A few months ago, I followed several discussions on the difficulties in obtaining a job in the CFD/Aerospace job market. Would anyone care to comment on their recent experiences. The reason I inquire is that I have recently found this not to be the case. Granted, I only have experience with the aerospace/applied aero. market. I base this on the people that I know personally. All of whom are currently employed by CFD companies, NASA, National Labs and/or U.S. Defense contractors. In fact, I am under the impression that there are a lack of recent graduates at the Masters level with experience interest in Applied Aero/CFD (perhaps not a shortage of PhDs). While I do agree that there is a general down turn in the Aerospace market, I still believe there is a demand for qualified engineers with experience in CFD.

Of course this is just my observation, and I may be mistaken. As all of us in this profession, I am very interested in the current cycles of the job market. I would enjoy hearing the opinions and recent experiences of others.

Thanks, Stacey Rock

(1). My approach to this is: from time to time, I send out my resume to the companies posted here , or on Internet, to find out the response. (2). In general, the response is very negative. This approach is used mainly to test the water or the wind. (3). Because of the good business in auto industries in the last couple of years, I think, the need for a CFD contract worker is real. But it requires broad experience to handle the geometry, mesh, commercial codes in a very complicated flow environment. I think, this is a good sign because the HR people seem to know how to write the proper job descriptions. (relative to the previous years listings) (4). In the long run, I think, this is the field which has the direct market support and befinit for the auto makers to get more involved in CFD applications. It is still hard to predict the exact vehicle drag, but there are many sub-systems which can be befinited from the parametric CFD study. Also, the knowledge learned from the aerospace applications can be easily used in auto industries design. (5). The disadvantage is that most auto industries are located in the north. It is cold in winter. Most would prefer sunny California weather and the silicon valley environment. (6). NASA and defense industries depend on government budget. It is quite visible when they have the money and the projects.

My friends in this field are moving around frequently in automotive industries. I see the salary is rocking up and still there is the demanding. John C.C. is right at one point. Experience with complicated geometry and environment is very important. We deal with combustion, ac system heat/mass transfer, complicated duct, exhausting system, climate control, etc in daily work. Both Ph.D. and M.S. are chased. Some jobs are filled by internal reference. Not the ad.

Thanks for the responses.

I have similar observations from the aerospace applications. The applications that I typically deal with are external aero. for aircraft, missiles, launch vehicles, etc. These problems all involve complex 3D grid generation, transonic, supersonic, and/or hypersonic regimes. The problems often involve coupled CFD and 6DOF applications such as missile staging and aircraft store separation (dropping bombs). I have also found that experience with complicated geometry, physics, multi-disciplinary applications, and testing is highly sought after. I agree with Janna that these people have no problem currently in finding a job. I also agree that most jobs are filled by internal reference and not from ads.

I had expected to hear a few responses from people with the above experience stating they were having difficulty finding a job. It's still early, but hopefully the lack of negative response indicates a strong job market.

Thanks, Stacey

(1). The general economy and job market have been very strong. (2). But, in CFD area, based on the hostile exchange of messages here and this job market posting, I would say that people involved are quite nervous and the future uncertain. (3).From my point of view, there is no reason to paint a bright picture in the CFD job market.

tell what u see is painting?

u don't remember what u said. your directions change random and constantly )

today, u wrote:

Re: COMPLAIN ABOUT John C. Chien

Posted By: John C. Chien <john.chien@swpc.siemens.com>

Wed, 1 Sep 1999, 1:47 p.m.

In Response To: Re: COMPLAIN ABOUT John C. Chien (Janna J.)

(1). Would the name change to Joan C. Chien make you happier? (2). The forum deals with the electronic information presented, the person behind may not exist at all. The attitude is the perception in the reader's mind. It is hard to change. (3). And when you can hear only things you like to hear ( actually to see), what you can see is clones of yours. (4). Human race exists because it keeps changing. When a person refuses to see a different picture, he is probably ready to retire. The only purpose of this forum beside the CFD is to provide readers an opportunity to exercise his (or her) brain. It has been shown that this is one way to live longer. When a person dislike his world, most of the time, his days are numbered. This is my general observation only.