Originally Posted by BrianMSmith

Propulsion engineer, airbreathing - not rockets, aviation/aerospace industry, everything from cruise missles to supersonic fighters (F22 was my job for 10 years), to submarine hunters, UAV spy plane drones, and commercial transport. I work in the "research and technology" branch of the business, which gives me access to military and commercial projects. It's been very hard work and stressful for 20 years to succeed in such a highly competetive industry - for example all my coworkers have PhD's, we don't even interview people anymore unless they have been an intern and have a PhD, but it's paying off big time now that I am 40 something and I'm in a position of leadership, which is a lot easier than actually doing all the work!