Quote of the Day

 "Without clear lines of communication, our ideas would stay within our own small development teams instead of becoming mature products. While this is obvious to those of us who have become experienced engineers, the real question is: Why is it lost to us when we are engineering students?"

                                       Akbar R Khan, Software Systems Engineer, USA,

                                                                     "Good Communication Is Essential..." (2014)

This quote caught my eye among the few that were shown to us. Although it's left open ended with a question unanswered, it made me ponder about it.

I agree with the first statement in the quote that without effective communication, our ideas would not be able to be clearly understood by outside parties. Especially as the world becomes more globalised, having to work with people that come from different cultures and many different languages is becoming the norm. Without a proper understanding of each other's innovations and ideas, our projects may end up being undervalued, remaining dormant on the blueprints.

While the first statement was insightful, the second statement was the one that piqued my interest, particularly the question: "Why is it lost to us when we are engineering students?". My personal opinion is that the engineering curriculum may be too heavily focused on technical skills, leaving soft skills like communication to the wayside. This results in students who may not fully understand the importance of good communication until they enter a professional setting, which may in turn leave these students unvalued due to not having acquired these skills in their campus days.