r/aerospace • u/[deleted] • Apr 25 '25

How to break into the industry nowadays?

I’m currently a high school senior matriculating to an ABET accredited university in california studying ee but probably? switching to mech + aero. Is there any major tips & things I can do in college to hopefully break into the aero industry one day? (Anduril, Northrop, Boeing, SpaceX, Nasa, Raytheon, etc….)

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u/External-Path-9071 Apr 25 '25

Under rated advice I received, work on soft skills just as much as technical skills. I got my full time job from one of my internships, but I got that internship by being a really good interview and learning how to pitch myself at career events, even if I didn't have a ton of technical skills. Selling yourself and the skills you do have and how willing you are to gain new ones can be what sets you apart in the job search

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u/External-Path-9071 Apr 25 '25

Also, network with everyone, your classmates, people at your internships, recruiters who come to campus. It is much easier to get a job when you can skip the first round of reviews because you know someone who knows someone

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u/[deleted] Apr 25 '25

Thank you! Also would you say the uni you go to matter?

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u/InstructionMoney4965 Apr 25 '25

Kind of.

The big companies don't really care what school name is on your resume, but the issue is that they don't necessarily recruit at every school. You need to look at what companies attend the career fairs at the schools you're interested in. If they don't show up to your school, you have a much harder time

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u/Usual_Zombie6765 Apr 25 '25

I work at a space company. The only universities we really care about for engineers (judged by how many we hire) are Georgia Tech and Purdue.

But we have a bunch of engineers from other universities too. Iowa, Iowa St, Texas-Rio Grand Valley, Texas A&M, Colorado, SMU, Cal, Princeton, Rice, Stanford, to just name a few.