<p>I am a 30 years old math instructor at a community college with a M.S. and B.S. in Math that included course works in calculus, advanced calculus, analysis, linear algebra, theoretical statistics, and machine learning, with intermediate knowledge in R and SQL. I also have 3 years of military experience serving as a non-commissioned officer in the US Army and hold a B.A. in History.</p>
<p>My current salary is in the mid-50k range but there are little room for pay-raise (not even cost-of-living raises!) and advancement in my profession. My wife has a M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Purdue and she had been talking me into joining the engineering field.</p>
<p>It will probably take me 4 years to complete a M.S. in Electrical/Chemical/Industrial Engineering (prerequisites and grad. course works) so I will be close to the age of 35 by the time I am looking for an entry-level EE job with practically zero engineering experience (other than internships). So my question is, is it likely for me to make good my losses (lack of income for at least 2 years and tuition cost) and climb up in the economic ladder? Is it plausible for me to still make $70k salary with room for advancement?</p>
<p>At my current job, my salary won't change so much... But I will be able to retire when I am 51 with state pension. It just hurts me every time I see my paycheck and think about what I can potentially be earning...</p>
<p>What do you guys think, which engineering major would be better for me finanically? Any comments are appreciated!</p>
<p>So you have a B.S., a B.A. and an M.S.? I think that you should be able to get into an I.E. or Engineering Management program and not have to take a lot of extra courses. Mechanical or Electrical Engineering is a different story. Can you find a program that you can do part-time without quitting your current position? There might be some local universities which have evening or online programs that would suit you. I know that many of the professional Masters students at my university, Illinois Tech, work on their degree this way.</p>
<p>Yeah, there is a local university that will allow me to work on a B.S. in ME/EE/CE and they also offer a Master of Science in Project Management with concentration on one of the engineering fields mentioned… But sadly, no M.S. in Engineering and no degree in I.E. at all. So if I want to get into I.E. I will then have to resign my position here.</p>
<p>My concern is that since I don’t have any practical experiences along with the fact that I will be in my mid-30s, wouldn’t it be difficult to get hired as an engineer or manager in the field with only an Engineering Management Degree? Is it a calculated risk to change my career now?</p>
<p>I’d say it’s not worth it, all things considered.
You’ll probably have to take out loans, especially for an MS. This puts a dent in any pay raise you might want. Interest is usually 6.8%. If you do the numbers on this, including opportunity cost, you will be in the minus for many years.
Engineers have a tendency to peak out in career earnings (and job prospects) early in their career. Having a family, needing health insurance? These are all generally bad for engineering employment. Getting a job past 40 is more difficult than at 20.
I don’t think you really need to switch careers. Honestly, even though it would be nice to have more money, it seems like you’re in a pretty good position. Job safety, early retirement, reasonable working conditions, etc. Engineering isn’t always all that and the salary increase isn’t worth the kind of downsides you’ll have to learn to deal with.</p>
<p>With your math background, would a job doing computer programming be of interest to you? You could take a few classes (at night?) to get started and probably have enough of a background in a relatively short time.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for the comments! I definitely will also look at the statistician/data analyst route, but I am keeping all the options on the table.</p>
<p>Couldn’t you also tutor in math and history to supplement your current income? Tutors around HI can often earn $50/hr and more, which is nice supplemental income. You can see what they make in your area and what the demand is. </p>
<p>Agree that you might be able to do some computer programming on the side, after taking some courses and possibly getting some certifications. Look into this in your area as well. </p>
<p>Being able to retire in 21 years with a nice pension does sound attractive as well. I’d investigate carefully before jeopardizing your current position. There are a lot of unemployed and underemployed engineers, especially as they get older. It can be tougher to get hired as you get more qualifications too and are considered overqualified with a masters instead of a bachelors. </p>
<p>With your background I would think you would easily be able to get into and finish a Masters in industrial Engineering in 3 years at the absolute MAX. I had a BA in psychology and am finishing this December at the 3 year mark. I even had to go back and start from calc II. Once I got into the MS I am set to finish it in 3 semesters by taking 4 courses per semester. </p>
<p>My program NC State, who are known pretty well and heavily recruited for IE, have a great distance option that you may want to consider. It is not listed as distance on your transcript and you get the same degree as everyone else. I took one of the distance courses and I honestly liked it better than the live class. All classes are recorded, the professor uses a smartboard, and it is delivered online via a split screen- half a video following the professor, and half the board. Just like you are in class, except you can speed it up or slow it down if you want. </p>
<p>I went back at 30, I turn 33 in August and will have my masters like I said in December. Some of the starting salaries I am looking at are in the 65-70k range- and NC is pretty low cost. From a lot of the research I have done, it looks like 5-6 years out you can pull close to the 100k mark. Also, I’m a vet too, and these engineering firms seem to love that. With your experience I think you would do well. I would definitely consider it.</p>
<p>Depending on how likely that pension is to be there when your able to “retire”, I’d stay and maximize it, doing tutoring on the side. Additionally, once you’ve maxed out your pension, at 51, all that tutoring that you’ve been doing part time, you can turn into a full time career augmented by that pension income. If you do get into engineering, you’re going to have to overcome the bias that people will have with two issues. To some, although I disagree, teaching isn’t doing, so keep in mind you’ll have to overcome that issue. Second, a mid-career switch may give some the impression that you’re kind of non-committal and they may not want to take the chance of investing in you, which is exactly what a company is doing with any engineer fresh out of school. Good luck to you, whatever you decide.</p>
<p>The question is whether you have a real desire to change careers to an engineering area rather than stay in teaching. If this is the case, then you should try to go for an online program without compromising your current employment. This will allow you to mitigate the debt and then make a decision on a career change after completion of the degree. There are more and more universities which offer online programs which are identical to the on-campus ones. My university, Illinois Tech, has a number of these programs where the courses are recorded using lecture-capture and available for viewing the same day. Online students take the same exams and do the same assignments as the in-classroom students. The degree is the same.</p>
<p>With your background in math, I would consider a masters in financial engineering/quantative finance. This should be a piece of cake for you and pays very very well, often in the several hundred thousands of dollars.</p>
<p>I switched from engineering to computer science and earned an MS at age 34.
I’m one of the few technical women where I work. A lot of people have trouble staying up with technology.</p>
<p>Computer science would also be a good fit for someone strong at math.
Industrial engineering is more like business, and would have applied math.</p>
<p>I think you should go for it, but watch the cost. I was employed at a company that paid for my MS degree, so I didn’t have any cost associated with the degree.</p>
<p>I changed jobs in 2010 when I was in my early 50s, and I was worried about looking old. I did find a good job with a company with benefits, and have received small raises and bonuses.</p>