Why engineers should learn to write
Reader John McKay commented on my Machine Design piece about why engineers should learn to write:
Dear Mr. Orr;
I wanted to write to say that I couldn’t agree more with your article on the need for engineers to be good written communicators. I have been in the engineering field for twenty years and I can not tell you how valuable that skill has been to me.
Before going to engineering school, I finished a business degree and went to work for a property management firm. We had a large number legal issues to deal with, some of which required long descriptive narratives written for the review of a lawyer to determine further action. It was here that I developed the ability to write.
In every engineering course there were writing assignments, even calculus courses, as part of a university initiative intended to improve the writing skills of the engineering students. We were required to pass a writing exam before graduation, scored from one to twelve; seven being the passing score. I easily scored an eleven out of twelve on the first try. Some students took the exam multiple times before finally passing. My thermodynamics professor told me that I was in the top ten percent of all the students he had taught. Since I struggled to get a “B” in the class I knew it wasn’t for my technical ability. He told me it was because I submitted well written and organized reports.
While I went to school, I worked full-time in an engineering department. I reported for eleven years to the same vice president who placed a high priority on the value of the written communications coming out of his department. He understood that it was upon this basis that his engineers would be judged by those in other non-technical departments. At one point, I was the only staff member allowed to release documents not checked personally by him. I know this factored heavily into my performance reviews and subsequent pay increases.
I remember a student in an engineering class stating that he didn’t understand why there should be a writing requirement for the class. “After all, don’t they know we were going to be engineers?” How wrong he was. I have actually seen the careers of good engineers negatively affected due the lack of good written communication skills.
Most of my writing now is in the form of invention disclosures submitted to patent attorneys, a skill I have developed through the years, complete with patent claims. I think the greatest complement I ever received was from a patent attorney who told me that he had no need to edit and re-write any of my disclosures—they could simply be submitted as written for provisional patent applications.
I would like to suggest the addition of one item to your list of suggestions for improving ones writing ability—read books. Through reading, I have been exposed to numerous writing styles. It has helped me to develop a style of my own—one that is a compilation of many ways to express an idea or explain a concept.
Once again, thank you for this insightful article.
John McKay
Principal Mechanical Engineer
Gatekeeper Systems
Tel: 949.271.3923
JMckay@gatekeepersystems.com
www.gatekeepersystems.com
Dear Mr. Orr;
I wanted to write to say that I couldn’t agree more with your article on the need for engineers to be good written communicators. I have been in the engineering field for twenty years and I can not tell you how valuable that skill has been to me.
Before going to engineering school, I finished a business degree and went to work for a property management firm. We had a large number legal issues to deal with, some of which required long descriptive narratives written for the review of a lawyer to determine further action. It was here that I developed the ability to write.
In every engineering course there were writing assignments, even calculus courses, as part of a university initiative intended to improve the writing skills of the engineering students. We were required to pass a writing exam before graduation, scored from one to twelve; seven being the passing score. I easily scored an eleven out of twelve on the first try. Some students took the exam multiple times before finally passing. My thermodynamics professor told me that I was in the top ten percent of all the students he had taught. Since I struggled to get a “B” in the class I knew it wasn’t for my technical ability. He told me it was because I submitted well written and organized reports.
While I went to school, I worked full-time in an engineering department. I reported for eleven years to the same vice president who placed a high priority on the value of the written communications coming out of his department. He understood that it was upon this basis that his engineers would be judged by those in other non-technical departments. At one point, I was the only staff member allowed to release documents not checked personally by him. I know this factored heavily into my performance reviews and subsequent pay increases.
I remember a student in an engineering class stating that he didn’t understand why there should be a writing requirement for the class. “After all, don’t they know we were going to be engineers?” How wrong he was. I have actually seen the careers of good engineers negatively affected due the lack of good written communication skills.
Most of my writing now is in the form of invention disclosures submitted to patent attorneys, a skill I have developed through the years, complete with patent claims. I think the greatest complement I ever received was from a patent attorney who told me that he had no need to edit and re-write any of my disclosures—they could simply be submitted as written for provisional patent applications.
I would like to suggest the addition of one item to your list of suggestions for improving ones writing ability—read books. Through reading, I have been exposed to numerous writing styles. It has helped me to develop a style of my own—one that is a compilation of many ways to express an idea or explain a concept.
Once again, thank you for this insightful article.
John McKay
Principal Mechanical Engineer
Gatekeeper Systems
Tel: 949.271.3923
JMckay@gatekeepersystems.com
www.gatekeepersystems.com
Joel
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