There was a lot of excitement late last year when Alphabet, Google’s parent company, announced a European testbed for its drone delivery subsidiary, Wing.

Wing’s drone delivery network is already undergoing large-scale testing in Australia, and last October a small suburb of Dublin was selected for initial trials in the EU.

It marked a vote of confidence from the big tech giant for the region’s drone ecosystem, with a spokesperson for Wing citing “progress in drone regulation” in the EU as a reason to continue testing. over there.

Ireland has already served as a successful starting point for drone delivery startup Manna, which is now starting trials in the US, and there are many more drone startups across Europe.

British company Skyports plans to expand its drone delivery service across Europe and beyond, and recently opened offices in South Korea. Germany-based Wingcopter is currently exploring how hydrogen could power its fleet of delivery drones.

The drone industry isn’t all about delivery, either. Proveye, another Irish company, is developing drone-based image processing for use in agriculture.

The Swedish company Skyqraft uses a system of drones and AI to perform streamline inspections. Dutch startup Fusion Engineering develops flight controls for commercial drones. France-based IVA Drones is at the forefront of the new business category of drones-as-a-service, offering companies a way to book drones for whatever mission they have ahead of them.

Drones are also active in the entertainment industry, with companies such as Dronisos, also based in France, choreographing drone flights for dazzling light shows, and many more specialist operators working on film sets and photo shoots.

Putting drones to work

Also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or unmanned aerial vehicles (UASs), companies find many uses for drones in their jobs.

While a prime opportunity has been identified in last mile delivery services, it has proven to be a difficult course to chart. Even a major player like Amazon, which has spent years trying to get its Prime Air project off the ground, has run into challenges that have pushed back its plans time and time again.

While this segment of the drone industry has seen its ups and downs, there are other implementations of this technology that are making steady progress.

Drone photography and video recording is used not only by creatives, but also in the industrial sector where the viewpoint that only drones can provide proves useful.

Drones give visibility to towering structures with minimal safety risks for the workers in charge of maintaining them. Combined with computer vision technology, they can further assist in detection and monitoring.

Jobs in the drone industry

The rise of the industry around drone technology is creating new jobs in this sector.

Companies that want to use drones first need people who can fly them, such as drone operators and pilots.

Mechanical engineers are needed in the build and production phase, while drone technicians and mechanics are also needed to ensure that entire fleets meet specifications and are ready to fly.

Photographers and videographers who have mastered the art of piloting a drone while capturing stunning, stable images can find work in the creative sector or even provide a feed of stock videos and images for the industry.

Purpose-built drones also require purpose-built software, opening up a new category of software development. Autonomous drones are a particular challenge for programmers, who use AI for navigation and route mapping.

And since this is still an emerging tech space, companies diving deep into drone research and development are hiring flight science teams to help understand, inspect, and improve aerodynamics, propulsion, performance, stability, and flight controls.

This is where aviation industry specialists can transition to a career in the drone sector, where their experience and skills come in handy.

Coming aboard

For those with more than a fleeting interest in drones, a good place to start would be to invest in a craft and familiarize yourself with local regulations, such as height restrictions and geographic restrictions. If it is a drone equipped with a camera or sensor, you should be extra careful about data collection rules and always be careful not to enter private property.

To fly it, you must register as a drone operator and pass a drone pilot exam. This can be completed after online training with your national aviation authority.

Ready to build an exciting career in the drone industry? Check out the House of Talent Job Board to find companies hiring now