39% of Google's patents from 2007-2012 have all been for hardware things like energy and their autonomous car.

On the other hand, more tech jobs are being made throughout Detroit. Having seen it myself, the tech world is certainly being discovered by companies in the city like Quicken Loans and the growing amount of electronic start up companies. Also, a point to make is how much money the auto companies in Detroit invest into electronics.

The integration of manufacturing and technology in the two cities could lead to many great things like jobs returning from overseas and new areas for business in Detroit. Both cities could learn many things from the other. It surely is something to keep in mind as some of us going through college are interested in those fields.

Open Prompt #5: A Figure to Look At

Recently, I stumbled across this picture on the internet and it got me thinking about where Detroit is headed for the future. For myself, it's hard to really determine if this is, overall, is a positive trend. There are certainly some ups and some downs here. There are also a lot of questions to ask as well, like why the fluctuations of diversity and why increase in occupancy downtown yet a decrease in the workers.

There are many interesting numbers to look at here. How do you see it? Does it look like Detroit is getting better or worse?

Synthesis Essay

Since the beginning of the semester, the blog project has been a constant reminder to me that there was always work that needed to be done. Each week required two posts and a comment, something I was always very good at putting off. However, more so than just a thorn in my side, the blog project had a purpose. The purpose was to get me to expand my preconceived notions into research and new ideas about the field of study that I have chosen for myself—economics. Through economics my goal is to one day become a lawyer or a sports/entertainment agent. The blog project helped me, more than anything else, realize that while reading long, black and white documents is prevalent in my field, learning from experts face to face is the best method for my style.

Throughout my past research assignments, I had always seemed to continue the same method of learning over and over again. Web sites and books were always the most common kinds, mostly because they were easy to obtain and generally were the fastest to access. As far as I believed, there hadn’t really been a problem with gathering enough important information from these kinds of material, but after taking different approaches because of the blog project, I have a new favorite kind of source.

In one of the week’s assignments, I had to interview a professional in my field of study. I had reached out to an older fraternity brother of mine who is a lawyer in metro Detroit right to about what kinds of qualities a person needs to possess to become successful in this field. I assumed, at first, I was going to get some decent information, but we ended up talking for almost two hours about what I need to work on and what he thought helped him out the most as he was going through undergraduate school at Michigan State. I had then realized that no web article or chapter in a book was a better source of information for me.

Maybe it was having to keep my mind thinking and creating new questions as time passed. Maybe it was just how we both knew how to talk and communicate with people well. Either way it was more helpful than any long or boring text I've read all year. We had a lot in common and it aided me greatly in being able to bring up new topics and ask different questions in the conversation. I could read a scholarly article on how to be a great lawyer or a Buzzfeed list on the “top 16 character traits a good lawyer possesses,” but it will never be as helpful is talking face to face with someone who knows and is willing to give me custom advice to help myself as who I am today.
Overall, the blog project has taught me new things about economics and the field of law. It built on what I knew and believed before this semester and allowed me to expand on ideas and explore them in a real practical and up-to-date manner. Searching for interesting topics to write about in my free posts allowed me to discover new sources for interesting and relevant information that I will continue to use as I grow up and gain more knowledge in the field. Even some of the other prompts that I didn’t enjoy so much helped me as well. Picking between a scholarly article or a short informal piece on  website to use as a source wasn’t very fun, but it helped me realize who and where has the most helpful information in a user friendly source. While it was a constant hassle each week, the blog project expanded my mind on my field, allowed me to meet new people who can help me in the future, and helped me as a student, a researcher, and as a future professional in the field of law.