<p>I recently read a news article that while engineers get a much higher starting salary than other degrees, the overall pay rate eventually levels off because other careers more easily lead to higher levels of work which means higher levels of pay. Engineers on the other hand have a low salary cap.</p>
<p>If this is true, this is unacceptable to me. Is there anyway that an engineer be able to work their way up the corporate ladder? I'm thinking that an MBA or other graduate degree will fix the problem.</p>
<p>If you look at salaries over a long period of time for engineers (15 to 20 years), the average is usually 100k+, which is better than most jobs. That salary is for if you are still an “engineer”. Obviously you could work your way up into management or whatever and make a lot more. My dad started out as a mechanical engineer and worked his way up to branch manager without an MBA and is now making around 200k. Also, some of the people he hired as mechanical engineers work in a sales department and make very good money from commission. So I would say that if you work a basic engineer, your salary probably would cap a little over 100k, but there are a lot of ways to make much more with an engineering degree. And yes, I think an MBA could make it a little easier to climb up the corporate ladder.</p>
<p>other careers I am interested in is accounting, economics, actuarial science. TBH I really don’t know other than the fact that its going to be either math or technology related. No way im going into healthcare or law or liberal arts.</p>
<p>Low income like 90k when your already middle aged. My definition of financial success is around 120k of hard cash (as in after tax income) by the time I am 45, 50, 55 years old</p>
<p>Umm… I would disagree with this. A large proportion of CEO’s and corporate executives along with vice presidents, etc. are engineers. Regular engineers make around $100k mid-career, which is higher than that for english majors and science majors. If you go into the management line, you can make more money. Some engineers who work in very specialized fields are paid absurdly high and some are granted patent royalties that are high.</p>
<p>Sure the average engineer makes less than the average investment bankers, doctors, and lawyers but the road to biglaw and medicine are much more competitive than getting a BS degree in engineering and becoming an I-banker is the same level of competition as having a top level position at an engineering company. If you have an eng. degree at MIT or Stan, you can prb. get into I-banking. Advanced degrees don’t provide the same level of career advancement (at least in terms of salary) as they do in medicine and law.</p>
<p>“Low income like 90k when your already middle aged. My definition of financial success is around 120k of hard cash (as in after tax income) by the time I am 45, 50, 55 years old”</p>
<p>Reality has an interesting way of dealing with people like you.</p>
<p>I try to be ambitious so that even if I can’t reach my goal theres a good deal of a chance that I can at least achieve 70% or 80% of it, maybe even 90% of it. And the higher I set my goal the higher that 80% becomes relative to what 100% would have been.</p>
<p>Something wrong with reaching high or do you just have a cynical view on life?</p>
<p>No one is cynical. The way you talk about money is the same way that 75% of HSers these days think: as if it’s the only thing that matters. You need a reality check… in this economy you should feel lucky if you’re getting 90k - you’re not in a “low income” position.</p>
<p>a recession doesn’t mean that everyone in the entire US has become 30% poorer then they have been. Also, please remember that I’m talking middle aged, I’m not expecting 100k right when I graduate.</p>
<p>Also, the recession will most likely be over by the time I’m finished with school, which is hopefully grad school</p>
<p>And if I sound like I only care about money, thats because this is the internet…if I was talking with a real career counselor irl it would be different. And anyways, whats wrong with trying to be financially secure? Having money doesn’t bring everything but it does bring a lot of things.</p>
Do you know that we’re in a depression? Actual UE rate is actually close to 20%. Gov’t data is fudged b/c they’re using U3 instead of U6. 90k is by no means low… especially when we’re in a deflation or will be in one…</p>
<p>It kind of sucks that everything is institutionalized these days… from science to teaching to medicine. For me, that kind of takes the meaning out of things. I wish things were on a smaller scale, and then I could feel like I was working for the whole community rather than to please myself with what I love or bring profit into someone’s hands.</p>
<p>In a society where I can feel that I was working for my fellow man, I think that even what we perceive as the most “boring” jobs today would feel invigorated with meaning.</p>
If you are after the money, then don’t even bother, if you want to make money, you have to enjoy what you are doing. You can then also become a entrepreneur, make your own business, invent something new for the masses, you just seem to want to work for some boring old company like the bankers/investors and make money the lazy way.</p>
<p>I don’t know if I’m old enough to make this observation, but it seems that no job is fulfilling until a person looks beyond fulfilling himself and finds meaning by fulfilling others.</p>
<p>gee CC has become way too cynical to be of any help in this section of the forum. You guys are completely misunderstanding me as someone who just wants money. Well guess what? I like math and I’m seriously considering engineering or business. I believe that money and passion for a career go hand in hand. You think im gonna be a history major cause I’m “passionate” about it and not consider my financial well-being at all?</p>
<p>This thread is bad you should all feel bad.</p>
<p>Engineering + work experience + MBA is widely known to be a good way to work your way up a corporate ladder, usually at smaller companies with fewer arbitrary levels of management. Although I get the feeling that this is one of those threads made by someone who’s already made their decision and simply wants others to reaffirm its correctness.</p>
<p>For the vast majority of students, there is no better degree to get than an engineering degree. Having one will not preclude you from moving up in any organization. Plus, outside of banking/consulting, and medicine, there arent very many extremely high paying jobs if youre working for someone else. Personally, I think that anyone who really ends up financially wealthy does so through means other than their paycheck - e.g. investing in real estate, starting their own business, etc. All I can say is - give me the 60K starting salary and come talk to me in five years, guaranteed Im not living month to month off that paycheck </p>
<p>I think a lot of business majors claim that engineering has a low salary cap. However, if you look at statistics the average engineer still earns more than the average business major. Its like people compare a CFO’s salary to an average engineering salary to justify their claim. The fact is that engineers are some of the better paid professionals.</p>
<p>ou guys need to stop worrying about money. Somthing my dept’s dean once told me, was to simply do what you love and do it best and money will flow to you. Thats the trick, and its simple.</p>
<p>Nobody becomes rich working for somebody else. All of the rich doctors and lawyers you see are usually private practices.</p>