6.45 AM
Wake up and start getting ready for the day. After snoozing my alarm a few times, I have a quick bite to eat and a shower, then brush my teeth and put on my work clothes.
7.20 AM
Leave my apartment and start walking to the train station. It’s about a fifteen-minute walk but gives me some time to get the sleep out of my body.
7.35 AM
I reach the train station, pulling out my phone to check the headlines as I wait. The train is doing well today – only two minutes late!
7.55 AM
My stop. I leave the station and start walking to the NG office. It’s about another fifteen-minute walk, this time with the busy cityscape to catch your attention.
8.10 AM
I reach the office, find my desk and set my laptop up. I have a quick check of my emails – a couple of meeting invitations for later in the week. There’s a bit of chatter around the desk as the team catches up on what’s been happening.
8.25 AM
Time to get stuck into my work for the day. I’m spending some time this morning on a document for our Engineering Knowledgebase, a company-wide collection of documents that engineers can use in their work. This particular one is a template for a Software Management Plan, which projects complete to document how they will develop software throughout their work.
9.30 AM
A quick coffee run with my team to get away from the desk and stretch the legs. There’s a coffee shop in the building next to our office, which makes for a convenient interlude.
9.45 AM
Back to the desk as I try to finish another section of the Software Management Plan template. An email comes from Ben, the other graduate engineer on my team, asking for a review of the Engineering Knowledgebase document he has been working on. I take a pause to read through it, checking for typos.
10.30 AM
Time for our Team Huddle. This is a meeting run in the style of a daily stand-up, led by our boss Leon. Each member of the team states what they have been working on since the last meeting, what the next items on their list are, and any obstacles they’re experiencing.
11.00 AM
A few of us are doing a training course on System Safety this week. The course is being presented by our Systems Safety subject matter expert, so I join the call and take a few notes about how a safety case is made for a system.
12.00 PM
Lunch! The team heads out together, deciding on a Japanese restaurant on our block. I go for a stir fry, while a few of the others pick curries.
12.45 PM
I sit down to start doing some project work. This project is a new contract that the company is trying to win. It’s still early days, so Ben and I are reading through the customer documents which outline their requirements for the system. We map these requirements in a program called Cameo, figuring out how the requirements fit into the subsystems we need to develop.
3.00 PM
We have a meeting with the rest of the team working on the project. There are a few updates on what everyone has been working on, plus some planning talk for our next meeting with the subcontractors. We move a few tasks across the Kanban board and write a list of questions we have for the meeting.
4.00 PM
The subcontractor meeting. A lot of technical talks here about how the project will be developed. As the system integrator on this project, Northrop Grumman is less involved in formulas and calculations but needs to understand when certain milestones will be met and how the various subcontractor’s parts will interface and communicate with one another.
5.00 PM
Home time! I pack away my laptop and notebook, then start walking down to the station to take the train back towards my apartment.
5.50 PM
A quiet night in today. I duck down to the shops to grab some groceries for dinner, then start cooking. It’s spaghetti bolognaise tonight, with a side of veggies. After dinner, I do some reading and chat with a few friends. We’re setting up some plans for the weekend, but weeknights usually aren’t too busy.
10.30 PM
I make a few preparations, packing my bag with a few biscuits as a snack, ready to do it all again tomorrow.