- #1
Cyrus
- 3,238
- 16
I had to do a senior design project this semester to fulfill my requirements for graduation. We were working with a corporate sponsor who shall remain nameless. The sponsor was a very nice guy, and a very smart guy (PhD at MIT). We had team meetings with him every week to go over our progress and what he would like to see revised or improved. Every time we had a team meeting he would give us some advice, but it would be soft spoken, and without any enthusiasm. If we asked him if he liked or disliked something, he would just go “…….yeahhh…….I …..guess its O…..kay…..” I am sorry, but that’s not an answer to the question we posed. We went through two months of this, and in the process had to redo work countless times because we were interpreting the problem incorrectly because we could not get straight answers. Please, learn how to WRITE and TALK in a professional matter. Being smart is NOT ENOUGH in the workplace. I see lots of threads in here about “How do I talk to this girl, how do I contact an employer, etc”. LEARN these things as fast as you possibly can if you are not good at it. If you are good at it, get better at it. I have seen people like him at other places I have worked. All smarts, no social skills and let me tell you what happens to those people, they get shoved into an office and slave away all day long with almost no interaction. Become well rounded physicists, engineers, or mathematicians if you want to go somewhere in your career, and in life.
Edit: Another thing I have noticed is that whenever people come to school to see what's going on from industry, they get eager students who love to yap on and on about what they are doing. You can see their eyes start to wander around the room as the person is explaining something to them on and on and on in every boring detail. The point is, these are people who have technical backgrounds and are sharp; but, even they want you to get to the point and be concise and precise. Basically, you HAVE to communicate effectively if you want to go anywhere.
Edit: Another thing I have noticed is that whenever people come to school to see what's going on from industry, they get eager students who love to yap on and on about what they are doing. You can see their eyes start to wander around the room as the person is explaining something to them on and on and on in every boring detail. The point is, these are people who have technical backgrounds and are sharp; but, even they want you to get to the point and be concise and precise. Basically, you HAVE to communicate effectively if you want to go anywhere.
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