Hacker News Reader

I'm not surprised. I'm guessing the aerospace industry is relatively stable in size (we don't suddenly need a lot more planes, spacecraft, or weapon systems than in the past), so employers in that industry don't need to offer big compensation packages to lure away scarce employees from competitors in order to enable that growth.

View on HN

from talking to friends I think its more that there are really only 2-3 viable employers in the US, so there is little option to jump ship for higher salary. This keeps salaries artificially low. For example a friend of mine worked at raytheon, jumped to lockheed for a raise, back to raytheon for another raise, and then back to lockheed. You can only do that so many times before companies stop hiring you. Whereas in my field (IT consulting) there are an almost infinite amount of small companies to work for

There is a lot more to aerospace than just the primes (Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrup Grumman, General Dynamics). There are thousands of smaller companies that produce the parts and services that are used for the big projects.

I would guess the opposite. There is a ton of new stuff going into space, and by a larger variety of organizations than in the past.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com