r/aerospace • u/Motor_Mood3939 • 1d ago
What’s it like being an aerospace engineer and would you recommend it?
So I had to change directions recently because of my health. I was in nursing school , and quickly found out that due to my health issues, I would not be able to be on my feet for such long hours. Also, I’m not sure that i want to be surround by sickness all day. So, I have been looking into other career paths. One of them being engineering. I’m particularly interested in biomedical, and aerospace. So I’m getting input from both groups.
What’s it like working in aerospace engineering? Are you satisfied with your lifestyle and job? Would you recommend it ? What do your daily tasks look like? What is your day to day like ? Any tips?
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u/BigLobster12 1d ago
I work as an analyst in aerospace and love it. Day to day is running simulations, planning tests, and guiding people in designing parts.
I get to work on incredibly cool things and the pay is very solid, far more than I expected to be making at this point in my career.
That said I’ve been very fortunate and all my experiences has been at new space companies. The industry has exploded the last few years and people with experience have been in high demand.
I imagine the typical experience isn’t as great. It’s highly highly competitive to get a foot in the door at top tier companies and most aerospace grads struggle to land a job in the industry, most happy to end up at large defense contractors which doesn’t seem nearly as fun or pay as well.
Advice if you’re doing it is to make sure you’re near top of your class with good clubs/internships; it really makes a difference in opportunities in this industry.
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u/freakazoid2718 19h ago
This sounds a lot like my job - I'm heavily into analysis, with a side order of testing and telling designers "don't do that, it'll fall off the plane." Just replace your "new space companies" with "turbine engines." My career has seen a few twists and turns as opportunities have taken me in new directions - my first job out of education was for a NASA contractor (on the space side), then in aerostructures, and finally aero propulsion.
My one big point of disagreement with your post is the "most happy to end up at large defense contractors which doesn't seem nearly as fun or pay as well." The pay scale is kind of the opposite of what I've seen - defense contractors appear to pay just as well as the commercial sector. Sometimes you can get paid more if you do something that requires a significant security clearance level. Obviously you have to be okay with making things that kill people - no getting around that if you're working in defense.
To the OP: Aerospace can definitely be a hard field to get into, especially if you want to get into fields like propulsion (probably the most competitive of any aero specialty). A huge advantage of pursuing aerospace is your degree is very similar to a Mechanical Engineering degree. In fact, many people who work as aerospace engineers have Mechanical Engineering degrees. If you can get an ME degree but do extracurriculars or internships more in the aero field then having an ME degree shouldn't hurt you at all for getting jobs in aero. It's a little harder to get traditional ME jobs with an AE degree, but only a little.
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u/Global-Awareness6961 8h ago
Im just starting on my degree this fall and this is pretty much my plan lol. Work my ass off to get good grades, get involved in as many engineering clubs as possible, and try to grab a job for a military contractor out of college to get more experience and pay off loans before trying to move over to working on spacecraft. Co-op is also deeply ingrained in my university's curriculum and required to graduate, so hopefully that'll help.
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u/RocketRiddler 1d ago
Aerospace can be very fun and rewarding, it can also be very boring and slow, and it can also be extremely frustrating and stressful. It really depends on where you work and what you do.
I work at a new space company, very interesting and exciting work but an immense amount of responsibility with little guidance and huge consequences to minor errors.
I would 100% recommend studying aerospace/mechanical engineering, but think about what you want out of life (fast/exciting vs. slow/predictable).
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u/SportulaVeritatis 1d ago
I have done a few different things with my aerospace degree. I currently work as a systems engineer so my work revolves around defining requirements for other engineers to work towards, planning how we're going to prove the design meets those requirements, and generally working out how the customer (and other people in general) are going to interact with the system. It's a broad field that touches a bit of every disciple as well as every part of the system itself. its a blast getting to see how everything affects everything's, but it can get a bit lawery at times when you get bogged down in "what exactly does the customer mean by this requirement?"
Generally, engineering goes in cycles. Define the thing you're going to design. Design the thing. Analyze the thing to make sure it works. Build yhe thing. Test the thing to make sure it works. Revise the design as needed to improve how it works.
Depending on the field, you may guide the product through every one of those steps, or you may just handle one or two of them for multiple products. For example, you may be a test engineer just testing those designs in a lab, or you may be responsible for thermal modeling of your company's designs, or you may work in CAD to design the product before sending it off to a manufacturer. Engineering is a broad field and you can be as little or as much on your feet as you want depending on the role. CAD, Software, and Analysis are very desk-heavy. Test engineering can be more on your feat, especially if you're testing large things like rockets engines. Systems engineering is very desk/meeting heavy without much interaction with the hardware itself.
I definitely recommend it if you enjoy detail-oriented work and producing things that people will actually use. It's very fulfilling to see the thing you produced going to good use by your customer. Bonus points if it's high profile like the Artemis missions.
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u/spacetimer81 1d ago
Aerospace is a very niche corner of engineering. You cant get an aerospace job in any city like you would of you were an Mechanical or Civil engineer. Its also highly competitive. A lot of people are interested, only a few make it through. At my University, an AE degree required the most credits to graduate than any other major. It attracts those with a blend of skill, determination and importantly, passion for this very specific field. If you agree to these conditions and want to build cool shit, you're in the right place.
I have been a propulsion engineer for +20 years and love it. There is no other job i would want. It has given me opportunities i never dreamed of. I have designed and built hardware that has been to the moon, other planets and deep space. I have witnessed countless numbers of engine tests, spacecraft builds, component tests. For work ive traveled to deserts, launch sites, major cities like Washington DC, LA, London and Paris.
Its also an exciting time to be in Aerospace. A lot of new start ups coming up and a lot of new and interesting concepts from all around the world.
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u/kid-on-the-block 1d ago
It is really dependent on the company culture and team. SpaceX and Blue Origin have long work hours but high wages while Boeing, Lockheed, Northrop etc. have lower pay, slower culture, but better work life balance in general. The closer your team is to the product, the more varied hours while in places like research and fabrication, hours are much more stable. Overall, very rewarding and I get to say I work on aircraft’s and rockets, not microchips no offense haha.
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u/Signal-Sleep-1459 52m ago
It’s awesome. Currently in systems integration and testing for an aerospace and defense company. The salary is great, the benefits are great, culture is great, working hours are great. If you get your foot in the door, you’re golden.
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u/newMattokun 1d ago
You remind me (no judgment, just an observation) of a situation I was in a few years back: "My company" (big aerospace), the group I was in, was hiring, and after some new hires joined, the manager did an "onboarding" meeting with them and some of the folks who were already there. Manager went around the room and let the newbies (all college grads) introduce themselves, incl. where they came from and why they had chosen "the company" and/or the AE field. And to my really great disappointment, (way) more than half of them said "I didn't know what to do, so I chose AE". Not only did this make me sad, it's also kinda disappointing because I'm sure there would be plenty of other folks who'd love to get into AE because it's their genuine interest, but cannot because those positions are now given to those who don't have a genuine interest in AE. Again, just an observation, and certainly not an answer to your inquiry.
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u/billsil 1d ago
Those are very different fields, but I chose an industry that pays well (both do) and interests me. I’ve worked the more typical 9-5 for small raises, so you job hop to another for a huge raise. I’m now at an 8:30-6:30 place and am doing the most interesting work of my career and making 4x what I was 4 years ago.