Malcolm Murray
THE COURSE
Throughout my time at Penn State I have worked on various projects, reports, and presentations. Along the way I gained a lot of information about how I should communicate technical information to a number of different audiences. English 202C (Eng 202C) has helped to confirm that what I’ve learned is true for technical communication in general and added to what I knew about the subject.
An engineer, no matter the type, should always put him/herself in the end user’s position. What do they need from you? Why do they need it? How does it help them? These are questions that MUST BE asked through the duration of a project and the same goes for technical communication. I constantly remind myself to “take a step back” even on very technical projects. Eng 202C has confirmed that this absolutely NECESSARY in technical communication.
At first I wished that I had taken the course earlier in my college career, but looking ahead now I’m excited to use what I’ve learned in my career. My goals for any communication are as follows.
- Be Direct: Give the people what they want, expect, and need FIRST to make the communication effective.
- Make it Concise: I’ll describe this with my favorite quote...
“A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
Simple but powerful.
PROJECTS
The resume project has helped me articulate exactly what it is I wanted out of my resume and cover letter. Since I can articulate it, I can find what they need or do not need with much less confusion and much more confidence. Tying together another project, the instruction set, I can start with a blank page and mark out where the employer will need, expect, and want information to be. [This was an exercise done to design an instruction set for building a desk]. From there I can move into specifics (still from the standpoint of an employer) and ask questions as I write. “What does that tell me about Malcolm?” “Why must I know that?” I look forward to updating my resume in the future knowing what I know now.
CAREER
From my education I’ve learned that I enjoy technical communication and presentation. From Eng 202C I’ve learned that I enjoy LEARNING about effective technical communication. Anyone reading this should know that I am continuously pushing for self-improvement in many different areas. Since technical communication will remain a part of my world throughout my entire life, I know that I will be mentally evaluating every piece of information I see and attempting to articulate how it is effective or ineffective. Naturally, this will strengthen my own communication skills as an engineer and as a person.
THE PORTFOLIO
This is an e-portfolio for my senior thesis project. Anyone visiting the site as a whole has come to learn more about the team and gain access to reports and overall information. I have been responsible to building the code that has brought all of this together and probably learned way more than I will ever need about html and java (honestly). What I have learned is that it is important to FIRST map out what the user needs and where (similar to any other design). Then asking how they navigate and seeing what is possible. This sounds fairly simple but requires a lot of care. As far as websites go, after that is sketched out it needs to be built which has definitely been the hardest part for me. Anyone reading this should know that I stress things being done well, and I am willing to go the extra mile for the good of my team.