Currently in final year of a Mechanical Engineering degree. I’ve been strongly considering getting a MAsc in Aerospace engineering immediately after, since I’m very interested in the CFD/Fluids/Aerodynamics aspect of it. However, I’ve heard that the aerospace industry is VERY unstable in terms of job stability i.e. employees are hired for a contract and when the contract is done there is a mass layoff. I am in Canada, if that helps. I would consider moving to the States though.
My question: any aerospace engineers (or people who know aerospace engineers) here that can confirm or deny? Thanks a lot.
The big money is in geology/petrol/chemical. Aerospace always seemed to be super cool, guess you’ll have to go to Russia though since they are the only ones that actually go to space. I’ve got to imagine the stable and/or well paying jobs for aerospace would be either with the military or companies that produce for the military. Could take a gamble and try to break into the commercial space travel industry. Likelyhood of it panning out is probably pretty low but you’d be on the cutting edge.
I’m obviously not an engineer but I work in the aviation industry as an Air Traffic Controller. The FAA/NASA have their big lab up in New Jersey (Atlantic City I believe). I doubt you could get hired if you aren’t a US citizen but it could potentially be very interesting and important work. The Canadian flying population is miniscule to the US but there may still be jobs. A combo of Aerospace/Electronics/Computers/Nav would probably get you hired and keep you employed for a long time. Could always check with ICAO but I doubt they have too many engineering jobs since they are more of a political organization than anything.
I have no intention of going into space haha. I just enjoy really the coding part of engineering, ie numerical methods, computational fluids, and such. Aerospace seems to be the only place with all of that.
I’m not in the field, but here’s what the BLS has to say:
Quick Facts: Aerospace Engineers
2012 Median Pay $103,720 per year/$49.87 per hour
Entry-Level Education Bachelor?s degree
Work Experience in a Related Occupation None
On-the-job Training None
Number of Jobs, 2012 83,000
Job Outlook, 2012-22 7% (Slower than average)
Employment Change, 2012-22 6,100
So, you could look at those numbers and decrease them for Canada. However, I’m not sure how much they consider the potential as privatization increases.
Don’t you have some sort of adviser at school that you could say, “I’m interested in X, Y, Z where can I apply it outside of aerospace?”
Fun Fact: Only 27 percent of electrical engineering students in the US are American.