IStructE Core Objective 1.2 – Communication
Introduction
There is hardly a more transferable professional skill than communication. This will form part of your day-to-day skillset for the rest of your career.
There are a couple of skills specific to the engineering profession though, which we would expect. These are:
- Technical report writing
- Drawing skills
- Good presentation of calculations
- Explaining technical concepts to non-technical audiences
What to put in your portfolio
For written examples, you can put them in to provide proof. For verbal examples you could show some slides from a presentation.
Here are some examples, select at least 5 to include in your final report form, and back them up with proof in your portfolio:
- Formal letter to a client or other professional, about something related to structural engineering – preferably properly formatted on headed paper. (Don't forget there is a whole section of the IStructE Chartered Member Exam on writing a letter to a client!)
- Structural report, (e.g. RIBA Stage 3/4 report, describing the structural scheme, with visuals – describe which parts you were responsible for)
- Structural calculations
- Email which you think shows good communication skills, e.g. describing a complicated issue and how to resolve it.
- Hand drawn concept or scheme design sketches
- Computer graphics you have produced in Photoshop or Sketchup or similar
- Structural drawings, including plans, sections and details
- Renders taken from a model you have produced
- A calculation/excel spreadsheet you have written
- A competition entry you have submitted
- A presentation you have given, e.g. in-house to your colleagues, or in education.
- An interview you attended (e.g. as part of a bidding process to win a job)
Reading List
- The Honeywood File: An Adventure in Building – Cresswell, H.B.
- Construction Communication – Emmitt, S. and Gorse, C.A.
- Information exchanges: RIBA Plan of Work 2013 guide – Fairhead, R.
- RIBA Plan of work 2020
- Communication for Professional Engineers – Scott, W.P.
- Managing the building design process – Tunstall, G.