<p>I am a junior in hs and i thought i would major in civil engineering with a structural focus, however a friend of mine is going to school for aerospace and we started talking about it and obviously I became interested. What I am unclear about is what exactly an aerospace engineer does. If anyone could give any insight on that, or civil, that would be great. Kind of like a "day in the life" type thing. Any recommendations for either one would be great. Thanks!</p>
<p>Aerospace engineering jobs can be a variety of things. There are plenty of structural areas in aerospace, though you must keep in mind aerospace will focus more on structures of moving systems. Other focuses are fluid dynamics(Ex| aerodynamics), controls, propulsion, robotics and even software. </p>
<p>Many try to work in the aerospace industry, working for companies like Boeing, Northrop Grumman, SpaceX, etc but there are plenty others that end up working for car companies, companies dealing with watercraft like ships and submarines, doing research in government labs, totally different software positions, etc. </p>
<p>I will let someone else explain civil because I definitely don’t know enough about that. I only know my friends doing it here at UIUC do more structures related work, some materials work with concretes and stuff, and some environmental work. Depends on your focus but I am sure there is more to it!</p>
<p>I worked (now retired) as a structural engineer for one of the large aerospace companies. My degree was in civil engineering (with an emphasis on structural engineering). </p>
<p>Interesting to note that many of the structural engineers had civilE degrees like me. I have found that many of the aeroE grads didn’t have as many structural classes as the CivilE guys did. Just too much else to learn in AeroE. </p>
<p>The principles are all the same in structural engineering whether it is aero or civil. You learn so much more on the job that your title on the degree doesn’t matter that much.</p>
<p>Aerospace is somewhat more specialized and Civil or Mechanical are more general. It is unlikely that you will find an aerospace engineering building bridges or roads but as @HPuck35 says, Civil and Mechanical Engineers can work in the aerospace industry.</p>