Any Aerospace Engineers???

[Spaceboy72]

Hello all...first time poster.

I am interested to hear from any/all Aerospace Engineers on the site. I am contemplating returning to college in FL and earning a BS in Aerospace Engineering. I have always been interested in space and space travel, especially the shuttle and Apollo programs. Any advice? Is it worth it? What is your daily life like? Is it a hard industry to break in to? Do you foresee a demand in the future? Anything will be helpful. Thanks!!!

 

[darkmatter4brains]

Hello all...first time poster.

I am interested to hear from any/all Aerospace Engineers on the site. I am contemplating returning to college in FL and earning a BS in Aerospace Engineering. I have always been interested in space and space travel, especially the shuttle and Apollo programs. Any advice? Is it worth it? What is your daily life like? Is it a hard industry to break in to? Do you foresee a demand in the future? Anything will be helpful. Thanks!!!

Hello spaceboy,

I'm an aerospace engineer and I would highly recommend it. It can be a very rewarding career. With that said, there are a couple of things to think about

1) Think about getting your masters too. Most of the leading positions out there require a masters or even Phd. If they dont require it, the masters will at least make you more marketable.

2) Depending on federal spending and the economy the industry can go through slow times where finding a job is difficult, or layoffs are possible

3) You may want to see how you like working on defense projects - like for the military. The space industry can be dry/slow at times, or hard to get into. There are many aerospace government jobs out there that offer additional opportunities and better job security. But, some ppl have ethical issues with working on military/defense projects

4) Aerospace engineering is a vast field covering many specializations - from control systems, to aerodynamics, rocket propulsion, guidance/navigation, structures, celestial mechanics, etc, etc. You may want to start thinking about what you want to do now and dwell on it for your first year, or so, of college. Its always easier if you can nail this stuff down sooner than later, but dont make a rash decision either.

Hope this helps and good luck. Important thing is to go after what you love. If you do, you'll work dilligently at it and make it work regardless of the rest.

 

[tapansino91]

Hi Spaceboy,
I'm currently a freshman engineering student at Purdue University in Indiana. I'm originally from Ohio, but I decided to come to Purdue because of its reputation as an engineering school, particularly in aerospace engineering. However, it didn't take me long to realize that, in spite of my love of our nation's space program and all that goes along with it, aerospace engineers can face a tougher market than other types.

Take, for example, the recent budget cuts to the space program. Obviously NASA has faced cuts such as these before, and when the ENTIRE vision of NASA changes, companies that were contracted to do work previously can lose said contracts, resulting in a mess that can lead to layoffs. That's not always true, buts it has happened before.

On the contrary, if aerospace is THE field you want to go into, by all means go for it. Certainly aerospace engineers are the perfect fit for aerospace jobs. I have to say, though, that engineering overall is a distinctive and rewarding profession, and aerospace is just one of many disciplines in it. After consulting with friends who were older and more experienced than I am, I ultimately have decided to pursue Mechanical Engineering next year when I complete the freshman engineering program. Aerospace can be considered a specialized subset of mechanical engineering, meaning mechanical tends to have more options and variety in terms of opportunities. I can specialize in aerospace if I want, or I can choose to diversify my education a little more by dabbling in other fields like energy or the environment. Just because I had an interest in the space program did not mean I would be a great aero. It's what you like and what you're good at that matters. I'm good with computers and robotics, so I fit right in to mechanical.

Engineering is challenging to say the least, but rewarding at the end of the day. I originally looked at going to Embry-Riddle or Florida Institute of Technology, which are both great schools for aero engineers. If you ultimately decided to pursue becoming an aero engineer in at a school in Florida, you can't go wrong.

Best of luck, my friend.