<p>You know, a lot of this argument depends on what you mean by “in it for the money” - do you mean a high chance of a significantly above average salary, or do you mean a low chance at an incredibly above average salary. I know a lot of engineers, and I know a lot of accountants - I work for an engineering firm, my sister for an accounting firm. In my experience the average engineer out-earns the average accountant (you can verify this using federal income reports), but accountants have a higher income ceiling. So accounting is a better money choice only for that talented one out of a hundred.</p>
<p>Regardless, this conversation seems to come up every other week or so as some new non-engineer (or reluctant/regretful engineer) tries to convince all the engineers that they made the wrong choice. My particular engineering department at work has an average salary over $150k (based on the “level” income guidelines), and we play with lots and lots of fun stuff. I think engineering is just fine.</p>