Writing For Non-Technical Audiences In Engineering

No one is waking up at 7am, sipping coffee, thinking, “Wow, I really hope someone explains holistic wealth architecture today.” People want clarity. They want content that feels like a conversation, not a lecture. They want to understand what you’re saying the first time they read it. Write like you're talking to a real person. Not trying to win a Pulitzer. - Use short sentences. - Cut the jargon. - Sound like someone they’d trust with their money, not someone who spends weekends writing whitepapers for fun. Confused clients don’t ask for clarification. They move on. Here’s how to make your content clearer: 1. Ask yourself: Would my mom understand this? If the answer is “probably not,” simplify it until she would. No shade to your mom, she’s just a great clarity filter. 2. Use the “friend test.” Read it out loud. If it sounds weird or overly stiff, imagine explaining it to a friend at lunch. Rewrite it like that. 3. Replace jargon with real words. Say “retirement income you won’t outlive” instead of “longevity risk mitigation strategy.” Your clients are not Googling your vocabulary. 4. Stick to one idea per sentence. If your sentence is doing cartwheels and dragging a comma parade behind it, break it up. 5. Format like you actually want them to read it. Use line breaks. Add white space. Make it skimmable. No one wants to read a block of text the size of a mortgage document. Writing clearly isn’t dumbing it down. It’s respecting your audience enough to make content easy to understand. What’s the worst jargon-filled phrase you’ve seen in the wild? Let’s roast it.

You must speak 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 language! 🗣️ When I first started as an SE, I thought I had to prove I knew my stuff by dropping as many technical terms as possible: “Distributed cloud-native architecture with AI-powered anomaly detection and parallelized compute.” 🤮 I thought that was how you earned trust. In reality? I was losing them. As soon as I used words they didn’t understand, I watched their eyes glaze over. They’d nod politely, but I had lost their attention, and worse, their trust. Here’s the thing: When a prospect hears something they don’t understand, they won’t ask for clarification. They’ll just mentally check out — and from that moment, your demo is dead in the water. Once I realized this, everything changed: ✅ I mirrored their language (if they said “test case,” I said “test case”). ✅ I explained complex concepts in simple terms, no jargon required. ✅ I focused on the why and impact, not the buzzwords. The truth is: 👉 Parroting technical jargon is not mastery. 👉 Making the complex feel simple, that’s mastery. If you want to be trusted, speak so your audience can follow you every step of the way. Quick tips to avoid the jargon trap: ✅ Listen for how the prospect talks, match their terms. ✅ Run your explanations through the “could I explain this to my mom?” filter. ✅ Less is more. Focus on what matters to them, not what sounds impressive. Your job isn’t to sound smart. Your job is to make them feel smart and excited to work with you. #ducklife #salesengineering #presales

🧩 Soft Skills for Materials/Mechanical Engineers: Communicating with Non-Tech Teams We spend years mastering tensile curves, phase diagrams, and microstructures… But how often do we practice explaining those to designers, marketers, or managers? 🔍 In industry and research, it’s not just about what you know, but how well you explain it to people who don’t speak your technical language. Here’s what helped me communicate better with non-technical teams: 💡 1. Translate without dumbing down Instead of "yield strength drops at high temperatures," try: "This material might lose strength when exposed to engine heat, leading to part failure." 💬 2. Focus on impact Instead of “precipitation hardening increases tensile strength,” say: "This treatment makes the metal stronger, so it lasts longer in service." 🎯 3. Be visual Engineers love graphs. Others? Not always. A simple sketch or before/after photo = instant clarity. 🤝 4. Practice active listening Sometimes the question is not “what’s the modulus?” but “can this fail in real-world use?” Listen beyond the words. 🔗 Whether you’re collaborating with procurement, sales, or HR, your ability to bridge the knowledge gap is a career-defining skill. 👂Have you ever had to explain a complex material concept to a non-engineer? How did you do it? 👇Let’s share tactics because soft skills are hard-earned too. #MaterialsScience #EngineeringCommunication #SoftSkills #CareerTips #InterdisciplinaryTeams #TechnicalCommunication #LeadershipInSTEM #PhDLife #WomenInSTEM #MaterialsEngineer