What Do Aerospace Engineers Do?
Occupation Description Perform engineering duties in designing, constructing, and testing aircraft, missiles, and spacecraft. May conduct basic and applied research to evaluate adaptability of materials and equipment to aircraft design and manufacture. May recommend improvements in testing equipment and techniques.
What do Aerospace Engineers do On a Daily Basis?
- Review aerospace engineering designs to determine how to reduce negative environmental impacts.
- Plan or coordinate activities concerned with investigating and resolving customers’ reports of technical problems with aircraft or aerospace vehicles.
- Direct aerospace research and development programs.
- Design new or modify existing aerospace systems to reduce polluting emissions, such as nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, or smoke emissions.
- Research new materials to determine quality or conformance to environmental standards.
- Write technical reports or other documentation, such as handbooks or bulletins, for use by engineering staff, management, or customers.
Aerospace Engineer Needed Skills
Aerospace Engineers state the following job skills are important in their day-to-day work.
Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Science: Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
Complex Problem Solving: Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Operations Analysis: Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
Types of Aerospace Engineers
- Propeller Engineer
- Airplane Designer
- Aircraft Engineer
- Field Service Engineer
- Rocket Scientist
Job Opportunities for Aerospace Engineers
In 2016, there was an estimated number of 69,600 jobs in the United States for Aerospace Engineers.
New jobs are being produced at a rate of 6.1% which is lower than average. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts 4,200 new jobs for Aerospace Engineers by 2026. There will be an estimated 4,600 positions for Aerospace Engineer per year.
The states with the most job growth for Aerospace Engineers are California, Texas, and Georgia.
Watch out if you plan on working in Washington, West Virginia, or Kansas. These states have the worst job growth for this type of profession.
Salary for Aerospace Engineers
The typical yearly salary for Aerospace Engineers is somewhere between $71,640 and $164,210. The median salary is $115,220.
How much do Aerospace Engineers make in each U.S. state?
| State | Annual Mean Salary |
|---|---|
| District of Columbia | $138,480 |
| Virginia | $127,390 |
| Maryland | $127,330 |
| California | $125,540 |
| Colorado | $124,070 |
| Texas | $122,570 |
| Hawaii | $121,100 |
| Massachusetts | $119,700 |
| Louisiana | $117,170 |
| New Jersey | $115,850 |
| Alabama | $115,820 |
| New York | $115,420 |
| Nebraska | $115,120 |
| Missouri | $114,570 |
| New Mexico | $114,340 |
| Georgia | $114,160 |
| Minnesota | $113,350 |
| Alaska | $112,890 |
| Ohio | $112,480 |
| Iowa | $110,770 |
| Mississippi | $110,760 |
| Oregon | $109,250 |
| Illinois | $108,520 |
| Pennsylvania | $108,300 |
| Arizona | $107,230 |
| Connecticut | $106,790 |
| Kansas | $105,540 |
| Florida | $105,460 |
| Utah | $105,320 |
| North Carolina | $100,080 |
| Kentucky | $98,650 |
| Indiana | $95,390 |
| Oklahoma | $92,460 |
| Montana | $91,940 |
| Nevada | $91,850 |
| West Virginia | $90,710 |
| Tennessee | $88,180 |
| Wisconsin | $85,880 |
Tools & Technologies Used by Aerospace Engineers
Although they’re not necessarily needed for all jobs, the following technologies are used by many Aerospace Engineers:
- The MathWorks MATLAB
- Xilinx TMRTool
- Dassault Systemes CATIA
- UGS Solid Edge
- Microsoft Access
- Dassault Systemes SolidWorks
- Autodesk AutoCAD
- Extensible markup language XML
- Linux
- Microsoft Office
Becoming an Aerospace Engineer
Education needed to be an Aerospace Engineer:
What work experience do I need to become an Aerospace Engineer?
Where Aerospace Engineers Work
Related Careers
Those thinking about becoming Aerospace Engineers might also be interested in the following careers:
- Astronomers
- Computer Systems Engineers/Architects
References
Image Credit: Via Wikimedia Commons
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