<p>I am pursuing my bachelors in Mechanical Engineering and I am wondering how hard it is to get a job? I live near the NYC metropolitan area and I should graduate within 3 years. I just want to hear from people with similar experiences what it is like looking for a job these days? Thanks. Also, what is the starting salary like?</p>
<p>You can get a job with a Bachelor’s degree, but I don’t think you can get as far without a Master’s degree. Your starting salary will be around $50,000 - $60,000.</p>
<p>Starting salary will vary wildly by geographic location and type of company. Nationally it averages around $60,000 per annum last time I checked.</p>
<p>Getting a job shouldn’t be too difficult. I didn’t have much of a problem back in '09 when I grafuated and the economy was much worse.</p>
<p>You can get an idea of the salaries when you start with a degree from various universities at the PayScale site. Lots of New York area schools there.</p>
<p>[Engineering</a> Schools by Salary Potential ? PayScale College Salary Report 2012-13](<a href=“http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2013/engineering-schools]Engineering”>http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2013/engineering-schools)</p>
<p>Do a search on job boards for where you want to work to get an idea of the companies, positions, and qualifications required. I like these</p>
<p>[Job</a> Search Made Simple | Simply Hired](<a href=“http://www.simplyhired.com%5DJob”>http://www.simplyhired.com)
[Job</a> Search | one search. all jobs. Indeed.com](<a href=“http://www.indeed.com%5DJob”>http://www.indeed.com)</p>
<p>Also make sure you do an internship before you graduate.</p>
<p>I didn’t know what school you get your degree from is related to your starting salary. Is this the usual case? And what is the average salary cap? I know it sounds like I am very concerned about money but I don’t want to bust my hump to be making 50k a year for the rest of my life.</p>
<p>Yes the school can affect your starting salary for a number of regions. For starters, different schools will be recruited by different companies from different geographical regions. For example, a less-known engineering school will likely only be recruited by regional companies, so the salaries will be skewed by the average in the region in which the school is located i.e. the salaries form schools in NY will look higher than those in IA, even if they are both average for their regional footprint. On the other hand, the big time engineering schools are recruited by companies nationwide, so they will more closely resemble the national average in starting salary. The elite engineering schools will have the addition of companies like Google and other high paying tech companies as well as the financial sector, so they will tend to have an even higher average salary.</p>
<p>As for salary cap, that is impossible to say. It depends so much on what career you end up in and not where you start that there is no good way to describe it. You could look at the national average, but that isn’t likely to help you individually much. You don’t have to worry about getting stuck at $50,000 though. That is just silly.</p>
<p>Son is graduating this May with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Has 3 job offers.</p>