David

11/24/08

Aerospace Engineer

What exactly do engineers do? It’s hard to narrow down engineering to a single identity. Engineers apply the principles of science and mathematics to develop economical solutions to technical problems. Though that is engineering in general, that applies to every facet of engineering out there.

Aerospace engineering is a wide field consisting of two main parts: astronautical and aeronautical. Astronautical engineers specifically deal with the engineering of vehicles and parts in space, outside of the Earth’s atmosphere. Aeronautical engineers deal with atmospheric projects and vehicles. Aerospace engineers often specialize in areas such as structural design, guidance, navigation and control, instrumentation and communication, or production methods. Aerospace engineers design, develop, and test aircraft, spacecraft, and missiles and supervise the manufacture of these products.

Aerospace engineers would normally work in a corporation or business. The businesses would usually be large, such as Boeing or Bombardier, but the offices may be a small branch or outlet with very few people. It is also possible that they work in the main headquarters for the corporation, which could be very large in size.

While working at such a corporation, whether it is big or small, the engineer would be doing a wide variety of work. A lot of desk work would be done, planning new designs or writing reports of findings. Also, once a prototype or model is built for a project, lab work would consist of testing out the parts and finding weaknesses and strengths. Once a large scale working model could be obtained or built with modifications based off of findings found in the lab work, the engineers would take the working model and test it out in the field, such as launching a weather balloon, flying a test plane, or any other number of things.

Travel could be a vital part of the job. Travelling to and from the field or lab back to the desk job, or from the field or lab to home could be a long and arduous journey. If you live near the business itself but not near an airfield or airport, field work could be a long drive.

To be an aerospace engineer, you can live nearly anywhere, given you have access to your job. You would try to live near to your work, and within acceptable reach of an airport. My personal choice of where to live would be either Wichita or Hutchinson, KS, both places are near an airport, and Wichita is near Cessna and Bombardier company building sites.

A bachelor’s degree in engineering is required for almost all entry-level engineering jobs, however, engineers trained in one branch may work in related branches. Most engineering programs at colleges and universities involve a concentration of study in an engineering specialty, along with courses in both mathematics and the physical and life sciences, and courses in general engineering. General courses not directly related to engineering are also often required. In the U.S., there are 72 colleges and universities that have aerospace engineering degrees or programs.

There are many perks to a job in aerospace engineering. There are high starting salaries, a median of $87,610 in 2006 for the entire field, and a median $53,408 for starting bachelors. It’s a fun field of study, where you get to fly planes for a living, basically. There is never a shortage of work, and even an expected growth of jobs of 10% from 2006 to 2016. There is also a lot of work involving computers.

Of course, there are also drawbacks and cons to working in aerospace engineering. It is a popular field of engineering, which means more competition, and not enough growth. Extremely advanced math is needed on the job, to calculate everything from aerodynamics to stress loads to centers of gravities. If there’s a lot of field work, not much time is spent at home. Also, again, there is a lot of working with computers, which can be a pain sometimes. There are also long hours involved with the job.

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college/spec-aero

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aerospace_engineering_schools#United_States

http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes172011.htm