Photo credit: Flickr/ makeshiftlove

My wife is a medical resident. In the US, she’d be called an intern. Basically what that means is that she graduated med school, and is now doing her practical training to specialize. In her case, she’s becoming an anesthesiologist.

Part of her training involves completing rotations in different parts of the hospital. So, every month or two, she’ll switch what department she’s working for and meets a whole slew of new people. Every time she makes one of these transitions, at least one of the people she meets will shake her hand and say “So you’re the one with impeccable handwriting! I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time.”

What happens is the orders she writes and the medical documents she updates by hand make their way around the hospital as different departments contribute to a patient’s care. Apparently, my wife’s handwriting is so good, it’s noteworthy.

It’s true, my wife has impeccable handwriting. She’s told that other people love to see prescriptions and handwritten notes from her because they can actually read them. Doctors, for the most part, don’t have much of a reputation for handwriting clarity.

So why is this such a big deal? Why is handwriting such a notable thing?

Because it helps other people do their job.

It’s a simple thing, but the fact is that the way she does her work makes it easy for others to do theirs.

A lesson for engineers

There’s a lesson to be learned here for engineers.

You might not think very much about it, but your work travels. In many cases, the documents, files, and designs you create make their way around much more quickly and more broadly than you do.

Whether you like it or not, your work almost always precedes you. That means you could be making your first impressions on other people before you’ve even met them.

You’ve probably even done this yourself. Have you ever dug through old project folders to see how something was done before? Have you ever looked at the name and thought “Awesome! This guy’s stuff is great.” before even reading the content? It happens all the time, and it happens to you, too.

So, why is this important?

The idea that your work can create a first impression on people before they’ve even met you is a powerful thing. You can make or break your own reputation without you even knowing it. It’s important to bear this in mind while you work. You’re not just working on your task, you’re also working to build your own profile. That should serve as an incentive to put your all into every deliverable – even if it’s just a minor thing that you doubt anyone will ever look at.

Just like an artist’s art is a reflection of themselves, an engineer’s work is the same. It’s important to recognize that what you create speaks volumes about you, so you want to make sure you’re saying the right things.