<p>I am majoring in ME, but I've heard ME makes the least money compared to EE and Computer science.
I just have a few questions.</p>
<p>Why does ME take lots of work to study and pay the least?
Isn't computer science way too popular and competitive? Why is it still paid the most?</p>
<p>that's just life...unfair. but really, idk why ME makes the least money.</p>
<p>anyway, if you are truly an exceptional mechanical engineer, you'll be making above average if you reach your potential and get a great job.</p>
<p>"Why does ME take lots of work to study and pay the least?"
The other engineering majors take tons of work too...EE is even considered to be more difficult</p>
<p>is computer science the most popular ?</p>
<p>um...
But I always think the field of computer is popular, isnt it true ?
I am really having a tough time on whether to change my major.</p>
<p>oh man really
I'm planning to major in ME, but now im thinking with a minor in computer science and go into mechatronics...is a me guy paid less because mechE is kinda outdated??</p>
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is a me guy paid less because mechE is kinda outdated??
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<p>Jeez, mechanical engineering isn't like Latin.</p>
<p>There's actually a lot of debate as to why more traditional engineers aren't paid as much as others. Is it seen as a "trade"? Do we not market ourselves well enough? Do we not seem crucial enough to humanity's advancement, or do we not cater to the people who have the thickest pocketbooks like Wall Street does? What is it? I haven't the foggiest.</p>
<p>To be a structural engineer with a top firm doing any design in California, you have to have five or six years of schooling, four years of experience, take a grueling exam that 40% of people don't pass, get another 2 or three years of experience, take <em>another</em> grueling exam that even <em>more</em> people don't pass, and then you have to pass a <em>third</em> exam that's about as bad as the second one...</p>
<p>I tell this to lawyer and doctor friends of mine and they're like, "Wait, <em>why</em> are you in this field...?" because they know I don't make nearly as much as they do... and there's not nearly the prestige associated with it... but I like it. They knock out a good lawsuit, and yay them, or they do a kickarse triple bypass surgery and their patient walks out and eats another hot dog, but when they ask me what I've accomplished, I just kinda point up and say, "See that skyscraper?"</p>
<p>It's cool.</p>
<p>But do engineering because you love it, and not for the money. If you're in it for the money, you're not gonna be happy with it... ask the question, but don't really dwell on it. If it's something that really bothers you, find a different gig.</p>
<p>In terms of pay, EE will probably soon follow ME. CS (Software Engineering) will remain high paying because they make products that are worth more financially. Manufacturing is dying in the west, people are moving towards services to make money.</p>
<p>Supply and demand. In an engineering dept, there are about 1 to 3 MEs, 2-4 EEs, 5-8 SWEs. I don't find ME job exciting. They all sit there use CAD/CAM software to draw schemas.</p>
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Supply and demand. In an engineering dept, there are about 1 to 3 MEs, 2-4 EEs, 5-8 SWEs. I don't find ME job exciting. They all sit there use CAD/CAM software to draw schemas.
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<p>This... kinda sounds like an example of a specific company that coolweather's worked at... They're not all that way, though...</p>
<p>I have been working more than 20 years through several companies. There are some interesting ME work but if you are the PhD level in more advanced applications. This is just my personal feeling because I don't like ME. No offense to MEs in general.</p>
<p>I watched a couple of video in Youtube regarding ME jobs. It seems like ME mostly are to test machines, design engines. I saw them work in a noisy place.
EE looks pretty good to me, but I am not sure if I can handle those abstract theories.
I also watched a video of C++ programming. It looked OK to me too.</p>
<p>I think ME jobs in engine design are interesting and challenging.</p>
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I saw them work in a noisy place.
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<p>They make things to plug your ears with nowadays. Incidentally, they're called earplugs.</p>
<p>Noisy place is fun. For me it's boring to sit in the office as an engineer. I like to go around plant to see people working. And if you are a SWE there is a good chance that you will work in noisy environments too.</p>
<p>Aibarr, believe me, if I'm planning to major in MechE, it is purely out of interest...I can say without a doubt that almsot all engineers have come into the field because of a lifelong genuine interest for math and science..This is definitely the case for me. But Aibarr, there is always a practical side to life....In the end of the day, engineering is our proffesion, it's gonna be our life. It can't be something we do solely for our interest and pleasure. We are going to have a family to support and even our parents. You can't be sitting not worried about money. That's why it is reasonable to try to work a trade off, to increase your chance of high wages even with engineering....if it was solely for money, I would be pursuing law or something...</p>
<p>And KaRin-A, I agree with coolweather. I find it boring to sit in a room, typing on a computer for hours for a 2 minute stimulation or program. The best part of ME is that you get out there and work with something crucial for our lives, ENERGY.</p>
<p>Making a general statement about MechEs and their earnings isn't all that useful. Look at what MechEs from your school make, and what MechEs in the geographical location you want to work in make. Look at what MechEs make in the particular field that you are going into (e.g. defense, energy, automotive, robotics).</p>
<p>I too like getting my hands dirty and being involved, rather than being in front of a computer all day. I also find it rather tiring... often times if I'm staring at a screen continuously for the entire day, I'm pretty much dead when I get back home.</p>
<p>I can also understand why people would feel the opposite though...</p>
<p>I am just fealling frustrated that I spend years working so hard and yet do not get paid off financially. I do understand that doing something out of interest is fantastic. However, the reality does not allow us to do anything simply based on our own interest.
More significantly, I don't even know whether ME or EE interests me more. All I know is that EE is mostly viewed a lot harder than ME.</p>
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I am just fealling frustrated that I spend years working so hard and yet do not get paid off financially.
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<p>Welcome to the club.</p>
<p>We're on a major deadline right now, and it's crunch time until the deadline hits. I'm still sitting at my desk, it's 7 PM. I'll be here for another few hours. This will be the ninth or tenth twelve-hour day I've pulled in the past two and a half weeks... I've lost count. It'll start ramping up even more shortly... The deadline is in late June. There's a long road ahead of us.</p>
<p>I'm a little bitter about the hours and the lower pay and never having time for other things I love like ceramics and photography and going to concerts and hanging out with my friends, and I <em>love</em> what I do for a living. I love designing buildings (I'm not so wild about designing joist after joist after joist that are mostly the same... but it's one of the things you have to do in order to get to design buildings) but if I didn't love what I do, I'd seriously hate my life.</p>
<p>There's a fine line, brahmin etc... Yes, you need to be practical. Yes, you need to be able to pay your bills and you need to not have to worry about money. But you need to also choose something that you love to do. Not just something you're vaguely interested in because it seems like a good compromise between money and interest in what you do.</p>
<p>The best advice anybody ever gave me was that when choosing a career, follow your heart and not your pocketbook, and the money will follow. The best person I know to point at as a perfect example of this is my husband, who, just before he chose where to go to college, decided to switch his major from engineering (his <em>whole family</em> are engineers...) to music composition. He's just finishing up his doctorate, but in the past year, he's presented papers in Copenhagen (on the university's tab-- my university had to be talked into flying me to <em>Miami</em>) and has had three orchestras play some of his works... If past performance is an indicator of future achievement, he's quite possibly going to end up earning more than I do as a university professor.</p>
<p>Do what you're good at and what you love. If you're passionate about it, and if you're hardworking and you work at expanding your network and if you're careful and you have a plan, and if you do everything it takes to succeed, you'll end up with a career that you love and one that will compensate you for your passion.</p>
<p>The people I was more speaking to in my earlier post, though, were the ones who didn't really like engineering all that much but figure it pays pretty good salaries right off the bat and that it would be a prudent career move, but the choice is ultimately yours, and if you want to try to strike a balance between a sure-thing financially-sound career move and something that you're interested in. Many before you have done that. I'd personally say go for what you love and that the money will follow... That sort of leap takes some serious cajones, though... It's a gamble.</p>
<p>I would say if it is the 9th or 10th 12 hour day recently then you may be working in a company with poor management, or more likely, a company structured to work you in the grinder for a few years until you grow tired and leave. When you gain more experience and maturity you may decide life is more than 12 hour days. If you later move on you will be replaced with another young person ready to take on the world and the cycle repeats again.</p>
<p>Many top accounting, consulting and law firms have used this model for years. I didn't know it also was being used in engineering fields as well - sorry to hear about this.</p>
<p>Poor planning should not create an emergency for you a young engineer. The project will still be there and will continue to move forward if some June deadline isn't met.</p>