Questions for Systems Engineers

darkchild

What degree program(s) did you pursue and where (U.S.)?

What did you think of any coursework/program specific to Systems Engineering, especially in relation to previous degree programs?

What sort of S.E. job prospects did you pursue/what was available (ex., internship that turned into a job, government work, promotion after some time in a more traditional engineering job role, etc.)?

What are your day-to-day job duties and what has your S.E.-related professional development been like (ex. entry level job duties vs. now)?

What do you like most and least about the profession?

jsgruszynski

Assuming you mean the "large system design" definition of system engineering. There are other definitions such as a synonym for applications engineering (which is often systems engineering-y in the former sense to some extent).

Basically most specific degrees are useful for systems engineering because by definition systems engineering involves most specialties of engineering. The things that wrap those things up are project management, operations research, finance, and general renaissance knowledge. These are glue subjects that tend to dominate Industrial/Systems Engineering (ISE/IE) programs.

Often where ISE falls down as a training is that it lacks the depth of the specialized areas (most BS-ISEs I've known have gone back to get more specific MSxE degrees). There is also overlap with Engineering Management and MBAs.