What specifically does an aerospace engineer do?

I've worked in a cubicle, I've worked hanging off the side of an idling helicopter as a thunderstorm was rolling towards the airfield, and I've worked in a lab making things explode. All in the field of aerospace engineering.

What kind of workplace you're in depends on what kind of tasks you volunteer for. In any job, there are tasks that everyone has to do, and there are tasks that NEED to get done, that no one volunteers for.

When you're starting out, volunteer for the dirty jobs, the ones that no one else wants to do, and do them better than anyone has ever seen. Then, when the cool, important, exciting jobs come up, you'll have first pick, and your bosses will trust you to get them done. And you'll have the confidence to do them, too.

And study that physics. Most of aeronautical engineering is cool applications of math and physics.

Just to clarify: An aerospace engineer technically deals with electronics and software whereas a aeronautical engineer deals with mechanical engineering.

An aeronautical engineer works on electronics and software systems in spacecraft, aircraft and some other military hardware. They are responsible for the design/ implementation/ testing of electronics systems and the associated software

A few years ago, I interned at NASA as an aerospace engineer working on the PhoneSat project. During the time I was working there, I was responsible for finding/ resolving bugs in software and hardware and helping design and implement a telemetry router.

For my thesis, I also built a complete PhoneSat and designed all the electronics and software for the system.