Tim Wei
Civil Engineering Student/ Mechanical Engineering Technologist
Hello! My name is Tim. I am currently pursuing a second bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering at City College of New York and obtained my first degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology at New York City College of Technology. While studying my second degree, I am working as a construction inspector and expediter for many projects in New York City.
While working, writing is important in my everyday task! It consist of writing proposals and emails to clients, as well as writing inspection reports. Luckily, City College of New York offered a course in engineering writing. The course taught me to write resume and cover letters for job applications, interview reports, lab reports, group proposals and technical descriptions. Each writing taught me techniques for different purposes in the working environment and in my academic studies.
When I was assigned to a group proposal, it taught me to consider my audience and purpose as well as collaborate in a team environment in order to provide a concise proposal to attract clients. To present these ideas, we used technology such as power point to present to our audience. After learning to write one, I’ve applied it in my work environment, it had allowed me to gain an extra skill while working with clients.
As a construction inspector lab reports are inevitable and one must be provided after every inspection. It tells of the existing conditions, problems and possible solution in the construction. To describe each condition, a technical description writing is to be included in the report, which I have learned from my engineering writing course.
Beside applying learned writing skills to my work environment, I’ve also applied to academic writings such as thesis papers for my Thermodynamics class. City College of New York has a large data base of peer reviewed articles and reading the article is part of my research for thesis papers. But how can I present the statements in the read article in my thesis paper without plagiarizing? I’ve learn to cite the work in the article and create a citation page in APA style format.
Writing is crucial in the working environment and is required for communications among your team members. You can learn to understand your audience and use this to your advantage to persuade your audience to agree with you. I am glad I could take an engineering writing course in City College of New York!
