LITTLETON, CO / ACCESS Newswire / September 28, 2026 / Engineers working on complex projects can become highly focused on the problem directly in front of them. Aerospace engineer John Sweetser says one of the most useful career skills is learning when to widen that view and ask how a decision affects the rest of the system.
John is a chief engineer, mission architect, mechanical engineer, and systems engineer whose career has included modeling and simulation, space vehicle design, technical leadership, and mission-level engineering. Based on that experience, he points to several habits that can help engineers make better decisions as their responsibilities grow.
One of the most important is asking what happens outside your immediate area of ownership.
A common issue on Space Vehicle programs occurs between the stress analyst and greater engineering team. The stress analyst is only punished if something breaks. However, they are not typically incentivized when things don't break nor are they incentivized when they remove unnecessary mass. As a result, most stress analysts will push for beefier structures and components that have massive amounts of margin. Teaching your stress team the consequences of increased mass (e.g. delta V lost per kg of dry mass added) often helps them understand the downsides of making items too stout and allows them to take program needs into account within their subsystem.
"Early in your career, you're often rewarded for becoming very good at solving a specific technical problem," John said. "As your responsibilities grow, you also have to understand what that solution changes for everyone else."
He suggests engineers regularly ask three questions when approaching a difficult problem: What problem are we actually trying to solve? What assumptions are we making? Who else is affected if we change this? Good engineers can routinely start with a program level requirement and derive that down to their daily tasks.
Those questions may sound simple, but John says they can expose misunderstandings before teams invest significant time or resources in the wrong solution.
He also encourages engineers to separate facts from assumptions during technical discussions. Teams often work with incomplete information, particularly on new or complex programs. Clearly identifying what is known, what is estimated, and what still needs to be tested can make technical conversations more productive.
That process also requires engineers to become comfortable raising concerns.
"I believe there is nothing more important than honesty and transparency to be successful in any industry," John said. "Part of transparency is being able to engage in difficult conversations with critical customers, leadership and other coworkers."
John says junior engineers in particular can feel pressure to arrive at meetings with an answer. In practice, acknowledging uncertainty can be more useful than offering false confidence.
Another habit he recommends is learning enough about neighboring disciplines to ask better questions. Engineers do not need to become experts in every field, but understanding the basic constraints faced by other teams can improve collaboration.
John's own career gradually expanded in this direction.
He began at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, working on modeling and simulation for the B61 Life Extension Program. The design constraints of nuclear weapons are extremely unique in engineering but also share a lot of commonality with space craft - both are ultra-high reliability, for example. With Lockheed Martin managing Sandia National Labs at that time, John moved into space vehicle design working for Lockheed Martin proper.
Later, John joined Sierra Space and eventually became a Chief Engineer over the defense portfolio. After nearly six years there, he transitioned to a smaller startup. Over time, his work moved from individual engineering problems toward systems engineering and mission architecture, where the connections between disciplines became increasingly important.
John believes engineers can start developing that broader mindset long before they have a systems engineering or leadership title. Finding good mentors early on who have the mission-level understanding you are looking for is critical.
Asking one additional question, seeking input from another discipline, or challenging an assumption early can prevent much larger problems later.
His final advice is to stay curious outside of formal job responsibilities. John's own interests include programming, automotive projects, mesh networks, HAM radios (KB0ZBQ), Software Defined Radios and 3D printing, have always provided significant benefit in a professional setting. For example, when leading a program with RF payloads, buying and learning a software defined radio can give you that extra intuition to make better decisions and know what will work.
"You don't have to wait until someone gives you a broader role to start thinking more broadly," John said. "You can start by understanding the interfaces around your own work and asking better questions."
About John Sweetser
John Sweetser is a chief engineer, mission architect, mechanical engineer, and systems engineer based in Littleton, Colorado. His career has included work at Sandia National Laboratories, Lockheed Martin, Sierra Space, and smaller aerospace startups. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder. His professional interests include aerospace, systems engineering, mission architecture, CONOPs development, technical problem-solving, and engineering education.
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SOURCE: John Sweetser
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