By Diego Rodriguez
ENG 21007
Professor Voisard
05/17/2019
Writing for Engineers is one of those courses we as engineer students think we do not need. However, without courses like this one, it will be quick difficult to be an engineer, let alone, work with other non-engineers. It does not matter the field and area of expertise, if communication between colleagues fails, the whole project will also fail. Communication is the most important factor in human development as an intelligent species. Without it, it is hard to imagine where we would be today. The mere creation of new technologies depends on how effectively engineers and scientists communicate with each other. And in order to communicate effectively, the majority of human society agreed on using certain dialect to communicate. This is where Writing for Engineers shines. By distinguishing the differences between colloquial and professional dialects, this course teaches the basics of communication in the workplace. Not only that but also defines our voices in such a way that it minimizes the margin of being misunderstood by our future colleagues. This is highly crucial when working with delicate subjects, for example, surgeons discussing procedures, or engineers talking about specific measurements. In these situations, communication is the key to success. Writing for Engineers does an excellent job of introducing future engineers to the proper and correct dialects that have to be used in order to ensure effective communication in the workplace.
From a personal point of view, Writing for Engineers has helped me publish my verbal communication and written communication skills. A great example of this happened when we were assigned to work on memos. This assignment, in particular, was rather peculiar due to what it actually stands for, which is the equivalent of chatting between colleagues. We had to shift our usual dialects to a more professional one. But also, we had to create a theoretical scenario where we were “chatting” with one of our colleagues about a project of our choosing. I found myself struggling not to speak in a too friendly manner with this colleague because according to the assignment description, this colleague was a close friend of ours. It was an interesting experience that definitely left me a lot to think about the world of professionals and the way they communicate. Nevertheless, it taught me the basics on how to communicate using the proper dialect in the workplace without sounding too colloquial.
In terms of the usage of language, the assignment that gave me the most trouble was the Technical Description assignment. For this assignment, we had to come up with an item with some type of functionality and describe it by using what I thought was the combination of marketing and a technical description. I had some difficulties drawing the line between marketing and the description of the item because we could not sound like one of those tv advertisements adds. But we also did not want to sound so technical that the audience would get bored. We had to pay close attention to the description given by the course book, but I personally had to go online and search for examples in order to write this assignment. This resulted in the improvement of my writing skills, structure, and usage of different dialects. However, I have to say that by the end of this assignment I was not completely sure about the quality of my work. Nevertheless, my classmates gave me good feedback during the peer review for this assignment, making me feel somehow better about the final draft.
In conclusion, Writing for Engineers has taught the importance of effective communication and the proper usage of language in the workplace. The many assignments we had to work on combined with the many resources we had made it possible for me to understand and adjust to the demands of every individual assignment. This course has taught me much more than I expected. Verbally, my skills have improved exponentially due to the different assignment I did where we had to shift our way of communication in order to deliver a message effectively. Also, as a non-native English speaker, my reading and writing skills have become sharper due to the exposure to different ways of communication. For this and more, I thank this course for providing me with the necessary tools to hopefully succeed in the professional world of engineers.
