Interesting Article in Wall Street Journal (Especially for ChemE's)

<p>psych-majors-not-happy-with-options:</a> Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance</p>

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<p>That doesn’t sound like what Homer has been saying about ChemEs, does it?</p>

<p>What about unemployed engineers? Are they satisfied with their jobs?</p>

<p>I don’t know any unemployed engineers.</p>

<p>So Homer…</p>

<p>Explain my situation…</p>

<ul>
<li>20+ years in Software Engineering, Systems Engineering & I.T.</li>
<li>Never been unemployed</li>
<li>Math major (undergraduate) from a school ranked around #50</li>
<li>Engineering (grad degree but interdisciplinary type of M.S.)</li>
</ul>

<p>That would have me covering the down economy 1990-1991 and again 2008-present.</p>

<p>How did I slip through the cracks?..(and a 100 others I know)</p>

<p>Man, we chemical engineers get such a negative backlash here, yet there’s about 31,000 of us in the entire nation.</p>

<p>Unemployed chemical engineer? Nah, even if we were flipping burgers at McDonald’s a chemical engineer would proactively be thinking on how to upgrade his/her position quickly. Starting as hard-working team player, rapidly becoming a quiet, but hard-working, team leader. Then, after knowing the know-hows and building good relationships with upper management, we could assume a more aggressive stance. If that doesn’t work you try another approach and so on.</p>

<p>What’s the other option? Bash other majors on public forums. Wasting our lives trying to frantically find quotes that back-up our preconceived notions. That’s what losers do. You know, those losers who are not engineers, yet spend a hefty amount of hours on an engineering forum?</p>

<p>Well, $60k/year to start is a lot of money for somebody who is just out of college at 22.</p>

<p>While there’s no doubt ChemE is one of the highest paying major, articles like these make me worried about getting into ChemE.</p>

<p>[From</a> Engineering Major To Cater Waiter: Grads Enter The Job Market](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>From Engineering Major To Cater Waiter: Grads Enter The Job Market | HuffPost College)
[disappearing-jobs:</a> Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance](<a href=“http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/110958/disappearing-jobs?mod=career-worklife_balance]disappearing-jobs:”>http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/110958/disappearing-jobs?mod=career-worklife_balance)
[Chemical</a> Jobs Disappear | Latest News | Chemical & Engineering News](<a href=“http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/87/i15/8715news1.html]Chemical”>http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/87/i15/8715news1.html)</p>

<p>Engineering, like many other professions, is a very high paying job IF you get hired. And to show that I am not just picking on engineers here, the same rule holds true for other professions. We all hear about lawyers making $160k right out of law school, but what you do not hear about are lawyers working at Radio Shack or waiting tables. I personally would rather make less and not have to worry about finding a job. But that is me.</p>

<p>If I had kids right now, I would tell them to skip college, with the exception of healthcare, and go learn a trade, like HVAC. </p>

<p>I really do feel bad for people wth massive student loans who are under/ unemployed. They have it the worst. What is someone with $50,000 + worth of non dischargeable student loans and no job supposed to do?</p>