I wasn't an engineering major, I was a computer science major, but I still asked and was allowed to work evenings in the facility.
I got on the job training from experienced experts on orbital mechanics, the practical operation of spacecraft, and the infrastructure behind space flight activities. I also got to write some software that is used in the command and control of spacecraft.
Going to school gave me access to supercomputers and mainframes, practical hands-on experience that cannot be learned from a book.
Also, my university is somewhat unique in that it has an extremely rigorous writing requirements for all graduates, including creative and business writing. A comment I received multiple times at the beginning of my career is that my writing skills were extremely advanced compared to my peers. This is a double-edged sword because now, decades later, coworkers send me paragraphs to edit before being sent out.
I also minored in studio art, because as a young freshman I figured it was an easy A. Little did I realize that free and easy access to studios, models, screen printing equipment, and photography labs would lead to several lifelong hobbies.
My school also had telescopes I got to use as a member of the astronomy club, and amateur radio equipment far beyond my ability to afford as a member of the ham radio club. There is an exact and precise 0.0% chance that I would have ever gotten to even touch a 20" reflector, high quality CCD cameras, or sophisticated mounts and star trackers without going to school. Ditto for 1.5kW amplifiers and vast fields of specialized antennas for radio communications.
After I realized that staring at an IDE window all day was actual, literal, hell to me I transitioned to being an aerospace engineer. No degree, I just explained to people what I knew and did in school, what programs I had worked on, and they said "good enough, here's a board assembly drawing start spec'ing out space-rated micro- and nano-d connectors for it" and decades later I'm a senior principal engineer designing satellites.
Hell, just understanding what SWR is, what multiplexers and other RF terms meant, and knowing about polarization, propagation, and effective radiated power from my university ham radio club days went a long way to getting me to where I am today.
All of this is possible to learn autodidactically.
It would require a level of income (to gain access to the tools), foresight (to focus on specific subjects relevant to your goals), and drive (to have realistic goals laid out and to actually do it) not typically found in young adults, or old adults.
I assert it is easier, and outcomes are more favorable, if you pay someone to do all of this for you.
My perspective may be warped. I used the GI Bill and paid $0.00 for all of this. But if I had to pay the $54k it cost it would have been worth it 100 times over (I make a lot of money now).
I wasn't an engineering major, I was a computer science major, but I still asked and was allowed to work evenings in the facility.
I got on the job training from experienced experts on orbital mechanics, the practical operation of spacecraft, and the infrastructure behind space flight activities. I also got to write some software that is used in the command and control of spacecraft.
Going to school gave me access to supercomputers and mainframes, practical hands-on experience that cannot be learned from a book.
Also, my university is somewhat unique in that it has an extremely rigorous writing requirements for all graduates, including creative and business writing. A comment I received multiple times at the beginning of my career is that my writing skills were extremely advanced compared to my peers. This is a double-edged sword because now, decades later, coworkers send me paragraphs to edit before being sent out.
I also minored in studio art, because as a young freshman I figured it was an easy A. Little did I realize that free and easy access to studios, models, screen printing equipment, and photography labs would lead to several lifelong hobbies.
My school also had telescopes I got to use as a member of the astronomy club, and amateur radio equipment far beyond my ability to afford as a member of the ham radio club. There is an exact and precise 0.0% chance that I would have ever gotten to even touch a 20" reflector, high quality CCD cameras, or sophisticated mounts and star trackers without going to school. Ditto for 1.5kW amplifiers and vast fields of specialized antennas for radio communications.
After I realized that staring at an IDE window all day was actual, literal, hell to me I transitioned to being an aerospace engineer. No degree, I just explained to people what I knew and did in school, what programs I had worked on, and they said "good enough, here's a board assembly drawing start spec'ing out space-rated micro- and nano-d connectors for it" and decades later I'm a senior principal engineer designing satellites.
Hell, just understanding what SWR is, what multiplexers and other RF terms meant, and knowing about polarization, propagation, and effective radiated power from my university ham radio club days went a long way to getting me to where I am today.
All of this is possible to learn autodidactically.
It would require a level of income (to gain access to the tools), foresight (to focus on specific subjects relevant to your goals), and drive (to have realistic goals laid out and to actually do it) not typically found in young adults, or old adults.
I assert it is easier, and outcomes are more favorable, if you pay someone to do all of this for you.
My perspective may be warped. I used the GI Bill and paid $0.00 for all of this. But if I had to pay the $54k it cost it would have been worth it 100 times over (I make a lot of money now).