What's a day in the life of an aerospace engineer like?
Aeronautical or astronautical, it doesn't matter. I'm interested in pursuing a major in aerospace engineering, but I want to get a scope of what applying it to a career is like.
#engineering #aerospace-engineering
38 answers
Vincenzo’s Answer
Depends on what you choose to do. Aerospace Engineering is a wide area. We can divide it in three main fields, propulsion, structures and aerodynamic. What is the best one? It's only on what you like more. I am a structural aerospace engineer and I use try every day to use my creativity for innovation. I do research on what I can use to solve some problem in a fast and accurate way. I do calculate to look if a structure is safe or not under given loads. Usually low I spend 8 hours at my office. The rest of the day I read a lot, since I like it, run, gym, stay with my lover. Seems there is not always the time to do everything but you can do that!
Mack’s Answer
There are many functions for the project engineer role that require a strong background in engineering with the ability to lead several teams in support of program needs. It requires lots of cross-functional collaborate work for which the PE is the key member to bring it all together.
I hope this helps provide some insight into the typical day for this particular role. I would be happy to provide more insight or answer any specific questions you may have. I recommend you pursue a role within this very rewarding industry. The fact that you are considering this path already says a lot about the challenges that you are willing to face. Good luck!
Uma’s Answer
In my point of view Aerospace Engineering refers to learning and discovering new facts of space science.
Brianna’s Answer
If you'd like to be an engineer, definitely you need to have your math and physics down cold. Don't worry if they don't come naturally to you - engineers have to go far enough in these subjects that nearly everyone runs out of natural ability to easily comprehend the material at some point. The important thing is to learn how to persevere. Some other skill sets that are valuable which they don't mention as much to people your age are reading comprehension, writing ability, communications skills, and EQ (emotional intelligence). These skills are as important as raw technical ability and tend to be neglected by many young engineers, so you will be a step ahead of the game if you work on acquiring them.
Finally, I would say that the most important thing to know is that in this field, you will get out of college but you'll never get out of learning. The purpose of university is really just to put the basics in your head and show a potential employer that you are capable of learning. The jobs you're on will always require you to be learning something new. If this appeals to you, then you will make a great engineer.
Catherine’s Answer
Hopefully from the answers you can see how broad the subject is. There are so many applications to Aerospace Engineering that no single answer will be the same. I studied Aerospace and then joined the Air Force which has given me a very diverse career. Throughout my 11 years in the Air Force a day in my life could be:
Operations role:
- Morning technical brief - brief from technicians on the aircraft states (for 19 jets)
- Morning pilot brief - Brief from aircrew on flying program for the day and priorities. I would then brief them on the available aircraft and the forecast for maintenance.
- Identifying the risks of maintenance on jet aircraft loaded with weapons. Performing risk assessments to authorize maintenance on armed aircraft and communicating with aircrew and operations staff to ensure the back-up aircraft could maintain readiness while the maintenance was performed.
- Ensuring resources - manpower, tools, test equipment, procedures were available to maintain the aircraft.
- Leading my team through their own development. Giving them tasks to research and improve aircraft maintenance procedures .
- Reporting and investigating root cause of maintenance or air safety occurrences (e.g. fire in avionics bay). Communicating issues to the relevant teams to understand if there is a problem that affects all aircraft.
- Problem solving between different subject matter experts - bring my team together to analyze, identify and rectify root cause of persistent faults.
- Shift handover - handover brief to night shift on aircraft state, occurrences from the day and priorities.
Delivery team / project management role:
- Work with aircrew, engineers and design team to understand areas for reliability and capability improvements. Bring people together to understand problems and identify requirements going forward.
- Analyze root cause of air safety occurrences (e.g. engine shut-down in flight) to understand the overall risk and mitigate it from happening in future - through modification / procedural / training / resource etc.
- Write maintenance policy and procedures for fault diagnosis - to provide improvements in reliability.
- Lead multiple projects through concept to delivery.
Catherine recommends the following next steps:
Maria’s Answer
Consuelo’s Answer
I work for gov, and I think that may be very different than industry (depending on the team) but my day to day is pretty simple. I go to work and have a set list of tasks. I then go to meetings, take classes, work on my tasks, and do some paperwork. The field of aerospace engineering is so broad... you can really do any and everything within it. I have friends that do software, I do research/dev, and I have a friend devloping materials. The tasks I find not as difficult as college assignments, but still interesting! I specifically word a lot with CAD and 3D printing. I find the deadlines CAN be really close, but usually are pretty lenient which makes it a lot less stressful than school. I think it's a great choice as a career and gives you a lot of opportunity to grow and learn about a lot of different areas! :)
Zachary’s Answer
I think that it would be interesting to design aircraft, but doing so is challenging and tedious. An engineer would have to do a lot of calculations and testing to make sure that an aircraft design works.
Michael’s Answer
Look for the schools that have programs. I received my Aerospace Engineering degree from the University of Michigan in 1989. I got a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering. I went to work in the automotive industry in fuel economy simulation. Some other people I work with with this degree work in the GM wind tunnel. The local company in Detroit in aerospace industry you may want to contact is Williams International. Most aerospace industry jobs are outside of Michigan. You should be good in math and science and enjoy working with these. Study calculus and advanced math along with physics. Get internship experiences. Ask me any more questions.
Arowoduye’s Answer
This is determined by what area of aerospace you want to delve into because of you passion.
One thing that would be constant in the life of an engineer is design and maintenance.
You have to be a lover of math, physics and a course related programming language.
You also must be able to boldly go where no one had gone before
You have to possess certain skills like:
Analytical and problem solving
Critical thinking
Communication.
Presentation
Good attitude under pressure
Flexibility and ability to learn always.
You need good technical background, good use of CAD software: OpenVSP, Solidworks, ADS, Fusion 360, etc
And remember you life would be centered on solving problems, design and maintenance.
Go where no one has gone!
Alan’s Answer
Sybil’s Answer
A perk is you usually get to visit hangars and physically see the aircraft you work on.
You can also work in the Aerospace Industry in other fields of Engineering, such as Electrical, Mechanical, Manufacturing, Materical science, and more. Depends where your interests lie. Usually Aerospace companies are large enough where you can wander between job roles easily to try different areas out.
Sneha’s Answer
aerospace engineering is developing yourself in the aerospace industry day by day in the field of design, structures and manufacturing.
Jack’s Answer
Hi <span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6);">Aishwarya, I studied Aerospace Engineering at San Jose State University. The program there is pretty good. The department is pretty small so you can expect a close relationship with your classmates and the professor too. They teach you a wide range of the basics of aerospace engineering from aerodynamics to CAD. Now working in the industry after college, it is very hard in the bay area to get into the field since there are not as many opportunities. However, there are still big ones here like Lockheed and SSL. I recommend getting an internship during school, because that will help you </span>acquire<span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6);"> full time job. If you are very interested in general on how airplane works or fluid works I recommend pursing the education and career. </span>
Mohammad Moeid’s Answer
Mohamed’s Answer
I am interest about aerospace and maintenance engineering
Zak’s Answer
Aerospace in my experience has been very demanding. You are working on very challenging problems but working in public or private are very different. At NASA you might be working on a small problem of optimizing the bell of a heatshield or JPL you might be designing a Mars Rover or at SpaceX you might be in charge of making a collection of parts. You will be working 40 hours a week at NASA, 40-50 at a company like blue origin, and 50-70 at somewhere like SpaceX. But the 70-80 hour work weeks at SpaceX are not long - after working 10-12 hours a day Monday - Saturday, I missed work on Sunday my day off. The great challenges yield really great excitement
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