Distilling Complicated Information for Public Consumption: Writing Tips for Engineers
One of the essential technical writing skills for engineers is learning how to distill complicated information for the lay audience. dis·till (dəˈstil): (v) extract the essential meaning or most important aspects of. For engineers to communicate effectively with the public, they must know how to simplify complex systems and distill complicated concepts into comprehensive summaries […]
Improve Inter-company Communication with Your Writing
Effective inter-company communication shouldn’t be difficult, yet a lack of writing skills across the professional spectrum has made ineffective communication the norm. And while many companies do focus on using persuasive writing and other forms of effective communication with outside parties, most companies – and leaders – neglect positive inter-company communication. Per an article from […]
Should You Take the FE Exam? 3 Reasons It’s Worth It.
You learn so many essential concepts, practices, and applicable knowledge in your undergraduate engineering courses. During those four long years of study, you – hopefully – are taught the fundamentals of engineering and are given the information necessary to become an engineer in the field of your choice. Some engineers fail to realize the significance […]
How to Pass the FE Exam: Don’t Make These Common FE Exam Mistakes
The FE exam addresses four semesters of engineering courses. This amounts to about 60 credits! It’s a lot of work — and the quantity of work can be overwhelming. One of the most common mistakes engineers make when preparing for the FE exam is attempting to cover everything. It’s simply too much. FE Exam […]
How to Pass the FE Exam: A 12-Step FE Exam Prep Guide
The Fundamentals of Engineering Exam is long. It encompasses the junior and senior years of a four-year Civil Engineering program. There’s no easy way to pass the exam: you must prepare. You must undertake a concentrated FE Exam prep. However, you don’t have to work on everything; you need to address your weaknesses. The time […]
Continuing Education and Professional Development for Engineers
The need for continuing education for engineers is one of the reasons that engineers are members of a profession. The education needed to enter many professional fields is not enough because such professions require that their members stay current with their practice. Many professional licensing authorities require that their members take some form of continuing […]
Why Professional Writing Skills Are Necessary For Professional Development in Engineering
Our education gives us the basics of communication. We can construct correct sentences and paragraphs because we understand the rules of grammar. We’ve acquired the basic rules and can write grammatically-correct text. Our college education afforded little in terms of courses on technical communication. An engineering degree program is already overloaded, and it wouldn’t be […]
Why Do Technical Writers Write So Passively? How To Communicate Better In Technical Writing: Part I
Passive writing adds words and detaches the action from the recipient. For example, “The cat sat on the mat,” (written in the active voice) can be written in the passive voice: “The mat was seated upon by the cat.” In this passive voice example, we go from six words to eight, a 33% increase, and […]
How To Communicate Better In Technical Writing: Part II
Now that we’ve covered active voice vs passive voice, let’s think about writing more generally. Engineers often view writing as a burden or chore that must be finished on time for an impatient supervisor. Negative attitudes influence a work task in a bad way. If a task is addressed with a positive outlook, the work […]
Why Not Leave The State of Technical Writing Alone?
Because Technical Writing Standards Are In Decline. What evidence is there of poor standards of technical writing? I have my own sources. First, there’s the material I read as a director of a research group, a higher education teacher, and the material I read from my peer researchers. Educationalists continually bemoan the falling standards of […]
Three Common Writing Mistakes Technical Writers Make
There are three common writing mistakes engineers make: The writing is unclear. The writing is too long. The attention to detail is either too much or too little. Bad Technical Writing Is Unclear Engineers typically write in a way that’s hard to follow. Unfortunately, the primary characteristic of technical writing is that it must be […]
Learn How To Be A Better Technical Writer
What is it about writing that troubles engineers? What makes engineers so scared of writing? Why are so many of us reluctant to write for work? OTT’s online technical writing course for engineers answers these questions and shows you how to change habits to teach you how to write fluently, directly, and persuasively. It goes right back […]
6 Technical Writing Skills Every Engineer Needs
How will technical writing help engineers succeed in their job? There are many courses on technical writing for engineers. Most are delivered by writers that are not engineers. Today, professional engineers are all college educated. Many of us took “technical writing for engineers courses” at college, but from whom? A professional technical writer is unlikely to have been a professional engineer. Our instructors were English or humanities majors […]
Another subscriber is happy because the PE Exam in Civil Engineering is behind him – “I passed the PE Civil Exam”
It’s always heartening to know OnlineTechnicalTraining.net has helped another engineer to pass the PE Exam through the PEreview course. This is from Brian PE, from North Dakota: “I would like to send a thank you. I passed my PE. The biggest part that helped was attention to units. You were right that the examiners […]
FE Exam $50 price reduction for 2018
On January 1, 2018, NCEES is reducing the FE exam registration fees by $50 to $175. The reduced fee will apply to registrations completed on or after this date; the new price will not be honored for registrations completed before January 1, 2018. NCEES Chief Executive Officer Jerry Carter: “NCEES and its member boards […]
Calculators for PE in Civil Engineering
NCEES recently approved a new calculator model for the PE (Civil) exams in 2017. The complete list is now: Casio: All fx-115 and fx-991 models (all Casios must have “fx-115” or “fx-991” in its model name.) Hewlett Packard: HP 33s and HP 35s models (but no other HPs) Texas Instruments: All TI-30X and TI-36X models (All Texas Inst calculators must […]
What is Your Recommendation for a Reference Manual or Manuals?
Your references are dependent upon your PM exam selection. You need more for the PM than the AM exam. You should compile your own collection of references and use them throughout your preparation because you’ll get to know your way around them. And you’ll be preparing in the same way as actually taking the exam […]
Quiz: How likely are you to pass the PE Civil exam?
How likely are you to pass the PE Civil exam? Take our quiz below to find out!
Why do PE Exam questions have information you don’t need?
When you were an undergrad, you tackled thousands of problems. Almost always, you were given data and required to find the solution. Life was so straightforward. All you had to do was to find the relevant equation, plug in the numbers, manipulate the equations, and out popped the solution. Well, by now, you probably realize […]
PE Exam Tips: Test Taking Techniques
In addition to knowing the material, there is another factor to consider in your success at passing this exam: Test-taking techniques. There are many people who can know the material, but fail the exam because they simply are not good test takers. And the 8 hour PE exam will test your test-taking ability, to the […]
Highway Safety Manual (HSM) on the PE Exam
The Highway Safety Manual 2010 (HSM) is introduced for the Spring 2015 PE Exam. The first rule is that there are no accidents anymore, only crashes. The word accident suggests that there is some kind of inevitability to automobile collisions. “Accidents will happen.” The word crash, however, suggests that the unfortunate could have been avoided. […]
What grade does it take to pass the PE Exam?
The examiners take special measures to identify flawed questions before scoring takes place. They look for ambiguity, gender or ethnic bias, technical accuracy, and unusual statistics. The PE Exam is not graded ‘on a curve’ and so there is no set percentage of candidates who pass each time. But there are procedures in place to […]
What are the Different Types of PE Exam Questions?
PE exam questions are defined in two ways: By discipline By morning or afternoon There are five disciplines of the PE exam: Construction Geotechnics Structures Water and Environmental Engineering Transportation The examiner, NCEES, broadly defines each discipline. However, there are overlaps. Unlike in College, where courses identified disciplines, the PE exam is a little loose. […]
How can I Register for the PE Exam?
Eligibility for the PE exam is generally associated with: Having a Civil Engineering or related degree from an EAC/ABET Accredited engineering program, Several years of professional experience, usually 4, A pass in the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam, and Endorsements from a professional engineers. So, if you are eligible, you need to contact the National Council […]