I walked into the Technical communication classroom having a pre-occupied mindset that this course would be of no use and it would never help me in my future endeavors. However, when the professor introduced the course and explained to us why technical communications matters and emphasized on the fact that communication actually makes the difference between success and failure, I changed my preoccupancy and started listening to the lectures. I realized that it is much more than communication, the class covered some engineering concepts, but also developed my writing, communication general discussion, and team skills in more than one field, giving me the ability to freely express my thoughts on any subject. The major hurdle which I faced in the class was the issues related to communication among my peers due to the fact that all of the students were fresh students and were not known to each other.
One of the most challenging situations was when the professor explained the concept of a project team wherein, she said she has selected some random people to do the group project. The situation was so difficult during the initial days that most of us were not comfortable in striking up a conversation between us. That was quite an alarming situation and the concerns regarding the success of the project were sky high. However, all these concerns were washed off when the concept of teamwork and the importance of communication within a team was taught in the class. This concept actually visualizes us with the real-life situation which we will be facing in the future. One could easily understand that most of the major projects are teamed up with new faces and then the success of the project mainly depends upon the effectiveness in communication between the team members. That was one moment I could relate to what exactly was taught in the class and how it will help me in the future.
Engineering Technical communication is not all about communication skills, it deals with many other skills like presentation skills, letter writing skills, job search and interview skills, technical report writing skills, and many others. It is quite evident that without this course, many of the above-listed skills would have remained unknown for me. Some of the skills I particularly lagging behind was my writing skills. I always use to write things with my perceptions and views and never considered the audience's perspective. But this course taught me that technical communication is not opinion based, not based on imagination and literary, and is not focused on the writer. Those formations actually helped me to avoid technical jargon and improve my writing skills.
The projects in this class have significantly helped me improve my technical writing skills. For every assignment, I had to analyze the audience, format it appropriately, and convey technical information simply without sacrificing depth or meaning. My writing skills were refined stage by stage with the help of individual assignments and group assignments like problem descriptions, progress reports, minutes of the meeting, presentations, and final proposals. A few of the group discussions that have helped me to develop skills that are important for my career are the introduction section, communication skills for engineers, why communication matters, and technical communication and the engineering profession.
Few of the information given by the instructor was a new experience for me. One such module was related to Parallelism. The concept of parallel structures could simplify sentences and avoid confusion. Elevator talk was another important idea that gave me a lot of confidence to talk in front of a manager or CEO. Along with the concept of creating an impact on the receiver, it taught me to create the pitch in a time-framed manner. Report writings, Memos creation, and formal email writing skills were all added benefits of this course. Another important significance of this course was related to job search and to fit the resume for a particular job. The information given related to the preparation of a resume and its presentation was invaluable.
I believe these lectures are also extremely relevant to my future career. One lesson which I will surely adopt in the future is when I try to communicate technical aspects and innovative ideas to the workforce, I will always analyze who I am talking or writing to (Knowing your audience). For example, if I am discussing water treatment plant design plans with a peer, I might want to discuss all aspects of the project in a descriptive manner. Alternately, when discussing the same project with a client, I might only want to talk about the final outcomes and other important issues that pertain to the client instead of discussing the entire project. This does not mean that I would hide some important information; instead, it means that the content will be communicated differently depending on the audience. Overall, understanding the knowledge, biases, expectations, and opinions of one’s audience is extremely important to effectively communicate in an engineering field.
Conclusion
The lectures, projects, discussions, and assignments in my Engineering technical communications class have prepared me for the future world. The most important lesson learned in this course is that technical knowledge alone will not take you to any heights if you lack communication skills. There will be many instances where you will have to lead from the front, convey pieces of information properly and bring a balance between management and employees. For all these, you should be an effective communicator and a socially accepted engineer. As businesses and the economy continue to globalize, learning how to effectively communicate through language barriers is extremely important. Essentially, effective formatting depends on audience expectations and needs. Overall, organizing thoughts and ideas is extremely important for communicating technical ideas in the engineering industry. Overall, effective technical communication is an important key to succeeding in the professional world.