André Marra

TMC

Building a SE Mindset Combining Experiential Learning and AI to train SE Novices and Practitioners

Bio.
André Marra joined TMC in 2021 and acts as the main point of contact for the company’s Systems Engineering Business Cell. He holds a background in Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, backed by extensive experience in design and development across the home appliances and defense sectors. His expertise spans products such as induction cooktops, heat pumps, and refrigerators, as well as military explosive devices, armored vehicles, and naval cannons. Currently, André is engaged in an aerospace project, where his primary responsibilities include Systems Engineering Test & Evaluation (V&V) processes, with a specific focus on environmental requirements and qualification campaigns. Additionally, he supports 3Beam in installing light shows for events across Europe, applying systems engineering best practices to ensure project success. He also serves as one of the trainers for TMC’s updated SEPD 20252030 program.

Systems Engineering (SE) is critical for managing modern complexity, yet the industry faces a profound shortage of qualified practitioners. Because traditional educational pipelines struggle to meet the double-digit growth in commercial demand, organizations are increasingly forced to retrain and “recycle” engineers from traditional engineering disciplines who have no prior exposure to SE principles. This paper presents a pedagogical strategy designed explicitly to introduce SE to absolute novices who desire to enter the field.
Grounded in educational theory and industrial practice, this paper introduces a learner-centric onboarding framework. It offers a structured roadmap for teaching foundational SE to trainees while aligning with international competency standards.
Drawing structural guidelines from relevant standards series and applying empirical insights from TMC Italy’s real-world Systems Engineering Personal Development (SEPD) program, we outline a comprehensive curriculum for non-specialists, by blending Bloom’s Taxonomy and Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle with highly engaging, active learning strategies such as architectural product teardowns and rapid idea generation, the ideated onboarding methodology translates highly abstract SE competencies into intuitive steps. Finally, the paper discusses how integrating human mentorship clinics with Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms accelerates the transition from reductionist (systematic) to holistic (systemic) thinking, allowing beginners to reliably establish a foundational SE mindset.