Analysis
Looking back at my Video Pitch goals and how the four learning outcomes (Rhetoric, Process, Modes & Media, and Design) played out across the semester.
Video Pitch
In my Video Pitch, my goals were to translate technical concepts into clear language, adapt my messaging and emphasis for different audiences, and create a technical crisis infographic. I met those goals across the three major projects. I also met each of the four learning outcomes for the course.
Rhetoric
MP1 leaned hardest on considering the language for my audience and adapting my messaging and emphasis for different audience types. I went through multiple revisions of my cover letter and thought carefully about the language I was using to describe my skills and experience.
I targeted a Software Engineer I role at Amazon. The cover letter opens by naming the role first, then pivots to my background:
"This position at Twitch as a Software Engineer I requires someone who will craft immersive experiences and scalable applications for users. I believe my previous professional, project, and educational experiences make me a viable candidate for this job."
I wanted the opening to prove I had read the job description. The body paragraph uses Amazon-specific vocabulary to signal cultural fit:
"This process acquainted me with Amazon's unique ecosystem of internal tools, like Brazil, Pipelines, and Cradle, as well as standard software libraries like the AWS CDK."
Brazil, Pipelines, and Cradle are internal Amazon tools. This would only resonate with someone who has worked at Amazon. I followed this with a concrete impact metric: "Adoption of the tool would reduce operational overhead by 99.8%, saving the company hundreds of thousands of dollars per year."
The resume follows this same structure, with an action paired with an actual outcome. "Tool reduces operational overhead by 99.8%, saving $300,000 annually, built to scale with company-wide adoption."
I've done this professionally as well, from writing documentation at Ashvin AI, to writing a presentation I gave at Amazon.
Process
For MP3, my team created training materials. The process involved discussion with teammates, getting everyone on the same page, because we all had varying amounts of experience with Claude Code.
We split the six parts up, drafted in Google Docs, and went through multiple revisions. The feedback that mattered most was considering audience, because readers would have varying degrees of experience with the tool, as well as general technology concepts. starting points with the tool. We added notes for readers who had never used an LLM, like the question that opens the memory section of Part 1:
"Have you ever tried asking Claude too many questions, and suddenly it forgets about the first question you asked? This has to do with a concept called context."
We also carried this through the remaining parts.
I've also had to go through iterations of feedback, implementation, and improvement during my internships. Code review at Amazon and Ashvin AI followed a similar process.
Modes and Media
MP2 combined a report and a graphic. Both sources had to reinforce the same argument without repeating each other.
The report is aimed at specialists, talking about company leadership, engineers, and regulators. It draws on Winsor's analysis of the Challenger disaster and Grabill and Simmons' work on technocratic communication. It uses quotes straight from pilots. One captain called the 737 Max manual "inadequate and almost criminally insufficient" and asked, "I am left to wonder: what else don't I know?" Those quotes back up a specialist-facing argument: that excluding pilots from MCAS documentation was a "technocratic" communication failure, where as Grabill and Simmons put it, "risk communicators strive to educate/influence the public to think about risk the way experts do."
The infographic packages the same research for a public reader. It opens with the death toll and uses a timeline, breaking the failures into three causes. We added the pilot quotes too, packaged with colors so the casual reader gets them before any of the statistics. Our "Suppressed Internal Communication" label says: "Communication requires shared interpretation, not just data," summarizing what we are trying to communicate.
I've used different media in my internships, from documentation to presentations with graphics.
Design
For MP3, we went with a website design style appealing to the eye. This is so it's easy to follow along and read technical commands, while also quickly understanding if something is part of the core guide or a tip.
Code samples sit inside a card that gives a visual distinction to commands. The body font is Inter, while code is JetBrains Mono. While this is subtle, it shows that font selection can be key to making an easy to follow technical guide.
In the infographic from MP2, we had to fit a whole crisis onto one page adding too much clutter. We added a timeline at the top, setting up how the crisis progressed before getting into any text. The "Lessons" section at the bottom uses four colored circles around a central question, "How Future Disasters Can Be Prevented," to leave the reader with something actionable.
Closing
The Video Pitch goals I set in January (clear translation, audience adaptation, a public infographic) all show up across MP1, MP2, and MP3. I learned a lot throughout the revision processes and getting feedback from classmates. My content would change after a review would flag something and my final submissions improved because of this.