Key data
Job description: Systems Engineer
Company: Waymo (formerly: Google Self Driving Car Project)
I work in: California, USA
I’ve worked here since: May 2016
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What I do:
As a Systems Engineer, I am responsible for defining requirements and test specifications and for the software test and release processes used in our autonomous vehicle platform. The work is a mix of technical and organisational activities.
Why I love my job:
As a Systems Engineer, you draw on different disciplines and apply targeted specifications and tests to ensure that the entire development team are pulling in the right direction. I like to collaborate with my colleagues in different sectors to develop a product together.
Important skills in my job:
On a technical level, it is particularly important to have a good overview of some very different disciplines and to intuitively apply this knowledge – like an instinctive feel for correlations and scales. You will often be required to demonstrate this knowledge during meetings at the whiteboard.
It is therefore essential to have good communication skills so as to apply developed concepts and connections with colleagues who have a different professional and cultural background.
My biggest accomplishment so far:
When I moved from Germany to the USA in 2014, I had the opportunity to work for Apple on a software project management task for the iPhone and the Apple Watch before it was released. It was an unbelievably taxing yet educational experience for me to launch a completely new product category for a market with millions of customers and I am very proud of that.
How I found my current job:
An employee in HR found my profile on LinkedIn and contacted me.
What I learned for this job during my studies:
The key foundations which I described under ‘Important skills in my job’ are things which I learnt during my exceptional training as part of the Automotive Engineering course. Working on the whiteboard, solid training in engineering and a focus on soft skills are all foundations which have secured my success in the professional world.
Job prospects in my field:
Autonomous driving is a field of technology which will continue to shape the automotive industry and society over the next 15 years. Many new posts are being created right now to drive the development of these systems.
I am:
… attentive and considerate and I support my colleagues in their successes.
