ELDP participants have the ability to chart their own technical paths for three years; seeking career advice from managers, professors, mentors, and peers.
Participants can find or create a rotational job assignment through discussions with a manager or team leader on a particular program or in a technical area of interest. Another resource available to locate rotational assignments of interest is the postings on the internal ELDP website.
Program participants have the opportunity to gain a breadth of technical experience through exposure to different programs across BAE Systems, as well as several engineering disciplines. The typical rotational job assignment duration is six to nine months. Most ELDP participants have the opportunity to rotate three to five times before graduation from the program. Participants have an opportunity to rotate across all of BAE Systems, work in small and large teams, and gain practical industry experience in several technical areas of interest.
Interdisciplinary rotational assignments are encouraged for ELDP participants. One of the ELDP goals is to train the participants to be more well-rounded; and completing a rotation in a different functional area will allow them to see how another group functions within the company and gain exposure to a less-familiar technical field. A popular combination for many ELDP participants is to do a systems engineering rotational assignment along with their main discipline of mechanical, electrical, or software engineering.
Rotations can even be completed at other E&IS locations after the 1.5 year completion of the Technical Development Curriculum. Rotations at these remote facilities are not required, but can be arranged through participant initiative, if he or she wishes to explore the different sites.
One of my rotations involved living in California for the summer supporting flight testing of unmanned aircraft at Edwards Airforce Base. During the week I would work with the U.S. Airforce, Northrup Grumman and Raytheon to ensure all systems were functioning properly and ready for the upcoming flights. Sandy Annis, Systems Engineer, BS, ME and MEM, Dartmouth College, Class of 2004
