Graduate careers advice: you and your aerospace engineering degree

Graduate careers advice for what career options you can pursue with your aerospace engineering degree.

Related career roles include:

• Aeronautical engineer
• Automotive engineer
• Consulting engineer
• Design engineer
• Energy engineer
• Industrial engineer
• Mechanical engineer
• Petroleum engineer
• Technical sales engineer

Work experience with your aerospace engineering degree

Placements, whether taken as part of your course or independently during your holidays, will be valued by potential employers. They will provide you with valuable experience and may even lead to full time employment, as employers often recruit from placements.

If your course doesn’t offer industrial placements, seek them out yourself for the holidays. Placements can be found with many engineering and manufacturing firms.

Work experience, whether in a laboratory, on a factory floor or in an office, will give you an understanding of the overall production process and will help to enhance such skills as teamwork, research and designing.

Membership of related clubs and societies will display your commitment to prospective employers.

Information on placements can be found here.

What sectors can you work in with your aerospace engineering degree?

The aerospace industry is dominated by large multinationals located across the globe, with major manufacturing hubs in Western Europe.

Along with aircraft manufacturers, employment can be found in the defence forces, the Irish Aviation Authority, airlines, government research agencies and those firms that supply manufacturers with raw materials and parts.

Opportunities in roles ranging from commercial to engineering to sales are offered by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

What to include on your CV for a career in aerospace engineering?

An aerospace engineering degree will equip you with knowledge in the areas of sustainable aircraft design, aerodynamics, materials and structures, and stress engineering, while also building general skills like:

• teamwork
• innovation
• problem-solving
• designing
• the ability to evaluate outcomes
• numeracy
• computer literacy
• communication
• leadership
• project management

Postgraduate study for aerospace engineering graduates

An MEng, which involves an extra year of integrated study, can be completed or you can pursue a Masters after BEng level in a specific field. Alternatively, research can be undertaken through an MRes, PhD or MPhil.

You may wish to acquire Incorporated or Chartered status through Engineers Ireland in order to meet professional standards.

More information can be found on postgraduate training in our Further Study section.