| I think someone with an engineering degree is capable of getting 200k / yr after 20 years.
However, the reason is that they moved away from an actual engineering position into project management, and then higher and higher to VP-operations or even CEO.
This is particularly possible/true with gigantic corporations.
I will cite Jack Welch as an example..if you don't know who he is you must be crazy.
He started as an engineer in GE-Plastics and worked his way up to become CEO of all of GE. His B.S. in Engineering was from UMASS-Amhearst of all places.
Anyone with a B.S. in Engineering can make big money provided they have both the talent and drive to move up the management chain.
Specifically, Welch implemented a policy called "Differentiation" in GE.
Reward the top 20% with promotions and bonuses
Give mediocre raises to the middle 70%
Fire the bottom 10%
If you are in that top 20%, you are going places in an environment with that kind of attitude.
When some government agency polls for salary data, the problem is that the only people that are still "engineers" 20 years down the line (literally doing designs, calculations, etc) are in the middle 70%.
They didnt go back for an MBA, or an MS, or both; they just marched along in their decently paid career which they enjoyed (which is fine).
However, the big money is possible. Trust me, no business would rather hire some moron with a "B.S. in Management" to run a real project. They want engineers that actually know how to work and get things done.
Engineers are 7x more likely than anyone else to become CEO. And as Welch illustrated (coming from UMASS-Amhearst!), its possible to move up easily without an Ivy League pedigree... |