790: What an Obsolescence Project Manager Does at Lockheed Martin With Stephen Lu, Lockheed Martin Space [Main T4C Episode]

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Stephen Lu is a project manager and systems engineer at Lockheed Martin Space. He started out at Lockheed in 2014 right out of college as a systems engineer associate. Now, as the Obsolescence Project Manager, Stephen focuses on managing multi-million dollar supply chain projects — in the US military’s Missile Defense Program — to ensure parts within the supply chain will be available so they don’t impact production. In his free time, Stephen is an avid video content creator on LinkedIn as well as a career coach. He graduated from San Jose State University in December 2013 with a BS in computer science.  He got an MS in engineering management from Santa Clara University in 2019.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT IN THIS EPISODE:

• What it means to be a project manager of missile obsolescence, and what missile obsolescence is (5:27)
• What organizational tools Stephen uses to stay organized (12:12)
• What Stephen’s day-to-day job looks like (Hint: it involves a LOT of meetings) (14:25)
• What people would be surprised to know about engineering at Lockheed Martin (19:07)
• How soft skills on your resume can make you stand out (22:09)
• How Stephen discovered engineering was his passion (27:48)
• How Stephen grew from an introvert to a confident public speaker, and how you can too! (29:47)
• How being rejected from a leadership program lead to Stephen’s biggest professional growth (37:31)
• Why Stephen advises students to get involved with extracurriculars in college (43:05)