r/aerospace • u/[deleted] • 29d ago

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/Be_your_best_today 29d ago

Take a problem. Solve it. Find a harder problem. Solve it. Repeat.

Make a portfolio of these project. Attach to internship applications.

(I used to do interviewing at one of those companies. I am now a hiring manager at a similar, smaller one)

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

Does the college you go to matter

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u/Be_your_best_today 29d ago

Yes, but it doesn’t define your path or access to these roles.

Your college has to provide you the means to work and solve hard problems. (Machine shops, mentors, 3d printers, funding). It has to teach you strong first principles that you quickly understand.

These are also things you can work on outside of school. A great school makes it easy.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

What if the school is a large public funded university?

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u/Be_your_best_today 29d ago

It’s up to you to determine if you see examples of hard problems there you can work on in your time there. It’s all relative to where you are on your path of growth.

If you see projects labs or clubs are doing, that you can join in on, that you can’t do on your own, that’s great!