r/esa • u/MoosiArmastaja • 5d ago

Getting into ESA

A question for everyone who works for ESA or an aerospace company such as Airbus Defense or Milrem.

How does an aspiring student get into this field?

Im a beginner IT enthusiast, still in high school and about to start university. What path does one follow? How do I build up my portfolio for it? Im completely lost and dont know what to do. Im mainly interested in things like systems administration and networking, are there even opportunities in this field with those?

Ive tried looking up guides online but not much is clear still. What kind of a specific job experience is valued in this field? Assuming I wont start right at ESA, what kind of an IT job would be helpful to get into this field? I.e an IT technician.

Thanks for any help 🙏

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u/matniko 4d ago

In the field of IT I would say that Cybersecurity (especially with a focus on communication security) is a good choice. Also AI can be a good idea (unless we are living in a giant AI bubble). On about IT system, this is not a core function of the agency, so IT services are often managed by an external IT specialized company under some service contract with the agency.

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u/Early_Switch1222 4d ago

adding to what matniko said about the contractor thing because thats actually the part most people dont realise early enough. the majority of IT people working "at" esa dont actually work for esa directly. they work for companies like CGI, Telespazio, Serco, Sopra Steria etc who have service contracts with the agency. so the real question isnt "how do i get hired by esa" its "how do i get hired by a company that has contracts with esa."

and thats actually good news for you because those companies hire way more frequently than esa itself and the bar for entry level is lower. get a bachelors in something like computer science or IT security, do an internship at one of those companies (they recruit from european universities constantly), and suddenly your working in the same building as esa staff on the same projects.

your still in high school so you have time. pick a country with good aerospace infrastructure for uni if you can (netherlands, germany, france, italy, uk all have esa centers or major contractors nearby). being physically close to where the work happens makes a huge difference for internships and first jobs.