What do you think?
Rate this book
Advice to Rocket Scientists: A Career Survival Guide for Scientists and Engineers
A former NASA engineer and astronautics professor offers down-to-earth advice and recommended reading on preparing for and surviving in science-related professions. This book is especially valuable for those who are attempting career transitions between the work place and academic environments.
86 pages, Paperback
First published January 15, 2004
4 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 1, 2008
A specialized book, but not AS specialized as you'd think from the title. Really, it's a great little book (very little, which helps) full of advice for college students preparing to enter the professional workplace, then more advice for their first few years there. I read it because I wondered if it would be useful for the young people in my organization, and now I'm sure that's true.
Of course, I am a Rocket Scientist, and so are those young engineers I'm hiring. But I suspect this would work well for lots of other professional fields. Certainly any technical industry, one where you work as part of a large organization whose success depends on the intelligence and productivity of its employees.
Of course, I am a Rocket Scientist, and so are those young engineers I'm hiring. But I suspect this would work well for lots of other professional fields. Certainly any technical industry, one where you work as part of a large organization whose success depends on the intelligence and productivity of its employees.
July 4, 2012
SWE-D Book Club Nov 2009
This book is not marketed correctly...the author claims it it is a "career survival guide"...no it's not, it's how to land your first job and how to work in academia, that's it. I've been working for 10+ years, and I found zero benefit from any of this (most of his career advice I already knew myself). It's really geared for graduating (undergraduate) engineering students, because it discusses resume writing, interviewing, negotiating offers, etc. The other main portion of the book is a brief overview of pursing a career in academia.
This author makes several points that I strongly disagree with...
(a) He advises that you should have a paragraph description of every course you've had (even required ones). Seriously? I normally advise people to list the titles of elective courses, and that's it. My resume is five pages...it would be 20+ if I did something stupid like that.
(b) He thinks you should go straight to grad school if the job market sucks. NO NO NO NO! It's one thing to take classes part-time while looking, but if you are in an academic program full-time, you CAN'T GET A FULL-TIME JOB. This is not brain surgery. If you commit yourself in one way, it makes you inflexible in other ways. I have a friend that did his BSE/MS/PhD straight, and I picked up two MS while working full-time. He commented to me when he finished school that his path was a mistake because he had very little job experience and he spent too many years getting very little pay (and no 401k, etc). By the time he'd graduated, I'd had several years of work experience, and had earned promotions, etc.
(c) He claims you can take a job offer based on whether you like the boss. In good economic times when students are flush with offers, this may be true. But when it's high unemployment, people will take any job they can get, period. He wrote this book in 2004, when things were already going south, which shows that he has been too isolated in academia to realize that things had changed.
(d) Although he mentions in his preface about how he'd like to see more women in engineering/science, he never once addresses the substantial issues relating to women in those professions. For example, women that get pregnant prior to academic tenure (regardless of discipline) will not be promoted. If you think I'm wrong, try and find one.
I have numerous other examples of how I disagree with the author, and I just became increasingly more frustrated with the book the more I read.
This book is not marketed correctly...the author claims it it is a "career survival guide"...no it's not, it's how to land your first job and how to work in academia, that's it. I've been working for 10+ years, and I found zero benefit from any of this (most of his career advice I already knew myself). It's really geared for graduating (undergraduate) engineering students, because it discusses resume writing, interviewing, negotiating offers, etc. The other main portion of the book is a brief overview of pursing a career in academia.
This author makes several points that I strongly disagree with...
(a) He advises that you should have a paragraph description of every course you've had (even required ones). Seriously? I normally advise people to list the titles of elective courses, and that's it. My resume is five pages...it would be 20+ if I did something stupid like that.
(b) He thinks you should go straight to grad school if the job market sucks. NO NO NO NO! It's one thing to take classes part-time while looking, but if you are in an academic program full-time, you CAN'T GET A FULL-TIME JOB. This is not brain surgery. If you commit yourself in one way, it makes you inflexible in other ways. I have a friend that did his BSE/MS/PhD straight, and I picked up two MS while working full-time. He commented to me when he finished school that his path was a mistake because he had very little job experience and he spent too many years getting very little pay (and no 401k, etc). By the time he'd graduated, I'd had several years of work experience, and had earned promotions, etc.
(c) He claims you can take a job offer based on whether you like the boss. In good economic times when students are flush with offers, this may be true. But when it's high unemployment, people will take any job they can get, period. He wrote this book in 2004, when things were already going south, which shows that he has been too isolated in academia to realize that things had changed.
(d) Although he mentions in his preface about how he'd like to see more women in engineering/science, he never once addresses the substantial issues relating to women in those professions. For example, women that get pregnant prior to academic tenure (regardless of discipline) will not be promoted. If you think I'm wrong, try and find one.
I have numerous other examples of how I disagree with the author, and I just became increasingly more frustrated with the book the more I read.
April 11, 2026
“So how do you learn to become a professional rocket scientist? Ask a rocket scientist.”
Sometimes the best advice is the simplest advice. Dr. Longuski, or Jim, provides solid advice in this relatively quick read. I found the book be very straight and to the point, an homage to some of the key advice he gives throughout. I am able to see how his advice applies and look forward to using some of it in my own rocket science career.
However, the book applied to industry, especially, in 2026 is somewhat dated as to be expected from a book with an original publication date in 2004. The dynamics of the world change and not all advice is as applicable as may have been before. Additionally, I found the subtitle of the book to be a tad misleading. I expected some more narrative on how one could rectify a career in rocket science with some perceived clashes when it came to real world politics and the political beliefs of the rocket scientist (whatever the may be) and not simply just about “office politics.” That said, Jim does a pretty thorough analysis of navigating the latter and the advice he supplies is all still highly relevant and particularly so for new hire rocket scientists.
Overall, this was a good day read for those in the field. Though specifically written for the fellow rocket scientist early in their career, I think anyone who reports to a boss could take some of the advice given and apply it to their careers.
Sometimes the best advice is the simplest advice. Dr. Longuski, or Jim, provides solid advice in this relatively quick read. I found the book be very straight and to the point, an homage to some of the key advice he gives throughout. I am able to see how his advice applies and look forward to using some of it in my own rocket science career.
However, the book applied to industry, especially, in 2026 is somewhat dated as to be expected from a book with an original publication date in 2004. The dynamics of the world change and not all advice is as applicable as may have been before. Additionally, I found the subtitle of the book to be a tad misleading. I expected some more narrative on how one could rectify a career in rocket science with some perceived clashes when it came to real world politics and the political beliefs of the rocket scientist (whatever the may be) and not simply just about “office politics.” That said, Jim does a pretty thorough analysis of navigating the latter and the advice he supplies is all still highly relevant and particularly so for new hire rocket scientists.
Overall, this was a good day read for those in the field. Though specifically written for the fellow rocket scientist early in their career, I think anyone who reports to a boss could take some of the advice given and apply it to their careers.
August 13, 2020
I found this book at a friend/colleague's place and I am so mad that I didn't read it in freshman year as he did. There are so many nudgets of wisdom in this book. It accurately describes the workplace at a job or an academic institution and advises you about common pitfalls and failings. I have found that
I am able to map my engineering career in a more structured and efficient way after reading it. I am so grateful that I found out about it and will be recommending it to all my friends as well as juniors.
I am able to map my engineering career in a more structured and efficient way after reading it. I am so grateful that I found out about it and will be recommending it to all my friends as well as juniors.
June 6, 2019
Highly recommend for anyone pursuing a technical career
July 12, 2009
This book is so short and easy to read, you would think at least one professor or dean would include a copy of this w/ the school's graduation materials. Higher payed alumni make for more donations, right?
This book is useful not just for rocket scientists but for any engineer/scientist leaving school and joining the workforce. I wish I had read this book before and after my undergrad education.
This book is useful not just for rocket scientists but for any engineer/scientist leaving school and joining the workforce. I wish I had read this book before and after my undergrad education.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews