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Danielle
Student
Justin, Texas
1
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What are advantages and disadvantages of being a aerospace engineer?
I am asking so I can know if I would like this job. #aerospace-engineering
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Taylor Zhao
Program Manager
144
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Seattle, Washington
Updated
Taylor’s Answer
Hi Danielle!
Great question! First and foremost I think you need to focus on what you want to do rather than the industry. Aside from that, I guess here is a breakdown of the pros/cons compared to other engineering disciplines:
Pros
- You are part of a really cool industry! Working with planes/helicopters or even sending people up into the stars (NASA). The work is definitely on the "cool" side of stuff.
- Pay is usually pretty decent (unless you work for the government)
- Type of work you do is really interesting
Cons (this list might just be longer because people always complain more than they praise :), not a reflection of everyone and could just be anecdotal of certain people who had bad experience)
- You can get boxed into only a limited number of companies that will hire you, for example: mechanical engineers can work almost anywhere while you are limited to companies that only do flight or aerodynamics (some car companies will hire aerospace engineers)
- The job positions you are fighting for are really competitive since only a couple companies hire aerospace engineers
- Projects run by the government are super slow and can take decades just to materialize (can be boring and slow moving at times)
- Lots of hierarchy since the job pool is small and you have to work your way up the ladder
Thats just some things I've observed from my aerospace friends. I'm sure there's more than a aerospace engineer can tell you. See if you can reach out to a company to get more info or a mutual friend. Good luck!
Great question! First and foremost I think you need to focus on what you want to do rather than the industry. Aside from that, I guess here is a breakdown of the pros/cons compared to other engineering disciplines:
Pros
- You are part of a really cool industry! Working with planes/helicopters or even sending people up into the stars (NASA). The work is definitely on the "cool" side of stuff.
- Pay is usually pretty decent (unless you work for the government)
- Type of work you do is really interesting
Cons (this list might just be longer because people always complain more than they praise :), not a reflection of everyone and could just be anecdotal of certain people who had bad experience)
- You can get boxed into only a limited number of companies that will hire you, for example: mechanical engineers can work almost anywhere while you are limited to companies that only do flight or aerodynamics (some car companies will hire aerospace engineers)
- The job positions you are fighting for are really competitive since only a couple companies hire aerospace engineers
- Projects run by the government are super slow and can take decades just to materialize (can be boring and slow moving at times)
- Lots of hierarchy since the job pool is small and you have to work your way up the ladder
Thats just some things I've observed from my aerospace friends. I'm sure there's more than a aerospace engineer can tell you. See if you can reach out to a company to get more info or a mutual friend. Good luck!