Systems Engineer Moves from Success to SATISFACTION

BY GUEST WRITER KIM SHEETER

As an Aviation Week 20 Twenties honoree, a graduate of Johns Hopkins with a master’s in Space Systems Engineering, and a new hire in her dream job at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Julia Mihaylov’s career trajectory was stratospheric She was excelling by every metric except one: she was restless After three years as a systems engineer supporting NASA’s Europa Clipper, Mihaylov left NASA to work for an indie game studio, Turn Me Up Games

She didn’t fall out of love with aerospace, a passion she traces to a Griffith Observatory planetarium show that left her near tears in wonder as a young girl. After that, her focus on an aerospace career persisted, and she applied to just one school: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

As an only child and first-generation American born to Bulgarian parents, Mihaylov navigated college admittance and scholarships independently. The process sharpened her self-reliance and resilience, which she soon turned into landing a dream job at NASA.

She took an “all in” risk by counting on a job offer from JPL at the end of her undergrad internship, even turning down another offer and waited until JPL came through NASA’s focus on research was a powerful draw for Mihaylov: “JPL became my dream workplace because of their history of discoveries and the fact they are all about advancing knowledge ”

She enjoyed her work, the campus, and the fact that she could check out the Mars Rover during lunch. She had a cool job, proud parents, and she felt set for life.

During the pandemic, downtime was new for her. Working from home provided less interaction with coworkers. But she was feeling more than isolation and deceleration. She craved a faster pace and creative challenges.

"There is a difference between the innovation it takes to manage risk and expense and the creativity of making something new or pretty,” she says “Because of the complexity of aerospace and the need for safety, things move slower ” Mihaylov was at the right place, but was it the right time in her career to work for NASA?

Walking away was scary, but the focus that had served her so well kicked in as she explored what she wanted to walk toward. She loved gaming, particularly the Electronic Arts role-playing game Mass Effect. She wondered how her technical strengths might apply in a different industry: “The point of systems engineering is knowing enough about everything to know what to poke at.”

After earning a certification, she applied to gaming companies, eventually joining Turn Me Up Games, where she ports games onto consoles such as Xbox or Nintendo Switch Moving games between consoles demands ingenuity under aggressive deadlines She works across teams and with developers and publishers, including big franchises produced by Electronic Arts and 2K Games

She appreciates the pace and problem-solving in her daily work. “Some consoles may not have the functionality or computing power required by a game, so you find ways to incorporate the authentic experience for a different platform,” she explains. "We make cuts to games but strive to deliver the same player experience.”

She hopes others in tech see in her a different type of success story based on keeping personal happiness and growth in your calculations: “It is hard to admit you love something, but it isn’t right for you at a given time or forever I hope people move on, even from things they are good at, and explore new things that can make them happy ”