How a geological engineer and coal miner uses writing as an engineer

The podcast I chose to listen to was Joe Brinton’s on writing questions. I chose this podcast because prior to listening, I would have not thought that something as technical as mining would require writing skills to succeed. As the only person on the team with a four-year degree, Brinton is entrusted with tasks like communicating with lawyers, creating technical reports, and reading contracts.

Listening to the podcast has absolutely changed the way I view the role writing has in engineering. Brinton’s experience shows that oftentimes, engineers have to act as translators to convert technical information into formats that make it possible for non-engineers (i.e. lawyers) to understand. This gave me an insight into the importance of clear communication between people of various professions.

I would define the role writing has in engineering as a critical tool for understanding whatever project or proposal is presented and just as important, a tool for decision-making. As an example, Brinton describes how he writes reports with technical justifications as well as more simpler reports, each written for the respective appropriate audience.

The podcast shed light on the significance of communicating your writing to all the parties involved. Brinton’s reflection on how a failure to communicate a new plan to the night crew resulted in a mistake, shows that it doesn’t stop after writing. You have to make sure that the information written has reached the necessary people to ensure proper and safe completion of the project. In addition, I never really thought of modifying my draft when it comes to communicating with peers whose native language may not be English. Brinton englightens the audience by discussing how he carefully revises his writing when communicating with non-native English speakers, by considering various interpretations of words and sentences and writing them in a way to avoid confusion.