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Engineering Careers: Questions Category:

Hello. I just finish my freshman year of Aerospace Engineering. I love all related to airplanes, and my dream job is to something combining airplanes with spaceships just as Virgin Galactic is doing. During my freshman year, it was a bit of a struggle keeping up with the classes, and also coming from Venezuela to USA. I've been really good in math and physics. I currently have a 3.72 of CGPA. Sometimes I doubt myself if I can make it, but I'm more concerned about getting an internship, because is such a competitive field it also scares me. What do you think should I do if I want to have an internship by the end of my Sophomore year? Should I wait and take more courses before considering an internship? Also, I see that many internships require you to have a strong knowledge on programming, and really programming isn't my strongest point. I love doing CAD drawings, I use CATIA V5 at my school. I'm more of a design/manufacture type of person, but what I constantly see in internship posts is the proficiency in programming. This is scaring sometimes, because it makes me wonder If i would get or not get an internship in the future. Thanks!

posted by Nathalie Quintero from Daytona Beach, FL on July 18, 2012

by Victoria Coverstone
Dear Nathalie, Congratulations on doing well in the challenging aerospace engineering curriculum. You should be proud of your accomplishments and have confidence in your abilities. I recommend that you consider an internship during the summer after your sophomore year. This way, you will have completed some technical coursework and this is a good time to begin considering what you would like to do after you complete your BS degree. Start looking into companies this fall, since many of them will hire in the fall for the coming summer. Also, this leaves you the spring to continue to look, if you can not locate the internship in the fall. Not all internships require programming, so explore multiple opportunities in the traditional aerospace companies, NASA and government laboratories. I wish you the best of luck.
Hello, I am a junior ME student and often I feel the effects of being a woman in a man's world. I hear of (male) classmates who took engineering courses in high school or had engineering related jobs before coming to college. I didn't decide that I wanted to go into engineering until my senior year of high school so I sometimes feel like I am "behind" the boys in class. I am just wondering if this was the case for any of you and if it affected your success in obtaining jobs after graduation. Do employers more often look for someone who is naturally very smart and has a very in-depth understanding of engineering fundamentals, or someone who may not have to upper advantage but is willing to work hard and is personable? Were you able to acquire your "dream job"?

posted by Nerissa from on March 29, 2012

by Victoria Coverstone
Dear Nerissa, The willingness to work hard and to be a team player is every bit as important in the engineering industry as having a mastery of engineering fundamentals. If you want to be an engineer, then I encourage you to go for it! You can always learn outside of the traditional classrooms and catch-up on any background material that you think you might be missing. The skills and talents that you bring to our profession are needed. And yes I had similar feelings as an undergraduate but most of those feelings were unfounded in the long-run because I did land my dream job. Good luck in the coming academic year!

Engineer Girl

Victoria Coverstone FAQ