How important is writing in engineering?

This is a great question. The short answer is, it is really OK not to like writing in engineering, it really doesn’t need to be your strength in order to do your daily tasks. That being said, I find that all types of jobs require some basic communication skills. Technical experts are often very bad communicators, and that’s a shame, because their statements are not precise, vague, and can be misunderstood.

Seeing that you like subjects like math and science, you probably are already good at understanding and explaining technical texts, so that’s great! You have nothing to worry about. Only don’t forget that no matter what you do and how well you do it, being able to explain your ideas to others it’s essential.

Enjoy the ride in engineering!

Engineering doesn't exist in a vacuum. As engineers, we find practical solutions to problems and those problems aren't always math or science. Those problems aren't always from other engineers, either. They arise out of everyday situations, conditions, and environments. As such, not everyone will understand "engineer-speak" so as the engineer, it will be your job to translate what those numbers and symbols mean to everyone else in the room. I'm sorry to say, you'll need to be able to at least write technically sound arguments using words, but reports aren't made up of only words either! They're also maps, figures, pictures, illustrations, diagrams, tables, etc. Those are all part of communication and I've found them to be even more explanatory than words most of the time.

Verbal communication is really important as well. Some people don't want to read reports and documents. Really, most people don't want to read reports and documents. But when someone is asking an engineer a question, what they probably want is an easy to understand answer: what do I have to do next? They don't want to hear how you came up with the idea, what variables went into your calculation, what assumptions you had to make... They just want to know: now what? Verbally, that will probably be easier to communicate than on paper, so practice those speaking skills! It doesn't have to be public speaking. Just pretend that your grandma or grandpa or little brother/sister/cousin asked you the question and how you would respond. Engineering is finding practical solutions, not making them more complicated by using fancy words, theories, or math.

Last but not least and actually most importantly of all... How can you show people that you have the right answer if you can't tell them about it? You can be the smartest person in the room, but if you don't speak up or if you're not able to communicate your brilliant idea to people in some way or another, the idea will be lost and you'll be the only one that figured out the solution with no way to get it into action.

Writing is a vitally important skill to being an engineer. You can have the best ideas and the best solutions, but if you cannot adequately convey them to your audience, you have nothing. As an engineer, I would venture 50-75% of my time is spent writing or speaking about engineering concepts. Strong writing and speaking skills will make you an all around better engineer.

Communication, written and verbal, are key to any job. However, the type of writing you are expected to perform as an engineer is different than what a typical High School English class expects. While proper grammar is always expected, engineers do more technical writing. This type of writing is succinct, accurate, and to the point. During your college classes, you will learn this type of writing in two venues: lab classes and a technical writing class. Your lab write-ups will teach you to write in a more technical manner, as compared to more creative manner from English classes. In addition, you will most likely take a technical writing class to teach you this. So do not be dismayed if you do not excel in your English and Language Arts classes. I found when I started learning technical writing, and having this expected for my lab write-ups, it was so much more natural for me. It was like my brain could relax and just write about accurate, factual experiments, etc. Who knows, you might even end up enjoying this type of writing!

Engineers are normally required to write reports on their work, especially if they are working on contracts. However the report is technical, not literary. Nevertheless, it is very important for engineers (and engineering students) to develop writing skills so that proper grammar and punctuation is used in their communications. It is likely that engineering requires less writing than many other professions.

Writing is critical in engineering, whether it is to communicate to a client or team member what your project needs, or telling a contractor how to build your design. The type of writing we do is very different than what you are taught in English classes, though, since it is much more direct.

What counts in technical writing is the information you need to convey, and precision of how that information is communicated, not the choices of your words. In general, as a civil engineer, the better my communication skills are, the more complete my projects are. The great thing about engineering, though, is that you use pictures and tables along with words to explain things, so you can give a clear overall direction on the entire concept you need to present.

Don’t let writing scare you off from engineering, but do know that your classes that focus on writing are worth all the effort that you put into them.

Communication skills are important for engineers. While not all engineers will write reports and make presentations, many will need to do those things at some point. You will definitely need to be able to communicate your ideas clearly to your colleagues, your supervisors, and your customers to convince them that your approach is the best solution to the problem at hand. Don't worry, though, because just like your math and science skills, communication skills get better with practice. Engineers have a reputation for being poor communicators, so if you develop strong communication skills you will stand out among your peers.

The combination of the technical skills to solve complex, difficult problems and the ability to communicate technical concepts to non-technical business stakeholders and customers can differentiate you in your school work, your career, and as a valuable member of your community. We can't let the stereotype of technical geeks who don't interact well with people and lack communication skills continue - we need STEM professionals who are empathetic, compassionate, and well-spoken to advocate for investment in innovation and engage the communities our customers comprise to make the world a better place. Don't hesitate to practice and improve your communication skills as you add to your technical tool belt - the sky is the limit when you master both!

Writing is a soft but highly essential skill which can greatly enhance the value of an engineer in a work, business, social, or even research environment. Through writing, an individual’s work, learning, and intellect is often judged – in college, in the workplace, and in the community. Engineers have a need for good writing skills because for an engineer, writing helps to:

1. document various aspects of the day to day tasks including projects, processes, and findings
2. communicate a problem
3. capture symptoms and bring logic to a situation
4. capture ideas and possible theories and share solutions and new innovations globally through reports, blogs, and in workshops
5. share findings and simplify complex engineering terminology and data
6. propagate critical thinking and help team members remember key agreements over time which allows others to build on work that has been done before

Writing is difficult for most people, but there are ways to improve in this skill through reading, tutoring, workbooks, and even using software applications, such as smart writing, which help with syntax and corrections. One of my mentors encouraged me to use a thesaurus and play around with different synonyms and antonyms while writing.

Since you specifically indicated writing in English, note that English for others like me is a second language. This might be the same for you. If it is, don’t get discouraged. I often remind myself that English is a medium of communication in certain circles but it is not necessarily a measure of one’s intelligence or aptitude. However, to thrive and to be relevant in a community that largely uses English as a means of communication, I give it my best shot and constantly seek for ways to improve through the continuous reading of technical and non-technical material. I also seek opportunities to create presentations in PowerPoint and I am not shy to allow others to provide feedback or criticism to my written work.

How important is communication for a Software Engineer? It is essential. You do not have to know how to write the great american novel, and oftentimes, shorter is better when it comes to technical writing. But being able to succinctly and accurately describe your ideas so that others can understand it and follow along is so critical. Both writing and verbal communication are important. You should feel comfortable writing a High Level Design for an idea and an email describing an issue or the resolution to an issue. You should feel comfortable creating a PowerPoint and clearly describing an application flow to a group of 5 other developers or making a presentation about your idea to a group of non-technical users.

I really disliked writing when I was in school, and I dropped every class I could that required a paper, but it was a mistake. Learning how to logically layout a paper so that others can understand what you are trying to tell them is a critical skill that will set you apart and above others that are vying for the same job.

Writing well is a crucial skill in life; in almost any profession, including engineering, you will find yourself needing to express your ideas and persuade people in writing. If you work in industry or a national lab, you will have to write ideas up and request permission and resources to do the work you’d like to do, write reports on completed work, and so on. If you work in research/academia, or in a national research lab, you will need to write papers about your work, proposals for grant support, and reviews of other people’s work. Much of professional life is about persuading people to see the world your way. When you are an engineer, your goal is to make the world better, so being able to persuade people through good writing is really important. The best way to learn is to read good technical writing and practice; don’t worry, it’s a very learnable skill.

It's good to think about this aspect of engineering because it's not always intuitive as you start your degree how impactful writing will be to your career. The simple answer is yes, writing is important as an engineer. No, you don't need to be the best writer but it will certainly put you ahead if you have strong communication skills. It doesn't matter how amazing of an engineer you become if you can't communicate what you've done, both written and through presentation. My university required that I take a technical writing course and I was lucky that my senior design project professor required meticulously written lab reports. Even despite this, I was surprised how much writing I did as I started my career outside of school. There was an extensive amount of technical documentation for design guides I was required to create but as I got into more of the business side of engineering, not only did I have to do technical documentation, but I had to be able to share my knowledge through technical articles, thought pieces, in addition to presentations. It wasn't my favorite subject to study, but I really value my writing classes because it helps put you ahead in engineering if you have good communication skills.

Good writing skills are helpful in any profession. However, it is not a big focus in engineering. You must be able to articulate the technical description of what you are doing for example, but you don't need to write long paragraphs. If and when you get into a management position then it becomes more important. With all that said, once you get into the real world you will improve as you practice. Lastly, reading books of any kind helps you think like a writer. Personally, books were my key to success.

Although engineers usually avoid writing, I cannot stress enough how important it is for engineers to learn to write coherently and succinctly. Why? Well the best idea goes nowhere if it isn’t communicated in a way that others understand the importance of the idea and what it could do for them or their programs. As an engineering manager, I always look for engineers who can both write and speak about their ideas in plain language. I had brilliant engineers who could not explain their projects in lay terms to managers and finance people. Their programs did not get funded, but engineers who were good communicators explained their projects did and why they were important for the organization – they got full funding. My advice? Learn how to explain complex technical things to non-technical people. It will help you later in your career!

Communication is very important for engineers. Often you need to communicate the work you are doing to others who may not be as understanding of the technical aspects as you are. So being able to communicate in several different forms is very important. Writing is important in today’s day and age because often we are communicating through email or texts. So being able to communicate your message in a clear concise way through writing can often avoid misunderstandings or help keep projects moving forward.

As far as what writing engineers do, it is not quite like the short stories and essays that you probably write for your English classes. A lot of the writing that you do as an engineer will involve technical writing where you are describing a specification or process to someone. This type of writing is direct and to the point, which does take some getting used to if you have never done it before.

How much writing you will do probably depends on the type of job that you get. Some engineers write more reports than others do. Some engineers are project managers and have to communicate and organize teams to get projects done, and some deal directly with the public or customers. There is also the possibility that you will have a job where you will be doing a little bit of everything.

Although math and science are a huge part of what you will need to become an engineer, writing skills are important too. This doesn’t mean you have to be the next Shakespeare, but you should be able to convey ideas and messages clearly and be able to communicate your thoughts and ideas.

It’s absolutely possible to succeed and thrive in engineering without having the “best“ communications skills, however being a good communicator definitely helps you stand out. One way to start working on technical communication as a math and science wiz is through data visualization. If you can get good at making the data talk, sometimes you don’t have to do as much talking! Often times when your communication skills are tested most is in speaking with executive leadership, managers, or the business side of the house. If you have the opportunity to take an Econ or marketing 101 class, or something along the lines of strategy or innovation management, learning how to speak the same language as the “non-technical” (although arguably everyone can be technical) people within organizations is really invaluable. Often times you have to “sell” people on your technical idea or achievement, so being able to communicate clearly can make a huge difference in those moments. And it’s important to note that communication can and does include everything from speaking to emails to phone calls to PowerPoints. Find what you’re most comfortable with and start honing your skills there, and then continue to grow and learn as you get more comfortable! As a technical professional, you can go a whole career without having to master public speaking or report writing, but learning how to confidently and correctly explain technical ideas and tell a technical story to others will really differentiate you in your career so it’s worth investing in!

This is a great question! A lot of engineers joke about not being great at English or spelling. However, writing and communication skills are still required in engineering. Different types of jobs require different types of writing and communication skills.

Pretty much any job you will have will require email and PowerPoint skills. For emails, you will need to learn how to communicate with a colleague on a more casual basis versus communicating with a boss or executive. Executive communication requires more formal communication and getting to the point of the email a lot sooner than you would with a colleague. Learning different techniques like using bullets in your emails or bolding important sections to draw in the readers' attention will help you come across as a well-written engineer. Being able to convey material in PowerPoint is extremely important as well. PowerPoint presentations are sometimes used as support material for presentations where the material cannot stand-alone versus PowerPoint presentations that are circulated by email need to stand alone without the presentation to explain the material. Knowing how your material will be distributed will help you craft your presentations. There are many classes available both in college and online that can help you create great PowerPoint presentations and improve your email writing skills.

If you are in a technical or research environment you may be required to write technical papers. In a corporate environment, you might also be asked to write summary reports for the group you work with on the highlights of what is happening in your organization or group that will go to leadership. These papers focus more on the technical subject and analysis of data. Most engineering programs require you to take a technical writing class in college.

Thankfully, tools like spell check and Grammarly can help you improve your skills and offer suggestions as you type up emails or papers.

Writing is important…as in, let’s get you into some courses to strengthen that skillset early on! :-)

That’s great that you enjoy Math and Science, however, if you are not able to relay what you have created, discovered, engineered, resolved (in a manner that various audiences can understand), your work will not be understood, seen, or used. But do NOT allow this to deter you from pursuing an engineering career, please! Just as you learned (by practicing) Math and Science skills, you can also learn to write well! With today’s technology, email communications are a primary source for relaying everyday items as well as project updates, proposals, task summaries, agendas, meeting notes, and such. As the owner (engineer) of a project, you want to be able to communicate your ideas in an articulate and precise manner, so learning to write for business is important. There are a number of ways for you to hone your writing skills: journaling, taking some online courses, writing emails and sending more complete texts (instead of all the abbreviated text we’re seeing everywhere), as well as making it some of your college course selections (such as Business Communications or Writing for Business). The good thing about the courses is they don’t spend much time dissecting sentences so much as how to articulate messages effectively and professionally. Thankfully with computers, we don’t have to hand-write everything or type it out on a typewriter – so things have certainly improved, not to mention spellcheck, which is a friend of mine regularly and helps with sentence structure. Using the tools in MSWord when writing down items is helpful with learning as well. I understand if writing is not one of your favorite studies, but it is very important to an engineer.

I’ve always enjoyed writing – be that letters, notes, term papers (I loved those) and other business communications (resumes, emails, proposal drafts, project summaries and updates, etc.) so these things have always been more fun to me. I believe you can learn to accept writing as part of the “wrap-up” for various business tasks to help you quickly note what needs to be shared and move on to the tasks you enjoy more. I would not allow this to become a hurdle, but simply a skillset you improve and keep in your back pocket to use when needed. As you progress in any engineering career, you will find there is more reading and writing than hands-on as your experience is relied upon for more advanced decision-making roles. Speaking skills are also important and for the same reasons – to convey the knowledge you have and to share what you’ve learned/tested/validated in your role.

Keep learning and know that you have a whole team of engineers rooting for your success…especially me! Good luck!!

Any professional career path you take will require good communication skills. You will be communicating technical details and status to your team, your manager, and your customers. This is as much verbal as written communication, so I recommend getting practice presenting. Technical writing is somewhat different than the creative writing you may be doing in your English classes, and in the real world, there are spelling and grammar checkers to help you. What you should focus on is the ability to communicate problem solving, analysis, and outcomes. If you are a Professional Engineer, you will be expected to write technical reports. Communication also may depend on the company you work for. A local company where you sit in the same office as your co-workers may not have the same written communication skills as a global company.

I was extremely shy in high school and this response would have greatly intimidated me then. Now I am Vice President of Engineering in a large company and it doesn’t bother me at all because I have grown into this throughout my career. :-) My point is, don’t be afraid. You can get there.