Real-Life Communication
A computer engineer needs to be highly skilled in math and science.
However, many students overlook the importance of communication.
"I
would say that communication skills are probably one of the most underrated
skills that engineers need to be accomplished at," says Wayne Loucks. He's
a professor of computer engineering.
"In the end, what is engineering?"
asks Loucks. "Engineering involves taking a problem... that somebody has described
to you, creating a solution, and then making the solution accessible to other
people -- to the buyer or whoever. And that's really all communication.
"If
you can't get the idea across, and if you can't understand what the problem
is, you're not going to make a very good solution," he adds. "And if you can't
explain your solution, then it's not going to be much use to anybody." Also,
communicating is important when you are problem-solving as a team.
"You
need to be able to think clearly and communicate clearly because you're going
to be working in teams," says Ruth Dameron. She's a computer engineering instructor.
You
are a computer software engineer. You are working on a proprietary piece of
software for a large financial company. This is one of the largest jobs you
have ever worked on. About a dozen engineers will be working with you. Not
all of them are software engineers.
This is what you will do to the
product:
- Code (convert the design into step-by-step instructions according to the
programming language)
- Debug (fix errors in coding)
- Compile (the step before a program can be run; high-level code is converted
into the binary language of a computer)
- Debug again
- Test (the program needs to be run with test data)
The very first step, however, is explaining to the head of the financial
company what a software engineer does. How would you describe what you're
about to do to a non-technical person? Try not to use the technical terms
mentioned above.