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[META] How to express "I like good engineering" in a cover letter?

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RedLion:
As many engineers, I often find it hard to express myself in a way that gets the point across. What I'd like to convey is that I don't like to bodge, but rather strive for well executed engineering. I'm sure we all know the satisfaction of coming up with a solution (or seeing it in someone elses design), that feeling of "now that's good engineering". However just stating it verbatim would be a bit blunt for a cover letter. How would you convey that in a cover letter?

Here's an effort at it I made earlier:
"Regarding my way of working, I think I can say that I have an undeniable tendency towards perfectionism, which translates into a particular attention to detail and a great deal of patience regarding the completion of tasks entrusted to me. Additionally, I am an engineering enthusiast at heart and I strive to always find the optimal solution to the problem at hand. Further, I am capable of a definite creativity when confronted with challenges and technological problems, independent of whether I'm working on my own or in a group."

Thanks for any help,
I.J.

fourfathom:
I like the concept, but watch out for "perfectionism".  You don't want them to think that you will spend too much time in the pursuit of "perfect".  Here are a couple of sayings you will want to ponder:

"Good enough is Perfect" (paraphrasing Voltaire or someone else, depending on who you believe)
"There comes a point in every project where it's time to shoot the engineers and actually begin production."

Like you, I appreciate good, clever, brilliant engineering.  It's art, science, and philosophy combined.  But don't give the impression that you're one of those who can't actually deliver a working design to a reasonable schedule.

On the other hand, when doing a self-review one is usually expected to throw in a little critical self-analysis.  I usually mentioned "perfectionism" as one of my weaknesses.  But that was after I had the job and a good track-record, my bosses knew me, and we all realized that was how the game was played.

RoGeorge:
Sounds well enough to me.  I'll make a PDF of an empty A4/letter page, with the title "Cover Letter" so to be clear that that PDF is your cover letter, and in the middle of the page write exactly that:  I like good engineering.

Write the sentence with normal font/size, centered in the middle of the page.  A blank page with just that text.  Make it a PDF, not a picture.

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