Expert: Paul Soderman - 9/23/2008

Question
Dear Paul.  My son is a sophomore in high school and working on a big project.  He must interview an Aeronautical Engineer.  Very hard to find where we live.  Would you be willing to answer some questions regarding your career, such as:  Here are some questions that I would like to have answered:
What do you enjoy most about engineering?
Describe a time when you confronted a problem that really tested your engineering know-how?
Tell me about your greatest success in using the principles of logic to solve an engineering problem in your last job?
Describe a time when you used your engineering knowledge to solve a problem for which there appeared to be no answer?
Tell me about your experience in dealing with routine engineering work.  How do you keep from getting bored?
Tell me about the most challenging technical proposal you've ever written?

Is this something you would do or could you point us in the right direction?  Thanks so much, Lynn


Answer
Yes Lynn, I get this question often. There must be a rash of interview projects in high schools around the country.  I have a canned answer that may or may not answer all your questions as follows:


Generally, aeronautical engineers design and develop aerospace devices such as aircraft, missiles, race cars, jet engines, etc.  I was in research at NASA Ames Research Center where I was responsible for planning and executing wind tunnel studies aimed at improving our understanding of aeronautics and related technologies.  

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 quality of work was high.  The pay was good, not exceptional, but government employees have good benefits such as excellent vacation time, sick leave and pensions.  Hours were good, we had the option of working 9 nine hour days and getting a three-day weekend every other weekend.  Job locations in aerospace are limited by the few number of organizations in the field, but jobs do exist all over the country.

Research is never boring, not counting the occasional meetings on team morale or time efficiency that we had to attend.

I often worked with engineers with different expertise such as electronics engineers, mechanical designers, software programmers, system control engineers, etc.

The projects I worked on can be found in engineering libraries or on line - search on my name.  One project I was proud of was the investigation of the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica.  I did the aero design the gas sample instrument.  It was a tough problem, but we found was causes the hole, which led to the worldwide banning of fluro-hydrocarbons.

For this job you must be expert in math and physics as well as computer programming, electronics, and so on.

I knew in high school I wanted to be an engineer, either to build bridges or aircraft.  I chose aircraft and am glad.

High school students should take all the math and science they can get, especially physics.

I chose U. of Washington for my aero studies, but also studied at Oregon State U. and Stanford U.  They are all good schools, but there are many across the country.

Starting salaries depend on academic achievement, experience, skill set, location, and more but generally begin at $60,000 per year plus or minus.

Yes, women have great opportunities in engineering.  We need more of them.

Paul