Aerospace Engineer

[harrytos23]

Good Day Engineers,

To the people that has degree with Aerospace Engineering, how are you guys doing so far? I am planning to take Masters in Aerospace Engineering and wondering how is your job satisfaction? feeling about your career? work and life balance? and lastly the pay?

I finished my BSME couple months back and always wanted to work on aircrafts/aerospace company and thought that by getting my MSAE would help me to land a job in those area. So any thoughts, opinion and other things related to Aerospace Engineering are all welcome. I live in SoCal so we have a lot of aerospace company in the area.

 

[SWComposites]

I've been lucky to have had a great 40+ year career in aerospace (structures), mostly commercial aircraft but also some other areas.

Aerospace has ups and downs. You have to manage your own career, don't expect HR or your management to do it for you. Keep learning throughout your career. Try to get on new programs - they can be a lot of work but you will learn more on them than in any other job.

eVTOL companies still seem to be hiring. Any reason you are doing a MS rather than getting a job now? Have you applied for any jobs? Have you had any internships?

 

[harrytos23]

I've been lucky to have had a great 40+ year career in aerospace (structures), mostly commercial aircraft but also some other areas.

Aerospace has ups and downs. You have to manage your own career, don't expect HR or your management to do it for you. Keep learning throughout your career. Try to get on new programs - they can be a lot of work but you will learn more on them than in any other job.

eVTOL companies still seem to be hiring. Any reason you are doing a MS rather than getting a job now? Have you applied for any jobs? Have you had any internships?

Hi there! Glad to hear that.

I just started my first engineering job and currently working as an R&D Engineer. I love what I'm doing right now, it's great learning experience but I'm just preparing myself down the road. I am thinking of staying on this job while studying to get my MSAE for the next 2/3 years but after that I would love to grow and expand my knowledge as an Engineer and got curious how was it to become Aerospace Engineer.

 

[SWComposites]

yes, do the MS while you are young, and do it part time while working (your company may pay for it) if possible.

 

[rb1957]

I too have been very lucky and had great opportunities. Worked in 3 continents, travelled 1/2 way round the world (unfortunately not on points !!).

Career advice ? make choices, and don't be afraid to change. My first job was a fantastic opportunity that set up my entire career, but I had to leave it ... it was not the fit for me. My 2nd job was exactly the fit for me, with ups and downs ... every experience that last 20+ years will be. My 3rd job (my 2nd job was ended for me ... best thing ever) also turned into the perfect fit, similarly ups and downs over 20 years.

Don't get "stuck" in the one company for life ... see how other people do it, for better, for worse, you'll learn alot.

Don't plan on getting rich. Like rock stars ... a very few get very rich, 99% don't !

Good Luck. Lord knows where this business will go.

 

[Sparweb]

I'll also encourage you to pursue the MS, as long as you are truly interested in it. If the work, studies, and lack of free time is going to suck the joy out of your life for 3 years, then don't do it, and enjoy what you actually do instead. There's a lot to be learned in the context of your employer if it interests you, too.

Different approaches to the career can work. You can stack on the education and fit in well in some environments. Other employers will look at all your degrees for 1 second and ask what you can do, now. Why do these differences exist? Because some aerospace companies are focused on R&D, others in production. Some aerospace companies are located where university grads are scarce, and have to get creative and think critically about what qualifications actually fit the jobs they're hiring for. Others can have the MS serve coffee to the PhD's while the undergrads scrub toilets. Forgive the exaggeration, but the job landscape is very different in LA than elsewhere.

I'm nowhere near SoCal, so my impression may be flawed. From afar, it seems like there are a lot of vapor-ware start-ups there. If that's true, then beware.

 

[WKTaylor]

Your career will be the one that is a 'best fit' for Your personality.

Try various skill sets early-on. Everything you 'experience' is value-added for a career. Early-on, whether you love the work, or not, You are learning to work with other engineers, technicians, mechanics, support staff, customers, and others that are undefined as of yet... and be productive!

When You 'stumble over' what You are good-at doing... and You like-it... Then dive into what you are doing without reservation... and scratch the itch to succeed.

I discovered that advanced degrees were not for me... I was too busy learning-on-the-job. However I will say this...

I have many things to say that are 'Fud-for-thot'... no time to list them all, yet. Bare with me and 'hold the horses'... more to come. Up front... some quickies...

I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.”

The difference between school and real-life is simple. In school You learn the lesson; then take the test. In real-life, You take the test then learn the lesson.” – long variation of Vern Law’s quote

Engineering is easy... people are hard." --me

Over the years, many people have asked me how I run the Naval Reactors Program, so that they might find some benefit for their own work. I am always chagrined at the tendency of people to expect that I have a simple, easy gimmick that makes my program function. Any successful program functions as an integrated whole of many factors. Trying to select one aspect as the key one will not work. Each element depends on all the others.” -- Hyman Rickover, Admiral, USN

It is necessary for us to learn from others' mistakes. You will not live long enough to make them all yourself." -- Hyman Rickover, American admiral

/PS/ My signature block has a few more of these 'wisdoms' that I have, also, learned the hard way.

 

[Compositepro]

An MS is a credential that maybe needed for some jobs. I think that you will learn far more if you spend your time and energy at work. Your co-workers and supervisors will also appreciated you more for being someone who more is productive and helpful, rather than burden due to your studies that need to be allowed for.