Importance of communication skills to an engineer?

[turbo]

Regarding communication with corporate bigwigs, how much of it is verbal and how much is written? I've never had any issue communicating through writing, technically or otherwise but when put on the spot verbally I tend to struggle.

I'd imagine a lot of the detail would be conveyed through writing though the initial pitch would be in person?

The trick is for you to understand the interests of the top brass, and present your project in those terms. If you have a project in mind that will improve thermal efficiency in a mill and save approximately x% of the mill's energy costs, you can put the technical details in a hand-out, so the brass can review those later - though some of them may have come up through the engineering ranks, and may want to discuss details, too. The most important part to a mill superintendent, production manager, VP, CEO, CFO is the projected cost of the project, the amount of down-time that might be needed for the project to be implemented, if any, the pay-back time, and the ongoing savings, so you need to be prepared to turn your efficiency numbers into dollars and time. If you can do this, you'll be speaking in terms that they want to hear. If I was a CFO and knew nothing of engineering, you would still have my whole-hearted support if you could make the case that your modest $50K project would save the mill $200K/year ongoing in energy costs with an initial pay-back time of 3 months. Slam dunk!

If you are pitching your project to your boss (head of engineering dept) you can be as specific as you need, and (s)he will understand that the efficiencies will translate into savings for the company. You should have those (dollars and days) numbers ready just the same, because it shows that you have understood the need to justify the project financially, and have already quantified the savings. Some engineers get so wrapped up in the technical details of a project that they neglect to translate the projected efficiencies into terms that will resonate with the folks in the front office. As DH mentioned, those engineers do not get fast-tracked.

 

[j93]

You previously stated that employers don't value communications skills at all. You are moving the goalposts.

I read over my previous posts and can't figure out where stated that so I am not sure how I am the one that is moving goalposts.

 

[turbo]

I read over my previous posts and can't figure out where stated that so I am not sure how I am the one that is moving goalposts.

Really?

This still doesn't disprove the point that companies don't seem to value communication skills otherwise they would have a greater emphasis in hiring based on communication skills but companies hire based on engineering skills without any regard to communication skills therefore the answer to the initial question must be that NO communication skills are not important...

Does this little quote ring any bells?

Advising engineering students that communications skills don't matter is pretty reckless, since the lack of such skills will prevent their advancement in their careers. Real-world experience in the corporate world directly contradicts your "advice". Engineers who can only communicate effectively with other engineers are destined to be dead-ended, not promoted.

 

[j93]

Did you not see the bold on the "at all" that is an important qualifier. It was not originally bold therefore I must have made it bold it for a reason, right?