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I am going to be moving to the Hamden CT area next year. I have worked in the Aero space industry as a supervisor in composites for 7 years. What kind of Aerospace companies are out there and how hard is it to find work these days? Also, what is the average starting pay in this industry in CT?
Thanks alot. I appreciated any feedback!!!
If you're looking to get into composites, you might want to check with Lockheed Martin, Boeing as they do loads of structural composites. UTC does some composite work, but ona much smaller scale. CT is tough for aerospace right now.
Probably Sikorsky in Stratford (a UTC company). I know people who work there and they say it's a great place to work. Excellent pay, too. My friend is a blade sander there and he makes $70K annually, with no college degree. They also pay TRIPLE time if you have to work on a holiday, and time-and-a-half on weekends (for hourly wage employees). The dude was making $90/hr just sanding 2 helicopter blades per day.
Probably Sikorsky in Stratford (a UTC company). I know people who work there and they say it's a great place to work. Excellent pay, too. My friend is a blade sander there and he makes $70K annually, with no college degree. They also pay TRIPLE time if you have to work on a holiday, and time-and-a-half on weekends (for hourly wage employees). The dude was making $90/hr just sanding 2 helicopter blades per day.
so sikorsky is a good spot to work at?
Hmm.. we applied and we accepted there once, but they only paid like $18,000 and it was too low to pay rent with that.. so we declined and worked elsewhere...
I have an aviation degree too.. I didn't know that Boeing and Lockheed Martin both moved to CT! I would love to work for Grumman Aircraft. it's still in business right? They made great airplanes.. What's that model, with the upturned wings? I cannot remember, but it's on the tip of my tongue.
We used to do welding in school. I really LIKED welding, it's hypnotic in a way.. and you got to focus so much to do the welding correctly.
I wouldn't mind being a welder..but we made parts for a/c mfr, and did some lots of different things every day. I cannot life heavy stuff no more, but I did like all the attention to detail.. My boss used to say the parts I made sometimes were the smoothest parts in our dept. . but i was pretty diligent about getting my job done right.
You had to use press brakes, saw that cut metal.. micrometers.. all that stuff, read blueprints.. it was certainly interesting, and plus too, you could work on your own project... it wasn't a production line, where you did the same thing over & over. I think that would drive me mad! I really like variety... yeah.. aviation is a great occupation.. we enjoyed it.. however, the sounds from all those machines, you'd come home & your ears would be ringing. We always wore the ear phones they gave us, but those machines were loud!
so sikorsky is a good spot to work at?
Hmm.. we applied and we accepted there once, but they only paid like $18,000 and it was too low to pay rent with that.. so we declined and worked elsewhere...
I have an aviation degree too.. I didn't know that Boeing and Lockheed Martin both moved to CT! I would love to work for Grumman Aircraft. it's still in business right? They made great airplanes.. What's that model, with the upturned wings? I cannot remember, but it's on the tip of my tongue. We used to do welding in school. I really LIKED welding, it's hypnotic in a way.. and you got to focus so much to do the welding correctly. I wouldn't mind being a welder..but we made parts for a/c mfr, and did some lots of different things every day. I cannot life heavy stuff no more, but I did like all the attention to detail.. My boss used to say the parts I made sometimes were the smoothest parts in our dept. . but i was pretty diligent about getting my job done right.
You had to use press brakes, saw that cut metal.. micrometers.. all that stuff, read blueprints.. it was certainly interesting, and plus too, you could work on your own project... it wasn't a production line, where you did the same thing over & over. I think that would drive me mad! I really like variety... yeah.. aviation is a great occupation.. we enjoyed it.. however, the sounds from all those machines, you'd come home & your ears would be ringing. We always wore the ear phones they gave us, but those machines were loud!
Sounds very similar to my job now. I'm very intereseted in Sikorsky anyways. We have done work with them in the past. Is it pretty close to Hamden?
Sikorsky is about 15 miles from Hamden. The problem is the morning commute on the Wilbur Cross/Merritt Parkways can be pretty awful. But, the facility is literally a block away from southbound exit so it's not like traveling through a ton of side streets. I know of a few people whose parents work there and love it, it sounds like a pretty good place to be employed by.
Sikorsky is about 15 miles from Hamden. The problem is the morning commute on the Wilbur Cross/Merritt Parkways can be pretty awful. But, the facility is literally a block away from southbound exit so it's not like traveling through a ton of side streets. I know of a few people whose parents work there and love it, it sounds like a pretty good place to be employed by.
~Best of luck
It sounds like a great company. I'm currently with ATK and absolutely love it. But, my fiancee is going to be attending Quinnipiac in May 2012, so I need to find something out there. I'm excited. CT sounds fun!
Sikorsky is about 15 miles from Hamden. The problem is the morning commute on the Wilbur Cross/Merritt Parkways can be pretty awful. But, the facility is literally a block away from southbound exit so it's not like traveling through a ton of side streets. I know of a few people whose parents work there and love it, it sounds like a pretty good place to be employed by.
~Best of luck
The Merritt and Wilbur Cross Parkways are not bad east of Sikorsky's exit. The exit ramp has some issues but that should be expected near a major employment center. The Merritt gets bad just past the exit for Sikorsky but with the new bridge over the Housatonic things move very well. Also the Wilbur Cross Parkway rarely has any significant backups that I know of. So traveling from Hamden to Sikorsky in Stratford should not be a problem. Jay
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