How difficult is it to get a job in aerospace engineering?
Hello, I am a junior in high school thinking of becoming an aerospace engineer. I read on Bureau of Labor Statistics that the job had a job outlook of 7%. Does that mean it is going to be difficult to get a job in the career path? I need clarification on this. #jobs #career-paths #aerospace-engineering #outlook
1 answer
Shuvom’s Answer
Short answer is: if you're one of the best in the field and willing to adapt, it is never hard to get a job as an engineer.
Almost every large city or area where technology happens (Silicon Valley, Boston, Research Triangle in NC) has companies desperate to hire sharp, fast, adaptable engineers. But they can't find any.
Aerospace engineering is a small niche compared to Mechanical or Civil Engineering, but the way to be hireable is to be adaptable. I majored in Orbital Mechanics in college, wrote my own program to predict orbital paths of satellites. But my best job offer on graduation was for hydraulics engineer on the V-22 tiltrotor helicopter. I had never studied hydraulics or helicopters in college. But I had studied math, program management and failure analysis, so I said hell yeah.
After 3 great years doing that, I looked for the next step up, and my best job offer was for supporting CAD (Computer Aided Drawing) software and CFD (Computation Fluid Design) programs at one of the best companies in the NorthEast. I hadn't used CAD since freshman year, but I did remember all those CFD equations that my other classmates said were "too hard". So I said hell yeah, and still work there today, and love it.
What you learn in college will be about 25% of what it takes to get a good job, no matter what you major in. The rest is guts, determination, and love of the field. So if you love math and physics, love knowing how the universe works, love taking things apart and putting them together better than before, yeah, you'll get a great job as an aero and you'll do awesome things.
(Extra tip: every time you hear one of your college classmates complain that something is "too hard", study that twice as much and master it, and then you'll go where those classmates never could.)
Wow... thank you for your detailed responds. I will definitely take the extra tip into consideration when I head to college.
Daniel
i would agree but you would try to work hard if you get a and 1 or 2 b in collge you have more of a chance
Ezra
thats like a 4.0 the best in collge
Ezra
I am a senior aerospace engineer at UF and from what I see many fellow classmates struggle to find a job in aerospace regardless of their GPA. Luck plays a big part in finding a job, there are more jobs in mechanical engineering than aerospace, and even more jobs in computer science, it all depends whether you are willing to stick to the end. I am now considering the masters program in dynamics and controls, its not the easiest branch but I find it more interesting out of the main 3 (fluids, control and structures). If you do aerospace engineering be open to the idea of pursuing a masters or even a phd because the industry moves slow for us.
Yadier