<p>How much does a typical engineer get payed? If you need to know specific field, lets say robotics and structural. On average, how much do they get payed (starting salary and something like when you have worked there for like 5 years or more). Thanks.</p>
<p>I was also wondering if a talented driven aerospace engineer with a masters could make $150000-200000 after about 10 years.</p>
<p>"I was also wondering if a talented driven aerospace engineer with a masters could make $150000-200000 after about 10 years."</p>
<p>No.</p>
<p>Sky your wrong. While it's not likely, it's possible.</p>
<p>1/infinity is still a nonzero number, but we treat it as zero.</p>
<p>im sure its possible to be around the 150k area with a high level position. but 200k? i think thats pushing it.</p>
<p>Possible, but in ten years? Don't count them chickens, 'cuz them eggs ain't gonna hatch...</p>
<p>You'll be <em>comfortable</em>... But you can't retire at age thirty-five.</p>
<p>I'm structural with a prominent firm, and I've got a masters. My offers were all mid-fifties, and there's about a seven percent raise per year, on average, for structural engineers. At about ten years, median's somewhere around $70-75K a year.</p>
<p>If I may...</p>
<p>I graduated 15 years ago, served 5 years in the Navy, and have been in the MD&D industry for 10.5 years.</p>
<p>I have a BS, an MS, and an MBA, and am Black-Belt certified. I make less than $150K, and have been over $100K only since March. I am at the Director level in QA.</p>
<p>I started out of the Navy (without the MS, MBA, or BB) at $42K as a production supervisor (with my 5 years Navy Officer experience counting toward my having gotten the position).</p>
<p>As aibarr said, you'll be comfortable, but unless something spectacular happens, you won't be the next Bill Gates.</p>
<p>Oh, and don't fall for the trap that says, "Well, in San Francisco they pay $250K!" That's because in SF you need $200K just for groceries. Never forget to consider cost of living where the offer comes from.</p>
<p>
[quote]
"Well, in San Francisco they pay $250K!" That's because in SF you need $200K just for groceries.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Lol! Aint it the truth. :)</p>
<p>I'm just going to throw this out there:
If I can work 40 weeks a year, 5 days a week, for 8 hours a day, I'll hit the $100k mark.</p>
<p>Now, considering the fact that I don't have my BS yet, what does that say is possible if I were to have a BS? $200k is definitely not 1 in a million odds, though it is more like 1 in a thousand odds. You've got to know the right people who will let you in on something on the ground floor. That's what happened to me; I was lucky in Southern California.</p>
<p>Yes, you were lucky. Spectacularly lucky. Point being: you can't count on luck.</p>
<p>You're also at Mudd. Honestly... your chances of success are far greater than most people's. Y'know, look left, look right... who else is making that kind of money as an undergrad? Nobody, honestly. You're in a ridiculously unique situation. Factor in the Southern California thing, and $100K is more like... 65K, anywhere else... </p>
<p>As a sophomore in college, if I'd worked 40 weeks/year, 5 days/week, 8 hrs/day, I'd have made 45K in the transportation engineering field, which isn't tremendously high-paying, and that was in Houston, where cost of living is slightly above zilch, so that's pretty good pay for a traffic engineer. I promise you... PROMISE you... that if I'd had my BS when they hired me, they wouldn't have paid me much more than that. So don't factor in too much that you haven't graduated yet.</p>
<p>Salaries don't double in ten years. <em>Maybe</em> 150K. Maybe. If you're lucky, brilliant, and hard-working, then maybe. $200K is definitely, definitely not something you should anticipate.</p>
<p>I think it depends on what field you're in. I have said this numerous times, but I come from a family of engineers... civil, petroleum, architectural, mechanical... a few of each of those. All of them have companies or work for companies that are contractors for the government. The government pays contractors well and so you reap the benefits. Small, minority owned engineering firms who are relatively competent do very well. Of the two companies that I know very well pay their lowest level engineers $70K and those are students right out of undergrad. If you're a good aggressive worker, you can be promoted quickly. At that point you really aren't an <em>engineer</em> you're really more a manager. Maybe it's because of where I live, the people I know, or the environment I grew up in but I think you can definitely make a very good living as an engineer... or maybe I have unrealistic expectations.</p>
<p>my freinds uncle is a mechanical engineer, well kinda.
He has a BS in M E and an MBA.</p>
<p>his work or type of job isn't really engineering but i would say it invovles engineering, he is what we call an "engineering manager".</p>
<p>he's 48 and earns around 100k to 110k.</p>
<p>and my aunt is a materials engineer, she works in the good year tire company in Ohio.
she has a MS in engineering. she's also in her mid 40s.
i think she gets paid around 90k.</p>
<p>but another uncle of mine, who has a MS in software engineering gets around 120-130k. (he is a consultant)
and he's in his mid 30s.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Salaries don't double in ten years.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Well, I'd say that depends a lot upon where you're starting from. I've more than tripled mine in ten years, but I added the grad degrees and certs during that time, too. Would be interesting to see what would have happened if I hadn't.</p>
<p>Sadly, I don't anticipate being able to repeat that performance again. :(</p>
<p>But I'm damned well going to try! :D</p>
<p>ETA: You know, there is something I think I should add here just on general principles.</p>
<p>People who go into a profession, ANY profession, worrying only about how much they are going to make generally either fail or are completely miserable. Most likely both. You can't expect an employer to pay you big bucks unless you earn them, and the best way to do that is to perform well. REALLY well.</p>
<p>Instead of worrying about your salary, worry about doing the absolute best job you can, and you'll be surprised just how quickly the money follows. </p>
<p>Of course, always keep realistic goals, too. ;)</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'm just going to throw this out there:
If I can work 40 weeks a year, 5 days a week, for 8 hours a day, I'll hit the $100k mark.</p>
<p>Now, considering the fact that I don't have my BS yet, what does that say is possible if I were to have a BS? $200k is definitely not 1 in a million odds, though it is more like 1 in a thousand odds. You've got to know the right people who will let you in on something on the ground floor. That's what happened to me; I was lucky in Southern California.
[/quote]
Wow. And I thought I was overpaid. :)</p>
<p>If you know what you are doing, you can always start your own engineering firm and become very profitable (yes $200k is in that reach). </p>
<p>Perfect Example: After 3 years of work experience, My uncle opened his firm and was receiving well over $200k/year salary after 5 years of running that business. His salary more than doubled in less than 10 years.</p>
<p>Yes, he may have been one of the lucky few to start and manage a successful eng. business...but so what. So can me or you with the right training and/or experience.</p>
<p>its always $$$$$$$</p>
<p>always, isn't?</p>
<p>cuz money get them hoes, whips and mansions...</p>
<p>Amazing how everyone can point to the one example of someone who made it big in engineering. There's the uncle... the friend's uncle... the cousin's friend's uncle's girlfriend's son... </p>
<p>Look, I know they exist. I'm not saying it's not possible. My dad's one of them.</p>
<p>But the point remains: though it <em>can</em> be done, you <em>can't</em> plan for it, or anticipate it. Though my dad had <em>incredible</em> luck in his engineering ventures, I can't, in good faith, plan for a financial miracle like that. I've got a financial planner and we're figuring out ways to squirrel away money as I make it so that I can send my kids to college some day, and so that eventually I can put a down payment on a house of my own.</p>
<p>And that's what most engineers have to do. You can't set out to earn $200K as an engineer. If $200K is your goal, don't go into engineering. There are ways to get rich with hard work and dedication, but engineering isn't one of them. Like Zaphod said, it requires that something spectacular happen, and often, spectacular things are driven by luck, and luck alone.</p>
<p>If you want to make a million bucks, you'd probably be better off learning to count cards (without getting caught) and going to Vegas.</p>
<p>(Starting your own firm, by the way, is a crazy-nuts gamble... I know lots of people who say that the worst thing they've ever done was to try to start their own engineering firm, even if it eventually became successful. I was incredibly surprised to hear them say that, too.)</p>
<p>
[quote]
People who go into a profession, ANY profession, worrying only about how much they are going to make generally either fail or are completely miserable. Most likely both. You can't expect an employer to pay you big bucks unless you earn them, and the best way to do that is to perform well. REALLY well.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>100% agree. For all engineers that I know, those really good ones(experienced, dedicated) make above 100K and so many companies want them and are willing to pay them high salaries; on the other hand,those not good ones, they either can't find jobs or get fired not long after being hired.
so instead of asking how much you will get paid, why not ask yourself how capable you will be?</p>
<p>I also agree with aibarr: "There are ways to get rich...but engineering isn't one of them." good engineers can make decent money to live comfortably, but not rich. the chance of becoming millionaire/billionaire as an engineer is very,very small, unless you are Bill Gates type, are you?</p>