Task 3: The importance of communication skills for engineers

“I contend that we (engineers) are undervalued because of our widespread inability to explain what we do to the general public (and why it is so important). It is one of the hardest goals to accomplish, to be able to boil down difficult concepts into a short and easily understood presentation or elevator pitch.” 

Marybeth Miceli, President, Miceli Infrastructure Consulting, USA (2011)  


In the quote above, Marybeth Miceli believes that engineers are underappreciated due to their incapacity of describing complex and fundamental conceptualisations to a crowd that is unfamiliar with engineering terms. Compacting such a technical idea into a straightforward, comprehensible yet engaging talk can prove extremely challenging.

Engineers are too accustomed to utilising engineering lingo to get their ideas and concepts across to their fellows. This would be an issue when trying to get the crowd to comprehend and interpret what engineers are trying to convey. The importance of effective communication is critical, and ensures that all partakers and listeners are on the same wavelength to ensure no miscommunication takes place. Engineers must therefore learn to tailor their message to the crowd they are speaking to in order to be more appreciated.

Comments

  1. DenzilJanuary 9, 2023 at 5:36 PM

    Well written Leyi! Explanation is organised with great language use. I agree with your point on how engineers might find it hard to relay information about their work to the general public when they've become accustomed to utilizing engineering lingo to get their point across. Perhaps, you could suggest some solutions that engineers could adopt to address this problem.

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  2. Wan ChungJanuary 11, 2023 at 10:23 PM

    This post had make me think deeper. Thanks LeYi for your sharing on your thoughts. I do agreed with your that "Engineers are too accustomed to utilizing engineering lingo to get their ideas and concepts across to their fellows".
    The quote speaks the beauty of communication to convey peoples from different field to understand and appreciate with engineers hard works. Sometimes token can be double up with the well and effective communication skills.

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