My name is Robert McMican and I am a junior Mechanical Engineering student. When I graduate have simple requirement for my job: things go really fast or blow up, preferably both. As such, I would like to work for a defense contractor. I am from Virginia and love sports. Any kind of sport works so long as I can win excessively while participating. I currently climb, downhill mountain bike, and Olympic lift often.
In the field of engineering, communication plays an important role. As an engineer it is critical that others are able to understand your work. Often times you will be working as part of a larger project where your work will be meshed with others in order to create the product that the client requires. If no one else can easily understand your work, project deadlines may not be met or others may misinterpret your work eventually leading to a catastrophic failure of the product. The combined work of all in the company also has to be easily understandable to the customer who may not have an education based in engineering.
There are numerous forms of media used for communication in this field. These range from face to face conversations to email to power points etc. Emailing is a common form of interoffice communication. With the increased use of smart phones work emails can now be received nearly anywhere at all times. This will greatly speed up the ability of employees to collaborate and produce products in less time.
Effective communication in the field must be concise and to the point. More will get done if people do not have to spend large amounts of time trying to figure out what it it that others have sent to them. Also, this helps cut down on misinterpretations of the material. When dealing with the end customer, the results may need to be described in a non complex manner.
Communication skills through computers and other electronic devices are very important to the field. They help speed up the process and allow people in many different countries to produce a product as a team.
Does it make a considerable difference when working closely in teams as compared to working at a larger distance in your field? What forms of communication do you prefer, and is face-to-face interaction vital to completing a project?
ReplyDeleteDue to modern communication technology, it is no longer extremely challenging to conduct business with a team that is spread out across the world. However there are challenges posed that a team working at the same location will not have to deal with. These mainly center around the speed that information is passed (people are working in different time zones) and also the methods of communication used. Because of the distance, even video face to face meetings can be a hassle for all involved. As such most communication may be done by email.
ReplyDeleteI prefer email as my primary source of communication. It is near instant, even to the other side of the world. It is very easy to attach filed and documents and send to anyone who you feel needs the information. Email also leaves you with documentation of what has transpired. The downside to email is that it can sometimes take a long chain of emails to get someone to understand your point. This can consume time and irritate all involved. Face to face interaction generally avoids miscommunication issues. The great drawbacks of face to face interactions are difficulty of communicating around the world and the lack of documentation. As such follow up emails may need to be sent to provide the desired documentation. Because of this, I feel that face to face interaction is beneficial to completing a project while email communication is necessary.