Aerospace Engineering
Jeff Trouy
What is it?
Aerospace Engineering is the field of engineering that designs, tests, and produces things such as air and spacecraft. Aerospace engineers may also participate in missile production and other national defense related projects. It is split into two main branches, aeronautical and astronautical engineering. I've personally always been fascinated by both planes and space, so I think this would be a job that I would thoroughly enjoy.
A typical day...
On a typical day Aerospace engineers will participate in the design an testing of aircraft and aircraft parts. They will first have to determine that all parts are functional and won't crash the planes they are a part of. Also, they have to determine if a part is financially feasible, and meets environmental standards. They also inspect broken parts and try to determine what made them malfunction. The astronautical field will essentially do the same things, but they work with spacecraft instead of aircraft.
Boeing 737
Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor Fighter Jet
The Space Shuttle Enterprise
Salary
The median annual salary for Aerospace engineers in May of 2012 was $103,720. The highest 10% made $149,120, while the lowest 10% made $65,450. Pay varies depending on your employer and role. For example, Engineers for the federal government made about $110,860, while engineers who worked on Aerospace products and parts manufacturing made $97,560 on average.
Education
Entry-level employees need a minimum of a bachelor's degree (more is always better). In high school, anyone interested in this field should take courses like physics, chemistry, and advanced math (calculus, trigonometry, and algebra).
Sources
"Summary." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d. Web. 02 Sept. 2015.