How to Make a Living Building and Operating Drones!

It hasn’t been that long since the dominant form of transportation was the horse and wagon. Times have really changed. Not only has mankind taken to the air as a way to get around, now many aircraft don’t even need a pilot on board to do their thing. These machines are known by different names, including drones, UAV’s, and UAS.

No matter what terms are used to describe them, they represent the application of many cutting edge technologies, and individuals that work in IT related fields are uniquely positioned to make valuable contributions to the future growth of drone technologies. This article will take a closer look at this topic, and will highlight five ways that drone related job positions fit really well for members of the IT industry.

Drone Designers

The first step in the life of a drone is the initial design of the machine in question. Modern drones are far more powerful and complicated than their radio controlled cousins of the past. This means that individuals interested in creating these craft will need to have advanced skills in computer aided design and engineering, both of which are core competencies for many IT professionals.

Programmers

Modern Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are becoming more autonomous as time passes, with many systems now boasting autopilot modes. In addition to this, they need to include flight assistance tools such as auto leveling, homing, and even automatic takeoff and landing modes. These kinds of capabilities rely on robust and high level programming to ensure successful operation, and the industry is a perfect fit for IT professionals with competent programming skills.

Engineers

Unmanned Aerial Systems are by definition flying machines, and in order to get airborne they need reliable, powerful, and well designed propulsion systems. To this end, individuals that have IT related skills in areas such as computerized navigation systems and propulsion can expect to be hot commodities as the number of drones in the air continues to skyrocket in the future.

Data Analysts

Modern Unmanned Aerial Systems are now being used for far more than just capturing live video. They are being applied in all sorts of situations that require the collection of various kinds of data, from infrared surveys of farmland to wind speeds in the middle of hurricanes. In order to make sense of the coming flood of information, IT professionals who are proficient in data analysis will be in high demand in a wide variety of industries.

Drone Operators

Even though many of the UAS that are sold for recreational use are very user friendly and practically fly themselves, those slated for commercial purposes are in a different class. Many of these make use of specialized sensors and require tech savvy operators with a depth of experience in a wide range of disciplines. Such people are easily found in many IT fields, and quite a few will doubtless find their unique skills tapped as drone operators.

As can be seen, UAS will have a place in the future of humanity. It’s just as certain that people with marketable IT skills will be crucial to their continued emergence.

Yunhong Liu is the founder of We Talk UAV, a new drone community and news site launching later this year.