I am freaking out!

EngineersRkool · 02-11-2008, 06:50 PM

Omgg...after reading this thread I am starting to freak out. I came in here thinking I will be able to find some happy engineers instead I find some very depressing threads about engineering. I am not even an EE yet but I think it's too late to change anything now. Besides, I don't feel like wasting all those hard working hours/money right now.

I think engineers are very cool and without them the world would be pretty boring. Riddle me this: can an EE make atleast $60-70k per year with BS/MS? I think that will be pretty comfortable and when your wife chips in with $30-40k per year it will be way more than enough to live a comfortable life with a family.

aibarr · 02-11-2008, 06:58 PM

Oh, decidedly.

Yeah, don't worry about it. If you really love engineering and it's what you want to do, you can make a good living at it. EEs make more than civs, anyhow, and two years out of school, I'm in that 60-70K range.

I think a lot of people who go into engineering are perhaps not that interested in engineering, unfortunately... It's a stable career, and a lot of people are attracted to that, but they're not necessarily enamored with the field. It's tough, sure, but if you really love what you do, that challenge is pretty welcome, and you'll more than likely really enjoy engineering.

There are happy engineers around. I have a lot of friends in different engineering fields and they all like what they do and make a very comfortable living.

And who says that your wife only has to chip in 30-40K, anyhow??

ken285 · 02-11-2008, 07:19 PM

The people complaining about salaries are the ones who want 6 figures early on in their career, so 60-70 is reasonable. The bulk of my colleagues starting out in my field (civil engineering, specifically construction) with a BS make upper 50s base salary, but bonuses can be fairly significant here, especially if you're working on residential construction for large developers. and on average civil engineers make less than the other engineering disciplines, so you shouldnt worry.

even though many people complain about salaries, it's not like engineers are living paycheck to paycheck. not sure if you follow sports or not, but a baseball analogy would be the above average playing complaining about *only* making $7M a year.

justinmeche · 02-11-2008, 08:00 PM

I am one of the guys who was complaining about not making enough money in another thread. I make in the mid 50k, which is good considering that both of my parents are 50 years old and still aren't making that much. I don't necessarily live paycheck to paycheck but I am married and supporting the household and that eats up my money, but the largest money sink I have are my school loans and my 110 commutes to work. But as far as the job is concerned, I enjoy my work, which right now is mostly project management. I get to work on interesting tasks and work with good people.

Money is a funny thing...you never really have enough. I may not be able to afford the stuff that I really want but in the end all of that material stuff won't matter.

EngineersRkool · 02-11-2008, 08:14 PM

All right, thnx a lot guys. Phew. Yeah, I am not even sure what I am going to do with all those money. At first, I thought I was too dumb in economics after looking at the numbers those guys came up with. Frankly, I will be happy making $60k. I just wanted to make sure that I can live a comfortable life and be known as an engineer, and I sure don't want to be known as an invest banker.

Aibbar, it would certainly help if she could make more money. Man, I would kill to have an *engineeress* as a wife.

Ken, yeah, I follow hockey mainly through their site. Nevertheless, funny analogy, "only $7M", hehe.

Frame · 02-11-2008, 08:41 PM

Make sure you invest a sizable portion of your salary into index funds while you are still in your twenties. With a few sacrifices now, you will be quickly approaching millionaire status by the time most people start freaking out about retirement.

Luminaire · 02-11-2008, 08:46 PM

I live in a dorm room. The food is terrible, the water is extremely hard and undrinkable, and jerks abound everywhere. 30k would be glorious right now.

aibarr · 02-11-2008, 08:52 PM

Brita pitcher, dude.

RacinReaver · 02-11-2008, 09:06 PM

$30k isn't that glorious. Just ask any of the grad students you talk to.

(Especially when your friends are making more than twice as much.)

ken285 · 02-11-2008, 09:49 PM

Do PhD students have their housing fees paid for? Or does it come out of the stipend?

RacinReaver · 02-11-2008, 09:58 PM

I don't know of anywhere that covers housing for grad students. Depending on the school, though, they may or may not have grad student housing. Here at Caltech I'm paying $600 for a two bedroom apartment I share with a roommate and $35 a month for parking my car (no street parking by law of Pasadena). This is a Caltech owned apartment complex adjacent to campus. Next year I might move off campus, but I've heard you have to live a few miles away in order to be about the same value, so I'll probably try to stay here.

If I was back in Pittsburgh where I spent undergrad I could get a similar apartment for about $450 a month, maybe a little more, but I also would have been paid less since cost of living is quite a bit cheaper there.

You get enough to live on, and if you cook for yourself and aren't paying off a new car or try to live too fancy it's really not that bad; you don't have that much time to enjoy spending money anyway.