Aerospace jobs with a foreign degree

[mkhan1]

Heyy there,

This is Nakib. I have a BSc degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands (TUDelft) and for the past 8 months I have been job hunting. As all of you might know that the US is really not the best place for finding an entry level job atm, especially in the Aerospace industry. But I was just wondering what is the best suitable option for me as I am a Green Card holder (permanent resident). Should I use this time to pursue an MSc in a relevant program OR should I search for an alternative engineering field like say ... mechanical since it's very similar. Please tell me what opinions you might have regarding this :)

Thanks

 

[Lsos]

Until a few weeks ago I worked for GE Aviation. Although I worked in Poland, we had constant interaction with people all over the world, especially the United States (in Cincinnati and in Lynn, MA). In Poland they were and still are hiring a lot of entry-level people, and I imagine it would be the same in the US.

Also I should mention that in that job I also interacted with people in Rheden, Netherlands, where they also had a GE facility.

Also, I just moved to the Netherlands two weeks ago :D . Nice place, why would you leave?

 

[mkhan1]

Hoe gaat het ! :)

Yes, they are hiring at entry level. But what I am trying to stress out is that it's for US citizens, whereas I am NOT a citizen as yet. I will be in a few years time, but I just want to know what I can do or what my options might be till then.

As to why I left Holland, it's mainly because I went there as a student and out of all honesty, I eventually didn't like the place. A lot of factors to that, but let's not discuss about that.

Anyways, I checked out the GE website and yeah, they need security clearance which again requires me to be a citizen. If only there was something that didn't require that specification. :(

 

[boneh3ad]

Any job requiring a security clearance will require you to be a citizen. It won't be the foreign degree that hurts you (especially from TU Delft), it will be the foreign nationality.

That said, there are plenty of jobs that aren't export conntrolled such as in commercial aviation that have no such restrictions. Check out th commercial side of Boeing, GE Aviation, Rolls-Royce, etc. In a few years when you get citizenship your options will expand greatly.

 

[Lsos]

goede :)

Unfortunately that's one of the few words I know in Dutch so far...and that's with google's help :)

Ah yes, the US citizenship. Sure enough even in Poland we did some work on the military engines, but even then there were many restrictions and limitations to how much information we could get.

Well good luck. I don't have any decent advice then...

 

[AlephZero]

If you want to move to North America while you wait for citizenship, look at the options in Canada. There are several international aerospace companies with subsidiaries there. Some of them specialize in aero technology converted for power generation or oil and gas pumping, but it's all relevant experience in the long run.

There are aerospace companies in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, etc, but security may be an issue there because of military work.

In the UK, Rolls-Royce has separate levels of security clearance for working on civil and military projects, which are at different sites. So your background would not necessarily be a problem.

 

[mkhan1]

Thanks boneh3ad ! That's a sigh of relief. The good part is that I will get my citizenship in a year. But yes, I feel good about the fact that the foreign degree is not the main factor. It's pretty good to learn that 4 yrs wasn't a waste of time haha.

 

[mkhan1]

No AlephZero,

I don't want to move to North America, I already did. It's just that I am a permanent resident (Green Card) in the United States and I haven't been naturalized as a citizen yet, so I was kind of contemplating my options. As for Canada, can I work there with a US Green Card ?? Please let me know. Thanks.