Aerospace career advice with a Russian degree

Hello All,
I am Sai. I registered to Crazy Engineers some months ago and i have been visiting this forum often and reading the discussions posted by members and its been great to read all the discussion and ideas given by one and all here. So, I thought i could ask you all some advice for career that has been in my mind. Please help me with your experience and your suggestion. This is my personal career story. I'd be very thankful for your reply.

To start with, I am an Aerospace B.E and M.E post graduate completed education from Moscow, Russia. My specialization was in Flight dynamics and Controls of Aerospace vehicles (Missiles, UAV, Launch vehicles, Aircraft). My education was in Russian medium. After my studies i came back to India(2011) as i couldn't work there being a foreigner. Currently, I have over 3 years experience in Aerospace and automotive domain. My first job was in Aerospace (2 . 5 yrs) and it was pretty cool. I had to work closely with ISRO and DRDO scientist and support them in a software for space and defence application. But unfortunately the company was very small, didn't have a proper team, didn't have a mentor/senior who could be of support technically and i was left all by myself. So, I left this job for an automotive service company. This was a corporate company in Bangalore with more that 800 employees and my domain was different but i choose to work in Model based development with Matlab/Simulink (similar to what aerospace also does). Here i was working mostly on simulink model changes, autocoding, code testing, validation part and i couldn't do any development or design in simulink. My boss/Tech lead was not good, not supportive and i was frequently criticized and given bad performance rating. Being a new domain and having less knowledge for automotive i felt i did a big mistake and i was in wrong place. There were lot of politics and no room for my growth either from work or the team i worked for. Thus i realized this is same for all the service industry. I had put my papers and quit the job and in notice period now.

I am in a confusion of my career what do i really do about my life, goals and career. I have a family to feed, passion/dream/goal to achieve, societal/family pressure, expense of living in Bangalore.

What interests me the most and i would love to do is work in Aerospace dynamics and controls (satellites, UAV, aircrafts), simulation, modelling and analysis, I know Russian technically well to write read and speak, I am patriotic, I'd love to design attitude controls and work on the real time testing and HIL testing of flight controls, design and develop GUIs for flight simulation, Matlab/simulink, programming to some extent, systems engineering, physics, maths, bio-mimicry, and all related to flight is my passion. But i don't have professional experience in the same and these jobs are pretty rare in private sector. Getting into DRDO/ISRO is very hard too competitive, rare recruitment... Doing Phd/Research would be great but financially i couldn't sustain myself/family..becoming a professor wont be my interest now rather i would become one in later part of my career...working in private industry / corporate culture made me suffer so i don't know which are good ones there..

Please suggest me with my given goals, passion and my current condition what could be my best move and that would take my career back on right track..I could add a lot of information but i prefer to keep it short..I would be happy to answer your questions from what i have posted above..Thanks guys!

Thanks and regards,
Sai

Replies

  • Kaustubh Katdare
    Kaustubh Katdare
    Welcome to CE, #-Link-Snipped-# . Thank you for describing your situation in detail. It helps us provide better answers.

    Based on your financial situation, I'd strongly recommend focusing on getting new employment first. You can only think about right career choices, with a clear and balanced mind, when you are financially stable. So make sure that you get a job with your current skills-set and past experience. If required, check if you can sustain your current employment back taking back your resignation. It may be against your ego; but there are other effective ways to handle it.

    The best way to achieve your goal would be to first draft a plan and find out your destination. Is it going to be a career in teaching or a corporate job or something else? You need to figure that our first. If you decide on the corporate job; you will have to check the existing job opportunities that match your skills-set. If it requires you to learn new things; you should be open to it. You should start frequenting popular job sites and the bigger corporates that work in the domain relevant to you. I guess Mahindra and TATAs do; so check their website for openings.

    Finally; corporate culture is a big variable. Everyone gets his/her share of good and bad experiences. Long ago, I decided that I couldn't be a part of the IT culture and therefore began working on my own venture part-time. That way, I could turn my career to include everything I wanted. It sure is hard work; but worth it.

    Getting into DRDO or ISRO is tough; but not impossible. Check if they have any ongoing projects with Russia (if you can get that information).

    The summary is that you should first be financially stable to take care of your family and think with a calm mind.

    Requesting #-Link-Snipped-# sir for guidance.
  • Ramani Aswath
    Ramani Aswath
    Kaustubh Katdare
    Requesting #-Link-Snipped-# sir for guidance.
    I had already sent him a personal msg asking him to check out Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Trivandrum. Sai has replied that he did look at that already but a bit late for this year's PhD programme.
    I shall keep my ears, eyes open for any other option that I may come across.
  • saikrish87
    saikrish87
    Hello #-Link-Snipped-#,

    Thank you so much. I agree that financial stability is important then with a clear mind i can progress.. I'd definitely work on that..

    I would not be able to take back resignation now as already it is accepted and neither i want to go back.. I had drafted my choice on what to do so many times ever since i was doing my graduation and every time i write down i need to work for ISRO/DRDO and do something in S&T for country. That tops the list of things i admire and want to do and followed by research on technologies India doesn't posses or acquires with help of US, Russia, Europe and later a corporate job in the end..But seeing my current state and condition i need to sustain financially. I have some pretty good topics to do research on Aerospace but the time is not right i feel..may be i dont know when it would come..I even have idea of becoming an entrepreneur having a start-up but only after my career is stable..

    And there are lot of joint development programs in Aerospace with Russia taking place with HAL and ISRO, DRDO, BDL but that too is tough..But i am trying regularly..

    Thank you again,
    Sai
  • saikrish87
    saikrish87
    @ A.V. Ramani.. Thank you, Sir.

You are reading an archived discussion.

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