This blog is a didactic memoir of my career as a systems engineer. I hope it will be of interest to:

• Students who are considering a career in systems engineering.
• Systems engineers who wish to compare their experiences in the profession with mine.
• Anyone interested in getting a feel for the systems engineering profession.

Posts fall into the following categories:

Soft Skills: These posts discuss the soft skills that have made me more effective as a systems engineer. These are skills that you learn on the job.

Technical Skills: These posts describe my experiences acquiring and using various technical skills.

The Workplace: These posts contain reflections on aspects of the work environment experienced by systems engineers.

Real World Examples: These posts take examples, mostly from product development and healthcare, and examines them from a systems engineering perspective.

Healthcare Stories: These posts describe my experiences with the US healthcare system. The healthcare system in the United States is probably the most complex system ever devised by humanity. As such, it is a source of endless fascination to a systems engineer. I have experienced the healthcare system from two points of view: as a designer of medical equipment and as a caretaker for extremely old parents. I have encountered some good examples of systems thinking but many more examples where some systems thinking could improve the experience of both workers and patients.

Reflections: These posts reflect on various topics, some only distantly related to systems engineering.