shackleford

I have a BS in Mathematics (minor in physics), and I'm working on an MA Math. Since 2012, I've been working in the energy industry as a seismic processing geophysicist. The pay is decent, but I'm not sure that I want to do this for the rest of my life. I've been looking into flight test engineering. I know that Tennessee and FIT have programs, but for an out-of-state student, the tuition is quite a bit higher. Is it possible to simply jump into the industry with master degree? What kind of salary could I expect? I'm curious how it compares to what I'm doing now. Thanks for any feedback.

Cubdriver

I did it for a few years, there are a bunch of threads on it herein, use the search function to locate (upper RHS). It's a pretty good field but more than a bit cyclical and right now the small bizjet industry is still very weak overall. For example, Bombardier just laid off a thousand. If you could get on with Boeing that would be the way to go for job security. You'll have a hard time getting a bizjet job now, but a master's is absolutely enough to start and be good at coding, coding, and more coding. They are really into coding skills, flying is not that big a deal- most desk workers do not even have commercial tickets, it's window dressing beyond that. A PPL is enough, instrument ticket is the standard for desk workers. My last FT boss had never flown a prototype. That Middle TN flight testing program is a great thing, it would be great if you could get into that.