<p>I know this may be a kind of random topic, but these are the two fields of engineering I'm interested in. Currently, I'm supposed to be going into Biomedical Engineering.</p>
<p>My dad works for an aerospace company in CA, and he tells me the situation for future aerospace engineers looks very grim. Very few people aerospace engineers actually work as aerospace engineers, and job employment is low. Basically, even though my dad acknowledges I really am interested in the field, he's telling me the downsides to my after-graduation situation.</p>
<p>However, in comparison to Biomed, which also isn't in such a good situation in terms of the # of jobs available in the market, how does aerospace mark up? I've heard that getting a mechanical engineering degree is the way to go, but I'm really interested in these specific fields. Is aerospace really a dying field? Which one would I be better off with?</p>
<p>Increased fuel costs have changed the dynamics of the US aviation industry significantly. Not only that, but increased competition from European/East Asian firms makes me think that the Aviation industry within the US will be further eroded. I believe there is lots of growth in space-based aerospace stuff.</p>
<p>BME is another field that has a lot of growth opportunities. Too bad everyone wants to go into it and wages are lower compared to other engineering disciplines.</p>
<p>Mechanical engineers can work in Biomed & Aerospace. Just choose your technical electives so that you can get the interviews.</p>
<p>"Too bad everyone wants to go into it and wages are lower compared to other engineering disciplines."</p>
<p>I get the feeling that many want to pile into the new and hot areas that seem to be blends of other areas which makes them more specialists instead of generalists.</p>
<p>On the aerospace side, I know a guy on another forum that does recruiting for an aerospace company and he talks about hiring from time to time (he likes UPenn). He sounded pretty upbeat about hiring new grads but this was before gasoline prices hit $4.00.</p>
<p>None of this is true. Wages in aero are higher than the majority of other disciplines. also, i have spoken to a higher-ups at a major aero company who told me that now is the perfect time to get into aero. the average age is like 49, and most of the companies did not really hire in the 90s. therefore, they will very shortly be scrambling for people. scrambling means increased competition for bright new employees and higher salary offers. but please, make my life easier and go into biomed. less competition i will have for a great job in 4 years.</p>
<p>also, defense jobs cannot be outsourced. you have to be a citizen to get them in the first place.</p>
<p>UIUC's statistics included a $24960. I assume that's somebody's PhD stipend and not salary in the industry. That would significantly affect the average earnings, especially if there are a couple of these people.</p>
<p>The $24,960 was the lowest salary acceptance for a bachelors (probably somebody graduating with a 2.0), so i don't think that was a PhD stip end unless it was somehow entered as an error.</p>
<p>$24960 would come down to $12/hour assuming 40 hour work weeks. Nobody gets paid so little. A company would rather pay more for a better candidate.</p>
<p>I can see how someone going on to get a phd may put that down for salary when entering it on a survey.</p>
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None of this is true. Wages in aero are higher than the majority of other disciplines. also, i have spoken to a higher-ups at a major aero company who told me that now is the perfect time to get into aero. the average age is like 49, and most of the companies did not really hire in the 90s. therefore, they will very shortly be scrambling for people. scrambling means increased competition for bright new employees and higher salary offers. but please, make my life easier and go into biomed. less competition i will have for a great job in 4 years.</p>
<p>also, defense jobs cannot be outsourced. you have to be a citizen to get them in the first place.
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<p>Average aerospace wages likely appear high because as you said, most of the engineers are older and more senior, and therefore make more money and skew the salary surveys.</p>
<p>Because so many aerospace engineers are older, however, they are capable of retiring very soon, and there aren't enough young graduates willing to replace them. I think the job outlook looks great for the immediate future as well when you look at what will be going on. NASA is preparing to go to the moon and eventually to Mars, and there are several private companies that are just getting off the ground and doing great things for the aerospace industry. There will be plenty of places to work, and with the older engineers retiring and new projects starting, there should be plenty of opportunities to get a job. These companies are expanding, why would there be no jobs?</p>
<p>I hear a lot of people claim that aerospace companies hire very few aerospace engineers, and that they hire mostly from other disciplines like mechanical, electrical, etc. While that's true, you also have to look at a reason why they do that. Compare the number of aerospace graduates to the number of other engineering graduates and tell me how it's possible to hire entirely aerospace majors.</p>
<p>Aerospace engineers working in the spacecraft sector should have plenty of opportunities. Those who work in the aircraft sector I don't know much about. There will always be a need for a less expensive and more efficient aircraft, but I think fuel costs really control that industry.</p>
<p>Luckily spacecraft don't run on oil ;) (My post might be biased since I'll be majoring in aerospace engineering :p)</p>
<p>and as far as getting a mechE degree, do that if you arent sure if you like aero. aeroE degree includes mech, ee and some computer programing. it is everything that you might run into in the aerospace field. though it seems restricted, it is actually pretty broad.</p>
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None of this is true. Wages in aero are higher than the majority of other disciplines.
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<p>Oh. Missed this. Yeah, this is incorrect, unfortunately. Wages in <em>defense</em> aero are reasonably higher in some cases. Wages in manned aero really kind of stink. By far my lowest offer was from (LargeAeroCo)'s manned space division as a Structural Analyst II, and that's par for the aerospace course... A job designing tilt-up Starbucks shells paid more, depressingly enough. So... you might want to do a little more fact-finding about aerospace salaries if that's what you want to go into.</p>
<p>The smaller companies? As in, for manned space exploration endeavors? Well, they're mostly funded out of the pockets of insanely rich eccentric people... The pay is steady, but it's not spectacular.</p>