How to Talk to an Engineer
Some things can get lost in translation between technical and non-technical employees
Jessica Powell, the former Google vice president who wrote The Big Disruption and told you how to quit your job, is here to answer your common but tricky work questions. Check back every other week for more management advice with a tech inflection.
I am a non-technical person at a tech company and feel like the engineers speak a different language from me. The other day, when I tried to convince them of a new direction for a product, they acted like I was from another planet. How can I talk like an engineer?
Ack! Whatever you do, don’t try to talk like an engineer if you’re not one. The consequences for being a poseur are far worse than just admitting that you don’t know the difference between Java and Javascript.
But there are definitely ways to communicate more effectively with engineers.
Before we get going, I should remind you that engineers hate generalizations.
Just like that one.
But since you’re asking for general advice, and since I love setting myself up to get trolled by engineers, let me continue to generalize for a moment.
