How Can a High School Senior Prepare for a Career in Aerospace Engineering?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the preparation steps for a high school senior aspiring to pursue a career in aerospace engineering. It includes advice on surviving college, gaining relevant skills, and finding career opportunities within the aerospace industry.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested
  • Homework-related

Main Points Raised

  • One participant emphasizes the importance of mastering basic physics principles, suggesting that a strong foundation is crucial for success in later courses.
  • Another participant advises learning programming languages, specifically mentioning Matlab and C++, as essential for completing assignments in advanced courses.
  • There is a suggestion to gain familiarity with CAD software, which is important for design work in aerospace engineering.
  • Forming study groups and joining organizations like AIAA is recommended for collaborative learning and networking.
  • One participant expresses a personal opinion that working on specific parts of designs could be boring, prompting a discussion about the nature of engineering work.
  • Another participant counters this view by highlighting the excitement of seeing a project come to fruition, suggesting that the rewarding moments in engineering outweigh the mundane tasks.
  • A question is raised about what a CAD package is, leading to an explanation of its purpose and some examples of software.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the importance of foundational knowledge and skills for a career in aerospace engineering. However, there is disagreement regarding the nature of the work in the field, with differing opinions on whether it is boring or fulfilling.

Contextual Notes

Some discussions involve personal experiences and opinions, which may not reflect universal truths about the aerospace engineering field. The conversation also includes varying levels of familiarity with technical terms and concepts, such as CAD software.

Who May Find This Useful

High school students interested in aerospace engineering, current college students in related fields, and individuals seeking career advice in STEM disciplines may find this discussion beneficial.

Chris_w
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I am a high school senior and plan to attend a FL college majoring in aerospace engineering. My ultimate dream is to work for a company around me like lockheed or raytheon.

My question is what steps should one in my postition take to achieve this? What is some good advice to surivive college and land a great career?

Thanks
 
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Hi,

I'm a senior year aerospace engineering student, so my advice won't get you all the way to graduating and entering the workforce, but it's better than nothing, I suppose.

For surviving college:

Study the basics. Learn the basics. Love the basics. Everything is derived from F = m*a, so if you don't understand what they teach you in your first and second year physics classes, you're going to be doomed to failure.

Learn to program, and learn it well. Once you get into your third year, there will barely ever be a homework assignment which can reasonably be done by hand. Find out which languages your school uses early on and practice practice practice. My school's AE dept. uses Matlab and C++ almost exclusively.

Get at least rudimentary knowledge in a CAD package.

Form a study group with fellow AE students who you work well with, and stay with them. Joining a group like AIAA is great for this, especially early on when the classes are lumped together with the mechies and EEs.

For finding a career:

Figure out what focus interrests you. The earlier the better. Once you've figured it out, find a professor doing work in that or a similar field, and find out if you can volunteer or get hired to assist with their research.

That's my $.02. Your mileage may vary.
 
Greetings !
Originally posted by Chris_w
I am a high school senior and plan to attend a FL college majoring in aerospace engineering. My ultimate dream is to work for a company around me like lockheed or raytheon.
Hmm...
Working half a decade on some small specific part of some
specific design with a regular, though fine, paycheck...
Sounds boring ! :wink:

Live long and prosper.
 
enigma said:
[...]Study the basics. Learn the basics. Love the basics. Everything is derived from F = m*a, so if you don't understand what they teach you in your first and second year physics classes, you're going to be doomed to failure.

Learn to program, and learn it well. Once you get into your third year, there will barely ever be a homework assignment which can reasonably be done by hand. Find out which languages your school uses early on and practice practice practice. My school's AE dept. uses Matlab and C++ almost exclusively.

Get at least rudimentary knowledge in a CAD package. [...]

(well now i feel smart for being the first person in my class in the electricity chapter worksheet to see the question that says what is the acceleration of the electron and actually associate it with F=ma)

what is a CAD package?
 
drag said:
Greetings !

Hmm...
Working half a decade on some small specific part of some
specific design with a regular, though fine, paycheck...
Sounds boring ! :wink:

Live long and prosper.

sorry for double posting here ...

is it really that boring?
 
drag said:
Hmm...
Working half a decade on some small specific part of some
specific design with a regular, though fine, paycheck...
Sounds boring ! :wink:

Sure it has its boring moments.

But if you think watching the first flight of an aircraft or rocket where you designed some key part of the structure is boring, then I guess engineering is the wrong career option :rolleyes:
 
laurelelizabeth said:
what is a CAD package?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-aided_design

CAD stands for Computer Aided Design and as the name suggests, its used to make detailed mechanical drawings of products/parts before they are manufactured. (As well as architectural design etc, you get the idea though)

AutoCAD is probably the most popular 2D CAD package, but I am just a student as well so I am not 100% sure. I have heard that there are better alternatives to AutoCAD for 3D design(i.e. Pro/Engineer) but if you just want to get a feel for working with a CAD system, I think there is an AutoCAD 30 day demo available somewhere on the net and it would do you nicely.. I have done some very very basic stuff in AutoCAD and it is amazingly complex.

(Actually google ads up top says that you can get a 30 day trial edition of Pro/Engineer(http://www.ptc.com/offers/tryout.htm), so download it and try that out, it comes with a pretty good manual)

Heres some more info in AutoCAD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AutoCAD
 
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