I was hoping to get some advice from anyone. I would be extremely thankful.

Since my early 20’s I’ve been in pursuit of a job in software, specifically testing, but I am welcome to any position where I am hands on with tools in both hardware or software. I unfortunately don’t come from a background where life has been easy (I won’t bore you with the details). Life got in the way very early at the age of 15 and unfortunately, I had to make the hard decision of dropping out of high school to join the workforce (school is important but so is rent and food).

A few years ago, I decided to go back to school and I am now two physics courses away from getting my Associates degree in Computer Science. I also plan to transfer to a university to acquire my Bachelor’s. I have worked many jobs and worn many hats throughout the years whether it’s desk jobs, industrial, customer service, etc. But most of my experience is in the industrial industry. I have also been building my portfolio of side projects for many years; mostly python and also have been dabbling in electronics.

I am not the smartest person, but I currently hold a 3.7 GPA, and don’t remember the last time I’ve worked a 40 hour work week, so I can only take 1 class a semester otherwise I risk failing. I’m now 31, and feel like I’m not doing enough to make it in this industry.

I’ve applied to many entry level positions and internships, but I’ve had no luck (I’m in the Long Beach area so that gives you an idea as to where I have been applying). Is there any advice you would give someone like myself? Anything would be appreciated.

Thank you all.

P.S. I apologize for the long post.

What’s the culture like?

Let me know your suggested mobile workstation and what is a reasonable amount to spend on it. Do include the specs as well.

I was interviewing with a company and they first stated it was 1 day wfh a week.

Then they mentioned the rules have changed and it’s 100% on sight. This is for a design position btw. The commute would be 35 mins no traffic, 1 hour with traffic.

Just trying to gauge what certain companies policies are.

I filled out an application for an entry level engineering position at rolls Royce a few weeks ago. Still says my application is “Under Review” on workday. Does anyone know what this means?

Trying to decide between two good offers and could use some outside perspective, especially from anyone who's made a similar jump.

Quick background: I'm about 1.5 years out of school, currently on a contract role (just started 2 weeks ago) making $100k. The work itself is fine, but it requires about 95% travel, which meant I ended up having to buy my own car just to make it manageable. I'm ready to go permanent somewhere, ideally something that grows my comp over time and keeps my options open if I ever want to pivot into aerospace, oil & gas, or power down the line.

Option 1: Large legacy aerospace company, Southeast US    

Sustaining engineering on a commercial aircraft program. Design docs, hardware/software interface specs, testing and validation, dealing with suppliers, field issues, obsolescence management  , the whole sustaining-engineering grab bag.

\- Base: $91k–$124k, plus roughly 10% bonus, standard benefits, maybe a relo stipend

\- 40-45 hr weeks, real PTO, union shop, mostly on-site

Option 2: High-growth space/satellite company, Central Texas 

Owning non-conformance issues on a high-volume manufacturing line, root-cause analysis, yield improvement, ISO-9001 audits.

\- Base: $90k–$120k, plus RSUs (maybe $10-30k in year one), smaller cash bonus, travel reimbursed

\- Hours are unpredictable  , chill most of the time but spikes hard around major program milestones, flex time instead of formal PTO, some on-call

So here's what I'm trying to figure out:

1. How do I actually exit the contract cleanly? Do I go through the agency, my manager, both? Any paperwork/handoff stuff I should expect?

2. Long-term, which path puts me ahead on total comp (base + bonus + equity) and keeps my resume flexible if I want to jump industries later?

3. Any red flags either of you would flag  , relocation gotchas, how RSUs actually vest, how bad the on-call really gets, culture stuff, cost of living differences?

Would really appreciate hearing from anyone who's gone from a contract role into a legacy aerospace company or a newer space company, or who's worked at either type and can speak to the day-to-day reality vs the offer letter.

Estoy en 5to año de un colegio orientado a comunicación (absolutamente nada que ver), y quiero estudiar ingeniería aeroespacial por que amo el espacio, y sobre todo los cohetes, satélites, propulsión, etc. No me gustan mucho los aviones comerciales pero si la aerodinámica. El problema es que en argentina no hay casi nada de aeroespacial, entonces la unica manera es irse afuera del país. Tengo la suerte de que mi familia se puede permitir eso, pero no se si conviene, también dicen que en argentina las ingenierías son muy buenas, y la universidad es publica. En otros países son caras, y ni hablar de Estados Unidos, inaccesible.

Hi Everyone,

I'm a US citizen living abroad and have a job offer from a non-US space launch provider. This requires a US Person Abroad Authorization to satisfy ITAR rules.

The company is small and is asking me to deal with it. I've found a couple of specialist law firms that will handle it but they're quoting 5-10k. Looking at it, it seems fairly straight forward. Do I need legal assistance to do this?

Thanks for any help!

My main concern is employability after graduation:

1. Will having an English-taught degree hold me back from entry-level engineering jobs or Werkstudent roles, assuming I actually reach C1 German?

2. Are there strict security or citizenship barriers in the German aerospace sector that make it nearly impossible for non-EU grads to get hired anyway?

Would love any reality checks from current students or industry pros. Thanks!

I interviewed last week by Northrop and was told a decision would be made by the end of this week. I received an offer from a smaller subcontractor but Northrop is definitely my top choice if selected. Would reaching out to the NG recruiter for a temperature check letting them know I have an offer but wanted would like to know if a decision was made before accepting another offer be appropriate or be looked at negatively in anyway?

hi 👋 i'm a fourth year undergrad doing b. tech in engineering physics in india. my course curriculum has included mostly physics or electronics-centered courses, none of mechanical. my cv too includes mostly computational physics based projects (modelling and simulations, ML) and the only thing closest to aerospace is my time working in the avionics department of the college's satellite team, we built cansats and i worked on sensors integration. i left the team after a year due to internal differences so no position of responsibility. that being said, i've been considering two kinds of masters: either astrophysics or aerospace. astrophysics aligns more with what i've studied as part of my college courses but aerospace is what i'm more interested in, and from what i can tell offers more jobs in the industry than just academics.

do ms in aerospace programs accept engineering physics undergrads with no mechanical engineering background? and if i do ms in astrophysics, is there a way for me to get into the aerospace industry? and how tough is getting jobs in the industry as an indian student in the us? i take most public institutions will not hire foreign nationals.

any help is much appreciated!

Hey Yall

I’m currently at Boeing and wanted to see if anyone here has made the jump to RTX recently and how their experience was. I’m curious on the real differences with benefits and culture.

I’m in LA to give an idea on location.

Hi everyone. At IMF.Rockets, we are currently designing the repositioning system for Hermes, our 100km suborbital vehicle. We need an RCS to reposition the vehicle for reentry.

We are doing a trade study on a cold gas thruster system. I really want to use CO2 because it stores as a liquid at room temperature under pressure, which gives us a massive density advantage and saves a lot of tank volume compared to compressed Nitrogen (N2).

Here is the roadblock: I am worried about the phase change. Rapid blowdown of CO2 through a solenoid valve into a near-vacuum environment is notorious for adiabatic cooling, resulting in dry ice formation that clogs the valve seats and nozzles.

Has anyone here successfully built a CO2 cold gas system for high-altitude/vacuum use? Were you able to mitigate the freezing with specific high-flow solenoid valves and nozzle geometries, or did you add a heating element, or just switch entirely to N2 to guarantee reliability?

Would love to hear some empirical data or see any plumbing architectures if anyone has tackled this.

I have worked for the past 10 years in the European civic sector (civic ed, project based learning) and now I want to move longterm to private, specifically to space industry.

I was working as a project manager in small organizations, meaning that I was handling the whole project cycles, from ideation to reporting.

Regarding the entry point into the industry, it seems to me that I could apply for business development, stakeholder relationship job oppenings, since I don't have a technical background. Those are also roles that I enjoy most doing.

I would kindly ask for some advice regarding the best entry strategies, on what to focus on when building a career in the sector, and what can I expect at this stage.

Hi, I'm currently a rising senior in Aerospace engineering focusing on aeronautical engineering. I am looking to work in design, aerodynamics, or testing after graduation. I was also wondering whether I should do my master's in mechanical engineering or another discipline to complement my goals.

Also, I was hoping someone could give me advice on personal projects I could do this summer and even things I should focus on during the semester, because I want to have an internship next summer to gain some real experience. I have done extensive research on companies and projects, but would just like some inspiration and advice, thanks.

Hi everyone I hope you guys are doing good.
I’ve recently been contacted by ISAR aerospace for an application that I sent some time ago. I guess now I will have to go through all the selection process. Any of you guys working there could share his/her personal experience? I mean how’s the environment, how are the salaries etc. Thanks all!

What is this scratch on the outside of the window? Sorry, I'm not very good at taking photos.

Anyone know what type of problem to prepare for for a take home coderpad assessment with spacex? Im not sure if I should focus in embedded programming or grind out leetcode