The amplifiers, processing, and data storage used to take up most of the space of a small cargo plane. Then it got down to four half-racks. Now it is the size of a dishwasher.

We hope to get it drone-sized. It is a never-ending series of interesting technical problems that span the entire STEM range, including RF, network, system, electrical and mechanical engineering, HPC, data science, voodoo-mathematics I will never understand, system administration, and plain old software development.

Everyone here is expected to cross-train in various disciplines. My background is CS but since starting here I have done electrical and mechanical engineering work including diagnosing micro-fractures, visible only through a microscope, in connectors on a bunch of VPX chassis stuff, caused by bad soldering work by the manufacturer.

On top of all of that once or twice a year we all get to go on operational deployments of the system. This year we went out and imaged thousands of miles of coastline, 6 engineers crammed in a tiny airplane hopping from airstrip to airstrip in support of a coastal erosion monitoring program. Data scientists are expected to haul around amplifiers and radar engineers are expected to live patch code while in the air.

The only reason I got this job was because I was a bored programmer teaching a Linux course as a side-hustle and a bunch of engineers came through and started asking questions way beyond the scope of the class. They were radar guys struggling to learn Linux and a couple of post-class drinks later I had an interview.

I guess my only advice would be to have a side-gig and network as much as possible, peppering everyone you meet with questions about what they do.

If what they do sounds cool, ask for an interview.