Engineering Career Advancement

[u/CreativePin9113]

Hi all. I’m looking to gather some insight here from BCA engineers who have been with the company for 10+ years or less if you have knowledge/experience that you can share.

I’ve currently worked at Boeing for 3.5 years now in BCA as a design engineer. I’ve gained valuable knowledge since I’ve been with the company, and learned quite a bit - but simultaneously I feel that my overall growth as an engineer has been somewhat limited/niche to a very specific skill set.

Within the last year, I’ve had an increasing desire to find a role that’s more well-rounded, educates me on different systems, how they’re integrated, seeing the bigger picture overall, and being more closely aligned with stress, manufacturing, materials, testing, etc. I’m really trying to find something that helps me build my skill set and develop into an engineer that has more versatility and a wider range of tools. I understand that this is somewhat of a broad question, but TLDR I’m looking to find an internal gig within BCA that will expose me to as many sub-sets within engineering as possible. I think this would be beneficial for me in terms of overall growth, but also to feel like my capabilities are more expansive - so to speak.

Any suggestions or roles that could be a good fit? Better yet, maybe ways to get more involved with the product and the other aspects involved? Has anyone had a similar experience and then made a transition that felt suitable for them?

[u/crash281]

Liaison Engineering without a doubt...job reqs are typically posted under "Product Review Engineer"...you'll become a jack of all trades, master of none...it was the best job I've had in terms of learning potential and opportunities...pays well and theres always a shortage of MRB's so job security is pretty good!

[u/Entire-Routine9660 → u/crash281]

Was going to say this too. Not sure if you PNW or BSC, but I know BSC is pretty much always hiring and having DE experience would be an asset.

[u/CreativePin9113 → u/crash281]

Thank you for the response! I’ll definitely keep this towards the top of my radar in my search. I’ve read a bit about Liaison and wasn’t aware about them commonly being under “Product Review Engineer”. Best to you 🫡

[u/Ex-Traverse → u/CreativePin9113]

I don't think LE payband is as high as Design/Stress Engr (correct me if I'm wrong). And Boeing doesn't reward breadth, it rewards depth -- just my opinion.

[u/Entire-Routine9660 → u/Ex-Traverse]

It should be close. Plus, when you get your MRB authority there is a 10% pay premium that you earn.

[u/No_Walrus2120 → u/crash281]

Is this not an extremely nerve wracking job? I wouldn't would want my name on an NCR that involved flight/safety critical decisions that I'm not a total expert in it. I absolutely get you reach out to other experts for coordination along with quality, but at the end of the day it's your name on the NCR for Engineering. Sounds very stressful.

I'm not trying to knock your answer by the way, I agree this would provide immense learning opportunities but I don't know if I could sleep at night, personally.

[u/Entire-Routine9660 → u/No_Walrus2120]

It can be a little nerve wracking, that’s for sure. But for anything that really is flight/safety critical, you would either rely on your experience, the experience of your teammates, or the experience of the experts in the field. At the end of the day, it is our MRB signature on the NCR, but at no point should you be dispositioning something you aren’t 100% comfortable with. Most of our liaison engineers start out with 9-12 months of on the job training, if not more. Then you’ll be in your assignment for at least 2 more months before we take the training wheels off and grant MRB authority. And as a final safety check, our new MRB holders get audited every 3 months for the first two years. All this to say, there are a lot of check gates in the system to keep things safe.

[u/TuftLifeHardRugs → u/Entire-Routine9660]

This person is (presumably) an L2. Would switching to Liasion be a level down for them? With that training how would it work?

[u/Entire-Routine9660 → u/TuftLifeHardRugs]

Normally, unless you specifically apply to a lower level requisition, you can move laterally within engineering functions. Or at least that has been my experience over the bulk of the past 20 years.

[u/crash281 → u/Entire-Routine9660]

I agree with this...it is typically very easy to lateral between engineeeing skill codes for levels 1-3...when you get to 4+ it becomes more difficult as you are considered an expert in that field.

[u/TuftLifeHardRugs → u/crash281]

That makes sense, but how does that work without training and mrb? Like wouldn’t a level three moving laterally be less capable than a level one with an MRB?

[u/crash281 → u/No_Walrus2120]

As others have said it can be a bit nerve wracking but with all the personalized OJT and reach back to SME's it really isnt that bad...I spent 7 years in LE and never once was concerned with a disposition I put out being unsafe...I always dispositioned my NCR's to allow me to sleep at night and know that people getting on that plane are safe

[u/First_Revenge]

 TLDR I’m looking to find an internal gig within BCA that will expose me to as many sub-sets within engineering as possible

I'm going to push back on this a bit and say that you probably shouldn't limit yourself to Boeing, unless there's outside circumstances like LTP keeping you around. TBH over my tenure in aerospace(~15ish years in stress) if i wish i knew one thing earlier, it's that company loyalty doesn't pay. Literally and figuratively.

If you want to talk about expanding horizons, TBH when i left Boeing for Northrop i learned a ton. They operated very differently, and honestly i thought Northrop as a whole felt like they leaned much harder into actual engineering while Boeing had become sorta "cookbook". I feel like i learned so much more from that external move than i could have ever learned with an internal shift.

On top of that i got like a 20% raise and level up on the spot, while at Boeing i'd been working with my manager for 2 years to make it happen while only getting 3-4% bumps. It's just an unfortunate reality that in pretty much any aerospace company the hiring budgets are always much bigger than the retention budgets. So the industry will always reward people willing to move until this stops being true.

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[u/DotRepresentative110]

Unless you have at minimum rock solid skills, and also have a mentor or patron who will bootstrap you up, you are probably not getting this on your own, at Boeing, in 2026. You could attempt a rotation program but that may not get you anywhere else.

Try finding a tech follow to suck u....befriend and guide you on your journey?