Writing in the Field

One Invention, So Many Engineers
Engineering has been around since the beginning of time. Whether it was called engineering or not, there have always been problem solvers. The first person who made changes to the spear or bow and arrow was an engineer. The first huge engineering machine was the steam engine. Thomas Savery was credited with this invention. It changed everything about how people lived their lives and it made life much easier. In the “The History of the Steam Engine” the author, who is not named, writes about the improvement to the steam engine made by Elijah McCoy. He made a lubrication cup to oil parts while the engine was still moving. Robert Fulton then made a boat around the steam engine which revolutionized water travel in America. This is just an example of one invention and how many people affected it and how much it affected the world.

Current Engineers
Some other big names in engineering are Philp Condit the CEO of Boeing who is also a mechanical and aeronautical engineer.Steve Wozniak worked for the apple company and Bill Nye worked for Boeing before becoming the “science guy”.

 Writing in the Field

I worked at AGCO in Jackson, MN in the dynamometer room. While there my mentor was Caleb Bashore a test engineer. He has worked at AGCO for two years and he has had some experience at CAT before that. As I was interning under him I realized how much writing being an engineer requires. Before every test there is a request you receive from a design engineer telling you what they want you to do and what machine they want to proceed on. After reading that you must email the design engineer back and tell him with you think, any problems you see, and a list of the instrumentation you will be using. While running the test you have to write clearly what is going on and any information  you are recording without the computer. If anything breaks on the machine you must write down what happened, what part failed and how you think it can be fixed. Then you write a PBR which is a part request form for ordering the failed part. After the test is completed there is a report you write about what broke, what information you recorded, the end result, and what the next step is if the run failed.

I interviewed my mentor Caleb Bashore and asked him what he did for writing at his job. Since I worked with him for a summer and did a lot of the same writing, he told me the exact same thing I just said said about all the writing in the field. He did talk about writing emails. He said it is very important to know who you are emailing and their personality. If you are writing to someone who is always serious at work you need to write that way. If you are writing to someone who is a little bit more laid back then you can put some “fun” in your emails. Caleb also said that when you are writing reports editing and labeling are very important. The design engineers can’t change the reports, so you as the test engineer need to put in everything they need.