Expert: Paul Soderman - 9/5/2008

Question
Dear Engineer,

My name is Andrew Jackson I am a senior at McDonough High school and I am doing a project for my Principles of Engineering class.

I am doing a presentation on Aeronautical Engineering and was wondering if I could have a moment of your time to answer four questions for me; my project is due on Wednesday the 10th of this month so time is of the essence.

     I would like to thank you ahead of time for your consideration of my queries.   


1.   How did you become an Engineer, what were the education requirements?
2.   What is a normal day like in your career, and do you travel a lot?      
3.   What is your favorite and least favorite aspect of your career?
4.   What is the starting or base salary for a career in your field?



Thanks again and have a nice day,

Andrew Jackson  

Answer
Hi Andrew
Engineers must have as a minimum a bachelor's degree from a qualified engineering school.  It took me almost five years to earn the B.S. degree and another year for the M.S. degree in Aeronautical Engineering.  I did further graduate work part time for many years after that.

I was in research at NASA Ames Research Center.  A normal day involved examination of scientific literature, planning experiments, writing code for data analysis, analyzing experimental results, meeting with my peers, requesting support from management, writing reports, etc.  I traveled 4 to 6 times a year to various laboratories or scientific conferences.

The favorite part of research is discovering new concepts or phenomena that explain a little more about the world of aeronautics.  The least favorite aspect was scrambling for funding to support my team.

It all depends on academic achievement, job experience, expertise, location and more, but starting salary is roughly $60,000 per year plus or minus $10,000.
Paul