San Diego's Northrup Grumman Expands Hiring of Students

Northrop Grumman currently employs about 180 university students and has 32 high school juniors and seniors in specialized programs. They are now reaching out to the community colleges, inviting students from North County’s Palomar and MiraCosta Colleges to work at its Autonomous Design Center of Excellence in the fall. The community college students work on aircraft programs such as Global Hawk and Fire Scout. For spring there will be eight more students from the same colleges, as well as the San Diego Community College District. The goal is to get more students qualified for jobs, as senior engineers are constantly retiring. 

The defense contractor is offering part-time work to students taking classes in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. They call them "talent pipeline programs". These students will gain invaluable experience while still in school, giving them a great advantage in securing a great job when they graduate. It also gives them real world knowledge on what they are learning and in fact, can help steer them into more specific areas of interest they may not get by taking a class.

The median income for an aerospace engineer is $115,000 per year and the median income for a software developer is $106,000 per year. For community college students from underrepresented backgrounds, such work could be a ticket to a middle-class life.