You need a wide knowledge base: Aeronautical engineer

What does an aeronautical engineer do?
He is involved in designing aircraft, manufacturing, maintenance and updates, that is, your system has some problem and you have a readymade imported item, so how do you modify it such that it meets your requirements.

Also, there’s technical plus managerial work. These days, everybody has to work in a multi-disciplinary environment. For example, he has to have knowledge of computers, microprocessors, mechanical systems. Only then can he succeed… So, his knowledge base must be quite wide.

What is the employment situation for them? 
All aircraft require engineers. Only those people maintaining aircraft and related systems need a DGCA licence. The rest don’t. Airlines are using both licensed and non-licensed professionals. The only affected people in the meltdown are the licensed ones. But their numbers are very small.

New recruitments might be getting restricted — there might be fewer openings now — but seeing the boom in the market, there is scope for aeronautical engineers.

The situation by and large is very encouraging at this stage. However, you have still to compete. There’s a shortage of aeronautical engineers in the country, but it’s a marginal shortage.

What are the prospects for these professionals? 
Engineering is a profession. Engineers don’t retire. They fade away. In the government sector, there’s an upper age limit. Once you retire, you can continue as adviser or facilitator in the government sector or outside. In addition, now the private sector has opened up.