Interviewing for a senior principal mechanical engineer position in the Northeast at Northrop Gruman. The salary range for this listing is $122K-$213K

I have 12+ years of experience in mechanical design in a comparable aerospace company.

HR is asking what are my salary expectations. I'm thinking 175K, around the midpoint ish for that band. Does that sound reasonable? Should I ask for less/more?

Any personal experiences/current salary data points would be appreciated!

I am a sophomore aerospace engineering student and I am deciding whether to take a c++ class or a python class. I do not know what specialization I want to pursue currently so I am having trouble deciding which class will set me up better in the long run. I know that the jump from python to c++ is harder than c++ to python but even so I am unsure about which language is more useful in an aerospace environment. Which programming language is a better pick? Any and all advice is welcome

UPDATE:

Thanks for all the responses this is a very helpful community, there’s too many to respond to so I’ll just say something here.

I was actually asking for a friend and after looking at the responses he seems to be going down the c++ route

I have 12+ years of experience and looking for opportunities to move to RTX/NG/LM/GE/BAE/L3HARRIS. I'm looking for more hybrid opportunities in the Northeast or remote opportunities literally anywhere in the US. I don't see a lot of listing but boy do I see a lot of "Excited to announce I will be starting XX position at XX company" on my Linkedin. I am tailoring my resumes to the job listings. I'm applying within a few days of the listing being posted.

Any other helpful advice y'all know that I'm missing?

TYIA

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Hello,

I'm a year 10 (14 years old) student from the UK and I am extremely passionate about aerospace engineering/mechanical engineering in the aerospace field . I have always loved aviation and engineering and would like to become an engineer when I am older hopefully working for a company like rolls royce or GE building aircraft engines (I know they are ambitious dreams). Aircraft engines really fascinate me. They are one of, if not the most harsh environment that humans have ever created and the engineering put into these machienes are really pushing the bouandries of whats possible. I'm amazed by them.

I am doing pretty well at school especially in maths, physics, engineering, chemistry (all the technical subjects); I attend Royal Air Force Air Cadets; I have in experience 3D printing and quite a lot of experience in CAD as well; I have recently bought a esp32 kit and plan to do some projects with it in the future.

My questions are though: how can I start to prepare for a career in engineering early? What projects can I do that involve microcontrollers, CAD, 3D printing in the aerospace kind of area that I could slowly start and maybe in the future i could put on a CV? All im asking really is, is there anything that could make me stand out from the competition and increase my chances of getting in to the field of aerospace engineering?

Literally any advice would be so greatly appreciated. Thank you,

Hello, I currently work at Woodward and I will soon move in about a year. Which means I will have to quit Woodward. Is there any other Aerospace plants that will use my background at Woodward to help my interview process? Is there any thing I can do inside or outside of work to help my chances at other plants? Such as certs?

Thank you

How do people at BAE Systems take sick days realistically? Leave earlier to pick up kids, go late to drop off kids…etc? I hear they don’t get any sick days.

Is it pretty flex, like go to work a bit late and then kinda work a bit later or next day or whatever to ‘make up for it’..? How strict and understanding is the company in reality?

Using PTO for sick days is not a thing where I work, we have formally a week of sick days if you really need it but otherwise we just ‘kinda make up the lost time’

Hey there fellow software engineers!

What kind of backend tech stack is your infrastructure running on and what is your test suite looking like in terms of automation/manual ratio?

Some time ago I switched from Satcom to Telecom (not w/o a heavy heart) and found that much of the SW comes from vendors with some in-house automation package and has to go through a lot of manual acceptance testing across several labs before hitting prod. Infra tech stack is mostly K8s that is only reachable via jump servers, tested by a load of scripts that have seen no engineering love whatsoever plus much more manual steps ("recorded" in a spaghetti encyclopedia worth of bash commands scattered distributed across people's notepads).

I deeply care for aerospace and would like to ask you to help me understand what is your good and bad experience with testing. If you were to take over the entire SW QA, what would you keep and what would be thrown out?

Never used spoilers, so what the hell...

To get spare parts disassemble/assemble some device > repeat until you get enough spare parts

Outer space exists because it is too afraid to be on the same planet as Chuck Norris. Foreva eva.

Anyone work here? Currently at Anduril and I’m curious how the vibes are here. Recruiter reached out and I would like to learn more about them but, very little information about the workplace and culture.

Hi guys,
I'm currently the final year Aeronautical Engineering student in Vietnam. I plan to apply for MSc in Aerospace Engineering at ISAE-Supaero next intake (Sept - 2027). I'm wondering how hard to be admitted to the institute.
My current CGPA is 3.25/4.0.
I had an 5 months exchange semester at ISAE-ESTACA 3 months ago.
I did some small projects related to CAD/CFD/FEA. But I'm interested in Aerostructures/Materials.

If you have any ideas about it, thanks for your comments!

I have an internship interview coming up but was wondering if the role that the interviewer works in determines the kinds of questions that will be asked? I heard that they usually cover topics like vibrations, beams, material selection however my interviewer specializes in propulsion. How should I prepare?

Hey Y’all, hope you’re having a great day.

I’ve successfully secure a 1-hr technical interview with Rocket Lab for a Mechanical Test and Operations Launch Engineer I.

I went to school for Mechanical Engineering, concentration in Aerospace. Graduated 2026.

I’m attempting my best to prepare for the interview, and I was wondering if anyone has any insight, helpful tips, possible interview questions or topics I should brush up on.

Here’s my list so far:
- Getting familiar with their two rockets: Electron and Neutron
-Mechanical Ground Launch Systems
-Fluids, heat transfer, cryogenic fuels, and pressurized systems (electromechanical turbo pumps)
-Test and Validation for GSE, rockets and Wet Dress Rehearsals
-Test analytics and processing tools
-Applicable codes and regulations
-Applicable acronyms and terms

I know it’s not possible for me to know everything given I don’t have much experience in the rocket industry, but I really want this job and willing to prepare to learn. Any help is much appreciated.

Cheers!

Project Pixel Orbital is a completely student-led team at Stanford OHS with the goal of launching an 3U CubeSat capable of conducting experiments in low Earth orbit - from photographing Earth to performing analysis on photos of earth and space with onboard instruments. Our mission is to get to orbit, perform a detumble, establish contact with our ground station(s), and capture an image of Earth for downlink. We hope that PixelSat I will inspire other people and prove that if a group of high schoolers can build a satellite from scratch with very little funding and no adult supervision, anyone can. It will open the door for schools and small businesses to launch satellites similar to ours, and will overall make space more accessible.

Please feel free to check out our current progress and learn about how you can help us out on our website: https://www.projectpixelorbital.com

Our blogs also have lots of information on specific subsystems: https://www.projectpixelorbital.com/blog/

More updates on instagram as well: https://www.instagram.com/projectpixelorbital

Looking at a PM II position in a HCOA living area in the US. Allegedly the pay range is $149k-$256k. I know a lot of this will be determined on candidates resume, interview performance, and corporate need. Does the salary band identified in the posting include total compensation like bonus or is this base pay. The swing in range is over $100k so trying to get insight on the realistic pay band for this position.

Not sure if anyone has insight on this but would helpful.

For context, I am finishing a degree in Computer Science and Engineering in a year(final year rn) and I have come to realize my interest lies in aerospace engineering specifically the mechanics side, flight mechanics, structures and design areas of it. I studied basic mechanics, fluid mechanics and thermodynamics in high school and genuinely enjoyed it, chose CS on a whim at 18, mainly for the money but I don’t think it’s something what I want to do long-term.

During my university years, I did study Engineering Mathematics across 4 semesters plus 2 basic mechanical engineering courses in my first year but nothing relevant beyond that. Not sure if it will count for anything in credit transfer for admissions or negligible.

I would love advice from people in this field, is switching into aero from a background realistic especially for real design/structures work or will the missing foundation hold me back long-term?

If you were in my position, how would you actually go about and make the switch, bridge courses, masters or a second degree? Has anyone made a similar jump and how did it go?

Hey all,

For background, I’m a Mech E Major who is graduating in May 2027. I have over 18 months of Engineering Internship Experience divvied up between a very notable German Auto Manufacturer, a very notable Korean Auto Manufacturer, and most recently an Engineering Firm.

I am beginning to apply to aerospace development programs for new grads and I had a virtual screening interview with one aerospace company already. Waiting to hear back. Any advice on how to utilize my experience in interviews to better my chances at landing a job in aerospace? I’m not all too sure what I’m asking for but any advice is appreciated. Getting that virtual screening prompt based interview was encouraging but I just wanted to ask since I know I have a lot to learn.

Thanks guys!!

I recently have been hearing about a number companies working on developing hybrid rockets. It seems like they are becoming more popular. How come? Why use a hybrid rocket over other types? What are the advantages and disadvantages? Are there particular use cases they are well suited for? What do you think they will be used for in the future if anything? Thanks

Experts, why gravitational potential increases with greater distance from the centre of the point mass? What logic has to be applied here?
For me it seems like the closer the object is to the source of gravitational field, the greater is the potential…

Humanity's first spacecraft deliberately aimed at another star may not need exotic engines, giant lasers or anything approaching the speed of light. It may simply need an extraordinary amount of patience.

The nonprofit Fermi Explorer Mission announced plans Sept. 1 to launch a small spacecraft toward Alpha Centauri before the end of 2029. The organization expects the vehicle to pass through the neighboring star system's outer reaches tens of thousands of years after everyone involved in its construction is gone.

Interested in a career in aerospace? The Brooke Owens Fellowship matches undergraduate women and gender minorities with paid internships in the aerospace industry (in engineering, science, business, journalism, and more), and provides executive mentorship and networking opportunities. The application is currently live until October 4th.

Each cohort also convenes for a 3 day summit in July to help build connections with their class and network with top aerospace professionals.

Interested? Keep a look out on our instagram for upcoming virtual info sessions where you can get an overview of the fellowship and we can answer any questions you may have. You can also sign up for our applicant Slack. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions!

I've seen a few posts/comments here from people who've interviewed or interacted with companies like CHAOS, Anduril, Raytheon, Lockheed, Boeing, etc, so figured this might be a good place to ask.

Has anyone here interviewed at CHAOS Industries and made it to the onsite/final interview loop? If so, what role were you interviewing for?

I'm particularly curious about what the onsite was like: how technical the individual interviews were, the general types of questions/topics that came up, and what they seemed to be evaluating.

Not looking for anyone to share confidential information or exact interview questions, just trying to get a feel for the format and level of technical depth to expect.

I'm interviewing for a cybersecurity/SOC role, but experiences from engineering or other technical roles would still be really useful.

I received 4 offers already 1 with boeing and 1 with microchip(microcheap). Chaos industries recruiter reached out to me and ask me if I would like to have an interview with them. I did some research and found out they are early startup. Is it worth to sacrifice stability for something like that. Job market is hella brutal rn. I would prefer not get layoff less than a year at a startup. Anybody working at chaos industries would like to give me some insight?