AE460

You don’t get a paycheck for it.  You may even spend some of your own money to accomplish a task.  Simple answer is that it is a learning event that no college can teach you in the classroom.  Those that may say, “Well, I will learn all of that at my first job.”  My response is, “Best way to get that job is to know how to do the job before you get to the interview.”  That puts your resume at the top of the pile.

What are the benefits?

•Learn how to design, build and fly an aircraft
•Learn teamwork
•Camaraderie
•Interface with other students, maybe in other disciplines
•Name recognition by future employers (Northrop Grumman and General Atomics –Aeronautical Systems are the main sponsors of SDSU and UCSD teams)

Why do large companies sponsor these types of competition?

Companies want to hire you, but they want to hire the best trained.  

They give the team a few dollars to “break in” the students.  This means that they will get a better engineer once graduated.