<p>I am wondering in term of compensation, why is Engineering Management not considered as lucrative career path as IB/Trading/Consulting? I mean, in the long run, an Engineer Manager can become a CEO right? And his compensation will then be in millions. Why engineers all flock to IB/Trading/Consulting then?
Thanks for answering!</p>
<p>Engineers dont “flock” to IB/Trading/Consulting. Some people here on CC give the impression that this is the case but in reality only a small minority actually go into IB/Trading/Consulting. Plus Wallstreet only takes in a small minority of engineers.Someone will probably have to back me up on that though. </p>
<p>The reason they do go is for the money and the select few may enjoy it?</p>
<p>I don’t know a single person who flocked that direction.</p>
<p>great question, I would like to know the same. </p>
<p>However, I will also have to add that I do not know a single individual that has take that route.</p>
<p>If you go to the top schools and take a look at the top students, you will see most interview in consulting / IB. It’s very hard to get an interview (3.75+ GPA) and the hiring rates are incredibly low (less than 1%), so you don’t hear many people going there, but there certainly are a large number of people that apply. At many non-ivy’s, there literally might only be 1 or 2 people hired from that school per year. And that’s still at top schools. At schools lower in the rankings, you’ll see no students hired per year.</p>
<p>Why? Money is a large part of it. It usually takes 10 years or more to get to a position where you can go into management in engineering (and that’s not guaranteed, at the last place I worked, it was a 1 in 8 shot). And then you make $120,000 / year or so as a superintendent. After another 5-10 year, you might be able to make it up the management ladder again to plant manager and make $150,000 (a 1 in 10 shot for managers, etc). In short, to work up through the engineering ladder is difficult and slow are there are many engineers trying to do it at the same time. Compare that to management consulting where you start at $140,000. In 6-8 years, you can make partner and be set for life (about a 25% of people make it). </p>
<p>It’s also about career advancement. As a management consultant, you interface much higher in a company than a traditional engineer (an engineer might spend a career working at a specific plant on a specific piece of equipment and present at technical conferences to engineering managers, a management consultant decides the fate of a $2 billion new plant construction project in 2 months and presents the recommendation to the CEO). When management consultants jump to industry they do it at a much higher level. You can spend 2 years in consulting then get hired in at the plant manager equivalent. Get to partner at a management consultancy and your parallel jump is to VP or c-level exec at a Fortune 500 - usually before age 35.</p>
<p>If your goal is to be CEO, working as a plant engineer is the least likely way to do it. Ever notice how some companies have directors on the board that are under 30? Those are investment bankers. Ever take a look at the background of CEO’s in Fortune 500 companies? McKinsey alumni (right now more than 150 of the Fortune 500 CEOs are former McKinsey employees - and that’s only one of the management consulting firms and ignores the hundreds of VP’s and other C-level execs).</p>
<p>Of course, there’s a downside to consulting and banking. The career is very fast paced and much more high risk than plant engineering. You’ll also move around a lot, and you’ll soft skills are very important. Everyone is extremely intelligent, so it can be a daunting environment for people who are used to being the best of the best in college. So it’s not for everyone.</p>
<p>Are you sure about your numbers? I did a quick google search and it turned out that 75 past and present CEOs of Fortune 500 are McKinsey Alumni. This includes all the CEOs of the past. I think most CEOs got their background in engineering and work from there. A generalist consultant from McKinsey can’t become an Engineering Manager right away let alone CEO of an engineering company…I mean they need to know engineering design first before they can manage those people. Salary from engineering can be pretty high too. In Silicon Valley, senior engineers salary can reach $160000 and managers can attain $20000 and up. How many years do you need to stay in Banking/Consulting to get $200000? Less than 5 years?</p>
<p>Lots of engineers become engineering managers. (Probably pretty to close to 100% of engineering managers worked as engineers first.) A very few engineers go on to become CEOs. I’ve seen more CEOs come from the sales side of the business. </p>
<p>Mid-level engineering managers can make very good salaries, especially if they are working in hot technical areas. I am an engineering manager myself, following CC as a parent. Making the transition from engineer to engineering management requires a combination of luck (being in the right place at the right time) and having good technical and people skills.</p>
<p>You must be sakky’s alter ego.</p>