Do all engineers secretly wish to work for NASA?

[Ian_Brooks]

A lot of us engineering students can never agree on who has it tougher, but the one thing we can agree on is ...that we all wish we could work for nasa.

I doubt this is just us.This came up when we found out we can see the latest images of Mars on google earth
http://earth.google.com/mars/index.html

We were all stoked.

 

[Blenton]

I think everyone wants to work for nasa/google.

 

[jobyts]

I think everyone wants to work for nasa/google.

Google no longer has free food :)

 

[BobG]

Yes, everyone wants to work for NASA. On midshifts, they sing songs about their satellites.

Swift Satellite

This page shows the lyrics. Click on "Listen to the Song" on the left.

 

[russ_watters]

All engineers are just grown-up kids who wanted to be astronauts.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I wouldn't want the pressure of working for NASA. Nor would I enjoy the limited scope of activity. They do cool stuff; no doubt about it! But the people that I have met who worked for NASA described the experience as rewarding, but grueling. Many people may not realize just how hard-core the NASA heroes are. If you want NASA and only NASA as a life, that is fine, but if you want to be at home with the spouse and kids every night, forget about it! Also, I tend to prefer being a big fish in a little pond, rather than a little fish in a big pond. I enjoy having control of a project.

I guess it would be different if I was twenty... so for the kids out there, I say go for it. But I would not want to be working for NASA at this point in my life.

 

[Dr.D]

Not on your life! I had the opportunity to work for NASA right before the moon landings and I turned it down. It was an absolutely insane environment! I wanted to preserve some sense of sanity, plus it was obvious, I thought, that there was a huge bust coming right after the moon shot, as there in fact was.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Not on your life! I had the opportunity to work for NASA right before the moon landings and I turned it down. It was an absolutely insane environment! I wanted to preserve some sense of sanity, plus it was obvious, I thought, that there was a huge bust coming right after the moon shot, as there in fact was.

On a related note, I once met someone who had worked on the X-Ray LASER system through Lawrense Livermore Labs. He said the pressure was so bad that they had three guys in their thirties drop from heart attacks.

 

[arildno]

Most engineers are level-headed individuals satisfied with the nuts, bolts and screwdrivers they have at their disposal.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Most engineers are level-headed individuals satisfied with the nuts, bolts and screwdrivers they have at their disposal.

Until they enter the dreaded world of management. Then they go insane.

 

[humanino]

If you want NASA and only NASA as a life, that is fine, but if you want to be at home with the spouse and kids every night, forget about it!

you say "If you want". But that's mostly taking it backward. One does not choose a passion. Usually, the choice for individuals passionate about research is in attempting to have a family life, or any other occupation outside research, not in attempting to become a researcher !

 

[turbo]

My cousin went to a 2-year technical school and learned a lot of programming skills. He got a job with GE setting up a microwave backscatter early-warning system, ended up heading up the programming team, and he was off and running. He got transferred from one defense project to another and ended up having to move his family to Australia for years. He is currently heading up the Hubble servicing/upgrade project. Not bad for a kid from a small-town HS (the largest graduating class ever was mine - 42 kids).

 

[Ivan Seeking]

you say "If you want". But that's mostly taking it backward. One does not choose a passion. Usually, the choice for individuals passionate about research is in attempting to have a family life, or any other occupation outside research, not in attempting to become a researcher !

So you are arguing that all options are identical? I don't think so. NASA is probably one of the most competitive environments on earth; simply because we are talking about some of the most talented and driven individuals. Why? See the title of the thread. I would bet that a very small percentage of scientists and engineers, in the US at least, were not inspired by NASA, as kids.

 

[humanino]

I do not know NASA. But I know research in particle physics. One thing I have noticed makes me uncomfortable with the idea that one "wishes to work for" this kind of research. I personally never dreamt of "working for a national lab". I always dreamt of "understanding the stuff". I think it's quite different. The majority of people I work with grew up the same, and I also know of (a few) individuals who "dream of becoming a physicist", attempt to do so, and most often succeed very poorly. Because this is not a choice one makes to become a physicist, this is something that happens to you and, unfortunately !, refusing it would only make you unhappy, permanently. The reason people who "want to become" fail is not just that they do not relate well with other passionate people form the majority of this community. It's also because eventually, you do compete with people who work day and night, every day, permanently. Just come to the lab over the week end, and you find that a good percentage of them are there. Go over to their house, you'll find they do not spend a single day without working. Send them a professional email during the night at christmas break, and you'll find out they answer within a few hours. They are not driven by success however, happy that their wish of working in physics came true. They are slaves of their need for physics, and joke about the unhappiness this brings in their life. Really.

 

[Evo]

My ex father-in law was an engineer that worked for NASA, he was part of the team that got Apollo 13 down and got honored by the President, he has a nice plaque from the President for what he did.

 

[humanino]

My ex father-in law was an engineer that worked for NASA, he was part of the team that got Apollo 13 down and got honored by the President, he has a nice plaque from the President for what he did.

It's amazing. In the context of this discussion, did you have a chance to talk with him about how he felt when he was young ? I'd be interested if he ever mentioned his childhood dream. Note that the subtlety is small, but crucial for what I'm trying to say, between working "with" and working "for".

I still remember, when I was a teenager, I dreamt only of playing in the NBA. It made me think a lot when I read in several interviews that it was not the case for actual players. Jordan once said "don't repeat it, but yes, even I sometimes don't know how I did it".

Also think of the movie Amadeus by Forman. Salieri wants to be a musician. Mozart is born musician. It's really striking the difference between one person who is focused on becoming something, and one person who simply lives it.

 

[Loren Booda]

I secretly wish to work in Nassau.

 

[Evo]

I secretly wish to work in Nassau.

 

[Chi Meson]

I think I posted this before. I was studying astrophysics specifically because it had been my dream to go into space ever since I watched the Apollo missions in the early 70s. My dream fizzled a bit on January 28, 1986.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster

...then I discovered rock climbing and I didn't spend enough time studying 'coz rocks are more fun than blowing up and NASA doesn't want the guy with the 2.something GPA...

 

[RTFVerterra]

I just receive my first copy of NASA Tech Briefs Magazine for free. It is a very cool magazine available for free to engineers in some selected countries. I found this magazine here:

http://mathalino.tradepub.com/free/nasa/

 

[infomax]

A lot of us engineering students can never agree on who has it tougher, but the one thing we can agree on is ...


that we all wish we could work for nasa.

I doubt this is just us.


This came up when we found out we can see the latest images of Mars on google earth
http://earth.google.com/mars/index.html

We were all stoked.

Work for NASA I wish work for Living

 

[Astronuc]

I've worked on projects for NASA, and based on those experiences, I would not want to work within NASA. I was at a project meeting at JSC one time, and based on that, I was turned off from working in that organization. I did consider working at one of the other centers, but I would have had to work for a contractor because NASA had frozen the hiring process. I was told that if a position opened up, I might get a position in that particular center.

One of my classmates in grad school did go to work at JSC, when NASA opened up a few positions. But the evironment was too unstable and uncertain, and that's something to which I did not want to expose my family.

 

[junglebeast]

A lot of us engineering students can never agree on who has it tougher, but the one thing we can agree on is ...


that we all wish we could work for nasa.

I doubt this is just us.


This came up when we found out we can see the latest images of Mars on google earth
http://earth.google.com/mars/index.html

We were all stoked.

I turned down a job at NASA. I was pretty excited about it, but it would have meant not finishing my PhD...which I decided is more important. Besides, they said it's an open offer :D

I hear Google is a fun place to work, but I'm not impressed with any of their work in the slightest. I am baffled how they reputedly have so many smart people working there, yet all they have delivered is a few crummy web apps and a 3D map which runs on borrowed technology. And yes, they have a fast search engine, but they pretty much had that from the start.

 

[BobG]

Q: Do all engineers secretly wish to work for NASA?

A: No. Only *96.8% of engineers secretly wish to work for NASA.

It's a little known fact, but dating an engineer that's worked for NASA is probably a lot more fun than actually working for NASA. She's a Silver Snoopy Award recipient, no less.


* Note: 42.6% of all statistics are made up on the spot with absolutely no research, or research so old or so obscure that no one really knows where those numbers came from anymore.

 

[Stratosphere]

Q: Do all engineers secretly wish to work for NASA?

A: No. Only *96.8% of engineers secretly wish to work for NASA.

It's a little known fact, but dating an engineer that's worked for NASA is probably a lot more fun than actually working for NASA. She's a Silver Snoopy Award recipient, no less.


* Note: 42.6% of all statistics are made up on the spot with absolutely no research, or research so old or so obscure that no one really knows where those numbers came from anymore.

 

[FredGarvin]

I have done plenty of projects with NASA facilities and people. One thing is that every different department/branch is different. Some projects were really enjoyable and others weren't. The ones that weren't were mostly because of the bureaucratic BS and insane nit picking that NASA is known for.

Honestly, the only thing I covet from NASA are the facilities they have at their disposal.

 

[rootX]

I don't understand what's so fancy about working for NASA.

 

[Proton Soup]

got an offer from united space alliance once. it wasn't a decent offer and was declined. it did seem, however, that they encouraged and paid for ongoing education. so if you only wanted a fairly secure gig with low pay and enjoyed school...

 

[Theelectricchild]

I don't understand what's so fancy about working for NASA.

Me neither.

I would think Boeing, Lockheed, SpaceX, etc (private industry) would be just as cool if not cooler.

 

[Topher925]

I don't understand what's so fancy about working for NASA.

+1. I have no desire to work for NASA, Google, or any aerospace contractors for that matter. I would really like to work for GE, Honda, GM, or E-Solar though.