I Quit. Reflecting on General Dynamics

For more than 6 years I've worked for General Dynamics Land Systems. Last week that all changed. I quit my cushy corporate job. Before I write about what's going on in my life next I want to take a moment to reflect on my experience working for one of the worlds largest military subcontractors.

For anyone wondering, I didn't have anything to do or any influence over the company's very outdated website. And, I'm not leaving because of any distaste I have. I'm chasing opportunities rather than staying in a comfortable place. GDLS, as we affectionately call it, doesn't offer the opportunities I'm chasing.

My time there is really divided between two areas of work. First, I got to play on and with tanks. This was followed by some time working on software tools.

The Highlights

• I got to play on tanks... I mean work on them. This meant I worked with the customers on military vehicles. This was my most valuable learning experience there. Every engineer should spend time with their customer and their products.
• I worked on testability, health management (of systems), diagnostics, and prognostics (detecting failures before they happen). There is some amazing work being done here. Imagine detecting a failure before it happens and handling the situation so a failure never affects your system or you minimize the impact.
• Conferences and trainings rock. I was fortunate enough to attend a few.
• I was a project lead on more than one project. This helped me plan and really learn to respect Murphay's Law.
• For the last year and a half I wrote 'Software Tools'. This is essentially writing web based applications. What an opportunity to learn the ins and outs of corporate development and the positives, bottlenecks, policies, and enviornment that makes big corporate work operate the way it does.
• I had the pleasure to work with some fantastic people.

If you're wondering what's next that will come in some follow-up posts. For now, I'm enjoying my week off between companies.