<p>I am posting in hopes that one of you experienced adults knows or is someone who works at an aerospace company such as Boeing or Lockheed. I am considering a second internship in summer 2006, when I am close to graduating with all three of my degrees that I want to earn. I heard they will pay for any graduate education that you want to receive, and pay pretty nice benefits, like they're desperate for people or something. I am concerned with what life is like there. What is the atmosphere? Are the people friendly, and conductive to people with disabilities? What kinds of things could I do at one of these companies?</p>
<p>I'd go to the company's website, but I want to hear reality, not corporate propaganda. One last question: what would be an ideal place to work for an Asperger's person with three bachelor's degrees (biology, computer engineering, and civil engineering)? Thank you for listening to me, and no, this is not a poor pity me post, because my parents and psychiatrist do not think I have clinical depression. Finals are going well by the way.</p>
<p>My husband works at Boeing and has for 20 years.
Union jobs do have decent benefits- factory work is tough. My husbands shop is currently on 3 weekends a month mandatory overtime.
Many longer than 8 hr days.
I think the atmosphere would depend on where you are working.
I don't think they are desperate for people- they are still rehiring people who have been laid off since 9/11. The only way my husband still has his job is because he is highly skilled and because he was willing to take a pay and job title cut.
They have been getting new orders although Airbus has taken a real chunk out of their business.</p>
<p>Please do not take this at face value, because my experiences were almost a full 40 years ago, and I am sure things have changed greatly. As an aerospace engineering major, I worked as a co-op student at Martin-Marietta, now Lockheed Martin. I was there for three years and had some of the best assignments any college student could have. I worked as a technical writer, and when the editing group got my first manuscript they called my boss and asked him if he had a new writer. The manuscript was so bad (non-standard) that they would not edit it, but sent it back for a complete rewrite. I worked in something called the armaments research test lab and was given full control of a complete anti-tank warhead testing project. What 18-year-old would turn down the chance to blow things up? When I started the job, my boss told me that he didn't care what I did, but I had a budget that HAD to be spent or the money would be taken away in the next budget. Just spend the money, he said. One day I was in the company library and ran across some radiographs (X-rays) of a warhead DURING detonation. Oh wow, I thought - this could blow up lots of equipment and we can spend TONS of money. We got our radioographs, but it was a challenging and tricky thing to do. The exposure must be very fast, which means you need a very powerful radiation source. And you don't want to blow that up, yet you need it right next to the warhead. Quite an engineering puzzle.</p>
<p>But, I also learned that I did not want to be an aerospace engineer. The environment of a defense plant was just not my cup of tea. I'm grateful to the company for what they gave me in experience, but during the assignment, I changed my major to physics and changed my co-op work to the state's air pollution lab doing collection and analysis of pollutant samples.</p>
<p>Take heart! Airbus has just taken a wrong turn, I think, with it's new super-sized Airbus. And Boeing has the most incredible design with it's new 7E7. That aircraft will make Boeing an obscene amount of money over the next decade. You see, you can take the man out of aerospace engineering, but you can't take away his love for aircraft design.</p>
<p>H worked for Ford Aerospace, GTE Government Systems and a Silicon Valley co. that was eventually bought by Boeing. He was in defense electronics. He is an EE. He was involved with signals intelligence, signal jamming. There was quite a range of types of environments/jobs. Software guys, hardware guys, guys in the "tank" (most classified projects). There would certainly be some assignments which would involve less client interaction, but people skills always do matter, bio, because you will always have co-workers, bosses etc.</p>
<p>Keep on working on your people skills as well as your engineering and technical skills. I know that must be the hard part for you and I am not familiar with AS, as some other posters are, but I am rooting for you.</p>
<p>I have hired co-op students for years at our company. We won't pay for your undergrad degree because you aren't a full time employee, but once you graduate and hire in full time, your technical grad degree will be funded in full. MBA degrees usually have to wait until you have a technical MS and move into a managerial area. </p>
<p>The atmosphere at most companies like ours is variable. We are contract oriented. Toward the end of a contract there is usually a big push to the end that requires some personal time to be spent. Junior engineers usually get overtime pay, senior engineers usually don't. People are people anywhere you go. You'll find many you enjoy working and playing with, and others you don't. </p>
<p>Most defense contractors (which includes most all aerospace companies) are in hiring mode now. Our company is paying bonuses to employees that recruit friends into the company.</p>
<p>Any details on what it is like for software people (CS, CEGR) at one of these aerospace companies? Do they value versatility (which is one of my strengths), and how do they value the people skills that you people are talking about?</p>
<p>I won't disclose where I work, but I all my brothers/H work at B. This company has great benefits, will pay for your education once you work there. You can take anything that you like even interior design and they will pay for it. I mean it does not have to be related to what you do, very forward thinking kind of company. Software is in demand at areospace because defense now only wants Customer of the shell(COTS) which is why software not hardware is in demand.Bio is also in demand because they do have some kind of sensors for bio attack, remember anthrax and Weapons of mass destruction(if we find them). About civil engineering, I'm not sure, but if you can use 2 out of 3, it is not bad as the cliche.You also almost can work anywhere because there are so many locations in the states.</p>
<p>I am a software engineer at one of the companies you were asking about. Most folks in our department are either computer science or EE majors. I can add a few ideas on the social aspects of working in this environment.</p>
<p>The office is laid-back - casual attire, you can listen to CDs while you work, and hours are flexible. Depending on the project and your particular duties, you may be able to work from home up to 3 days a week. </p>
<p>There are many company sponsored special interest clubs (golf/bowling leagues, ski club, band/chorus - to name a few), which you may find to be a good way to get involved socially. </p>
<p>Unlike the 'cliques' of high school, the workplace is usually a relatively small core group of all different kinds of people thrown together to meet a common goal. So you get to know each other fairly well, coming to understand and accept others' individual 'quirks'. These differences can even be used to the group's advantage; for example, a more gregarious guy may be the one to go smooze at a conference or interview job applicants, while the reserved guy may gravitate to assignments with minimal contact. It takes all kinds.</p>
<p>If you aren't happy with the work group you're in or enjoy getting lots of different experiences, it's generally not hard to transfer to another project. (in a small company, you could be stuck.) </p>
<p>Wherever you end up working, my best advice is to focus on maintaining a positive attitude. People want you to succeed; work with them! Good luck to you!</p>
<p>P.S. COTS = Commercial Off the Shelf; as in you can buy the software off the shelf at a store.</p>
<p>Of biology, computer engineering, and civil engineering, are there opportunities in all three that combine these fields? I'm doing this just to make myself not have any regrets when I'm older, but are there any special opportunities that combine these fields, such as in aerospace?</p>
<p>Also, why would there be special interest groups in a company? It's a place of work, not a place of fraternization. How does this benefit the company?</p>
<p>From what you have seen, do you think that I could make it in the real world, considering I have Asperger's Syndrome, and am socially impaired among other things?</p>
<p>The special interest groups don't necessarily benefit the company; they're supposed to be employee benefits, like health insurance or vacation. In many cases the company subsidizes the cost of the activity, but that's only part of the purpose. I only mentioned this because 'Aspies' tend to do better in structured social situations and that's what these are.</p>
<p>As for combining your majors, I'm not aware of any specific use for this combination. Aerospace companies would most likely be interested in your computer engineering component; it's a fairly new major, and many of the younger people hiring in have this. </p>
<p>I can't say whether you personally would 'make it' or not. Asperger's covers a wide range of disability. But since you are able to attend college, you should be able to get a job. Engineering tends to be one of the most common careers for people with Asperger's tendencies.</p>