<p>“They told me that if they spoke more functional English, they would have chosen a higher-earning, more prestigious career like finance, law, or something stupid.”</p>
<p>Perfect! One of the best degrees for those two, engineering. And if you decide that you don’t want to do those, you really like engineering, you can be an engineer.</p>
<p>Most lawyers don’t get paid much, and if you don’t go to a top law school you have almost 0 shot at a good job, and you’ll be lucky to get anything.</p>
<p>DON’T GO INTO LAW BECAUSE YOUR PARENTS TOLD YOU TO.</p>
<p>lets not beat around the bush here. Your parents are correct on most cases. Its not an easy life, especially if you deal with computers. There are professors where one could do much less work and get much more in terms of salary.</p>
<p>It all depend on you.</p>
<p>I think you need to decide if you want to live to work or work to live.</p>
<p>I don’t want to become a lawyer or a doctor, even though they are paid more than engineers. My true passion is in engineering. If I enjoy every day I go to work, even if I am making $40-$50k a year less than I could have otherwise with a job I would not enjoy… to me it is worth it.</p>
<p>You just need to decide if a) doing what you want to do, or b) the money, is more important. There really isn’t a right answer, it is different for everyone.</p>
<p>With all due respect to your parents…and I am probably closer to their age, they are a little misinformed.</p>
<p>Obviously, they do not know about the cleared/top-secret/INTEL world where an extra $25,000 to $50,000 is tacked on to the usual private-sector engineering positions. Not to brag (more like blessed), I have been over $100K for the last 10 years…and good 5 years BEFORE I entered the INTEL world and before the extra money for getting a security clearance. I just pretty much gave away my now current approximate salary on the site and I RARELY go over an 8-hour day.</p>
<p>…AND I WORK FOR A COMPANY!!!</p>
<p>There are those like me who are independent or working 1099 (S-Corp) and cutting out the “pimps” like my employer and charging NSA, FBI or CIA $100 to $115/hour. With a standard work year being 2080 hours…do the math.</p>
<p>Oh yeah…if you specialize in something high-demand like databases (my area), you will have recruiters and head-hunters calling you and e-mailing you ALL DAY LONG.</p>
<p>Is it doctor, lawyer or I-Banker money??..No, but pretty damn good for just a 4-year degree and the degree can just about be from ANY school.</p>
<p>Reality check. Engineering is not the career for upper-class people. Upper-middle class at best…</p>
<p>You are welcome to believe, as I do, that class doesn’t matter in the long run, but let’s all be honest. 100K/yr is nothing. That’s sucker money. If you’re happy with having enough to pay the bills and having enough left over to live comfortably and give your kids a good life, engineering is fine. Otherwise, you’re making a mistake to assume a regular engineering job will do it for you.</p>
<p>^ The point is that if you later choose, you have a degree that would allow to pursue jobs making well over 100K/ yr. as well.</p>
<p>“100K/yr is nothing. That’s sucker money.”</p>
<p>I can agree with this but when you add in the other factors like:</p>
<ul>
<li>I need to graduate from this school to get a fast-track to being a partner (law)</li>
<li>I need a 3.9999999 just to get into this med school</li>
<li>I have to compete and beat out 100 folks for this one position (even after medical, law or b-school)</li>
</ul>
<p>Engineering is pretty good.</p>
<p>GLOBALTRAVELER</p>
<p>What if I don’t want to be a computer engineer and don’t like databases?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I have <em>proof</em> that over 200 people applied for a position that I was rejected for. The manager emailed me(and others too I guess) and said that he received over 200 applications for a 12/hr summer internship position that I thought was a safety for my stats. Apparently not.</p>
<p>The good jobs definitely have lopsided ratios. School and gpa are definitely used as filters; so in that way we are somewhat similar to the med school 3.9999 gpa situation.</p>
<p>“GLOBALTRAVELER
What if I don’t want to be a computer engineer and don’t like databases?”</p>
<p>Well…in order for data to even get to the databases, they must travel over computer networks (another discipline). The networks HAVE to work on some operating system (another discipline). The data may need to be mathematically encrypted (another discipline). The data may need to be deciphered from signals (multiple disciplines in EE or Physics or CompE). The equipment needs to be manufactured to perform all of this engineering (ChemE, MaterialsE, EE, Physics). HOW the equipment is manufactured for good cost and quality (I.E., SysE).</p>
<p>“I have <em>proof</em> that over 200 people applied for a position that I was rejected for. The manager emailed me(and others too I guess) and said that he received over 200 applications for a 12/hr summer internship position that I thought was a safety for my stats. Apparently not.”</p>
<p>Those are internships. The number of internships is VERY small compared to the number of actual full-time positions. I faced the same thing when I applied for internships (and never received one). I ended up taking some job with the College of Medicine on campus working 15 hours a week…and used that to land my first job out of college.</p>
<p>An engineer should be cognizant of what is “hot” so that they stay in that “high-demand” group. I don’t like competing, so I will find a high-demand niche area of technology…keeps me from having to “network” everytime I meet someone.</p>
<p>^So what are some easy ways of finding which field is hot?</p>
<p>^ google various keywords AKA buzz-words and see the number of job postings. That’s one way.</p>
<p>Every so often…try a site like [Dice.com</a> - Job Search for Technology Professionals](<a href=“http://www.dice.com%5DDice.com”>http://www.dice.com).</p>
<p>Enter the city “washington dc” and keyword “systems engineer” and note the number of positions.</p>
<p>…now do the same using “oracle”, “network”, “unix”, “linux” or “java”.</p>
<p>I worked as an engineer for a while, and now I’m back in school getting an engineering PhD.</p>
<p>Are your parent right…yea, on some levels, but the thing is that it is very complicated. You can’t graduate with an engineering degree maintaining a 3.0, get a job, and be set for life. This just won’t happen. You’ll be downsized and have trouble finding a new job. Some of the new grads out of school will have skills you don’t have. It’ll be tough to compete.</p>
<p>The thing is you must do better in school. You must do better like around at least a 3.4 or 3.5, so you have a shot at Engineering grad school, an MBA program, or even law school or Med school. PhD in engineering actually do quite well as either Professor or in industry. Professors can make $200K(with consulting)…this is no different than a doctor and you don’t have all the debt because PhD in engineering are usually paid for by the school…you get a stipend and they pay tuition. PhDs in industry can make 150K to well…millions a year. Engineers who have an MBA can also do exceeding well taking top level management positions. The thing is to get these degrees and suceed as professors or in industry, you must have good communication skills and you must do very well in your undergrad program. You parents are right that this will not be easy. </p>
<p>I don’t know what is easy though. Med schools want a very top GPA and Pre-med is just as hard as engineering. Doctors go into tons of debt that engineers don’t get. Doctors can be in training getting paid a rather low salary for years until they make a high salary. Lawyers can graduate and make 30K or 40K year.</p>
<p>
100k/year is sucker money? Really?</p>
<p>100k/year at age 25 is sucker money?</p>
<p>What’s truly preposterous is the assumption that the OP is virtually guaranteed to land a salary above US$300,000. Please, catch a clue people! What’s the % of single Americans earning above $300k/yr? $600k/yr? $1.2 million/yr?</p>
<p>“What’s truly preposterous is the assumption that the OP is virtually guaranteed to land a salary above US$300,000. Please, catch a clue people! What’s the % of single Americans earning above $300k/yr? $600k/yr? $1.2 million/yr?”
<p>"100k/year is sucker money? Really?
100k/year at age 25 is sucker money? "
<p>I still haven’t heard the OP suggest another undergraduate degree that would be better for the purposes he’s stated (namely money/stability)</p>
<p>I do agree if your purposes is entirely to enter Law or Medicine professional school, Engineering prolly isn’t for you. If you’re looking to get an easy 4.0 and get into a good med/law school engineering isn’t the best place to be, or math/physics/chem for that matter. </p>
<p>If your thinking about being a fancy business consultant (which again there are no guarantees you’ll make it big), not like I know anything bout that, but they go to stanford MBA right? and a lot of em are coming from engineering background more so than business or finance. </p>
<p>Enginox, i was going to blab about regional differnces in salary when I realized your question is really important so instead I’m going to rephrase what u said…what is the % of single americans earning above 300k/yr, 600k/yr, 1.2 mill/yr…hell whats the average starting salary for harvard law/medicine class of 2009? u know the guys with 200k+ of school debt?</p>