Blog » Writing in Engineering (BP1)
Posted on 05 Feb 2013 02:29
Right now, my major is electrical engineering. I understand that writing is a very important part of being an engineer, as it is an integral part of communication. When you are an engineer, you must be able to communicate your ideas to your co-workers and bosses. I for one completely believe that writing is extremely important to an engineer so should you. Although I agree with many that writing can sometimes seem monotonous and boring, it is very important for life, especially as an engineer. Carl Selinger had said in his chapter "Writing" from Stuff You Don’t Learn in Engineering School: Skills for Success in the Real World, “The bottom line here: engineers must be able to write effectively. Period” (16). In order to be able to communicate your proposal to others, you need to actually be able to coherently write the proposal down. Without learning to write properly, you will not be able to properly write down what you want to get across. You can then come off as unprofessional, and lose your reputation for your career. It is important to have a reputation as a good writer in the engineering profession, which is sometimes hard to come by. A good engineer will be able to write proposals and communicate his or her ideas and designs to the people he or she needs to present it to. Usually, an engineer will have to present his design to the people that work for him to put his product together through writing. He will need to be able to give step-by-step instructions so that the workers can build his design. Also, he will need to be able to give technical descriptions of his designs through writing proposals to the higher ups in the company.
I have learned about what an engineer does through many ways. One way is through different relatives that have jobs as engineers. They have taught me the different things that an engineer has to do to succeed. Another way that I have learned what an engineer has to do is through my classes at CCNY. In engineering 101, Professor Podell used his life experiences as an engineer to give the class examples of what an engineer needs to do. Through showing us the engineering method of solving problems, he showed different ways that an engineer would need to use writing to make a living. In English 110, Andrew taught us the different methods for writing in engineering. He used different writers works to show us how we can improve our technical writing skills. Overall, these different ways have given me an idea of what an engineer needs to do, especially with writing.
I think that my style of writing is geared towards writing within engineering. I think by being able to communicate well with others personally, it will help translate into my own writing. I will be able to apply what I know about technical writing and communicating with others to help me be successful in my future engineering career.
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Hey Peter. I agree with your point that writing is essential to engineering, as there are many instances in which good communications skills are necessary. Most individuals believe engineering consists of a lone person working to fix a problem or generate a solution, but in reality, team projects and coordinated group efforts are almost always needed, as they allow engineers to tackles problems both quickly and efficiently. I also like how you related what you understood about engineering to the classes you have taken at CCNY. These classes pretty much show the skills and processes that are needed to become a very successful engineer. Whether its using an engineering process to develop a product or using a writing process to find what it is you will write about, I believe that either of these methods are simply a way to approach a problem with a solution, which is what engineering is all about. Good work on the essay, hope to see more later on.