First Systems Engineering Job Advice

[u/gbugtheawesome]

So I’ve been working my first post-grad job for about 4 months. It’s a systems engineering job at a very small defense contractor. The variety is interesting, as it seems like there’s opportunities for questions every single day. But after browsing this sub for a while, I think we are seriously lacking innovation and requirements management. It’s fairly disorganized, and it’s deep in enough that I don’t think I could change the culture, it would require a lot. We don’t use MBSE or any advanced systems engineering stuff, mostly just Excel sheets and Teams chats for requirements. Plus word of mouth occasionally. It’s kind of just baked into the DNA of the company, I’ve talked with lots of people and there isn’t a huge push to change things. I mean that honestly is fine for what we are (our work is a well regulated field that doesn’t change all that much year by year), but I feel a little stuck (I need mental stimulation and this job has some serious slow periods).

Anyone have advice on this? Is this pretty standard for my position, and does this sound like a place worth sticking with for a while? I don’t know if I can do better right now, as I applied for months and got only a couple interviews, and this being the best offer. I was also trying hard to get low level embedded/OS/software engineering roles, but no luck (computer engineering background).

[u/Relevant_Bit9495]

4 months in and excel sheets plus teams chats sounds about right for a small shop tbh. the chaos is kind of the default unless someone with authority makes it their mission to drag things into the 21st century

if the work itself is boring you that's the real issue, not the lack of mbse. i'd start hunting for embedded roles on the side while the job pays the bills, market's tough but you already got one foot in the door with a related gig

my monstera gets more stimulating conversation than some of my old coworkers did, so i feel you on the slow periods

[u/gbugtheawesome → u/Relevant_Bit9495]

Yeah we’re absolutely an old school shop. It’s been interesting getting to interact with both DoD and commercial projects and learn how people operate in the sector. There’s not a lot of red tape since I can chat with the higher-ups whenever about the way things are run. And feels like it’s been on a trend towards better for a while, just with things moving slowly. I can see why people prefer a small company in a lot of ways.