Bryan Kim ’27 is a junior studying mechanical engineering in the Duffield College of Engineering. He can be contacted at bjk228@cornell.edu. 

If you’re an engineer like me, chances are that you’ve been struggling to land an engineering internship for the summer. The cards aren’t in my favor since my dad isn’t a partner at Jane Street nor does my mom work for SpaceX (they actually immigrated to America in the 2000s), so family connections and nepotism are out. But we play the hand we’re dealt, so I spend at least half an hour each day scrolling through LinkedIn, Workday and Handshake, filling out “I am not a protected veteran” multi-select boxes and navigating through job application portals that haven't been updated since the ’90s for the 250th time. It’s a despairing process that hasn’t gotten better with the state of the job market and artificial intelligence upending entry level positions. So why not apply to an industry known for great job security and work life balance and is less competitive than Big Tech? Why not shoot your shot with defense contracting and all its titans: Lockheed Martin, RTX, Boeing and the like?   

It’s obvious what this entails. Being labeled a “sellout” or “complicit” is just a few of the titles you earn if you accept the job offer. But are you really just evilly obsessed with amassing money and power if the median salary for an entry level engineer in defense is significantly less than that of those entering the........

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