What Was Your Path to the Aerospace Industry? Rocketry Career Advice?

[LandonC]

Hey everyone,

I'm a young undergraduate Aerospace Engineering student at a prominent university, and I've been heavily involved in rocketry for almost six years now. (Don't worry, this isn't another overly ambitious or optimistic thread from a college student) Whether it was TARC, kit builds, or scratch HPR builds to 10k+, I've been extremely fortunate to have had opportunities to grow and learn through this amazing hobby.

Throughout my years of reading TRF threads, it's been abundantly clear that there is an ocean of knowledge among all the dedicated contributors to this forum. It goes without saying that many of you have had lengthy careers and gained invaluable experience, and I would love to hear your stories. Now that I am gaining more understanding and appreciation for industry-standard practices by working on high-level liquid props, TVC, avionics, etc. projects, I want to know what path you took to the aerospace industry, how you found a sub-system you were most interested in, what types of projects you worked on, or any advice you have about pursuing a career in the industry.

From where I sit now, I feel overwhelmed by all the different sub-teams and projects that I could focus my learning on. I don't know if one would prepare me for industry better than another or if I'm just overthinking things. I didn't find an equivalent thread, so I wanted to open a discussion to help any future engineers like myself. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated!

 

[davidb123]

I am only a few years out of school, and I'm lucky enough to be working as a satellite propulsion engineer. I am very happy with my current position, but it took some trial and error. My main advice is:

1. Internships are extremely helpful and can give you a taste of an industry or company before diving in. I had 3 internships, and none of them were in my current field. But each of them gave me engineering experience and a feel for how management, testing, design, and other divisions generally worked. Plus internships make you super hireable.

2. Work in person if possible. I found in my previous position that working remote was stunting my growth. It was harder to gain expertise and connect with coworkers, or even understand what other people in the company were doing. WFH is not for everybody, and in my opinion it’s best done if you’re already experienced and established in your company/industry.

3. Work culture can make a big difference in your day-to-day happiness. There are many companies that burn through engineers and have unreasonable management. Look at websites like Glassdoor to help gain insight into what the employees experience.

4. Put together a portfolio/website that shows your engineering and rocketry/hobby accomplishments. This helps you stand out, and many hirers will be happy to see that you apply yourself to engineering related hobbies outside of work. It makes for a good conversation starter too!

Hope this helps! Feel free to reach out too if you have any questions.

 

[Raythain]

‘08 BSE in AreoE, engineer in a non-Aero industry now.

Don’t feel pressured to get really specialized right away. You have an entire career to become a specialist, build a broad base first. Follow the problems that excite you. What classes do you enjoy most? What is hard but fulfilling? I ended up doing a lot of coursework in fluid dynamics and CFD because I loved it, but I didn’t choose those electives until junior and senior year.

Get involved in student teams if you can, and see what roles in those projects you most enjoy. Try things, and learn about you, and what problems excite you.

For pursuing a career, I’ve got two points of advice:
1) Don’t skimp on the relationship building. Knowing someone who knows someone opens a lot of doors. A recommendation or at least name recognition will get you past automated resume filtering in a way that just knowing things won’t. I failed hard at this, and my early career suffered heavily for it.

2) Don’t limit you internship of job searching to only the exact positions you think you want. If it’s a company you’d like to work at, apply for positions that you have qualifications for, even if they aren’t your preferred work area. Changing job roles internally can be much easier than getting hired in the first time. Another of my early career failings.

 

[les]

Aerospace Engineering - WOW - The Sky's the limit, or should that more be "To infinity and beyond"?
There is such a wide variety of different aspects that answering your question is difficult.
You will need to consider where your interests lie, but be prepared to change and "go with the flow".
Will your interests be in fixed wing aircraft? Rotary wing? Mixed (Think Osprey)? Missiles? Large Rockets (Space X)? Commercial/Military? (some folks, due to personal beliefs, do not want to work on the military side).
Do you want to work for a main framer, such as BOEING or Lockheed Martin, or a sub tier (and there are many levels).
Then what aspect? Airframe/structures? Propulsion? Flight Control? Actuation? Nav?, Communications? EMI/EMC If military, weapon systems? If commercial, entertainment systems? Safety/Redundancy? Hardware, Software, Systems designs?
And the list goes on and on...

My own experience. I retired nearly two years ago after a career of 42 years, 42 weeks, and 42 days (yes, the timing was "planned"). And little over a year ago, I failed retirement and went back as a part-time subcontractor to help due to workload and some particular experience I had (they called me, I did not volunteer). Our company develops flight and engine control computers. It is said every 10 seconds, a plane with one of our flight critical systems takes off.....

I studied Electrical Engineering. Actually specialized in fiber optic communication systems. But when I graduated, FO was still a new thing and many companies were not convinced it would come to fruition. I ended up getting hired to support Head Up Display development. The company I started with had a new program that certain new hires were allowed to rotate between assignments 3 times, every 9~12 months. For my second rotation, I ended up assisting developing the first fully automated test stand that supported both production testing and system/SW level testing. That happened to be how I found my calling, and my niche. I especially preferred the flight control system level test stands.
Here we would need to develop a stand that can simulate all the aircraft I/O to the full redundant flight control in real time, so it thought it was actually flying an aircraft. We had to simulate all the actuation (accept commands and provide appropriate feedback signals to satisfy the servo loops). Plus we had to have means to inject failures, so the system could be tested how it reacted to a fault condition. Every flight control system was 2 fail - operate, meaning there could be 2 faults (including up to a complete channel shut-down) but the system could still control the vehicle to a safe landing.
One may think test stands as trivial items, and they don't fly (although we did have some small, specialized units that were installed in aircraft during flight test), but testing is critical to having safe reliable aircraft. Analysis is one thing, but actual test finds the real problems.

A bit long winded, but that is how I "went with the flow" and transitioned from what I studied to be to where I ended up.....

 

[BigMacDaddy]

I do not work in Aerospace but have run undergraduate and graduate university programs (I teach innovation, entrepreneurship, technology commercialization). I recommend taking some business classes. Understanding the business model of a company you work for can enhance your impact and appreciating how to manage or communicate with people can help you be more effective.

 

[LandonC]

I appreciate the responses. I still have a lot of time to diversify and explore every opportunity for learning, and these are all great pieces of advice to keep in mind.

@BigMacDaddy, do you think there is merit in pursuing an MBA? I've heard of successful people who didn't, people who did it straight after finishing their undergrad, and others who did it after working for a few years. I understand everyone's situation is different, and some jobs may ask you to pursue higher education, but I don't know how this idea applies to the average engineer.

 

[Rob Campbell]

A career in the Air Force opened doors for me to enter the aerospace industry.

 

[jazzviper1]

Parachute obsession. Then the Airforce as a rigger.

 

[BigMacDaddy]

I appreciate the responses. I still have a lot of time to diversify and explore every opportunity for learning, and these are all great pieces of advice to keep in mind.

@BigMacDaddy, do you think there is merit in pursuing an MBA? I've heard of successful people who didn't, people who did it straight after finishing their undergrad, and others who did it after working for a few years. I understand everyone's situation is different, and some jobs may ask you to pursue higher education, but I don't know how this idea applies to the average engineer.

Good question... I think you get more from a graduate business education with more work experience (you appreciate why you are learning what you are learning) -- 5-7 years seems good but you can take business classes continuously, just don't rush the graduate degree. Often a couple of UG courses (if you can fit them in your schedule) can also give you a good leg up.

Personally, I do not think that MBA is the best path for everyone. People often point to the many flaws of MBAs and [possibly rightly] blame MBA education for the poor trajectories of many companies (MBAs typically do not focus enough on innovation, on inspiring people, or on doing great things; many are too focused on financial decision making, cost cutting, and following the pack -- many teach management approaches that were basically developed for the industrial revolution). That being said, an MBA can sometimes seem like a requirement to rise past a certain point in some companies.

I also think there are interesting MS degrees that are a bit more focused -- everything from engineering management to innovation management to data analytics, etc... (I mostly know the ones in my areas of expertise). I do think it takes a bit more to explain the MS degree you got to potential employers but it can be a differentiator. I had faculty take the MS I ran and get top level positions in Biotech. I also had a line-level engineer at Boeing take it, impress the new-venture group and move into a prestigious role there, and then go on to be a division director since he wanted to manage a group with its own P&L (profit and loss center). I also had graduates go on Shark Tank.

It also depends on your career trajectory and company (and your preferences). Many companies have dual career paths for scientific/technical vs. management. Folks who become technology fellows (or whatever it is called in a specific company) have a very high status even if they do not manage a large group of people.

 

[LandonC]

@BigMacDaddy That's very informative, thank you.

I obviously don't have experience working in the industry yet, so I don't have a perception of how engineers climb the ladder in their profession. I really enjoy getting into the intricacies of projects and getting my hands dirty, and I want to understand that choosing a technical career path won't stunt my climb.

 

[Hobie1dog]

I simply applied for a position at McDonnell Douglas years ago and worked till they got swallowed up by Boeing

 

[Sooner Boomer]

From an "Introduction to Engineering" course some 35 years ago - "First, be a good engineer. Then decide what field you're interested in".

 

[mjennings]

MBA and Masters degrees are really dependent. If you think you want to eventually go in to management, run your own business etc it may be worth it. Technical Master degrees most bigger companies will pay for, but will take longer to complete while working 40 hours a week. I also advise graduate degree before having kids. Management isn't the only ladder to climb my company has a technical expert program that developed areas of expertise in critical areas. At a big company there's not a lot of getting your hands dirty as an engineer. Maybe if you're in testing or process and materials, or liaison (engineers who write repair instructions when the techs screw things up). I've worked at a very small company (less than 20 people) as well and got much dirtier but if there are financial issues at the company your paycheck starts to bounce and benefits go away. I've worked with medium sized suppliers and most everywhere there's a pretty hard line between engineering and those who put stuff together and run test. Unfortunately we don't get to do a lot of what pulled us into the profession.

In no particular order some take aways I've learned.
(I'm assuming you're a freshman or sophomore)
Internship are valuable experience. Apply for many
Cranky old engineers are a universal truth. When you get into the work force find ones who are willing to share knowledge cranky or not.
Have good questions for interviews, remember you are interviewing them just as much as they are interviewing you.
Applying for jobs Sr year should be treated like a full class. You should put several hours of work into your resume and applying a week, tailor your application to each job.
In school you get to do some of everything. Real world isn't like that.
I don't know but I will find out, is always better than a guess.
Ask the "stupid question" some times you're not the only one thinking it, I've also seen it reveal big flaws in a plan because the "obvious" had been over looked.

 

[OverTheTop]

Some good advice above.

I am a senior electronic engineer, so not aerospace, but I do job interviews and mentor interns at the company I work for. One of the biggest things I find is that interns and grads say "I didn't study that in school, so I won't apply for it". Wrong. Doing a degree is partly about what you learn, but more about teaching you a way to learn. Don't sell yourself short. You know how to problem solve, just apply what you have been taught.

As an example, my first engineering job on graduating was software engineer on Melbourne train system. I had graduated as a communications engineer, not software. I have also designed things like buildings and hydraulic drive winches and pneumatics. I just had to research and problem solve to make them work.

Also, make sure you put your rocketry experience on your CV. It will just about always guarantee you an interview.

 

[mjennings]

@OverTheTop is right. Aerospace isn't that different from Mechanical. Theres a lot more options than you think. Some of the best aerospace stress engineers I've known were civil engineering by degree.
The degree is about teaching you how to learn, and where to find the answers as much as the subject matter.

 

[jderimig]

Great responses above, not much to add, but I will add one on advanced degrees.

MS and MBA's degrees open doors. However, demonstrating energy, performance and most of all networking to give the former an audience opens doors much much more effectively. Go back to school if it will help you to demonstrate energy and performance.

 

[BigMacDaddy]

@BigMacDaddy That's very informative, thank you.

I obviously don't have experience working in the industry yet, so I don't have a perception of how engineers climb the ladder in their profession. I really enjoy getting into the intricacies of projects and getting my hands dirty, and I want to understand that choosing a technical career path won't stunt my climb.

There is a perspective out there called the T-shaped employee (which is apparently what many companies are looking for). These are employees with deep technical knowledge about a certain relevant domain (the vertical part of the T) as well as broad knowledge about a wide range of domains that allows them to collaborate effectively (we usually pitched this as broad business acumen but I think the range of the broader knowledge needed depends on the company, job, career -- it might be a wide range / strong base of engineering knowledge).

 

[Bravo52]

There is some really good advice in the thread above. Like many, I started with a career in the Air Force. That led to somewhat of an "automatic" transition into a program management position focusing on flight test and GPS operations. Slightly different approach since I already had 30 yrs of experience in the defense industry and a killer security clearance.

That said, I hired a several young engineers straight out of college and here are some things I'd recommend:

1) Don't wait until you are about to graduate to find an opportunity. Internships are awesome to facilitate transition after college. I hired an engineer and a physicist a year before they graduated and they were able to work breaks and a summer before coming on full time. This gave them some seniority and time in grade before they actually showed up full time. I also did it to start working on their security clearance. It was a super smooth transition and they were making bank.
2) Highly consider a job that gives you a security clearance in the defense industry. That clearance is worth on average $15K more a year after you get a little experience. It is only going to be more valuable in the future (unless you are an online gamer ). If you can put #1 and #2 together in some way, you win.
3) Be willing to go where the jobs are. If you have an interest area, find out the location where that interest is focused. Be willing to move there. It used to be a lot of aviation/aerospace was located in CA. While there is a lot there, it is no longer the "hub" of activity. AZ, TX, FL, CO, NM, CA, WA, KS, AL, GA all have options. You can probably find an aero job in just about any state that doesn't have snow 8 mths out of the year...and even some that do.
4) Look at possible professional programs to go along with a MS degree or in the interim between BS and MS. ISO 9000 or PGM Mgt programs are quick and easy to get. Can be a little costly but a good employer will pay. I used those, along with paying for advanced degrees as incentives. While many companies may not use these programs, they are a good ROI when moving between jobs. In this industry, the likelihood is you will be in at least 2 jobs before you hit the 10 yr point.
5) As a former program manager and hiring official for a large aero company, one thing I can't stress enough is have the ability to communicate both verbally and in written form. You'll have to present, explain, convince, listen and understand on a daily basis. The ability to present a briefing is lost on so many young people today. Remember, early on, you're going to be in a room with a lot of people who are competitive in nature. Being a good salesman is also a large part of engineering...

The opportunities are almost endless in today's environment. You have to look at everything as though it is an opportunity.

 

[jqavins]

I'll go with answering the question in the thread title before the request for advice in the first post. What was my path to the Aerospace industry? They were hiring.

I graduated with a degree in electrical engineering in 1995 and then spent about six months looking for my first job. Suddenly I had four offers on the table. One paid crap. One had a stuffy office environment. The other two, which paid the same, both had their pros and cons. I chose the one with a shorter commute, a larger more stable corporation, and an industry wow factor: wire harness design for satellites. (The wow factor is most definitely in the industry, not the particular job task.) Never being content to draw the wire from point A to point B without knowing why those points are supposed to be connected, I soon wound up as an electrical systems integrator for those same satellites. Which means I was the engineer making sure that all the subsystems and equipment played nice together, Which meant learning more about the individual subsystems. And that led to a stint as the power subsystem lead on an airplane project. Now, and another time along the way, it also led to systems integration jobs in the brakes subsystem on passenger trains, because system integration is a portable skill set even when you switch from electrons to air molecules to systems that involve both.

If you were not getting a degree in Aerospace engineering, what other type of engineering (mechanical, electrical, etc.) might have interested more than the others. What classes have you enjoyed the most and been best at. (Lots of my fellow students hated Thermo, and a few excelled in it, for example.) The answers to those questions will help guide you toward one subsystem or another (like HVAC.)

And in the end, it will depend in part on who's hiring and what subsystem niche they need to fill.

 

[Zeus-cat]

My advice to anyone interested in engineering careers: develop communications skills! A mediocre engineer that can communicate effectively will generally go farther than a great engineer who struggles to explain things. I've seen it happen many times. You want to be able to speak and write effectively so you can explain what you do and what you can do.

Learn how to explain technical aspects of your job (and other people's jobs) in easy to understand language. Remember that the leadership above you may have hundreds or thousands of people reporting to them. They have broad expertise and knowledge of lots of different aspects of the company, but probably not detailed understanding of what you do. Learn how to explain what you do quickly, accurately and in understandable terms. I used to give tours of the building I worked at. That gave me a reason to meet people in other departments and learn what they did so I could talk about their jobs. I gained experience in public speaking which is something a lot of engineers struggle with.

 

[BigMacDaddy]

My advice to anyone interested in engineering careers: develop communications skills! A mediocre engineer that can communicate effectively will generally go farther than a great engineer who struggles to explain things. I've seen it happen many times. You want to be able to speak and write effectively so you can explain what you do and what you can do.

Learn how to explain technical aspects of your job (and other people's jobs) in easy to understand language. Remember that the leadership above you may have hundreds or thousands of people reporting to them. They have broad expertise and knowledge of lots of different aspects of the company, but probably not detailed understanding of what you do. Learn how to explain what you do quickly, accurately and in understandable terms. I used to give tours of the building I worked at. That gave me a reason to meet people in other departments and learn what they did so I could talk about their jobs. I gained experience in public speaking which is something a lot of engineers struggle with.

There is an article about "Competent jerks and lovable fools" << turns out people prefer to interact with lovable fools. Basically most people will choose to interact with people with less expertise if they are nicer.

From 2005 -

https://hbr.org/2005/06/competent-jerks-lovable-fools-and-the-formation-of-social-networks
"When looking for help with a task at work, people turn to those best able to do the job. Right? Wrong. New research shows that work partners tend to be chosen not for ability but for likability.

Drawing from their study encompassing 10,000 work relationships in five organizations, the authors have classified work partners into four archetypes: the competent jerk, who knows a lot but is unpleasant; the lovable fool, who doesn’t know much but is a delight; the lovable star, who’s both smart and likable; and the incompetent jerk, who…well, that’s self-explanatory.

Of course, everybody wants to work with the lovable star, and nobody wants to work with the incompetent jerk. More interesting is that people prefer the lovable fool over the competent jerk. That has big implications for every organization, as both of these types often represent missed opportunities.

Because they are liked by a disproportionate number of people, lovable fools can bridge gaps between diverse groups that might not otherwise interact. But their networking skills are often developed at the expense of job performance, which can make these employees underappreciated and vulnerable to downsizing. To get the most out of them, managers need to protect them and put them in positions that don’t waste their bridge-building talents.

As for the competent jerks, too often their expertise goes untapped by people who just can’t put up with them. But many can be socialized through coaching or by being made accountable for bad behavior. Others may need to display their competence in more isolated settings.

Intriguingly, managers aren’t limited to leveraging people that others like and changing those that others loathe. They also can create situations in which people are more apt to like one another, whatever their individual qualities."

 

[jqavins]

WHAT?! That's crazy!! what are you talking about, you jack-ass?!!!

 

[OverTheTop]

Aerospace isn't that different from Mechanical.

The company I work for is not an aerospace company, but we employ aerospace engineers. A lot of the work is mechanical and involves gas flows and such problems.

There is a perspective out there called the T-shaped employee (which is apparently what many companies are looking for).

That is definitely something we look for when hiring. For interns/grads we always look at what they do out of hours (hobbies, other interests) to make sure they are curious about the world around them. That is a major item for getting an interview. We particularly look for varied interests, essentially the top bar on the "T" above. As an example, I landed the job here based on my electronic skills and experience, but also the fact I worked on cars, was a ski instructor, did photography, had a tram license and collected carnivorous plants (I actually had over 1/3 of the entire world species of Drosera, amongst an extensive collection).

 

[AeroTech]

I landed my first job in the aerospace industry (Bermite Div. of Whittaker in Saugus, CA) in 1980 because of my experience using and formulating solid propellant with hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) in my first business, Composite Dynamics. No one else there had any familiarity with it. I considered it a very lucky break, and even luckier that I later had the opportunity to work under Dr. Claude Merrill, who was one of the leading solid propellant experts at the time.

 

[Tyeeking]

I never worked in the Aerospace Industry so this is more general advice.

Focus on finding and working for the right company rather than the right job. If you’re with the right company you will find a path to the right job within that company whereas the right job at the wrong company will be a mess.

Connect and network with people where you work. An ability to solve problems with collaboration and team work is a powerful skill set that opens many doors.

Embrace the reality that the private sector work environment is a meritocracy. With that said don’t embrace that fact selfishly but rather in a manner that seeks to help coworkers to contribute, improve and receive all due recognition.

Allies, allies, allies. You can’t have too many of them. It’s a subset of collaboration.

 

[tHoagland]

I studied physics, got a job working with large data acquisition systems. From there I just pursued the most interesting tasks and skills, changing jobs as needed.

If I were a student pursuing an aerospace career, I'd consider applying for an internship through Space Workforce 2030. (https://swf2030.org/national-space-interns/). It's a coalition of 30 aerospace companies, all committed to developing the next generation of engineers for the aerospace industry.

 

[PhilC]

I studied electronics at university and joined the Air Force, specialising in satellite communications. After 16 years' service I moved to industry working on the same types of project, then into more generalised aerospace research. After 20 years in industry I 'semi retired' into a post looking after rocketry research at a university 1 day a week.

 

[lawn dart]

My path to Aerospace? Let's see.... It was west on Torrance Blvd, right on Pacific Coast Highway, right on El Segundo Blvd. Da-dum-dum...

Sorry, couldn't resist.

I've been out of the industry for quite a while. So I can't give you any deep insights into the current state of things. But that in and of itself says something. It can be a fickle business, subject to the tides of geopolitics, economics, public perception, industry consolidation, management fads, etc, etc. Large scale lay-offs are a fact of life in the biz.

I'm an EE by training. Roughly half the jobs I had came from open sources (job boards. job fairs, even newspaper adds) and half were from personal contacts. I'd say the fact that I was flexible and enthusiastic about learning new things were key to each one. When I was in the navigation business, my boss told us he hired us because nobody teaches navigation in school we were open and not overly specific about what work we wanted to do.

Whether I was in navigation, communication, mechatronics, test&measurement or electro-optics, I was never doing anything I was specifically trained to do in school, but was able to adapt based on strong fundamentals and willingness to learn.

Unfortunately or fortunately, I got caught in too many of those industry tides. I eventually. achieved escape velocity and landed in the world of medical device technology. And all that previous experience was highly applicable there as well.

 

[Lord Rory Gin]

Hey everyone,

I'm a young undergraduate Aerospace Engineering student at a prominent university, and I've been heavily involved in rocketry for almost six years now. (Don't worry, this isn't another overly ambitious or optimistic thread from a college student) Whether it was TARC, kit builds, or scratch HPR builds to 10k+, I've been extremely fortunate to have had opportunities to grow and learn through this amazing hobby.

Throughout my years of reading TRF threads, it's been abundantly clear that there is an ocean of knowledge among all the dedicated contributors to this forum. It goes without saying that many of you have had lengthy careers and gained invaluable experience, and I would love to hear your stories. Now that I am gaining more understanding and appreciation for industry-standard practices by working on high-level liquid props, TVC, avionics, etc. projects, I want to know what path you took to the aerospace industry, how you found a sub-system you were most interested in, what types of projects you worked on, or any advice you have about pursuing a career in the industry.

From where I sit now, I feel overwhelmed by all the different sub-teams and projects that I could focus my learning on. I don't know if one would prepare me for industry better than another or if I'm just overthinking things. I didn't find an equivalent thread, so I wanted to open a discussion to help any future engineers like myself. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated!

If I had to do life all over again, I would have worked in aerospace. But in Canada, the market for that kind of engineering training/career was very small in the '70s and being dismayed by the government killing projects like the Avro Arrow and then Canada resorting to simply buying American instead of developing stuff at home, it just seemed to be an unappreciated field. So I went into Architecture instead, which pays even worse than farming on a good day.

 

[rockethead287]

Aerospace Engineering - WOW - The Sky's the limit, or should that more be "To infinity and beyond"?
There is such a wide variety of different aspects that answering your question is difficult.
You will need to consider where your interests lie, but be prepared to change and "go with the flow".
Will your interests be in fixed wing aircraft? Rotary wing? Mixed (Think Osprey)? Missiles? Large Rockets (Space X)? Commercial/Military? (some folks, due to personal beliefs, do not want to work on the military side).
Do you want to work for a main framer, such as BOEING or Lockheed Martin, or a sub tier (and there are many levels).
Then what aspect? Airframe/structures? Propulsion? Flight Control? Actuation? Nav?, Communications? EMI/EMC If military, weapon systems? If commercial, entertainment systems? Safety/Redundancy? Hardware, Software, Systems designs?
And the list goes on and on...

My own experience. I retired nearly two years ago after a career of 42 years, 42 weeks, and 42 days (yes, the timing was "planned"). And little over a year ago, I failed retirement and went back as a part-time subcontractor to help due to workload and some particular experience I had (they called me, I did not volunteer). Our company develops flight and engine control computers. It is said every 10 seconds, a plane with one of our flight critical systems takes off.....

I studied Electrical Engineering. Actually specialized in fiber optic communication systems. But when I graduated, FO was still a new thing and many companies were not convinced it would come to fruition. I ended up getting hired to support Head Up Display development. The company I started with had a new program that certain new hires were allowed to rotate between assignments 3 times, every 9~12 months. For my second rotation, I ended up assisting developing the first fully automated test stand that supported both production testing and system/SW level testing. That happened to be how I found my calling, and my niche. I especially preferred the flight control system level test stands.
Here we would need to develop a stand that can simulate all the aircraft I/O to the full redundant flight control in real time, so it thought it was actually flying an aircraft. We had to simulate all the actuation (accept commands and provide appropriate feedback signals to satisfy the servo loops). I also remember taking engineering help from https://essays.edubirdie.com/engineering-assignment-help ,this site helped me a lot. Plus we had to have means to inject failures, so the system could be tested how it reacted to a fault condition. Every flight control system was 2 fail - operate, meaning there could be 2 faults (including up to a complete channel shut-down) but the system could still control the vehicle to a safe landing.
One may think test stands as trivial items, and they don't fly (although we did have some small, specialized units that were installed in aircraft during flight test), but testing is critical to having safe reliable aircraft. Analysis is one thing, but actual test finds the real problems.

A bit long winded, but that is how I "went with the flow" and transitioned from what I studied to be to where I ended up.....

My path to a career in the aerospace industry and rocketry was an exciting journey of exploration and adaptation. Like you mentioned, there are numerous aspects and specializations within aerospace engineering, and finding my niche required an open mind and willingness to embrace new opportunities.

Initially, I pursued a degree in Mechanical Engineering, with a particular interest in robotics and automation. However, as I completed my studies and began my professional career, I realized that my passion extended beyond mechanical systems alone. I was captivated by the vast possibilities and advancements happening in the aerospace field.

Driven by my enthusiasm, I sought out opportunities to immerse myself in aerospace engineering. I attended conferences, seminars, and workshops related to space exploration, rocketry, and satellite technology. These events provided me with valuable insights into the current trends and developments in the industry.

Additionally, I engaged in self-study and research, delving into topics such as orbital mechanics, propulsion systems, and spacecraft design. This self-driven learning helped me develop a strong foundational knowledge of aerospace principles and concepts.

To gain practical experience, I pursued internships and co-op positions in aerospace companies. These opportunities allowed me to work alongside experienced professionals and contribute to real-world projects. I actively sought out challenging assignments, which exposed me to various facets of aerospace engineering, including propulsion systems, trajectory analysis, and mission planning.

During my early years in the industry, I remained adaptable and flexible, open to exploring different areas within aerospace. I actively participated in multidisciplinary projects and collaborations, which expanded my skill set and provided a broader perspective on the field.

Eventually, my passion for rocketry grew, and I decided to focus my career on this captivating area. I pursued advanced courses and certifications specifically related to rocket propulsion and launch systems. These educational pursuits not only enhanced my technical expertise but also demonstrated my commitment and dedication to the field.

Furthermore, I actively sought opportunities to engage with the rocketry community. I joined professional organizations and attended industry events, where I networked with like-minded individuals and shared insights and experiences. These connections proved invaluable, as they often led to new opportunities and collaborations.

Throughout my journey, I remained open to serendipitous moments and unexpected opportunities. I embraced the idea of "going with the flow" and allowed my path to be shaped by the evolving needs and advancements in the aerospace industry. This mindset led me to exciting projects and rewarding experiences that further fueled my passion for rocketry.

In summary, my path to a career in the aerospace industry and rocketry involved a combination of academic pursuits, practical experience, continuous learning, and a willingness to adapt. It was a dynamic journey that allowed me to explore various aspects of aerospace engineering before finding my true calling in rocketry.