What sort of jobs could people with history majors get in the space industry. I did several college visits and learned that history majors could be technical writers. What companies could they work for? I'm a high school senior in the U.S, I'm planning for college.
Quote from: DatUser14 on 08/11/2015 01:00 amWhat sort of jobs could people with history majors get in the space industry. I did several college visits and learned that history majors could be technical writers. What companies could they work for? I'm a high school senior in the U.S, I'm planning for college. With the advent of internet, PC's and desktop publishing, engineers are doing their own paperwork. Tech writers have faded into the past.
Different industry. For aerospace, Jim is dead on.
1. Do you really thing that will persist when there are thousands of cubesats being designed at any given time (there are several hundred right now),2. when 100's of people are going to need to understand how HSF systems work from a users point of view, and when Mars is being colonized?
Quite the opposite. When I started in IT (circa 1980) the new and junior professionals did the technical writing. My early computers manuals were written by technical people. Nowadays your business would perish if the clients had to read things written by engineers. Professional technical writers came into their own in the mid 80's, and it was precisely tools like word processors and desktop publishing that made their jobs manageable as part of a technical development effort.
Quote from: nadreck on 08/11/2015 04:43 amQuite the opposite. When I started in IT (circa 1980) the new and junior professionals did the technical writing. My early computers manuals were written by technical people. Nowadays your business would perish if the clients had to read things written by engineers. Professional technical writers came into their own in the mid 80's, and it was precisely tools like word processors and desktop publishing that made their jobs manageable as part of a technical development effort.Those writers had nothing to do with the design and construction of the computers (computer industry). They were in the marketing portion.
I am saying that this will occur with space systems. Those who have to operate ECLSS systems, swap seats between two capsules, dock a dragon to a BA330 etc. will need manuals that are readable. Eventually it can't all be done with an engineer on air at some mission control hand holding each activity. And even if LEO space travel continues to be as hand held as a the average Everest ascent, there is no possibility of this at Mars, the asteroid belt, Jovian moons etc.
Thank you all for your kind and informative replies. The reason for this thread was because of a conversation I had with a professor while doing a college visit. They said that history majors are versatile and can do a lot many things, like analysis that are useful in the space field. One of the reasons I am not pursing a more technical approach to the space field is my math learning disability, which severely limits my math comprehension; kind of precluding me being an engineer. I was briefly interested in maybe doing PR, but Journalism isn't really my thing. Again, thank you all for your replies.
Thank you all for your kind and informative replies. The reason for this thread was because of a conversation I had with a professor while doing a college visit. They said that history majors are versatile and can do a lot many things, like analysis that are useful in the space field.
Quote from: DatUser14 on 08/15/2015 11:19 amThank you all for your kind and informative replies. The reason for this thread was because of a conversation I had with a professor while doing a college visit. They said that history majors are versatile and can do a lot many things, like analysis that are useful in the space field.Unfortunately, I suspect the professor who told you that has no actual knowledge of nor interest in the history of space, and he surely is not being employed by the space industry, he's being employed by a college. So I would take what he said with a very large dose of salt.