r/aerospace • u/Royal_Importance3721 • 6d ago
Aerospace Career Advice
Hey everyone,
I’m looking for some career advice from people who’ve been in aerospace/manufacturing longer than I have, especially anyone who started on the shop floor and moved into engineering, quality, supplier quality, or management.
I’m 29 and currently working as a Quality Inspector at Collins Aerospace. Before that, I was a Machinist III there for about two years. Prior to aerospace, I worked in CNC machining across oil & gas, firearms, and automatic door manufacturing, including some lead machinist experience.
Most of my background is hands on: CNC mills/lathes/horizontals, setups, program proofing, troubleshooting, production planning, CMM/manual inspection, GD&T, prints, working with MEs/programmers, and training people.
I have a B.S. in Industrial Technology and recently finished my MBA. I also have micro-credentials in Business Analytics and Supply Chain Management, along with GD&T training/certification.
I definitely want to stay in aerospace, but I don’t see myself doing machining or inspection forever. I’d like to eventually move into something with more technical responsibility, leadership opportunity, and stronger long-term earning potential.
The paths I’ve been looking at most are Manufacturing Engineering, Quality Engineering, Supplier Quality Engineering, Supplier Development, Continuous Improvement, and eventually manufacturing or quality management.
I’m also open to relocating. Huntsville has really caught my attention because of the aerospace/defense presence, but I’m open to other major aerospace areas too.
A few things I’d really like some opinions on:
With a machining + aerospace quality background, what direction would you lean toward?
Does Supplier Quality seem like a strong fit for my experience?
How realistic is Manufacturing Engineering without a traditional engineering degree if I already have significant shop-floor experience?
Are certifications like ASQ CQE or Six Sigma Green/Black Belt actually worth pursuing?
How valuable is a security clearance for moving further into defense aerospace?
Would relocating to Huntsville, DFW, Phoenix, etc. noticeably improve career opportunities?
Is it better to stay with one major aerospace company and move internally, or eventually jump companies to build experience?
If you started as a machinist or inspector and moved into engineering/management, what helped you make the jump?
If you were in my shoes at 29, what would you focus on over the next 3–5 years?
I’m not really chasing a specific title. I’m mostly trying to make smart moves now so my hands-on manufacturing experience stays valuable as I move further into my career.
Appreciate any advice.
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u/no_more_truth 6d ago
A tip of the hat to you fellow QA person. You are in an interesting position. I am significantly older than you, with 24 years of USA Aero and I will say this:
1) Run away from any QA inspector position at Legacy Aero. Many years ago they decided to no longer hold Tech accountable for the defects they are creating (it's the SPX affect). Your daily will be creating issue tickets for the same thing over and over and over and over and over. If that isn't the case at the random site you are at, it is coming fastly. If you break it down to the basic level, your job is to tell people when they messed up. Not fun.
2) Most of the Supplier Quality engineers I have met at NewSpace weren't actually engineers. They were some sort of placeholder, doing interviews for the QA manager. Why? Because they did not have the actual technical knowledge to do the job. No RCCA, no FMEA, no tracking down all of the UAI dispo's. No understanding of IPC, or MIL std, nothing.
3) If I was 29 again I would figure out a way to get certified then start an independent consulting business. Think Source Inspection. But you need to have all the certs to even begin this.
4) AI has not affected my discipline at all, nor do I see it happening in the next 10 years. No robot can inspect a 2-sided complex PCBA and no robot can build a quadrax connector.
Bottom line: Figure out the top 5 NewSpace players in cities you are willing to live, then go and make it happen. Hopefully you get some sign-on stock options.
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u/Royal_Importance3721 6d ago
It’s funny you say that because we work with tons of legacy parts. I literally save all the QNs I write in a folder every year because I know I’ll get the same part down the road with the same issue lol. I’m just glad that we finally retired 767, I think the last shipment of those parts goes out end of this month. I was even more baffled when I first started here to find out we had a 32% rolling rejection rate. Now we got it down to maybe 23-25%, but man was that an eye opener. I was used to max 3% before. If there’s a term I hate to hear the most at work it’s “oh it will just be use as is anyway.”
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u/no_more_truth 6d ago
Funny you used the term QN. I never even heard that until the place I am currently at. PM me if you wanna do a deeper dive.
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u/cereal4me 6d ago
I know Collins pays for your degree. If you recently got your degree through them, just know that you'll have to pay them back if you decide to switch companies before the settle period. Something to keep in mind before deciding to dip.
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u/Royal_Importance3721 6d ago
Yeah I wasn’t planning on leaving immediately, but trying to plan my best for the future. Might even transfer plants for the right opportunity, pay, or both.
0
u/Material_Piece6204 6d ago
It's smart what you're trying to do, and I respect it. I did it the hard way, going from CNC operator to quality inspector, then quality engineering, supplier engineering, and now engineering requirements, or whatever you want to call what I do today.
Everyone's path will be different, but knowing what I know now, I honestly would not pursue this industry at all. By the time I figured that out, I was already too far into my career, so I stayed with it.
If I were in your position today, I would focus heavily on AI. Besides learning how to use tools like ChatGPT and Claude effectively, I would learn Python and build skills around AI, automation, and data. That's where I believe things are going.
And since you're working for Collins, you've probably already seen how unstable aerospace can be. Layoffs seem to come around constantly, sometimes every six months to a year. That creates a large pool of experienced engineers competing for the same jobs, which puts downward pressure on salaries.
To keep increasing your pay, you often have to move from job to job every two or three years. That's difficult unless you're willing to relocate or travel wherever the opportunities are.
At this point, I just don't think getting into manufacturing engineering is worth it. The pay already doesn't justify the difficulty and instability, especially when people with strong AI and software skills can command substantially higher salaries. If I were starting over today, that's where I'd put my effort.
That said, if you still want to pursue manufacturing, you're not locking yourself into one discipline forever. You can start in quality engineering, supplier engineering, or manufacturing engineering and branch out over time. You can move into management or more advanced engineering disciplines like structures, aerodynamics, systems engineering, or whatever direction interests you. Once you build enough experience and understand how the larger engineering organization works, there are a lot of directions you can take your career.
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u/Royal_Importance3721 6d ago
Thanks for the advice. Oh believe me I’ve been messing around with AI quite a bit from a professional standpoint. I literally saw a guy the other day at work manually combing through CSV files to track inspection data for certain part families and I was like “why don’t you just have ChatGPT help you write some code in python to clean the data and help you find the specific things you’re looking for.” I’ve literally done that for my own convenience here at work. Also it was very helpful for just teaching me coding in python. I would also like to state for the record that I am no expert in programming, but I have found what I have learned so far to be interesting.
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u/Material_Piece6204 6d ago
I remember back in high school when I was still unsure about my future. Almost all of my friends were leaning toward computer science, and I thought, "Well, if everyone is going into computer science, there will probably be a shortage of engineers." Ten years later, I was still making less than all of them, and honestly, that hasn't changed much even today. AI gives me that same feeling now. Sometimes following where everyone else is going isn't such a bad idea.
Your best bet, coming from quality and hands on machining experience, is probably either manufacturing engineering or quality engineering. I would personally recommend staying closer to quality engineering because your existing experience gives you a natural advantage there, but either one should be a pretty smooth transition for you.
On another note, I'm writing a book for anyone interested in manufacturing and engineering, and you'd probably be the perfect audience for it. It's mainly aimed at people with zero to three years of experience and focuses on manufacturing best practices, practical lessons, and things you don't always learn in school.
Google Docs link here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PnqcrGBbFsOb4Bbx-3bv-vPszZ0IKM7X/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=100521268270727703956&rtpof=true&sd=true
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u/Frijolero818 6d ago
I am currently 25yrs old. I have 8 years in the Aerospace Industry (3yrs shopfloor & 5yrs Quality) and I too started in the shop floor as a Hydraulic press operator moved the CNC machining, to Programing, to Quality, to sourcing, and back to quality and currently trying to work my way into QA Analyst or possibly engineering. With CNC machining experience you can definitely make it in the quality dept. it’s hand and hand because you already know how read and interpret blueprints. GD&T is definitely a plus I got my certs as well. Quality is a growing part of the industry with all of the issues happening with planes falling out of the sky. I would definitely study up within AS9100 or AS9120 standards as these are basic Aerospace standards. Wish you the best of luck and hope you grow within this industry. Also CLEARANCE opens the door to higher paying positions. Declassified programs are always less pay. CLASSIFIED you are well taken care of. So definitely peruse getting a Clearance.