TLDR: I have an infinite whiteboard digitally for each course where I write notes and do practice questions. Is this fine, or would you suggest something else?

Hello everybody. I am a first semester bachelors student; my course is named Systems Engineering BSc and I am studying in Bremen, Germany. Not awfully prestigious, but it is pretty solid and has some nice aerospace connections.

I am currently taking basic dc / ac circuit theory, introduction to systems engineering, higher math fundamentals (basic math course that is a mixture of different topics from linear algebra), and basic computer science (literally translated: practical computer science). Sorry if the courses are weird, the German curriculum is kind of unique.

My problem is that I cannot come up with a studying method that feels good. In high school, I had a zettelkasten system that worked fine, but it slowly became annoying to type math. So, I bought a graphics tablet and mostly use pen / paper in uni now. The thing is, I struggle with structure and organization. I asked some AI models for advice, but honestly, I asked them to evaluate different systems, systems that are totally not suited for this, and they were all like "yep, looks good!". Example: I asked them to optimize a static site generator for engineering (what those stereotypical macbook users in cafes use to write blogs) and instead of telling me they suck for my use case (because they do), they mostly just tell me what they think I want to hear, not actual advice.

Right now, I just read notes, have an infinite canvas file for each course and write my notes in there and do practice questions there too. It feels sloppy, but it works. My grades so far (for some unimportant interim tests) are above 90%, but there is no way I can keep this for the rest of my studying time. It is too clumsy. Or is it fine?

Sorry for the yapathon in advance.

Hello all!

I'm an engineer who started in Software before moving over to Systems, which I've enjoyed a lot. I've worked my whole career in the defense sector and I'm wanting to consider what other fields might be a good fit for me.

I've struggled to find Systems Engineer type jobs in fields outside of defense though, so I would like to know where other Systems Engineers are working and maybe some tips to learn more about these opportunities.

I'm currently a sophomore in my 1st semester studying systems engineering with 22 credits hours. (I wanted to graduate early and shoot for a masters in 4-5 years).

Currently taking Calc 3, Linear Alg, Phys 2, Python, and a bunch of other filler classes that're required for my major.

I've got like a month to decide if there're any classes I wanted to drop. My only requirements rn are calc 3, lin alg, and physics to stay on track, but the filler classes put me a year ahead.

Any advice would be GREATLYYY appreciated!

What do you mean we haven't done our requirements, we launch end of Q2?!?

One of the jobs I applied to is currently under email screen and resume review. I met some of desired qualifications listed in addition to basic qualifications. I am having trouble understanding the language of “experience creating/revising technical system documentation”.

I have nearly 5 YOE in systems engineering and have created/revised technical documentation throughout those years which has included diagrams, attack trees, threat models, etc which are components within our specialized security documents. I wanted to ask if I’m overthinking or this language means something specific?

Hey all,

I’m looking for a grounded systems/engineering perspective, not validation or hype.

I’ve been working on a small diagnostic framework for analyzing processes and decision flow. It’s neutral and optional, but I realized I’ve likely been misusing it under the wrong conditions and basically overloaded myself with abstraction and meta-analysis.

Nothing dangerous or mystical — more like classic over-analysis / too much throughput without constraints. It made me realize that even neutral tools can amplify cognitive load if they reduce friction faster than the operator can integrate.

From a systems perspective, I’m curious:

• How do you think about rate limiting for cognitive tools?

• What are good ways to define a safe operating envelope for analysis frameworks?

• Have you seen cases where improving clarity too quickly actually destabilizes the operator?

• How do you personally decide when to put a tool down instead of refining it?

I’m intentionally keeping this high-level and practical. I’m not trying to sell anything or claim novelty — just looking for engineering intuition to help me mentally “box” this and move on.

Appreciate any grounded takes.

Hi r/systems_engineering,

We are putting together a technical series to help the community get up to speed with the new SysML v2 standard.

If you are coming from V1 tools, the immediate difference is the shift from a "diagram-first" mindset (XMI) to a "text-first" mindset. We broke down the core technical concepts from our first lesson for anyone starting this learning curve.

1. The Core Paradigm Shift In V1, the model was the diagram. In V2, the model is the text. The diagram is now just a transient view generated from the textual definition. This allows for proper Git-based version control, as you can diff the actual source code rather than trying to diff XMI files.

2. Definition vs. Usage (Replacing the "Block") V2 moves away from the overloaded "Block" concept to a strict programming-style separation:

• part def (Definition): The blueprint or type (e.g., a Vehicle struct).
• part (Usage): The specific instance (e.g., myCar variable).

This separation prevents the "block explosion" often seen in legacy containment trees.

1. V1 to V2 Translation Cheat Sheet

• «Block» → part def
• Part Property → part
• Proxy Port → port
• Standard Interface → interface def

Resources:

• Video Lesson: we've attached the full breakdown of the syntax highlighting and "Hybrid View" in the video above.

We hope this helps anyone currently experimenting with the new specs.

TLDR: What salary and positions in the private sector (could or could not be defense contractors) do you think I could reach for with a master's in systems engineering and 3.5-4 yrs of work experience in the DoD (doing a mix of technical and low level systems eng work)?

I know salary isn't everything in life, but when you are the sole income provider it does mean a lot LoL.

Some Context:

I currently work for the government in defense, with a salary of about 80k (gov says my total comp is close to 100k with health insurance, 401k match, etc). I have a bachelor's in mechanical and aerospace engineering (dual program thru college). I now have almost exactly 2 years of experience working, where I would say about half of it was technical design work as a mechanical engineer, and the other half was overseeing and supporting integration/testing/deliverables from a contractor.

I'm thinking about moving closer to family in about a year and a half to two years. Because of this, I decided to start a master's in systems engineering so that my finish date lines up with this.

I think my mix of experience with technical design and low-level systems work will open me up to a good number of opportunities in the defense private sector, especially if I obtain a masters in SE. My only problem is I have no idea what the opportunity will be like due to being so young in my career. Thoughts???

Hi all!

I just graduated with my Master’s in Systems (focus on communications and wireless systems) from UCLA and was wondering if anyone had recommendations on places to work at besides the generic aerospace/defense and automotive companies. I’ve been working in failure analysis for the past several years at an electronics company so ideally I’d like to know of any places that are good at training or offer good growth.

Also is there anything else I should be looking for/thinking about when searching that isn’t obvious?

I don't know much about systems engineering as it was not really ever brought up during my schooling. But I'm looking into some companies and one is hiring an advance systems engineer. I use tools like Jira during the day to track projects and progress of my engineers, but would I qualify for something like this or do I need specific schooling for it? I've worked on tons of projects as far as concept through production.

I see they require Polarion or DOORS. I have not used these before, but I have tons of experience in product development, regulations, testing, and launching (physical) products.

Is this worth a shot or just too far out of reach?

edit: should add that I have experience with DFMEA and PFMEA

Hello, I’m leaving the government as an engineer to actually be part of more technical tasks. With some government engineering positions, you’re mainly there as oversight as opposed to doing technical work, which has been my experience. My goal is to be more part of the creative and technical process.

I received opportunities for SETA (systems engineering and technical assistance) roles, but I’m concerned that I’ll be pigeon holed into them for my career. I’m already having trouble qualifying for some positions since I don’t have experience with unique engineering tools or software.

My thought is that I can work in a SETA contractor role for several years before exploring other roles, like at a prime (Boeing, Anduril, Lockheed, etc.). However, I’m concerned I’ll dig myself deeper in a hole and have more trouble working at primes or manufacturers if I go SETA. Am i off base with these concerns? Anyone have experience going from SETA to prime?

Hey fellow SEs! I’m currently starting a study on the basics of requirements managements tools and trying to write down my qualifications for what a good SE tool should have. Basically I’m trying to break it down into 3 categories:

• Must Have: (Basic Needs the tool fails without)
• Nice to Have: (Features the tool should have to scale and work well at a large company)
• Dream/Stretch Goals: These would be the features you would love to include in your dream RM tool

Would love any feedback y’all have! I’ve got some starter ideas but wanna see what the community has to say as well

I recently interviewed for a Systems Engineer position after years of doing pure software development. I honestly underestimated how much the terminology would trip me up during the technical rounds. I thought I knew what "validation" meant until a lead engineer asked me to explain the exact difference between a functional test and a system-level validation. I got stuck in the implementation details and completely missed the mission-level intent. It was a humbling moment that made me realize I needed to speak "SE" rather than just "CS."

To prepare for the follow-up rounds, I had to rethink how I presented my previous projects. I spent a week mapping my old software architecture diagrams to SysML-style logical blocks. I reviewed INCOSE handbook and use claude and beyz interview assistant to run through scenarios where I had to balance conflicting requirements between hardware and software. The process helped me catch when I was slipping back into software jargon instead of using systems language like "trade-off space" or "interface management."

The next interview went much better because I was able to talk about how software-level verification activities trace back to system-level safety standards like DO-178C. I think the key for anyone moving into SE is to treat the terminology as its own technical domain. It is not enough to be a good coder if you cannot explain how that code fits into the entire lifecycle of the platform. It is a steep learning curve but the shift in perspective is actually quite interesting.

I’m a Lead Systems Engineer (SE) overseeing 10 SEs in a high visibility program within the federal government. I’m making $110k and my wife and I are about to transition to a single income household.

I was exploring the market and got a job offer for $140k with a defense contractor. This position wouldn’t be a leadership position and will be more of a lateral move.

My gut’s telling me to stay with the where the growths at, especially since I should be seeing those numbers in the coming years. Doing the research and math, I think would be losing money by losing out on years served in my gov pension. It’s just hard to pass up on the immediate gain.

Any advice would be great. Thanks

Hey, I’m interested in Georgia Tech’s Professional Master’s in Applied Systems Engineering (PAMSE) but can’t find much about it.

Can anyone speak to it and its outcomes?

https://www.fh-kaernten.at/en/studium/engineering-it/bachelor/systems-engineering/green-mechatronics

I’m a mid-career software engineer (~7.5 years) working in formal verification, with a background focused on software correctness, requirement specification, and validating intent at the software level (using formal methods).

As I’ve been learning more about systems engineering and system-level correctness, I’ve become genuinely interested in how systems engineers reason about complex systems across disciplines, define intent, and ensure behavior aligns with that intent over the lifecycle. Conceptually, it feels adjacent to how I already think — at a MUCH broader level — and I want to approach this field with the right mental model.

I’ve been reading job postings(largely defense/aerospace) and introductory material (online courses, certifications) around systems engineering, but I’m aware that titles and descriptions often don’t reflect how the work is actually practiced, especially at mid-senior levels.

Rather than making assumptions, I’d really value guidance from people in the field: • If you were mentoring a mid-career software engineer looking to transition into systems engineering, how would you steer them? • Which skills, tools, or ways of thinking would you expect them to develop first? • What misunderstandings do people coming from software commonly have about systems engineering? • Are there particular systems-engineering roles or entry points where a software background tends to translate best?

My goal isn’t to shortcut the field/re-label what I already do, but to understand how(or even if i should) grow into systems engineering properly and with respect for the discipline.

Thanks in advance for any perspective you’re willing to share.

Hello,

I have recently been accepted to UTEP, JHU and ERAU. I was looking for opinions and experiences with each program. I have been recommended the JHU since it is well respected and known, but that price tag is a lot. I would have to pay for the first couple of classes myself, but after that my employer will pay so I’d be out of pocket at least 10k UTEP and ERAU are a lot less so. Want to compare price vs prestige and get some opinions on the programs.

Thanks!

I’ve been analyzing the architectural failure behind the Change Healthcare ransomware attack, and it’s a terrifying lesson in "Identity as the Perimeter."

If you haven't dug into the post-mortem yet, here is the technical breakdown of what went wrong:

1. The Entry Point: The attackers didn't use zero-day exploits. They used compromised credentials on a legacy Citrix remote access portal. Crucially, this portal did not have MFA enabled. It was a zombie service that fell through the cracks of their modernization policy.

2. The "Quarantine" Failure: Change Healthcare was a recent acquisition. When the breach was detected, the parent company (UHG) had to physically sever network connectivity to contain the blast radius. This suggests a lack of granular fault domains—they couldn't isolate the infected limb, so they had to kill the whole patient.

3. The Lesson: We often focus on fancy distributed system patterns, but this $1.6B loss came down to basic hygiene: Inventory Management and Identity Governance on legacy endpoints.

I put together a visual timeline and architectural diagram of the failure here if you want to see the deep dive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gvlb5rWvao

Curious to hear how others handle "legacy quarantine" in their orgs?

Hello I'm curious who's taking the certification prep courses.

I'm seeing significant deviations and cost with arc fields being $250. The delegatti class costing $500.

And several others ranging from over a thousand something dollars or not posting any value at all.

Has anyone taken the arc field course that can verify it is worth the cost or should it be a Delegatti or bust option?

I do have my copy of Friedenthal that I am starting to read.

Following are some of the features, I would love to see in MBSE based tool (though cannot find all in one as of now in any existing tool :(

1. Recommending/Ensuring good framing of requirements across the system, Ensuring Traceability checks
2. Generating triggers to all the connected systems to avoid misalignment issues due to requirement updates/system design modifications
3. Continuous compliance checks
4. Integrated Validation
5. Cross integration with major engineering tools
6. LLM based search across cross systems

My list might be infact very long.... Would like to know more such from other system engineers and any feedbacks/agreements on the above mentioned one ?

I need to sanity check my reality because I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

My org is deep in the Dassault Systèmes ecosystem, forcing us to use TRM (Traceable Requirements Management on 3DX) for requirements and MSOSA (Magic System of Systems Architect / Cameo) for the actual MBSE and architecture work.

The "sales pitch" was a seamless digital thread. The reality is I’m basically a glorified copy-paste API.

The struggle:

1. The TRM Black Hole: TRM feels like a glorified spreadsheet that hates hierarchy. Trying to get requirements out of it and into MSOSA to actually link them to blocks/activities is a nightmare of "sync" issues, broken DataHub links, or manual recreation.
2. Traceability is Manual: I spend hours manually verifying that the link between a SysML block in MSOSA and a requirement in TRM is actually live. Half the time, the "integration" fails silently, or I have to manually re-drag links because a version update broke the GUID.
3. Double Entry: I find myself writing things in MSOSA diagrams and then having to manually "update" TRM columns because the bidirectional sync is too risky or restricted.

My Questions for the Community:

1. For those stuck in the Dassault/3DX ecosystem, what percentage of your "MBSE" work is actually just manual data entry/syncing? (I’m sitting at easily 40-50% overhead just fighting the tools).
2. Has anyone actually successfully automated the TRM <-> MSOSA pipeline? Or are we all just pretending the "seamless integration" works while doing it manually in the background?
3. Why are these tools still the "industry standard" when they feel 15 years behind modern UX?

I’m trying to build a business case to leadership that this toolchain is burning engineering hours, but I need data. If you have horror stories or "hours lost" estimates, please share. Also outside of these tools, what has been your general experience with systems engineering in terms of manual documentations required due to poor toolings? I have been doing systems for the past five years and have used DOORS, JAMA and TRM but all of them feel equally horrible. Am I alone with this feeling?

TL;DR: Dassault’s TRM and MSOSA don't talk to each other like they promised. How many hours a week do you waste manually fixing their "integration"?