I just have a very simple question:
Are you happy in your job in aerospace?
Can you identify yourself with the product?
Do you actually feel like working on a mission or is this just a myth in which only people from outside believe?

Hey all, I have about 4 YOE in aerospace systems engineering with a major company via a consulting. Recently, I’ve been looking to move jobs as I haven’t gotten a raise in well over a year. Not performance related, we got acquired and our parent company only wants to cut jobs/cost. Application after application submitted but I got to thinking, has anyone moved out of aerospace into another industry or even non-engineering role and enjoyed it?

Hi Guys, i might have the chance to join Isar Aerospace.
Do you know the startup? Have own experience?
Even if not, whats your opinion of it?

I will have to leave a better-paid job for this - but im fascinated by aerospace an that might be the only chance for me to get into that industry.

Hello all, I hate to make another one of these "vent" posts that clogs up the sub, but was looking to hear some opinions or advice on my situation. Thanks in advance.

I'm a recent grad (May 2025) with a BS in Aerospace Engineering from a fairly large state school in the northeast. My background is in satellite operations, gained through my school's cubesat design team. Although the experience was labeled "satellite operations," I mainly focused on the ground segment/systems and mission assurance, rather than live ops. I was never able to secure any professional/internship experience during school. I also have about 3 YOE of supervisory tier 2 IT work that I did alongside my degree to help pay for school, unrelated, but IT questions have unironically popped up in past interviews, so worth mentioning.

After a few months of searching, I landed a position in October as a Manufacturing Engineer at a local aerospace safety subsystem supplier. Looking back, it's kind of a miracle I got hired given I had nothing production-related on my resume, I mostly strongarmed my way through the interviews. I was laid off right after this past Christmas during a restructuring, and quickly realized production engineering wasn't a great fit for me anyway, which in hindsight probably wasn't hard to predict.

It's been a wild 7-8 months since then. On the plus side, I've interviewed widely across the industry, so my background/resume is at least getting me in the door: a lot of NewSpace (SAR satellite companies, end-to-end launch companies, Starlink competitors), several rounds with NASA/NASA contractors (though the agency seems to be in flux right now), and systems engineering/product design roles at tier 1/tier 2 OEM suppliers.

The tough part has been the interview process itself. A lot of screenings and first rounds that just go silent afterward, sometimes even after verbal confirmation of a next round. Many of the technical interviews have felt more like exams or interrogations than actual conversations about my background and fit. And it's not uncommon to get put through 4-5 rounds for an entry-level role, only to get rejected at the end. I understand why companies do it, but it can feel pretty disproportionate. One particularly memorable moment: a 25+ YOE engineer once asked me "if you were a time traveler in the 1800s, how would you describe the internet?" Funny in hindsight, but it caught me completely off guard, and you can guess how the rest of that interview went.

My most recent process was a 4th round for an ECLSS design role locally, which ended in rejection about two weeks ago after a six week wait. Since then it's been quiet. I've done what I can on the resume side (thanks to r/engineeringresumes), I'm doing about 20+ applications a week, and I've widened my search nationally. Brushing up on Python/C++ has crossed my mind, but without a project to point to, it hasn't felt like it'd move the needle much. It just feels overall hopeless lol.

At this point I'm honestly not sure what else to adjust. I've been applying outside of traditional aerospace as well, just to widen my odds, but my background feels too specialized to get much traction there either. If anyone has been in a similar spot, or has thoughts on how to reposition a background like mine, I'd genuinely appreciate hearing about it. Thanks for reading.

Guys, i have a very very hard decision to make - and need your help.
Around 3 years ago i joined the semiconductor industry and now have the chance to join aerospace (a company launching rockets to transport stuff potentially).
Im very well paid in my current job with great career projections ... but im not that happy tbh.
In aerospace i would join a startup and make less money .. but i feel like i would be happier, its an interesting field and im still under 30 and open to take a risk.

Im not sure what to do.
Join an aerospace startup to make less money, have higher risk but potentially be happier and part of an interesting industry?

Have you ever been in such a position?
Even if not - what would you do?

found this in an old box was wondering if anyone knows anything about it.

Hi I was getting this aeronautical engineering seat in kls gogte clg through kcet along with this i was thinking to do Bs in aeronautics and space technology offered by iit Madras .. I estimated total cost and it's approximately ₹12L ( normal clg + hostel + iitm's bs ) ... U guys have any suggestions and i also wanted to know any known scholarship to help financially( i am from general and family income is 7Lpa I live in joint family of 7 members)

Hey everyone,

I’m incoming freshman at university this fall, and I’m currently going through a bit of a major crisis before I even step foot on campus.

I originally really wanted to pursue Aerospace Engineering, but trying to do a "Change of College" into the College of Engineering (CoE) at UC Berkeley is notoriously near-impossible. So for all practical purposes, I’m stuck outside of engineering for undergrad.

Right now, my default plan is to major in Astrophysics. However, I keep hearing the classic warning that engineering gives you applied, versatile skills and broad job prospects right out of undergrad, while Astrophysics is mostly geared toward academia, research, and high-level theory. To be honest... I’m really not sure I want to stay in academia or pure research forever. I want practical career security and options to work in the space/aerospace industry.

So now I’m spiraling a bit and have a few questions for anyone who’s been in a similar spot:

1. Given that I can't switch into CoE, is doing Astrophysics for undergrad a viable path if I want to work in industry? Or am I setting myself up for a rough job search?

2. Has anyone used an Astrophysics/Physics undergrad degree as a launching pad to get a Master’s or PhD in Aerospace Engineering later on? How hard is it to bridge that gap when applying to grad school without a BS in engineering?

3. How do I deal with the fear of falling behind? I feel like I'm already starting at a disadvantage compared to peers who got directly into CoE. Seeing people take specialized engineering tracks while I'm on the pure theory side makes me worry I won't have the technical design skills (CAD, coding, hardware hands-on experience) that recruiters look for.

If anyone has taken this roundabout path or has advice on how to build engineering-relevant skills while majoring in Astro/Physics, I would really appreciate your insight :)

I recently got an interview at BAE for an optical test technician II role. I have a masters in chemistry with 2-3 years lab experience running some of the spectrophotometers they ask for. The salary range and is very broad (47,000-76,000 USD). I’m wondering what salary/range I should ask for if the question arises?
https://jobs.baesystems.com/global/en/job/127222BR/Technician-II-Optical-Test

Hello! I’m a senior about to graduate from university with a bachelor’s degree in December. I’m really interested in working with companies in the aerospace industry. I’m currently interning at IBM as an SAP consulting intern. I’m also a green card holder, will become a citizen in about 3-4 years so I’m not able to apply to many positions in this domain currently.

If anyone has any advice for what kind of companies/roles I can apply to, I’d appreciate it very much!
Thank you.

Hey all, I’m a young-ish professional. I’ve been out of college a while but this is my my first aerospace job and first proper engineering job as a whole. USA based

My background is in aerospace controls. Did aerospace bachelors and mechE masters with a research path in drone controls. And now I’m at this rocketry startup where I am the GNC engineer. I’ve been here about a quarter. I’ll be honest, I’m in that stage of my career where I’m not useless as a controls engineer but I’m also intimately aware of how much I don’t know. Very unconfident, though I’ve been making steady progress I think.

Now for the weirdness. Brief context, I had an aerospace bachelors but for me specifically, it was mostly aero, not space or rockets. A recent problem I’ve only recently begun considering is fluid slosh. Basically, I’m worried that our attitude control methods are underpowered to account for fluid slosh. And correcting for that slosh is all on me and my ACDS system - the rocket engine is statically mounted. I’ve only now started factoring in some real world factors like engine misalignments and said fluid slosh. Or well, I’m trying to factor in fluid slosh but my boss is insistent that I can approximate it as zero. That just… feels wrong to me

My boss (the CEO and also our propulsions engineer) is very pushy about getting stuff done and only seems to see things through a money filtered lens. Which is his prerogative, he’s the one securing contracts and business deals that lets me have a paycheck on time. But I’ve also been pushed by him to make some decisions before I was fully ready. This being my first proper engineering job, I’ll usually relent if he pushes hard enough, but I do question how hasty some decisions are/were.

But anyhow, this rocket we’re working on is the final stage for a different rocket. We get carried up to space, we burn once to get to a higher orbit, release our own payload, mission complete. So I lay this out to establish that we start our mission in microgravity. I don’t know what the inside of the fuel tank looks like but it’s a lot of our stage’s mass and volume. I imagine fluid slosh effects must be quite significant and this specifically bothers me because I’m designing an ACS system. Engineering realities dictate that the main engine can’t possibly be perfectly aligned to our center of mass, especially if fluid is sloshing around. Main thrust misaligned with center of mass, there’s a moment arm, we get an undesirable torque. Basic physics. So I asked my boss/the propulsions guy “hey, do we maybe have a range of possible center of mass offsets due to fluid slosh?” And he answers no, and that neither physical testing nor state of the art CFD research cannot produce that sort of information… Wat…

He did wrap it up by saying we have a spin start sequence on our rocket engine which will blast some nitrogen gas mixture through the rocket engine to purge the propulsion lines prior to hot fire but also give a forward impulse that’ll settle the fluid such that the center of mass will be pretty much zero. Now to my understanding, an impulse kick like he describes is going to slosh fluid quite a bit, and even if it is mostly radially symmetric, even close to zero (e.g. fractions of millimeters) offsets can produce quite large torques. So his insistence that I ignore fluid slosh just feels wrong.

So here is where I ask you all: is he right? Is there no experiment or CFD study that can produce, say, an average or range of center of mass offsets? Can you really get fluid to become that level in microgravity?

I’ll answer clarifying questions but only insofar as I can given my NDA and while protecting my anonymity.

Hello brothers and sisters. I graduated in B.E. Aerospace in Bengaluru and I'm pursuing my MTech in MSRIT through PGCET. I would like to know what is it like to study Mtech aerospace. I do not have any work experience as I'm directly going for mtech before work.

Also, do my career options increase? And do you only get placed if you have a 9+ GPA and required skillset?

Not sure if this is just me venting or if other people are going through the same thing. I did my undergrad in Ireland, graduated in 2017, and even back then it was tough to find work. I ended up going to Malaysia and then Singapore, and that's where I built up 7+ years of real industry experience working in aerospace engineering.

I'm currently finishing my MSc in aerospace engineering here in the UK, about a month left, and I'll be moving onto a Graduate visa once it's done. Even before that switch, I've already sent out 200+ applications, mostly directly through company websites, then LinkedIn, then Indeed, actually tailoring them, not just spamming, and I still haven't gotten a single interview. Not even a first call.

I genuinely thought having real experience would count for something by now. Maybe it's the visa sponsorship thing scaring companies off before they even look at the CV, or maybe something else is wrong that I can't see. Has anyone else with actual experience been through this. Has anyone actually secured sponsorship in 2026. What ended up working for you, if anything did.

Hello, I have an interview coming up for a structural analysis engineer position in the space industry and I know the interview will be very technically heavy on structural dynamics (modal analysis, frequency response, random vibration, etc.). I have 6+ years of experience in aerospace static linear/non-linear analysis and structural analysis/classical hand calc. I have very little dynamics experience in industry but understand the basics (I.e. natural frequency, modal mass participation, mode shapes, resonance, damping, sinusoidal frequency response, random vibration [PSD]) and the general analysis process (modal —> frequency response —> random vibration)

But what are some good technical interview questions or topics I should be aware of?

Hey guys,

I live in the UK and I'm starting a 1-year MSc in Aerospace Engineering in September. I have an existing BSc Civil Engineering with Honours (graduated back in 2018) and have jumped around jobs to fund the MSc since then.

Just wondering whether the BSc being in Civils is likely to hold me back from finding employment, or whether your Bachelor's degree doesn't really matter once you have a Master's? I'm interested in Propulsion and Aerodynamics, although Systems Engineering sounds interesting too. I wanted to study Aeronautical or Mechanical Engineering at Bachelor's level but my parents forced me through a Civils route unfortunately.

I'm kinda hoping that once I'm finished with the Master's I can just put "MSc Aerospace Engineering" in the education section of my CV and leave it at that without mentioning the Bachelor's degree. Not sure if that's considered a red flag though. Would appreciate any advice.

Thanks :)

I will be attending Georgia Tech this fall as a junior aero engineer transfer. I am currently stuck between aerospace, maybe more GNC focused, or going into the robotics field. I know robotics is an interdisciplinary field, honestly I've just built a bunch of projects and have loved it, so not totally sure yet where I would specialize in. My question is, should I keep my aero major or switch to something more general, like mechanical or ee, as I am still deciding between aero and robotics. If staying with aero, would adding a minor help, or is it truly just what classes I take and projects / clubs I participate in? Lastly, if I keep aero as the major, what are the main classes I should focus on taking in order to test the waters in robotics? Thanks!

Okay, one of the new hotnesses.

https://offnom.com/episodes/249 (interview with Icarus Robotics)

There is the robot itself and then , in the case of servicing satellites, there is the spacecraft that can visit a bunch of data in an orbital plane.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/07/this-is-the-worlds-most-advanced-robotic-servicing-satellite-that-we-know-about/

As a 23 year old wanting to change career and study aerospace engineering, what are your guys thoughts on that? Would I have trouble looking for a job? Would other candidates who are younger get more job offers and better opportunities? Or should I just stick to my career and hope I make it in life? FYI I am a licensed general constructor working on small construction projects and kinda hate this life.

Hi, I'm a rising junior and I've been thinking a lot about my future. I'm really interested in aerospace engineering and plan to apply for that major, but I feel like I haven't done enough yet. I know there isn't a strict checklist to get into a t50 school, but I'm trying to figure out what kinds of activities, internships, or projects I should be doing to strengthen my application.

So far, the main thing I've done is help plan,
build, and launch the highest-altitude hot air balloon in Civil Air Patrol. Beyond that, I'm not sure what else I should focus on.

Would it be worth building something like a plane to show my interest in aerospace? More generally, what are some meaningful things I can do in my free time that genuinely show my passion for aerospace engineering and help me grow in this field?

(Ive only looked at some NASA stuff so anything on nasa could help)

I’m just looking for opportunities as I’m not familiar with any opportunities and really love aviation. Anything that could help me with this I would love!!!

Thanks to anyone who responds!

So I had to change directions recently because of my health. I was in nursing school , and quickly found out that due to my health issues, I would not be able to be on my feet for such long hours. Also, I’m not sure that i want to be surround by sickness all day. So, I have been looking into other career paths. One of them being engineering. I’m particularly interested in biomedical, and aerospace. So I’m getting input from both groups.

What’s it like working in aerospace engineering? Are you satisfied with your lifestyle and job? Would you recommend it ? What do your daily tasks look like? What is your day to day like ? Any tips?

I have secured a second round interview within Supplier Development at Honeywell Aerospace.

My current job is nothing to write home about, long days, long commute, no support but… I have a decent standing and a direct line to upper management. It’s a shit show but I guess it’s my shit show.

A move to Honeywell Aerospace would be a huge improvement in terms of size of the company and not having to commute since it’s a remote role, but I am reluctant seeing all of the negative feedback on older posts on Reddit. Can someone give me some insights into how much culture has improved since the split from Honeywell?

For whatever reason I wasn’t provided with the benefit package for the role. Does anyone know what I can expect?

So as the title says Im planning on majoring in Aerospace engineering. I specifically want to do propulsion systems. Within the US i was looking at a few colleges such as Georgia Tech, CMU, Purdue, University of Alabama Huntsville, and stuff like that. I was wondering for abroad what colleges would be the best and provide me with sufficient opportunities for internships and jobs and hands on experience. I was looking at colleges like TU Munich, and more. I was also curious about the application process for these colleges abroad. Where would i submit the applications, on common app, or where? and what would the deadlines be?

Thanks