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I'm in basically a similar situation right now and I'm honestly wondering if going back to school for a more engineering focused degree would be the best move.

by eduren 9y ago

I'm in basically a similar situation right now and I'm honestly wondering if going back to school for a more engineering focused degree would be the best move. Does anybody know how a Software+Aerospace engineer would be valued at an aerospace company? Most job listings I find are basically one or the other.

mirashii 9y ago
There's a few areas that these would overlap in, like ADCS and AOCS. That said, I wouldnt call both necessarily mandatory to work in that space, more often you find people who have gone deep in one and picked up enough of the other to contribute. Software engineers (in my personal experience hiring), especially senior ones, are harder to find and hire than aerospace engineers today. Depending on an area of focus, you can be just as involved with key decisions in the spacecraft design as a software person. Feel free to drop me a line, I'd be happy to talk for a few minutes about your experience and what you want to do and give you what insight I have into the industry.
- eduren 9y ago
  >Depending on an area of focus, you can be just as involved with key decisions in the spacecraft design as a software person. This is really interesting to me and I'd love to hear more. While it seems obvious that spacecraft rely heavily on software I've been under the impression that much of that work is done by aerospace/avionics engineers and is more driven by the hardware teams and hardware requirements (which is all fascinating to me but I am stumped on how I would transition into a career focusing on that). What sort of areas of focus are you thinking of? I think I'll drop you a line to chat, thank you for offering!
sigstoat 9y ago
> Does anybody know how a Software+Aerospace engineer would be valued at an aerospace company? like an aerospace engineer who wasted a bunch of time; they generally consider the introductory programming classes aerospace folks take to be more than sufficient. (they're wrong, but good luck convincing them of that.)
- eduren 9y ago
  That's what I figured for the most part. And in some ways I agree, it's hard to value generic programming skill when there's much more important qualities to look for. Makes me kick myself for not exploring more engineering heavy domains when I was in school (I certainly had opportunities).

by eduren 9y ago

mirashii 9y ago

There's a few areas that these would overlap in, like ADCS and AOCS. That said, I wouldnt call both necessarily mandatory to work in that space, more often you find people who have gone deep in one and picked up enough of the other to contribute. Software engineers (in my personal experience hiring), especially senior ones, are harder to find and hire than aerospace engineers today. Depending on an area of focus, you can be just as involved with key decisions in the spacecraft design as a software person. Feel free to drop me a line, I'd be happy to talk for a few minutes about your experience and what you want to do and give you what insight I have into the industry.

eduren 9y ago
>Depending on an area of focus, you can be just as involved with key decisions in the spacecraft design as a software person. This is really interesting to me and I'd love to hear more. While it seems obvious that spacecraft rely heavily on software I've been under the impression that much of that work is done by aerospace/avionics engineers and is more driven by the hardware teams and hardware requirements (which is all fascinating to me but I am stumped on how I would transition into a career focusing on that). What sort of areas of focus are you thinking of? I think I'll drop you a line to chat, thank you for offering!

sigstoat 9y ago

> Does anybody know how a Software+Aerospace engineer would be valued at an aerospace company? like an aerospace engineer who wasted a bunch of time; they generally consider the introductory programming classes aerospace folks take to be more than sufficient. (they're wrong, but good luck convincing them of that.)

eduren 9y ago
That's what I figured for the most part. And in some ways I agree, it's hard to value generic programming skill when there's much more important qualities to look for. Makes me kick myself for not exploring more engineering heavy domains when I was in school (I certainly had opportunities).