I was speaking with an aerospace engineer recently, and she mentioned that when you enter the workplace you’ll realize there is a hierarchy to the different engineering positions, not just in status but also pay. She described it from bottom to top as: manufacturing engineers < test engineers < design engineers < analysis engineers.

I was lucky enough to score a design position that I’ll be starting soon after graduation, and I want to plan career goals. I’d like to avoid the feeling of being stuck due to a lack of upward mobility.

All my previous jobs were in retail and at my last two companies I was only able to move one step up. Either due to higher positions unavailable to part timers or my inability to pursue higher part time positions because I was focusing on school.