Aerospace careers outside the USA

I am currently in Europe this month, and am curious as to what our European IASE members have to say about careers in aerospace and entrepreneurship in the UK and on the Continent. For example, I was up in Cambridge 2 days ago, and learned that MBA graduates from the Judge School there still tend to focus on the glamorous jobs in banking and strategy consulting, and that very very few (less than 5 out of a typical class of 150) go into the venture capital/entrepreneurship sector...which was quite telling about the overall jobs climate and MBA priority set over here...any comments?

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Permalink Reply by Guy Luttinger on April 27, 2008 at 10:44am: Hi Burton,
Indeed there is a great shortage of entrepreneurs in Europe, so much so that the EU and other European countries are working very hard to encourage people to take the big leap. The lack of entrepreneurial spirit has generally been seen as a side-effect of modern European society and economy - and, unfortunately, I tend to agree with that. This is not to say that Europeans lack dynamism, but the basic difference is that people in the US (since we're focusing on these two players) have a more gung-ho, immediate hands-on "let's go!" approach to projects. Europeans are more - if not exceedingly - reserved.
This is slowly changing however, due in part to financial incentives and other help involved in the mentioned EU programs.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Christian Lenz on July 28, 2008 at 5:57pm: There are actually some simple factors such as:
- In Germany it's hard to start a company without some significant money put in the bank vs in the US I can incorporate an LLC or S-Corp within minutes on the internet for less than $500
- In the US there is no cultural disadvantage to being 'an independent consultant' or 'contractor'. In many EU countries this is considered to be a problem, since it implies that one is not able to hold a 'steady job' --> thus the available talent to work 'odd jobs', such as for startups is limited
- In Europe, for most industries, unless your company is established by name, heritage, and connections, you'll have a hard time getting business (ESPECIALLY in Space) - no matter how good your idea is
- In the US I can hire and fire at will - not so in Europe
- Titles still matter in Europe much much more than in the US

... I can go on and on ...; ▶ Reply to This