PhD in Systems Engineering - Impact on Career

[YoshiMoshi]

I see some schools offer a PhD in Systems Engineering, even Cornell and BU. Can anyone here who has this degree or know someone who does, can say if it was worth getting or not, and how it impacted their career? What kind of opportunities did it open up for for you? What jobs require the degree besides professor to teach systems engineering.

I'm asking because thinking of possibly pursuing one. But am unsure on what impact it would have on my career (if any).

Please and thanks.

 

[CrysPhys]

I don't have a PhD in Systems Engineering, and I don't know anyone who does. But I'll pass along two comments:

(1) Look up job posts across a wide variety of businesses and industries (or at least the businesses and industries you're interested in). See how many specify, "PhD in Systems Engineering required or preferred."

(2) In one of my career phases, I worked as a systems engineer in a systems engineering dept of a Big Telcom company. My degrees were all in physics. My colleagues had degrees in fields such as physics, computer science, EE, or ME. I don't know about other businesses and industries, though.

 

[YoshiMoshi]

Yea see that's the thing. I can't find any jobs that require a PhD in Systems engineering. I've come across system engineers that have master degree in systems engineering but never a PhD. The only thing I could think of, is that it MIGHT help you get a top systems engineering job over other engineers but I'm not sure, seeing as the degree doesn't appear to be to common, don't have an example to go off of.

I figured if Cornell and BU offer the degree, it must be of some use, but that is not necessarily true.

 

[CrysPhys]

I figured if Cornell and BU offer the degree, it must be of some use, but that is not necessarily true.

* Why don't you contact them directly, and ask them what careers their grads end up with?

* What is your current status (education and work experience), and what career do you want to pursue?

* You need to be careful about some PhD programs. Some are not designed to better prepare you for a career practicing in the field, but rather they focus more on an abstract analysis of the field itself. E.g., in one of my career phases, I worked as a patent agent in a law firm. I once met a woman (not at my law firm, but at an ice skating rink) who was pursuing a PhD in Intellectual Property Law. I never knew such a degree existed. She was writing her thesis dissertation on aspects of patent law. But her degree would not qualify her for a career in patent drafting and prosecution or patent litigation; nor was she interested in pursuing any such a career. She was interested in patent policies and the consequences of patents, such as whether they stimulate or stifle innovation, whether they serve the common good or just individual inventors, ....

* ETA: Just for kicks, I looked at the Cornell website. Here's their highlight quote:

“This PROGRAM is not ABOUT learning existing techniques. These are people who are going to create the state of the art… And so who do you turn to when appropriate techniques don’t exist for innovating complex systems? That’s a systems Ph.D.”
– Pat Reed, Professor,
Systems Engineering Field Faculty Member

 

[gmax137]

I worked as a systems engineer in a systems engineering dept of a Big Telcom company. My degrees were all in physics. My colleagues had degrees in fields such as physics, computer science, EE, or ME. I don't know about other businesses and industries, though.

It seems "System Engineering" is a term used in many contexts with different meanings.

I too worked as a system engineer, in a power plant. This job was to learn everything there was to know about the assigned systems (where a "system" might be emergency feedwater, or safety injection, or main turbine controls, or 4160 volt switchgear, ... I think we had defined 80 or 100 "systems" in the plant). The system engineer would then be responsible for determining the effect of components out of service, optimizing preventative maintenance, troubleshooting problems, tracking surveillance test results, and so on. Safe to say, this is not a position you get by doing a PhD.

 

[CrysPhys]

It seems "System Engineering" is a term used in many contexts with different meanings.

For sure. Here's one of my previous posts discussing different flavors of systems engineering just within telcom R&D:

https://www.physicsforums.com/threa...-systems-engineering-job.1015347/post-6633843

That's why I asked the OP of this current thread what their goal is.

 

[YoshiMoshi]

I currently work as an electrical systems engineer. My academic background is

Master of Engineering in Electrical Engineering
Graduate Certificate in Systems Engineering
Bachelor of Science in Electrical Systems Engineering
Associate of Applied Science in Automotive Technology
Undergraduate Certificate in Automotive Technology

I want to continue to work as an electrical systems engineer, maybe even in the automotive field. I don't currently work in that field. I'm part of the millennial generation. It seems that in industry, all the top engineers have been at the same job for a few decades, and have lots of historical knowledge that is much more valuable than any degree will provide. But with millennials getting older, who tend to go from job to job it seems, and the loss of the pension as a standard, that the number of people who have been at the same company for a few decades will drop off like a rock once baby boomer generation retires. I fear that the top engineers at companies in 20-30 years will no longer be the ones that have been there for a few decades, as these people likely won't exist anymore or only a handful of them, and the top engineers will be people with lots of education.

I'm thinking MAYBE at some point seeing if I could apply to a professor job, for the tuition benefits for kids.

I like learning new things as well, just for the sake of learning.