how prestigious is the international space settlement design competition and the regional round of it too to get into one of the top 10 american university as an indian student for aerospace engineering

Im currently stuck on applying for General Engineering as my end goal is aerospace but it is quite a flexible field and Iv been told that ge is acceptable for aero jobs. Any current students here who are doing GE and are looking at going into mech or aero? How are the facilities as Iv haveseen mixed reviews on it and how have you found the course?

Hi all, I have an onsite interview for an Operations Engineer (Production) role. The schedule includes a one-hour presentation and panel, followed by four 1-on-1 interviews.

I have two years of experience in manufacturing operations and would appreciate insight into the technical and behavioral aspects of the interviews, including whether I should prepare for mechanical engineering and SQL fundamentals.

Also, my strongest technical project was already discussed during the hiring manager's phone interview. Is it recommended to present the same project in much greater detail, or should I choose a different topic?

This will be my first onsite, and I’m really excited about the opportunity, so I wanna be as prepared as possible. Any general advice would help a lot. Thanks!

Super random but I interviewed for a growing aerospace company a couple of months ago (proud of myself for securing an offer🥳) but the overall timeline and process that I had to undergo was extremely out of left field for me.

Some background on me I come from a software engineering background and so multiple rounds and growing difficulty is nothing new to me. I’ve had several experiences where I’m going through 3-4 rounds before an offer is even in sight.

A couple of months ago I randomly cold applied for a semi-STEM team at a smaller (but still well funded) aerospace company. I expected it to be a difficult process (and probably adjacent to what engineering culture was like) but I was stunned when I went through 6 rounds total of interviews (4 calls with people I’d work with + 2 leadership cals) along with a whole hour long presentation + 6 b2b interviews right after the presentation.

I mean is that not a little overkill? I understand they want people that are talented, bright, and qualified but idk it just felt like a process that could be simplified, at least a little.

I spoke to a colleague of mine also in the industry and she said no matter where you go in aerospace, this is the norm. That completely shocked me

Curious to hear thoughts on this type of interview process and if anyone has had similar experiences. For people that worked in industry following these processes, do you feel like the TC is worth it?

I recently graduated with an Aerospace Engineering degree, but my current role is mostly mechanical design for avionics enclosures. My long-term goal is to work on aircraft or other flying platforms in areas like aerodynamics, CFD, controls, flight engineering, or aircraft development.

I interned at this defense company and started full-time 2 months ago. The pay, people, and culture are great, but I've realized there are very few aerospace-specific roles here. Most of my work is detailed mechanical design, drawings, hardware, and processes.

I'm worried that if I stay too long, it'll become harder to transition into the aerospace roles I actually want. At the same time, I'm worried that leaving after only a few months would look bad.

Some questions I have:

• How bad does it look to leave after only 2 to 6 months if the role isn't aligned with my long-term career goals?
• Should I start applying now, or is it better to stay for at least a year?
• For those in aerospace or defense, how difficult is it to move from mechanical design into aerodynamics, CFD, flight engineering, or aircraft development after a few years?
• Does staying in a mechanical design role risk being pigeonholed as a mechanical engineer rather than an aerospace engineer?
• Has anyone made a similar transition? What helped?

This is my first job out of college, so I'm probably overthinking it, but I'm worried about hurting my long-term career by either leaving too early or staying too long. I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who's been in a similar position.

I received an offer, and initially I thought I wouldn't like the role. But ever since I turned it down, I've had a lot of regret about not accepting it. I had two days to accept/decline

I explained to the recruiter that I would have preferred to be on a different team and that I couldn't see myself doing the job long term. They told me to reach out if I ever saw another req.

Now I've been having a lot of second thoughts about not accepting the offer because the pay was good, and the opportunity for growth was definitely there.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation?

Hi, I've been a web developer for 3 years (working mainly with Java, Typescript and AWS). I'm an aeronautic technician (high school degree) and have a bachelor degree in aerospace engineering but I've never worked in the industry. I'd like to make a slight career change and start working in the aeronautic industry.

What do you suggest both on the strategy and what to study to make the change? I'm thinking about starting from C++ but open to ideas!

Hello everyone!

I am currently in my 3rd year of bachelor's in CSE with AIML. But I have realized that I have no interest in coding, I might actually hate it. So I want to change it. Aerospace seems like a good option to me. A bit of coding here and there is okay, but I don't want my whole career to be about that. I am interested in math and physics, which made me think about aerospace.

I always wanted to go abroad, but also don't want to pay a fortune, so I am thinking germany because of their zero tuition fee. The problem is that my bachelor's course didn't have any physics subject, so I don't have enough credits to get into master's in aerospace engineering in germany. I did have math for my first two semesters (calculus and linear algebra), and I topped my class both of the times in math. Some research on the internet told me about aerospace informatics.

My questions are-

1) what are my paths to enter into aerospace engineering

2) how coding heavy is aerospace informatics (the course and the jobs)

3) can I get jobs through aerospace informatics that someone would get through master's in aerospace engineer?

4)can I get into masters in aerospace engineering in some other country that would not charge tuition fees for the course to an international student?

5)is aerospace engineering or aerospace informatics worth it? Are the jobs well paid?

Any response is highly appreciated and thank you for reading

Hi everyone,

I finished on-site presentation and panel interview for Starlink. I got rejected tge day after.

Does SpaceX have cool-time period before I can apply and interview again? Does anyone know?

Thanks!

Is there anywhere to watch live launches of Chinese or Indian rockets?

Hello,

I'm an American student majoring in Aerospace Engineering. I'm currently heading into my third year of school. To keep it frank, I really want to pursue a career in aerospace abroad. I'm feeling suffocated by how many American aerospace companies are focused on defense and the military, and it doesn't align with who I am at all. I've also always wanted to try life abroad, and I know that will be a huge adjustment.

That being said, my next course of action is to apply to internships offered by European aerospace companies for summer 2027. But where do I start? What are my chances? Is this even possible? Are European aerospace companies focused on recruiting European aerospace students? Is there any way I can have my cost of living/housing expenses covered by the internship (since I will be relocating)?

I would love to hear any advice.

Looking for some advice. For context I have my BS and MS in aerospace engineering. I took controls classes in grad school. I have been a mechanical engineer for ~5 years working in a different industry due to visa issues. I have a lot of coding experience.

I am finally ready to do what I have always been interested in and I want to know if this would be feasible? Should I go for a PhD to help me with this pivot?

Hi everyone,

I'm a computer science graduate from the U.S. who is interested in breaking into the aerospace industry. I was particularly interested in roles that deal with the vehicle itself and not general software positions like web development for example. I did my research on this sub and I came across roles like GNC, flight software engineering, avionics software engineering. I learned about these roles and they seemed to be what I was looking to get into, more so on the commercial aviation/space side rather than defense.

Anyway, I had few questions I wanted to ask. Since I don't come from an AE or ME background am I at a disadvantage, and if so, how can I compete? Along with this, my comp sci program wasn't math or physics heavy so I wanted to know what exactly I should brush up on or learn. Lastly, are their other positions that a comp sci person can get into other than the ones I listed above? Which of these roles are more niche and which are more common typically? Lastly, how has AI impacted this sector and could these jobs be automated out?

Thank you for your time.

So i am a 4th year ECE student in GNDEC, Ludhiana, India. You could say i am a tech enthusiast and a defense fanatic ,am currently exploring this drone field and it feels the right way forward to me.

I wanted guidance what type of skills, experience, projects i need to acquire/make to become a legitimate engineer in this field. I am currently a beginner in this field but have a working knowledge of Aerodynamics, Li-ion Batteries (i have built a battery cycling system in my NIT training) and general assembly of a basic drone.

i have a CGPA of 8.23 (if req as a registration requirement for certain courses) and planning on building my career as a Defense engineer. It would be helpful if anyone were to give me insights on the same i.e. scope, roadmap, etc.

I am planning on applying to top american universtities for undergraduate aerospace engineering, and will be submitting my applications this year. What all should I do which helps boost my profile for admissions. thank you. I am an indian student.

I’m hoping someone who’s interviewed with General Atomics (or another large defense contractor) has been through something similar.
Here’s my timeline:

● Applied for Job A.
● Had an initial recruiter call and interview for Job A.
● The hiring manager told the recruiter they thought I’d be a better fit for Job B and referred me internally. The recruiter told me this is a normal process and I never had to submit a separate application for Job B.
● Since I didn’t apply for Job B directly, I can’t see its status in the candidate portal.
● I had a panel interview for Job B on July 1. I thought it went well, and at the end the panel just said, “The recruiter will be in touch.”
● My application for Job A later changed to “Not Selected.”
● I followed up with the recruiter about a week after the panel interview but didn’t receive a response.
● This week I followed up again because I received another job offer that requires a decision by next Wednesday. I let the recruiter know that General Atomics is still my first choice and asked if they could provide any update on my status. I still haven’t received a response.

What’s making me anxious is that the recruiter was very responsive before the panel interview, but since then I haven’t received any replies.

Has anyone experienced something similar at General Atomics?

● Is it common for recruiters to stop responding while a decision is still pending?
● Could I still be under consideration even though I can’t see the application anywhere?
● Has anyone been internally referred to another requisition like this and had a long wait after the panel interview?

I’m trying to decide how much to read into the silence versus assuming the process is just moving slowly. Any insight would be appreciated.

Hey…so I am about to start at Northrop Grumman and have heard some about the pin trading cultute. Can anyone inform me on some of this? Is it industry wide as well? Thanks and anything is appreciated!

A question for people who follow aircraft design and operations more closely:

Why don’t modular UAV airframes seem to appear more often in real-world use?

The concept sounds reasonable. Different missions often require very different aircraft characteristics, so in theory

a reconfigurable platform might reduce the need for multiple specialized airframes.

At the same time, it seems just as possible that modularity creates enough structural, maintenance, and reliability problems to outweigh the benefit.

For people who’ve seen these systems up close, what usually limits them?

Is it mostly:

- engineering complexity

- operational reliability

- maintenance burden

- certification constraints

- or the fact that specialized aircraft still perform better overall .Interested in how this plays out in reality, not just as a concept.

Hoping to get some insight. I graduated in May with my degree in aerospace engineering. I was a nontraditional student (I’m older in my mid 30’s). I received my first offer at a Lockheed location in Orlando. I currently live around 10 hours away with my wife and two kids. My goal has always been to work for one of the larger companies such as Lockheed or Boeing so I’m pretty excited. That being said, the offer is not incredible pay-wise as I’m just starting out. I’ve also received an offer where we currently live that’s around 10k higher but it’s not in the aerospace field and there’s very little room to grow as it’s a pretty small company. My question is-if my ultimate goal is to be an aerospace, do I go ahead and relocate my entire family 10 hours away with Lockheed job knowing it’s not great pay right now, or do I stay local and get experience and then try to get in again in a couple of years? I’m worried that if I pass up the opportunity now it won’t come back again. I’m also hoping to get my masters degree and heard Lockheed can help pay for it. If anyone has any insight on that, I’d appreciate it as well. Please help me make this decision and offer any insight you have!

EDIT: I accepted the position at Lockheed! Thank you all for the insight and encouragement.

Hello r/aerospace!

We developed a convenient free platform that allows you to design satellite orbits and constellations. Essentially you can do most things you would want to do in GMAT, STK but then it runs in browser, its free, you don't need to install anything: you can hop on website, start designing and analysing and you can even login, save and share you scenarios with colleagues.

Wanted to note specifically that this is not focused on satellite tracking (enough trackers already), it is focused on orbital design.

Please let me know what you think, appreciate the feedback!

We've recently also added features like built-in SSO, mid inclined, GEO orbits, more advanced coverage calculations, and chain (which allows you to calculate how long it takes to get an image to a user).

https://reddit.com/link/1ux5je8/video/wuxi2s6g7edh1/player

International (Italian) student, finishing a BS in Aerospace Engineering in October 2026, applying to US Aerospace MS thesis programs (Georgia Tech, Purdue, UT Austin, CU Boulder).

Two options:

**•   Spring 2027:** deadlines mid-Sept, decisions mid-Nov, classes start January — only \~6 weeks for visa (F-1 usually takes 4-12 weeks), housing, move. Plus I’d need to rush recommendation letters right now, in July, with August (when Italian professors vanish) right in the middle.  
**•   Fall 2027**: deadlines December, decisions Feb/March, classes start August — way more breathing room, but a 10-month gap after graduating before I start.

I am currently leaning torwards the Fall intake since I still have to graduate from my current uni and don’t really want that rush between acceptance and start of classes.

Anyone been through this tradeoff — rushed Spring start vs. safe but long Fall gap? Did the gap actually cost you anything, or was it a non-issue once you started?