Discusion Board

I listened to the podcast with Elijah Jones, an electrical engineering hardware lead at Reflexion Medical. I chose this podcast because it offered insight into where writing fits in engineering, a field focused on technical aspects over communications. Since engineers devote much of their time to working on large projects, joining skills with other teams, I was curious how writing fits into their day-to-day whole work.

Before this podcast, I mostly viewed writing in this field as technical documentation or research papers. But through Elijah, I saw the practical everyday uses for it. Like writing emails, making PowerPoint reports, and documenting failures. The way he really emphasized clarity and conciseness and avoided jargon made me realize that writing isn’t just recording technical details, it’s also about effectively conveying the message. Writing, according to me, is a tool for problem solving, teamwork, and accountability in engineering. Engineers need writing to document how they go through processes, communicate with other teams involved, justify that a certain design meets the regulatory standards, and so on. All kinds of writing are used for analysis of problems, explaining findings, and reporting decisions other engineers.

What the podcast really shed light upon is the things that had come to me about writing lab reports. Certain aspects about it, which I thought were clear and detailed, I’ve actually forgotten to take care of the audience’s awareness. The way Elijah structured the reports with bullet points, some visuals, a short conclusion made me rethink how lab reports can be made more direct and useful rather than just lengthy paragraphs of words.

This podcast made me realize how writing is not just a formality for engineering, it’s a core skill used for proper communication, troubleshooting, and the use for building solutions.