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  Most Systems Engineering degrees fail to prepare you for real-world industry challenges. Why? They prioritise ideal scenarios and textbook processes. But 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝘆. You will face: • Incomplete data • Shifting requirements • Tight resource constraints • Corporate office politics 👇

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  People often ask me how to prove work experience for an interview when they are at the beginning of their career. Others ask how to pick a path for the future while still a student. You may already know I'm a strong believer that practical learning is the best possible learning! What's my view? I won't faff about this more: 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁! 𝗕𝗨𝗧 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵. ⬇

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  My next newsletter "Why Coffee Machines are ruining your confidence." is coming Thursday. Subscribe to get it and stay in the loop on everything I'm creating. https://use.toth.al/join

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  You are likely wasting time on software tools instead of doing actual engineering work. I once spent a week building a digital voting system for a meeting but failed to ensure my plan traced up to the actual value of the discussion! J. F. Evans writes in Key Concepts in Systems Thinking that we must constantly focus on the core purpose of our system. When you spend all day fixing a SysML block or formatting a document you stop directing the project and become just another worker.

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  And life is flowing ... .. like a river to the inevitable vastness of the ocean. Am I making the most of it, enjoying the journey? Experiencing every single meter of it with the full knowledge I will never travel this way again! Will never see this part of existence again. In some sense, this me won’t exist anymore. Just a memory frozen in time. If that … .. memories are changing and fading so fast!

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  I asked my newest automated buddy to synthesise and distil our latest support videocall. This is the best it came up with … Any useful?

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  Most ambitious engineers try to level up the same broken way: stack another certification, master another tool, wait for someone to notice. No one notices! They end up overqualified on paper and completely invisible in the room: anxious, overlooked, and wondering if they’re the problem.

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  In 60 minutes I cut through the noise and identify the one thing standing between you and your next career move. Then build a concrete, actionable plan to tackle it. Whether you need to position yourself for a promotion, sharpen your CV, or prepare for a critical interview, we’ll leave the call with a clear next step you can act on today. Start at https://EveryExpert.com/alex

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  @Russssty@mastodon.social Ha haaa, right! I want extraterrestrial pizza! ETizza ...

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  𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗯? None. They just document the darkness as the new baseline requirement.

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  An optimist sees the glass as half full. A pessimist sees the glass as half empty. A systems engineer sees a requirement for a larger container that the current design fails to justify.

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  We stop being the organising force and become just another spinning rock. A Systems Engineer is dark matter, the one thing that holds a project together and can bring order into chaos!

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  On Difficult Conversations and 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗽 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘁. Nobody likes telling their manager that a project is running out of money. I was leading the technical delivery for a complex project involving autonomous vehicle testing. I noticed our labour costs were trending too high. We were going to hit a wall.

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  Procrastination (whether it's studying for a certification or the dread of updating a CV) is rarely laziness. As a mentor your job is to help them find the right tools to overcome the resistance and build momentum.

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  You can't force your way through a mental wall if you're using the wrong learning style. Switching from dense text to visual tools cured his task aversion and rebuilt his confidence.

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  A mechanical engineer designs the vehicle suspension. A software engineer writes the braking logic and adaptive suspension SW. A principal systems engineer spends three weeks in Cameo just to prove the road is an external actor. 𝗡𝗼 𝗠𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗰! Wizardry ...

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  2/6 But if you have the mindset of a true Systems Engineer, your curiosity won't let it go. You realise that 𝘺𝘰𝘶 are closer to the code and the hardware than anyone writing the initial spec. I know exactly what it feels like to stand at that crossroad, wondering if you should speak up.

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  1/5 I once spent hours meticulously designing the 'perfect' digital voting forms and setups for an INCOSE Automotive group meeting that I was chairing. I was incredibly proud of this smart-feeling system, only to realise later that I had completely neglected to plan the actual content of what we needed to discuss. I had fallen into the trap: I obsessed over the tools and completely forgot the aim.

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  I see this in Engineering every day. We spend years becoming the ultimate "Specialist" (The I-Shaped Professional). We dig deep. We master the tool. We perfect the "foam." But when we try to step up to Systems Engineering or Leadership that depth becomes a trap. To build or lead complex systems you cannot just dig down. You have to reach wide. You need to shift from "𝗜-𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗱" to "𝗧-𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗱." • 𝗩𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗲: Your core engineering depth (Don't lose t...

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  I just published a YouTube video of some of my work. Should I do this type of educational videos on Systems and Engineering, you think? https://youtu.be/UatMZAGviBw

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  What is the connection between Cats and Systems Engineering? Do you have a cat? You probably all know by now that I'm not an Engineering theoretician. I leave that to others. But a 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀-𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁 who focuses on extracting 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 I do. And 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲. 👇 more...

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  Most owners accept an ugly smelly plastic bin of gravel as an inevitable system failure. I see it as a poorly managed interface. To showcase my other engineering expertise I am launching a new product: The Deluxe Stealth Cat Washroom. 😂 I was sitting in my lounge the other day trying to enjoy a coffee. When my cat decided to use his tray. Within seconds the boundary of my peaceful morning was breached by a scent that no ventilation could fix. It was a classic failure:

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  Systems Engineering is much more than working on projects at your workplace. SE is coming up with better, more valuable and efficient solutions to old problems. Even in unexpected areas within your home. Keep an eye following here to see what I'm up to. 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄.

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  ... 3/4 You look for tutorials, and what do you find? "𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝗮 𝗖𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲." Or "𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝗮 𝗧𝗼𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿." Most of these are driven by tool vendors and meant to demonstrate how to draw pretty diagrams with SysML. That is not Engineering. That is just drawing boxes. Real systems have regulatory constraints, noisy data, and complex failure modes. A toaster doesn't prepare you for that.

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  If your work feels like a grind, you are playing the wrong game. The best work feels like play. It builds on who you already are, not who you think you should be.

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  Stop obsessing over Quality. It’s a numbers game. Quantity is the path to Quality. You have to write 100 bad lines of code (or posts) to find the 1 genius one. #GrowthMindset #JustDoIt

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  4/5 1. 𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗡𝗲𝗲𝗱, 𝗼𝗿 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗳𝘆 𝗮 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱? (If it’s just for the process, kill it). 2. 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗜 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝟱-𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿-𝗼𝗹𝗱? (If no, you don't understand it well enough yet). 3. 𝗜𝗳 𝗜 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀, 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸? (If no, it’s just clutter).

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  2/5 We think if a diagram looks like a bowl of 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪, it means we are "smart." We believe that if we aren't drowning in data, we aren't working. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆. When you strip away the noise, you realise the hard truth: Complexity is often just a sign that you haven't understood the problem yet. Anyone can build a complicated system. It takes a Master to build a simple one.

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  Stop fixing things that don't need to be fixed. Stop solving problems that are not yours to solve. You are leaking energy on things that don't move the needle. #Focus

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  Let's stop this and do that. Do important things!