Why this talk?
This talk was delivered to the Aeroelasticity and Vibrations team at Airbus Defence & Space in Madrid on 2 October 2026. The audience brought different levels of engineering experience and questions about professional development, entrepreneurship, work–life balance and decisions under uncertainty.
Although satellite navigation is a different technical field, the discussion focused on experiences relevant across engineering: developing expertise, recognising opportunities, communicating value and deciding how to move forward when the future is unclear.
Eduardo shared his career journey and the development of GNSS Academy as a starting point for reflection. The aim was to help participants consider their own options—within their current team, through a career change or by building something independently.
The four goals
- Keep the conversation engaging. Make the session accessible, interactive and useful, with room for questions and different perspectives.
- Inspire reflection. Encourage participants to consider what they want from their work and life, and which capabilities or choices could improve their situation.
- Challenge familiar assumptions. Explore fears, habits and beliefs that can make change feel impossible, and use constructive discomfort as a prompt to think differently.
- Encourage near-term action. Turn reflection into a manageable next step, guided by preparation and a longer-term vision.
The session was a conversation rather than a prescription. Each participant’s priorities, responsibilities and appetite for risk shape the decisions that make sense for them.
Three central messages
Take ownership of the decisions within your control.
Learn to move forward without complete certainty.
Build alternatives, skills and support before making a major change.
Think about the life you want over the next ten years, then take a manageable step towards it. A better situation may mean more meaningful work, greater flexibility, more family time or the freedom to choose where you live.
The aim is to encourage reflection and deliberate action. A professional change can happen through a new project, a different role, further learning or a business of your own.
Who is Eduardo Tapias?
Eduardo Tapias is an aerospace engineer and the founder of GNSS Academy. His career spans more than twenty-five years in the space sector, with a specialisation in satellite navigation, particularly the European EGNOS and Galileo programmes.
His experience combines engineering in established organisations, leadership in a small engineering business, independent consultancy and building an international education company. His work has involved GMV, Thales Alenia Space, Airbus-led projects, ESA and the European Commission.
Today, his focus is on sharing industrial experience, developing engineers’ practical capabilities and connecting them with opportunities in the space sector. The talk draws on that transition to explore how preparation, learning and personal decisions can create new professional options.
From engineering to GNSS Academy
Building a technical foundation
Eduardo studied aeronautical engineering at the Technical University of Madrid (UPM), specialising in aircraft and helicopters. A presentation about Galileo introduced him to satellite navigation. He joined GMV as an intern around 2000, completed an Erasmus period in Toulouse and subsequently worked on EGNOS system algorithms.
In 2004, a planned six-month assignment supporting Thales Alenia Space in Toulouse developed into ten years of work on EGNOS and Galileo. That period gave him deep technical experience and relationships across the European navigation industry.
Taking a first entrepreneurial step
In 2014, at thirty-six, he chose to become a partner in ABBIA, a small engineering company in Toulouse, rather than follow one of several corporate opportunities. He acquired a 20% stake and took on technical leadership responsibilities. The move meant exchanging a comfortable position for greater ownership and uncertainty.
In 2017, ABBIA became a partner in the Airbus-led EGNOS V3 programme. Growing the team to around fifteen engineers revealed a major challenge: finding people with the specialised knowledge needed to deliver the work. Eduardo developed regular internal training, which helped shape the idea behind GNSS Academy.
Consultancy and the launch of the academy
After moving to Toronto in 2019, he worked as an independent consultant for Swift Navigation, a Silicon Valley company developing precise positioning technology. He negotiated a part-time arrangement so he could also build his own business. The consultancy broadened his experience in autonomous vehicles and safety while supporting the transition.
GNSS Academy was announced in November 2019, and the first JSNP cohort began in May 2020 with ten students. The programme started with a defined structure and developed through delivery and student feedback. By the time of the talk, the academy had trained more than 500 engineers from more than forty countries, and its twelfth cohort had recently begun.
The central connection between these stages is practical: an industrial difficulty in preparing engineers became an opportunity to build a specialised learning business.
GNSS Academy: mission and learning approach
Connecting engineers with the space industry
GNSS Academy’s mission is to help engineers develop the knowledge, practical experience and industry understanding they need to contribute to the space sector. It connects learning with the work engineers will actually perform, helping them move from understanding a technology to applying it.
The academy grew from an industrial need: companies struggled to find engineers prepared for specialised satellite-navigation projects, while graduates and experienced professionals needed a clearer route into those capabilities. The aim is to shorten that gap and help engineers bring useful skills to a team.
What the mission means in practice
- Make a specialised field accessible: provide a structured path through a complex technology, with an understanding of the whole system.
- Build capabilities through practice: turn theory into projects that participants can develop, validate, explain and defend.
- Bring industrial context into learning: use expert contributions, consultancy experience and real engineering methods.
- Connect people with opportunities: help participants understand companies, applications, projects and possible career directions.
- Support continued development: serve engineers entering the field, professionals deepening their expertise and people developing technical businesses.
The desired outcome goes beyond a certificate or a first job. It is an engineer who can understand a problem, work through it and contribute value with greater confidence. Industry relationships help create visibility and connections; each participant’s direction depends on their goals and capabilities.
A focus on satellite navigation
GNSS stands for Global Navigation Satellite System; PNT means Positioning, Navigation and Timing. Applications extend beyond navigation screens to transport, autonomous systems, synchronisation and critical infrastructure.
Training covers satellite and ground systems, orbits, signals, receivers, positioning, timing, sensor fusion and resilience. Participants also develop transferable software and systems-engineering skills relevant to other technical fields.
How the academy delivers its mission
The six-month, online, English-language JSNP programme combines five elements:
| Element | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Theory | Build a connected understanding of the technology and its applications. |
| Project | Apply knowledge through requirements, architecture, algorithms, implementation, validation and delivery. |
| Experts | Learn specialist approaches and current industrial perspectives. |
| Support | Provide guidance and a structured digital learning environment. |
| Career and community | Develop market awareness, industry visibility and professional connections. |
Corporate training, bootcamps, consultancy and public events complement the programme. Ongoing industrial work and demanding training requests support continued learning within the academy itself.
At the time of the talk, GNSS Academy had trained more than 500 engineers from more than forty countries. Its international format enables people to learn alongside work or studies and explore how the technology can serve their own professional context.
From comfortable certainty to comfortable uncertainty
A predictable situation can feel rewarding for years. Later, the same security may coexist with frustration or a sense of limited growth. Eduardo described a transition through four states:
| Stage | What it feels like | The next question |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Comfortable in certainty | A familiar role, regular income and routines that work for you. | Does this still fit the future I want? |
| 2. Uncomfortable in certainty | The security remains, but motivation, recognition or meaning may be declining. | What needs to change, and what is within my influence? |
| 3. Uncomfortable in uncertainty | A new direction brings unfamiliar work, doubt and less predictable outcomes. | What preparation, support and alternatives will help me navigate this? |
| 4. Comfortable in uncertainty | You still cannot predict everything, but you trust your ability to learn, adapt and recover. | How can I keep developing while protecting my priorities? |
The destination is greater confidence in handling change. It does not require eliminating uncertainty. Experience, practical skills, financial preparation and supportive relationships make it easier to live with.
This path describes a possible transition, not an obligation to leave a stable job. Change may involve a new project, a different department, an independent activity or a business. A stable situation that suits your priorities remains a valid choice.
Create value and communicate it
A business starts with understanding someone else’s needs. The first questions are “Who do I want to help?” and “What problem can I solve for them?” Technical enthusiasm becomes useful when it connects with a problem people actually want to address.
Savoir-faire: the ability to deliver
This is your knowledge, experience and practical competence. It allows you to solve the problem reliably and produce a result the customer values. In engineering, it includes understanding constraints, making sound decisions and delivering work that performs as expected.
Faire savoir: making that ability visible
People need to understand what you can do, who it helps and why it matters. Communication translates expertise into a clear benefit. Instead of describing only a technical feature, explain the improvement it creates: less risk, better performance, time saved or stronger capability.
For example, a training offer becomes clearer when it explains the project a participant will be able to develop, the problems they will learn to solve and how those capabilities apply at work.
Keep both sides in balance
Expertise without visibility can remain overlooked. Strong promotion without useful delivery loses trust. Develop technical quality and communication together: share evidence, explain your approach, listen to questions and deliver on your promises.
Sales, marketing, branding and finance help make the work viable. These skills also matter within a company: colleagues and managers need to understand your contribution. For Eduardo, the goal is a customer who is genuinely pleased to pay because the work has helped them.
Understand the fears and move through them
Fear often signals that a decision matters. It can identify a genuine risk, but it can also turn an imagined outcome into a reason to remain stuck. The aim is to understand the fear, prepare for what is real and choose a proportionate next step.
Fear of failure
“What if I lose money, disappoint people or have to start again?” The fear combines practical consequences with the judgement attached to them.
How to respond: define what a setback would actually cost, limit the size of the first experiment, prepare alternatives and decide when to review progress. A failed approach can provide information without defining your whole ability.
Fear of success
“What if this works and creates more responsibility than I can handle?” Growth can raise concerns about workload, family time and maintaining quality.
How to respond: design success around your priorities. Consider capacity, boundaries, pricing and delegation before expanding. You can choose the pace and shape of growth.
Fear of exposure
“What will colleagues or strangers think if I share my work?” Public communication makes criticism possible and can feel uncomfortable even when the work is good.
How to respond: start with a small audience or a useful piece of content. Increase visibility gradually. Separate constructive feedback from hostility and focus on the people you are trying to help.
Impostor feelings
“I am not qualified enough to teach, lead or offer this.” You may discount experience and results while focusing on everything you still do not know.
How to respond: list evidence of your capabilities, identify specific gaps and work on them. Be honest about your scope. You can offer value without knowing everything in a field.
Shiny Object Syndrome and fear of missing out
“This new tool, course or idea might be the opportunity I cannot miss.” Constantly switching direction can replace progress with activity.
How to respond: choose a clear priority, keep a list of ideas for later and assess new opportunities against the current goal. Saying “not now” protects the work already underway.
Perfectionism and analysis paralysis
“I need more information or a better version before I can begin.” Preparation becomes a loop when every answer produces another reason to postpone action.
How to respond: define what is good enough for the next step, set a decision date and test a limited version. Use feedback to improve rather than trying to predict everything in advance.
Limiting beliefs and fear of regret
Your background or current role may make a new direction feel unavailable. At the same time, avoiding it can create the question: “Will I regret never trying?”
How to respond: separate assumptions from evidence, learn from relevant experience and try a manageable step. Weigh the cost of inaction alongside the cost of change. Seek support when a persistent block is difficult to work through alone.
Take risks with a “half-full pool”
An empty pool represents acting without preparation. Waiting for a completely full pool represents waiting indefinitely for certainty. A half-full pool represents a prepared risk with protection against setbacks.
- Assess potential impact and probability.
- Prepare plans B and C.
- Develop skills and maintain alternatives.
- Build a financial buffer suited to your circumstances.
- Discuss commitments with the people affected.
Preparation does not remove every possibility of failure. It creates room to recover, adapt or choose another direction. The practical question is how to make a possible setback manageable, rather than how to eliminate uncertainty completely.
The PPCD formula
Patience + Perseverance + Confidence + Determination: four complementary qualities that support progress and success.
| Quality | What it means |
|---|---|
| Patience | Give meaningful progress time. Keep acting without expecting immediate results. |
| Perseverance | Continue through setbacks, learn from feedback and improve your approach. |
| Confidence | Trust your ability to learn and adapt. Build that trust through preparation and experience. |
| Determination | Commit to your goal, protect your priorities and turn intention into action. |
Together, they help sustain effort while leaving room to learn and adjust.
Invest in continuous learning
- Keep developing beyond your initial qualification.
- Apply what you learn through projects and practical work.
- Seek advice from people with relevant experience, including lessons from failure.
- Learn about business and financial decisions before committing resources.
- Use AI to support your work while preserving understanding and judgement.
Skills remain valuable even when a project, role or business changes. Learning creates more options for the future. Practical application also helps turn information into lasting capability.
Eduardo encouraged setting aside a deliberate budget for development, including education, books, events and support for health or performance. He also acknowledged that some courses may not meet expectations: the value depends on relevance, quality and what you do with the learning.
Adapting to AI
The discussion recognised that AI can make knowledge more accessible while changing training businesses. Structured guidance, practical projects, feedback and contact with industry remain important. The challenge is to use new tools effectively without losing independent understanding or judgement.
Protect health, energy and relationships
Health → energy → motivation → creativity → action.
Ambition needs a sustainable foundation. Define priorities, discuss demanding periods with your family and protect quality time. Review the costs of your choices and restore balance when work becomes excessive.
Success should support the life you want, including health, relationships and freedom over your time. The audience highlighted that family and relationships are investments too, and that reduced availability needs thoughtful management.
A demanding period should be discussed, reviewed and rebalanced. Different people will choose different priorities; those choices should shape the project rather than become an afterthought.
The two samurai and the milk cow
The tale
A samurai master and his young apprentice get lost in a forest. At night, they find a poor family living in a modest house. The family welcomes them and shares what little it has. Its livelihood depends entirely on one cow, which provides milk, cheese and yoghurt.
As they leave, the apprentice asks how they could help such a generous family. To his astonishment, the master tells him to return that night and push the cow into a ravine. The apprentice reluctantly obeys.
A year later, they return expecting to find the family in even greater poverty. Instead, the house has been restored and the family is thriving. After losing the cow, they had been forced to find another way to live. They planted a vegetable garden, sold their produce in nearby markets and developed a better livelihood.
The main conclusion: “Kill the milk cow”
The cow represents something that provides enough security to keep you going, but can also keep you from exploring what else is possible. Because it meets your immediate needs, you may stop questioning whether it still supports the life you want.
“Killing the cow” means deliberately ending or reducing that dependency and creating room for a new direction. It is a metaphor for a decision, not a literal instruction. The familiar source of comfort may be a job you have outgrown, a business that depends on one customer, a routine that prevents learning or an arrangement you keep only because change feels uncertain.
What does it mean in practice?
- Identify your cow: what gives you security while also limiting your choices?
- Question the dependency: are you choosing it because it still serves you, or because you are afraid to try something else?
- Prepare alternatives: build skills, savings, support and plans B and C.
- Make a deliberate change: reduce the dependency, change the arrangement or leave it when the trade-off makes sense.
- Use the space you create: test new opportunities and develop a more resilient way forward.
For a business, this might mean diversifying beyond a single institutional customer. For an engineer, it might mean moving to a new project, learning a different skill or preparing a professional transition.
The story dramatises change through a sudden loss. The practical lesson connects with the half-full pool: prepare your next step rather than destroy your safety net impulsively. A source of stability can remain valuable; the question is whether dependence on it has become a barrier.
Apply the mindset inside your company
Intrapreneurship means taking initiative within an existing organisation. Starting a business is one possible route; improving your current role or team is another.
- Act within your circle of influence.
- Look beyond your own task towards shared outcomes.
- Suggest improvements and communicate contributions.
- Think about your team’s future relevance.
- Seek challenges that keep you learning.
Repeated disappointment about recognition can weaken motivation. Intrapreneurship offers a way to focus on useful contributions, collaboration and future capabilities within your circle of influence. It also involves recognising when a new challenge or role would help you keep developing.
Your current role does not have to define your entire career. You can develop, change direction and contribute in new ways.
Books mentioned
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People — Stephen R. Covey: personal effectiveness.
- Man’s Search for Meaning — Viktor E. Frankl: purpose and perspective.
- Rich Dad Poor Dad — Robert T. Kiyosaki: financial education.
- The Lean Startup — Eric Ries: testing ideas and learning from customers.
Let’s connect
If this talk sparked an idea, a question or a new perspective, I’d be happy to hear from you. Connect with me on LinkedIn to stay in touch, or email me with your questions about the talk, your professional journey or GNSS Academy.
What is the next step you are considering? Share it with me and let’s continue the conversation.