<p>my dad has a phD in electrical engineering, and I think his salary hit six figures when he was in his early 40's. Then again, he was a student from abroad. </p>
<p>He's in management right now (and he has been for 15 years now...since his forties). And he doesn't like it, unfortunately. He finds it very stressful.</p>
<p>wow. phD and management...he did MBA at 40?? impressive that he did both..His salary must be a lot higher now...</p>
<p>I thought an ideal combination would be MBA at around 30 after BS, earn a lot, get tired of money and do phD at mid forties and spend the rest of your life doing what you most love....</p>
<p>Depends on the industry. In the automotive industry as an ME/EE it might take a whole career. In the Petroleum industry, on average, maybe 5 years. Top examples would be one of my friends who is brushing ~90K (salary) with less than 12 months. With bonus and vacation cash out he might hit 100K. Top CS graduates can get 100K can get 100K+ in total compensation upon graduation (highly atypical, but possible).</p>
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I thought an ideal combination would be MBA at around 30 after BS, earn a lot, get tired of money and do phD at mid forties and spend the rest of your life doing what you most love....
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<p>I imagine by the time one was in their 40s, they wouldn't want to take a break from actually earning money and family live to dedicate almost all of their day to obtaining a PhD for 4-6 years.</p>
<p>I mean, that's one of the reasons why so few people go back for a MS or PhD after they enter the workforce. It's extremely difficult to transition back into "school mode" once you've gotten out of it. Not to mention grad school isn't known for being the most friendly point of your life to be in a relationship.</p>
<p>My Dad started at 20k after graduation in the early 80's. He hit 100k by 1990. Took a 50% pay cut to work at a startup. When they down-sized he went back to higher pay and hit nearly 300k by 1999. A few months after Sept. 11th he got laid off and has only worked 2 years out of the past 6 at half his old pay. Lost everything in the dot-com bust. Currently unemployed for the last year, most offers are around 60k. The high paying years took a toll on our family with his 100% travel around the country. Our savings exhausted, now we are unable to afford even the most trivial expenses and are deeply in debt. What to conclude? Economic changes, an oversupply of H1B immigrants cutting wages to entry level rates, incompetent managers, corrupt business practices... all are factors. Be careful.</p>
<p>I have yet met an engineer that makes 300k, if he did, he was in management. And if you are in management making 300k, I'd imagine your experiences should land you some other management jobs for at least 150k. I think one of the biggest draws for many students is the job security in engineering, when in reality, there's never any real job security. </p>
<p>so, i'm curious as well, what kind of engineering did your dad do?</p>
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I have yet met an engineer that makes 300k, if he did, he was in management. And if you are in management making 300k, I'd imagine your experiences should land you some other management jobs for at least 150k. I think one of the biggest draws for many students is the job security in engineering, when in reality, there's never any real job security.</p>
<p>so, i'm curious as well, what kind of engineering did your dad do?
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<p>I have to agree. 300K is pretty damn high for any technical engineering position.</p>
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wow. phD and management...he did MBA at 40?? impressive that he did both..His salary must be a lot higher now...
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<p>He never got an MBA. Just worked his way up into a managerial position. It's not like big time management or anything; he oversees a small group of people. He still does technical work and such.</p>
<p>I have a family member who was a computer science major that ended up at a defense contracting company making almost 7 figures now but she too was definitely in management at that point.</p>
<p>It really depends on your engineering degree and field.</p>
<p>We should limit this discussion to "just engineering fields", since an undergraduate engineer could easily get a lucrative consulting or investment bank firm and make six figures quickly. In addition, once you "go management" or get a MBA, you are being paid for your managerial skills/MBA and not primarily for your engineering degree.</p>
<p>I know a few Petroleum Engineering undergrads who are pushing near six figures (with bonuses)--but were either top of their class or have to work in Alaska.</p>
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an oversupply of H1B immigrants cutting wages to entry level rates
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<p>This statement has been sticking with me for a few days. Perhaps this happens in other fields, but in my field, I don't know of any of my coworkers from abroad (and it's about fifty-fifty here) who are driving <em>down</em> the wages... If they're here, the internationals want to be paid the same as the domestics, and if they're the best candidates for the job and they've gone through legal avenues to come here, then I really don't really see any reason why they shouldn't have the job, aside from yay-America reasons. Honestly, I'd kind of miss the diversity that I get around here if we hired just Americans and didn't go for just the best candidates we could get, regardless of national origin.</p>
<p>That second half of that statement is more politics than engineering, though. The first half is the important part... I don't see any of my foreign citizen coworkers driving down my salary.</p>
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an oversupply of H1B immigrants cutting wages to entry level rates
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I view increasing the number of engineers as a positive feedback loop which increases economic growth due to increased patent production...</p>
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I view increasing the number of engineers as a positive feedback loop which increases economic growth due to increased patent production...
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<p>Ooh... That increases patent lawyers. I dunno if I'm okay with that. ;)</p>