Most Important Skills For A Retired Aerospace Engineer At Northrop Grumman
For a senior engineering role, according to Michael, "technical competence" is crucial; one cannot transition to management without a strong technical foundation, and good written and oral communication skills are critical to understand contract requirements and deliverables. A thorough understanding of contracts is essential to manage customer expectations and prevent "mission creep" by clearly differentiating between what's in the contract and what requires a modification and additional cost.
Aerospace Engineering, Technical Competence, Communication Skills, Contract Management, Requirements Analysis
Advizer Information
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Michael Capoccia
Retired Aerospace Engineer
Northrop Grumman Corp.
Cal State University Long Beach
Pepperdine University Masters In Business Administration , Graduate Studies In Program Mngt. and Systems Engineering Cal Tech
Engineering - Chemical
Aerospace, Aviation & Defense
Research and Development (R&D)
Honors Student, Worked 20+ Hours in School, Transfer Student, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Technical competence is crucial at a senior engineering level; you need to deeply understand the technical aspects of your work.
2. Strong written and oral communication skills are essential for effectively conveying technical information and negotiating contract requirements.
3. A thorough understanding of contract requirements and deliverables is important to manage scope, prevent mission creep, and ensure appropriate compensation for additional work.
Transcript
What skills are most important for a job like yours?
For senior engineering, technical competence is crucial. You need to genuinely know what you're doing technically. It's not a role you can transition into from management just because you've completed something.
You also need very good written and oral communication skills. A thorough understanding of contract requirements and deliverables is essential for preventing "mission creep."
For example, if a customer wants to increase the speed by 10 miles per hour, you can't just agree to do it for free. That would require an engineering change and incur additional costs.
Therefore, the most important skill is using your contract knowledge to distinguish what is and isn't included. If something isn't in the contract, it will cost extra. You can develop a cost proposal and present it to the customer. If they approve, it becomes a contract modification. This is why understanding contracts and having strong communication skills are so important.