Mechanical Design Engineer looking to transition into Systems Engineering – project ideas?
Hi everyone,
I’m currently working as a Mechanical Design Engineer in aerospace. Most of my work involves CAD models, drawing checks, BoMs, configuration management, and making sure released engineering data is correct.
Over the last year or so, I’ve realized that I’m becoming more interested in understanding how the entire aircraft/system works rather than focusing only on individual parts and drawings. That got me looking into Systems Engineering, and I’ve recently started taking a Systems Engineering course on Coursera to learn the fundamentals.
My long-term goal is to transition into a Systems Engineering role, but I know that simply completing courses probably isn’t enough. I’d like to build a project that I can actually show on my resume or LinkedIn to demonstrate that I’ve applied some Systems Engineering concepts in practice.
I’m trying to think of an aerospace-related project where I could work through things like:
- Requirements definition
- Functional decomposition
- System architecture
- Trade studies
- Verification & validation
- Requirements traceability
- Maybe some MBSE as well
For those of you already working in Systems Engineering, what kind of project would you suggest for someone coming from a Mechanical Design background?
I’d really appreciate any ideas or advice, especially from people who made a similar transition.
Thanks!
