A Career In Telecoms Systems Engineering
Telecoms systems engineering integrates other disciplines and speciality groups into a team effort, forming a structured development process that proceeds from concept to production to operation and disposal. Telecoms systems engineering considers both the business and the technical needs of all customers, with the goal of providing a quality product that meets the user needs. The initial focus is on defining customer needs and the required functionality early in the development cycle, documenting requirements, then proceeding with design and system validation while considering the complete problem.
Education in telecoms systems engineering is often seen as an extension to the regular engineering courses, reflecting the industry attitude that engineering students need a foundational background in one of the traditional engineering disciplines (e.g. electrical engineering) plus practical, real-world experience in order to be effective as systems engineers. Undergraduate university programs in telecoms systems engineering are rare.
The systems engineering process is made up of a number of broad elements, including the initial sign off for the development of a product/software/service. This involves a feasibility study and customer approval before taking forward. The next step is to develop a project team and a project plan. Time, costs, resources and performance levels will be assessed and each part of the process will be managed with a view to minimizing risk of the project becoming unmanageable. A lot of thought is needed upfront to mitigate risk and have contingencies in place in order to ensure the project meets the customer’s needs and the company’s business objectives are met.
The technical process covers the design, development and implementation phase of a system life cycle. This set of top level requirements are translated into software requirements which will define the functionalities of the software product. These software requirements can lead to a few alternate designs for the product. Each requirement is periodically examined for validity, consistency, desirability and attainability. With these examinations, or evaluations a decision can be made on the design. With the chosen design a requirements analysis will be performed and a functional design can be made. Thereafter, the product can actually be developed, integrated and implemented in the user environment.
The final part of the process is evaluation. During and after the creation of a software product the following questions have to be answered: Does the product do what it is intended to do? Are the requirements met? and as mentioned in the previous paragraph: Are the requirements valid and consistent? This requires that the requirements are testable. For example a usability requirement, such as “the software product must be easy to use” can be tested through a heuristic evaluation. During the lifetime of a software product it will be continuously revised, updated and re-evaluated until the product is not used any more and is disposed of.
As this role is multi-disciplined, this opens up a number of options you can develop into, like telecoms software development, wireless and mobile project management and telecommunications business management, though for the latter large companies especially, are likely to want a post-graduate business qualification like an MBA, as this is a highly competitive sector.
The other advantage to this position is being able to move into consultancy, take on contract work, work internationally and work across the communication sector whether it be mobile telecoms, or wi-max, for example. Similarly, these skills are wanted across all business sectors, whether it be for companies focused on the enterprise sector, consumer/retail, or government/public sector.
Kick-start your career in telecoms systems engineering today by viewing our currently available telecommunication jobs.
Alternatively, have you considered other career paths? Browse through these examples of careers for more ideas: Wireless And Mobile Sales Management, Wireless And Mobile Software Engineering, Telecoms Hardware Engineering and Telecommunications Marketing Management.
