Career in NASA for International students

[observer20]

Hey all..what are the career options for international students/expereinced persons in NASA... wish to join this premier organisation...i hve done masters in physics and a thesis on nuclear physics as well..after tht now i have a expereince of 2 years as a software engineer in an IT company also..so homework can i use my physics and computers knowledge to fetch a gud job in NASA??or do i need to go for some higher degree like ph.d or smethin??

 

[fizziks]

As far as getting a job at NASA, you have to go through the painful process of getting hired by the Federal government. First and foremost you need to be an US citizen. After that, you need to look for open jobs at NASA through USAjobs.gov. The amount of entry-level (in your case) is very rare. As for having a Ph.D, it's only good for a research level position at NASA. It's best to stay with what you have now if you don't plan on going to research.

And last and foremost, you need the patience. The amount of time to get hired by the government can be anywhere from 3 months to a year, depending on the agency.

 

[Norman]

As was already stated, as a foreign national, getting a job with the federal government is difficult. In addition, there are special rules (which I am not familiar with at all) concerning foreign nationals being contractors. Especially if the government for which you are a citizen of is not on friendly terms with the US. That being said, I have known a few PhD and masters students who have worked on projects for NASA who were also internationals. The difficulty comes in when you actually want to get onto the NASA campus.

 

[comp_math]

The most probably route is first a PhD, and then a Postdoc. You also need US Citizenship to have a permanent position at NASA, which takes inordinately long to obtain these days. Good luck.

 

[observer20]

thanks to all..but then what are the other gud career options for me with all this skill set??i genuinely dnt want to be in this profession fr a long time..hw n in vich job/profession i can use my skills of physics as well as computers...

 

[Norman]

thanks to all..but then what are the other gud career options for me with all this skill set??i genuinely dnt want to be in this profession fr a long time..hw n in vich job/profession i can use my skills of physics as well as computers...

First thing to do is to learn to communicate with proper grammar.

If you are a foreign national, why not work for your home countries space agency? Europe (ESA), Japan (JAXA), India (ISRO), China (CNSA), Russia (RFSA), and many others have some very interesting projects going on. Have a look here to see the complete list of countries with space programs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_space_agencies.

In addition, why do you think that your thesis in nuclear puts you in a good position to work for a space agency?

 

[fizziks]

thanks to all..but then what are the other gud career options for me with all this skill set??i genuinely dnt want to be in this profession fr a long time..hw n in vich job/profession i can use my skills of physics as well as computers...

I am assuming you are an international student residing in the U.S. You won't find any jobs with any Federal agencies or any U.S. defense contractors if you cannot speak/write English fluently.

 

[observer20]

i don't think i have any issues with my grammar and all..moreover earlier in the thread it was said that in NASA many ppl are working on nuclear physics and all..thats why i have mentioned my thesis on nuclear physics...

 

[twofish-quant]

One thing is important is that NASA today isn't what it was in the 1960's. With some exceptions (JPL, GSFC), most people I know that have worked for NASA have totally hated the experience since it's become a huge useless bureaucracy.

The other thing is that it's not true that you have to be a US citizen to work on government projects. A lot of people that work on NASA projects aren't NASA employees at all.