In the jet engine industry you could become a FADEC designer (full authority digital engine control). The FADEC is the brain of the engine and it has to be redundant and perfect to keep people safe in the air. With new autonomous aircraft, the entire plane is controlled by software! There are so many new and exciting things happening in aviation for software engineers. I don't have first hand experience. My advice would be to contact a local company and see if you can set up an "informational interview" with a software engineer to learn more. Or contact someone through your school's alumni organization that is working in that industry to gain a connection. Try taking classes about aircraft engineering. Understanding the jet engine or mechanics of the plane will help you become a better designer. Also, look into the industry standard software programs and make sure you are comfortable with the coding language they use. In my career we used a program called NPSS which was built on a C++ platform. Best of luck! Jenni