The importance of communication skills

 “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 her quote, Marybeth Miceli alludes to the miscommunication between engineers and the general public due to the inability of engineers to translate technical jargon into words the general public would understand. As a result, individuals may be deemed incapable, despite their capabilities.


A presentation is challenging enough on its own, what more when one has to maintain audience interest and most importantly, have the audience understand what they are doing?


My friends, who were not engineering majors, once asked me how I controlled my product without visible connections for a project I was working on. As I was used to being surrounded by people who were in engineering, I unknowingly used terms like “IoT” and “cloud”. As none of them understood these terms, I tried to explain again, but in layman terms in hopes of them understanding the process but that proved to be a challenge as they were still unable to grasp the idea.


Having encountered such situations myself, I do believe that it is important for engineers to improve their communication skills. With better communication skills, not only will engineers be able to share about the purpose and the process of making their various projects, but at the same time, they will be able to shed light on the importance of engineering in society.

Comments

  1. Asyraf10 January 2023 at 01:53

    Hello Jazlyn. Content : Well interpreted, gave clear and depth example as well. Organization : Well organized as it has paragraph and a conclusion. Language : Easy to understand.

    ReplyDelete

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