ORLANDO, Fla. — The commercial space industry should establish standardized career paths to attract the talent needed for its rapid expansion, a panel of professional services specialists said at the SpaceCom conference here.
“One of the challenges right now is that space is kind of a scary place to transition to from working in another industry,” said Joseph Horvath, CEO of training provider Nova Space, during a panel discussion on Jan. 29.
Someone joining the industry often has no clear roadmap for career progression, Horvath explained, including the education and skills necessary to advance.
Horvath pointed to how IT giants like Microsoft, Cisco and Apple helped establish industry-standard certifications that became prerequisites for many cybersecurity roles.
“It’s really important to our industry to come together to start defining what those standards are,” he said, “so that we understand what we need to train for in order to accomplish everything that they want to do.”
A growing workforce challenge
Despite existing for decades before the IT boom, the space industry has lagged in developing structured workforce pathways. Traditionally, the sector was small, stable and dominated by government agencies, making formalized career development less of a priority.
However, with space now at a commercial inflection point, the industry is struggling to find enough workers to sustain its rapid growth, said George Pullen, chief economist at boutique think tank MilkyWayEconomy.
Major investment banks have projected the global space economy to triple to around $1 trillion by 2040, but Pullen believes the market could reach $4 trillion within that timeframe — placing an even greater demand on engineers and other specialized workers.
Rapid evolution
A push for STEM degrees — science, technology, engineering, and mathematics — has not been the silver bullet the space industry hoped for, noted Tom Cooke, CEO of Spacely, a digital marketplace connecting independent workers to the aerospace sector.
STEM degrees take four to six years to complete, Cooke said, but just three years ago, the industry wasn’t even fully aware of its critical need for AI experts.
Cooke agreed that micro-credentials from major space players could help professionals update their digital portfolios and stay relevant as the industry evolves at a breakneck pace.
At the same time, space faces intense competition for talent from AI and other fast-growing sectors.
Aerospace used to be very siloed, Cooke continued, but “now there is a leveling of skillsets across industry in AI and data science, and all industries need those.”
Competing for talent
The way industries design work systems also differs dramatically from traditional aerospace practices.
“As an example, Netflix has a revenue per employee of $2.5 million,” Cooke said. “Lockheed Martin has revenue per employee of $585,000.
“So when you from the lens of skillsets needed across industries, and how work systems are being designed by different companies that are all competing for those same resources, you have to appreciate how work is being constructed and being accomplished by other organizations beyond just our normal siloed aerospace industry.”
Another challenge is cost of living, which has skyrocketed in many traditional aerospace hubs, partly due to the very jobs that fueled economic growth in those areas.
Cooke highlighted Colorado, where the median aerospace salary is $110,000, yet the income needed to buy a home in Denver is $170,000
As the space industry races toward commercialization, addressing workforce challenges — through career standardization, flexible credentials and competitive compensation — will be critical to sustaining its momentum.
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