Advice for a student engineer!

[TicTacToe!]

Hey guys, looking for some advice, just posted in the engineering reddit, and thought another great place might be here, I'm just copy-pasting from reddit:

"Hey guys, just got my confirmation through of my place at Uni doing Aerospace Engineering. Popping a question here to ask all you with experience or have been there and done that: Here in the UK, how can I make a path into the space industry? My ideal career path (assuming I don’t get hooked by some other field at Uni) ends working in the space industry, either at ESA or any space agency contractor. Ideally I’d love to end up working on missions like Rosetta, or if I'm fortunate enough manned space programs. My issue is that here in the UK there doesn't seem to be much going for space (which may be a fortunate thing as I've always wanted my career to take me abroad). Yes, the UK is a member of ESA but it doesn't seem to have much input, and so I'm wondering how to try and push myself in the space direction.

For what it’s worth, I've probably played my cards as well as I can so far, because not only is the course well renowned, it also works unbelievably closely with industry (Boeing, Airbus and other great companies of that ilk) so if a good way is by getting a foot in the door and jumping over to space-related positions, the above is a good thing. But would any of you recommend trying to jump onto the continent? For example, do a bachelor’s or a master’s here in the UK and then try and do a postgrad degree at a specific aerospace school that does space-based material in Europe (fluent in a few languages and love to travel, so don’t assume that’s a burden), or maybe even across the pond in the States?

I'm also curious about the level of qualification needed/required for that kind of work. For positions at space agencies and their contractors, would it be worth doing a PhD assuming I could find something I was really interested in?

Really I'm just looking for any advice at all, do's and don'ts, stuff about internships, whatever you've got and think may be relevant. I’d love feedback from any and all, great to get some knowledge from those more experienced, anecdotes from those of you who've got the t-shirt or have got two pennies to throw in is much appreciated, cheers guys."

Love your guys' inputs as well if you have any. And moderators, if this is in the wrong place, chuck it wherever it's meant to be

[ColKlonk]

Well done on the placement..

Write to /pop along to some(all) aero/aerospace companies, asking them if you could do vocational work - you find a lot of interesting branches within the aero industry.. with a year or two you should be able to spot which specialisation route to take.

Good luck..