Systems Engineer Review

My main role within the team is acting as the point of contact for our task management system (ALM) which involves implementing improvements, maintaining the system and answering any queries that team members have. I also act as the point of contact between BAE Systems and MBDA for the systems side of the T26 Sea Ceptor weapon system programme. This involves answering multiple different technical queries by researching and communicating with different teams within MBDA.

I've developed a great skillset during my time at MBDA, the main ones are: - Communicational skills as I have had to communicate with many different people and many different teams. - Presentational skills as I've had to create and present slide packs to many people. - Leadership skills as I've been given a lot of responsibilities like overseeing large processes with deliverable deadlines. - Time management skills due to managing meetings in calendars every day.

Yes I was given a lot of responsibility. The point of contact role that I mentioned between BAE Systems and MBDA was a role that was previously fulfilled by senior systems engineer which I took on after they left. Furthermore, I was given the responsibility of overseeing a major process regarding configuration data on an oversees ship and ensuring that the trials team had the required software they needed prior to travelling the another country.

I've received great guidance during my placement as I had a great line manager, a great technical coordinator and a great team. I was constantly encouraged to ask questions and received constant support for any query that I had, even when members of the team were very busy. I had consistent team meetings and one of one meetings with my line manager to ensure that I had a good workload and work to complete.

The company culture and general atmosphere was incredibly welcoming and accepting. I genuinely couldn't believe how well people were treated here. The dynamic working was my favourite aspect as it really showed that the company cared about the employee's work life balances. There were never any arguments and I could tell that if there ever were, they would be settled in an organised and civilised fashion. Overall really great atmosphere and company culture.

I greatly enjoyed my placement as it was a new challenge that I embraced. It required a greatly different skillset to university and I believe it has been an incredibly valuable experience for my future. Especially in terms of communication, presentational and time management skills. Due to the dynamic working and welcoming team, I was able to still pursue hobbies I had at university such as playing on the university's men's volleyball team.

Yes

Be open and welcome any challenge as there are many great teams in MBDA that you could be assigned to, meaning that you could be assigned any type of work. I only had the option to work in one team but there were many other teams that interested me such as trials where you actively work on installing equipment and the software department where you write code and create software. Ensure you try every opportunity.