engineering = comfortable life?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>I have thought long and hard about whether or not to become an engineer. The things I keep hearing are disturbing: Salary cieling reached very rapidly, engineers underpaid, can't find a job if you are over 30, occasional threat of oursourcing, etc... Are these rumors true? If I do become an engineer, I want to be sure that I can provide for my family (including children college fund, retirement account), and not have to worry about money too much. </p>

<p>I'm not saying that I want to live lavishly; I'm not that much of a material person; whatever adequately gets the job done, whether it is a car, a house/apartment, clothing, etc... is good enough for me. However, I also want to make enough green to live comfortably in a stable field of work. Is this a reasonable goal? Are there any specific disicples of engineering that are in line with my provisions? Thanks.</p>

2

<p>Engineering is certainly better than virtually any other undergraduate profession.</p>

3

<p>
[quote]
I have thought long and hard about whether or not to become an engineer. The things I keep hearing are disturbing: Salary cieling reached very rapidly, engineers underpaid, can't find a job if you are over 30, occasional threat of oursourcing, etc... Are these rumors true? If I do become an engineer, I want to be sure that I can provide for my family (including children college fund, retirement account), and not have to worry about money too much.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I agree with Mr. Payne that engineering is clearly one of the best careers you can get with just a bachelor's degree. </p>

<p>Think of it this way. Yes, salary ceilings are reached quickly. But, hey, somebody with an Art History degree wil probably spend his whole career trying to catch up to your salary. Yes, engineers are probably underpaid, relative to the kind of work that they do. But hey, a LOT of people out there are underpaid, or can't even really get a decent job at all. At least engineers have a decent career. Plenty of college graduates out there don't even have that. And yes, there are some issues with age discrimination and outsourcing in engineering. But frankly, those are issues with a lot of other careers too. </p>

<p>If you want true career safety, I would recommend working for the government. Government jobs are about as stable as you can get. You can do it as an engineer - the government hires plenty of engineers. </p>

<p>The other way to get super-stability as an engineer is to become an academic, i.e. get a PhD in engineering and become an engineering professor. True, getting tenure is tough. But once you get it, you're basically unfireable for the rest of your life.</p>

4

<p>In regard to the age discrimination and outsourcing, luckily for me I'm going into Civil.</p>

5

<p>My father is an EE, and while he hit a blimp in the road a few years back, we have lived very very comfortably for my entire life. I'm not saying we take three two-week vacations a year, and I can have anything I want, we buy cars left and right, and that we don't take out loans. There are limitations, but for the most part, we've never had to deny ourselves of what we need and what would make our lives a bit better.<br>
Its all about managing your money as well: investing in mutual funds, trusts, stocks, ect. You can have a basic salary of say 60K/yr, and yes it might be hard at first, but if you invest wisely, down the road life will become much easier money-wise. Since most engineers have high salaries starting out, its much easier to invest early. Also, private companies have less of the "ceiling", and there are plenty of private engineering firms out there, whereas larger companies you can recieve large benifit packages and such from. Theres so many opporunities to do well financially in engineering, in addition to investment. Those two combined make engineering one of the best undergrad degrees.</p>

6

<p>What engineering do you plan on? I think that risk/reward equation is not the same for all engineering fields.</p>

<p>I think that Globalization and Technology Risk are the major risks for engineers.</p>

<p>I think that a succesful roadmap for engineers is to eventually grow into Project Management or Business Management. </p>

<p>I know that many of my college engineering friends are no longer employed as engineers. Many EE's worked for defense contractors and their careers became tied to the defense program they were working on (B1_B Bomber). Once the program was cancelled, their careers were cancelled.</p>

7

<p>Government jobs are by far the safest if you go into engineering (although the tradeoff is salary). I worked for two summers for New York State and the policy was that after a 52 week (or something similar) probationary period, they can't fire you unless you really screw up big time.</p>

8

<p>Salary cieling reached very rapidly - Not true, there is no limit to how much an engineer can make. If you take the management route, you can become the VP or even the CEO.
engineers underpaid - Engineers are well-paid. If you're underpaid, you can find a new job
can't find a job if you are over 30 - If you're technically talented and really know your stuff, there is no reason why you can't find a job if you're over 30, or 50 for that matter
occasional threat of oursourcing - you can always shift to the engineering industry in government and defense which is huge, and can not be outsourced.</p>

9

<p>
[quote]
Salary cieling reached very rapidly - Not true, there is no limit to how much an engineer can make. If you take the management route, you can become the VP or even the CEO.
engineers underpaid - Engineers are well-paid. If you're underpaid, you can find a new job
can't find a job if you are over 30 - If you're technically talented and really know your stuff, there is no reason why you can't find a job if you're over 30, or 50 for that matter
occasional threat of oursourcing - you can always shift to the engineering industry in government and defense which is huge, and can not be outsourced.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Aren't managers (especially middle-rank managers) the first to go whenever there is a layoff at the company? They just seem so expendable, especially since there is always someone lower in rank willing to take your spot in a heartbeat.</p>

<p>The thing that worrys me the most is that I might get fired at like 30, and not be able to get another job easily (or with the same pay).</p>

10

<p>
[quote]
Its all about managing your money as well: investing in mutual funds, trusts, stocks, ect. You can have a basic salary of say 60K/yr, and yes it might be hard at first

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I completely fail to see why this would be 'hard at first'. Please understand that the average American who worked as a professional or in business services made $18.07 an hour in 2005. Over 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, that translates into about 36k a year. Remember, this is not a * starting * wage. This is an * average * wage for all people, starting or experienced. Furthermore, this is for professional/business services, and plenty of Americans don't work in those fields, but end up in even lower-paid jobs (i.e. working at Walmart). </p>

<p><a href="http://www.bls.gov/iag/profbusservices.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.bls.gov/iag/profbusservices.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Hence, by making 60k, you're making far more than the average American does. If 60k a year is a 'hard' life, then what does that say about the vast majority of Americans who make less than that? </p>

<p>
[quote]
The thing that worrys me the most is that I might get fired at like 30, and not be able to get another job easily (or with the same pay).

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Hey, join the club. Non-engineers have to worry about the same thing. Look at it this way. Even if you do work as an engineer until you're 30, and then get fired and can't find another job easily, or with the same pay. Hey, at least you made pretty decent money during all that time. Plenty of Americans (as stated above), don't even get to have that. </p>

<p>Put another way, it's better to make good money and then get fired at age 30, then it is to make bad money, and then STILL get fired at age 30.</p>

11

<p>You can live comfortably with engineering as your profession. I actually think it would be harder to find a job you love (in engineering) than to make good money with it.</p>