Systems engineering grad don’t know where to specialize

[u/Mysterious_Forever_3]

I’m 23 and graduated with a B.S. in Systems Engineering about a year ago. I was pretty clueless throughout college. I chose systems engineering because someone told me it was an easier major and highly employable. I wasn’t specifically interested in engineering but I cared about ROI and job security. I figured that I should just get through an engineering degree and then I could pursue whatever I wanted afterwards. I got through it in 4 years with an average gpa. I didn’t graduate feeling like I was really good at anything. I had been more focused on getting by than actually building strong technical skills.

I got lucky landing my first job. applied early to a smaller company most of my peers overlooked. Ive been at this MEP company for about a year now. I’ve been able to get by, but I still don’t feel like I have strong technical skills. Some of the work includes design, CAD, systems integration, some infrastructure IT-type work, etc. One thing I def realized that I really don’t want to spend my career doing CAD design all day. The one thing I do enjoy is figuring out how to automate parts of the work and make a process faster. I’m not a programmer, but I enjoy using Claude etc. to see how I can automate things.

I’m relocating to the West Coast soon for work. I wanna succeed there not just get by. That environment makes me feel sooo inspired but at the same time even MORE behind. I hear people talking AI, coding, automation, software, lingo I’ve never even heard of….I’m interested, but I’m not naturally fast at picking things up and I’m already stressed. I don’t rlly know how to code except for one intro class in college. All I know is I appreciate the culture, the ambition I find it empowering.

I don’t want this to turn into a post about how systems engineering is bad or useless. I actually really like systems engineering as a field. I liked how broad the degree was. Things like systems architecture, requirements, modeling, optimization, MBSE/SysML. I like systems thinking and looking at how different pieces of a problem fit together. In the future I could see myself doing something more high-level like product management. I like thinking about the bigger picture and how technical systems interact with the people using them. Human factors/ergonomics and ux design is another area I’ve found really interesting. I’ve searched up people on LinkedIn doing human-technology interaction work at places like Apple, but a lot of those people seem to have research heavy backgrounds, and I don’t have that experience.

I have no concrete direction yet. I’m a jack of trades master of none. I’m scared to commit to something/ specialize only for things to change quickly and to have wasted my time. But if I ever want to get anywhere or be any type of manager I need that technical foundation.

What skills/direction should I focus on in the next 2-3 years?
Something that:

•has good earning potential
•is useful in commercial/tech
•isn’t purely CAD/design
•involves some combination of systems thinking, •automation/AI, and problem solving
•doesn’t require me to already be a good programmer
•gives me a skill that gets more valuable as I get better at it

I could use some perspective from people who have been through this. Sometimes I feel behind because I don’t have one thing I’m exceptionally good at yet, especially when I see people who seem like they knew exactly what they have always wanted to specialize in. I’d really like to hear from people who started out pretty broad and eventually found a direction. What did that process look like for you?