<p>Just wondering. At an average salary of about 65-70k/annum, are there some cases where engineers become millionaires (by being an engineer and only an engineer)?</p>
<p>I could see a chief engineer of a big company doing it. Although that’s almost like engineering management.</p>
<p>if you make smart investments and all that, yes. But its unlikely that being an engineer that is in a non management to make that kind of money</p>
<p>Thousands of engineers at startup companies have become millionaires some even billionaires, without ever getting into management. The key is to join before the company goes public. There are thousands of millionaire engineers at companies such as Microsoft and Google. Most of the founders of technology startups are engineers and many decide to stay involved with development and let others run the business. Many engineers are also millionaires from collecting royalties on their patented inventions or from selling their businesses. </p>
<p>At a big established company you are unlikely to make millions as an engineer unless your company happened to have been acquired by the company and you now run a division within the company. Again, companies such as Google have acquired hundreds of small software companies turning their founders into millionaires.</p>
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<p>It is unlikely to be an engineer that IS management and make that kind of money.</p>
<p>If you invent something extraordinary, then, sure.
But just repeating your daily job won’t get you near the millionaire mark.</p>
<p>Isn’t the definition of a millionaire just having 1 million dollars in assets with no debt? I’m pretty sure it’s not as difficult as people make it sound. I mean that includes retirement accounts and value of your house and everything. If you start investing and saving for retirement early and don’t have any debt coming out of college, I don’t think it would be that hard to become a millionaire at some point in your life.</p>
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<p>I was thinking the same thing. A paid off mortgage + decent 401K = $1 million</p>
<p>Perhaps the OP is thinking about living a “wealthy” life, something that is probably more subjective than being a millionaire but maybe not as difficult to accomplish, provided the right conditions are met.</p>
<p>Let’s assume an individual earns $200k a year and that person’s living expenses are 50% of earnings (including taxes/debt). The remaining disposable income should allow that individual to live a relatively comfortable life in most places in the US.</p>
<p>Yeah I guess the OP should clarify if a “millionaire” is actually what they mean, because I would bet a pretty high percentage of older engineers are millionaires.</p>
<p>Even a subset of lottery winners are millionaires. :D</p>
<p>If you are an engineering partner at an enormously successful start-up, then yes, you can become a millionaire while doing engineering. Though I’m pretty sure it’s not gonna happen to any of us, and if it does, we’ll all be in our sixties when it happens.</p>
<p>By millionaire I meant = Having US$1 million in your bank. No debts.</p>
<p>A lot of petroleum engineers can make a lot of money. Then again they have to live on oil rigs for 3-6 months at a time. Once you pay your dues and go back to school to get a MBA you could probably make mid-high 6 figures in more of a management type of position.</p>
<p>What type of engineer did you want to be?</p>
<p>A million not including your house and retirement would be tough. You’d probably have to start up your own company or be high up in management.</p>
<p>I’m taking Mechanical Engg, hoping to branch into Aeronautical later on.</p>
<p>I think that all of the managers where I work that have been there for at least 15 years are millionaires. One guy I know is worth north of 8 figures - he left the company to go into politics. There are lots of non-managers that are millionaires too. The NASDAQ rose 400% during the tech bubble. This is just about unheard of for indices that didn’t previously tank. There were lots of individual companies that did far better than that. So if you got stock and sold it at the right time, then you could have had a lot of money.</p>
<p>I recall one guy at Yahoo signed up and was a millionaire on paper after working there a few months. Unfortunately it takes a while to vest and the market dropped sharply before he could exercise.</p>
<p>I know the wife of another guy that joined Google. Before he joined, they worried about paying future college bills of their kids. After two or three years working there, they talked about the choices that their kids had and that they were going to fund the college expenses of some extended family. The husband also talked about retiring.</p>
<p>Being an engineer typically pays a good salary. If you save a decent chunk and invest it well, it shouldn’t be that hard to have a million in financial assets after working for thirty years. As an engineer, you should be able to learn the investment side - it is easier than learning the engineering stuff. You can certainly do it without stock windfalls.</p>
<p>I am technically a millionaire if you include all my assets. </p>
<p>A little story. </p>
<p>My father received his engineering degree from IIT in Chicago. One of his good friends was a brilliant mechanical engineer student who loved working with cars. Junior year he designed and developed a new transmission; one that had very few moving parts and was very efficient too. GM bought his design for a $1 million back in 1979. Ford offered him about half that amount. GM took that design and prototyped and shelved it. He never heard or seen of it since. Back to the point of the story. That guy took that $1 million and bought government bonds and also invested it into some companies in the 1980s and 1990s. Today he is retired after working for BMW. Last time I checked he has around $100 million. </p>
<p>Lesson learn. Don’t go into life thinking you will make millions or invent something that will make millions. See what life throws at you and make that into a successful career with a big change pocket.</p>
<p>My uncle is a multi-millionaire and has an engineering degree, but his job has nothing to do with engineering.</p>
<p>I know a lot of engineers who are millionaires - mostly older like me.</p>