Expert: Paul Soderman - 8/22/2005

Question
Hello,

 I am 27 years old and I am considering a degree in aerospace engineering.  I have a question that is in no way technical, but I wondered if you would be able to help me out anyway.

 From your experience (which seems fascinating!), would you say it is a bad idea for someone my age to try and enter this field?  Do you think I would face age discrimination?  I guess I would be about 31 by the time I could earn a degree.

Well, thank you for taking the time to read this!

Regards,

John McGraw


p.s.  If your wondering, my math is pretty strong.  I have recently taken the calculus sequence, a classical mechanics class, and linear algebra at a community college.  I scored A's in all my classes, and I managed to get the class high score on most of my tests.  I have no "math fear" at all, and even considered majoring in pure mathematics (I've even studied analysis and set theory on my own).  Thanks again.  

Answer
John

I wouldn't worry one second about age discrimination in your situation.  The maturity at 31 might even be an advantage.  Age discrimination isn't really an issue until about 50-55.  Despite that, a friend of mine got a new job as a software engineer at age 53.  The more important question for choosing a career is:  what do I want to work at as a professional.  In my case, I was lucky enough to choose a field and job that I loved.  Every day was a pleasure.  Not many people can say that.  The other thing to consider are job opportunities.  I assume civilian jobs in aero engineering are limited because of the weak civil aircraft market.  On the other hand, the military side of the business must be going strong.  In any case, engineering and technology will become more and more important as we enter the age of limited oil and resources.  Good luck with your choices.  Sounds like you have a good background for engineering.

Paul