Entry Level Engineering Jobs at Top Defense Companies: GPA vs School Reputation

[benEE2018]

hello all, i am currently an electrical engineer at cal state fullerton and have an overall gpa of 3.5 currently a sophmore. I was wondering if anyone knows how difficult it would be to get a job as an entry level engineer at say Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheedmartin, northrop grumman. these companies are my dream job and i was wondering if going to cal state fullerton will only hinder me in getting a job at one of these companies. I am pretty sure the name of your school has some weight but will my gpa offset that? thanks

 

[TheKracken]

I could be wrong on this but the places you listed are not DoD. DoD jobs would be typically at naval research places and such. While the places you listed are funded mostly by the government I believe you would still be a private employee without the (GSI? pay scale).

You might want to look into it, the smart scholar ship is a pretty good gig. make some money in college with guaranteed internships and then a job at the end. You can get it for grad school as well.

 

[clope023]

hello all, i am currently an electrical engineer at cal state fullerton and have an overall gpa of 3.5 currently a sophmore. I was wondering if anyone knows how difficult it would be to get a job as an entry level engineer at say Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheedmartin, northrop grumman. these companies are my dream job and i was wondering if going to cal state fullerton will only hinder me in getting a job at one of these companies. I am pretty sure the name of your school has some weight but will my gpa offset that? thanks

You might want to give this a read, wish I'd gotten this advice earlier in my career:

http://www.quora.com/Can-I-get-a-job-at-SpaceX-after-graduating-from-a-low-ranked-engineering-program

Basically your school name might matter, but it's going to matter a lot less than your GPA and that's going to matter a lot less than your out of the class room experience. Get on design teams at your school or do research with one or more professors at your school and build a documented portfolio of projects you've built and you'll have a great resume to give to employers like the big boys you've mentioned. Oh, and the Kracken is off base, all of those companies are DoD contractors, so there's a good chance you'll be working on DoD systems while working at Boeing, Lockheed, Raytheon, or Northrop.

 

[TheKracken]

You might want to give this a read, wish I'd gotten this advice earlier in my career:

http://www.quora.com/Can-I-get-a-job-at-SpaceX-after-graduating-from-a-low-ranked-engineering-program

Basically your school name might matter, but it's going to matter a lot less than your GPA and that's going to matter a lot less than your out of the class room experience. Get on design teams at your school or do research with one or more professors at your school and build a documented portfolio of projects you've built and you'll have a great resume to give to employers like the big boys you've mentioned. Oh, and the Kracken is off base, all of those companies are DoD contractors, so there's a good chance you'll be working on DoD systems while working at Boeing, Lockheed, Raytheon, or Northrop.

I am not off base. I stated they were contracted. But they are not DoD jobs. Those use a different pay scale and you would be a government employee.

 

[nuclear_chris]

I'm a government employee (GS level) who evaluates the cost and technical aspects of proposals submitted by companies like Raytheon, Lockheed, etc, so I have to cation, that if you want to work for these companies, know that you may not get overtime pay, unless it's a certain amount over. I can't remember the figure, other than that being some outlandish amount (like 50). So basically if you work for these companies, and you do overtime, you may be working for free, but only up to up to a certain amount of hours.

Also these companies, from what I read in the contracts, are always exempt from The Fair Labor Standards Act, which means you cannot legally file a compliant if you work more than 40 hours a week.