The Professional Masters in Applied Systems Engineering (PMASE) program provides students with both practical and academic material in a setting as close to a typical work environment as possible. This paper describes the first course in the two-year program. It describes the approach used to provide students with a realistic environment, and both academic and practical experience; balancing work and studies in an intensive program culminating in a capstone project. The paper should be of interest to both companies and universities interested in a holistic, condensed systems engineering training program.