sstory

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.

nshah9617

It really depends on your engineering degree and field.

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.

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.

aibarr

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 *down* 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.

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.

Mr Payne

I view increasing the number of engineers as a positive feedback loop which increases economic growth due to increased patent production...

aibarr

Ooh... That increases patent lawyers. I dunno if I'm okay with that.

Mr Payne

I'll take more patents w/more patent lawyers over less patents w/less patent lawyers any day. And my opinion of lawyers can't get much lower.

weldon

Lot of variables involved here, so there is no one trustworthy answer. I'll make a wild estimate and say that a "typical" ME, working in a "typical" industry with "typical" responsibilities with "average" job performance and starting to work this year will take anywhere from 9-12 years from now to break $100K. An outstanding individual, who may get better raises every year plus a promotion or two, can probably make it in significantly less time than this. There will be an average pay differential between engineers holding an MS vs. a BS, maybe 10% or so.

Columbia_Student

About 10 years after graduation. I took the consulting route and made very good money. However, I went back to a regular job for health benefits and stock options.

sakky

Well, would it really be better if those companies hiring those H1B's were to simply offshore those jobs entirely? Or, probably more commonly, eliminate them entirely through technology?

For example, I know a company that decided to install some high-end financial accounting enterprise software. After it was fully installed and integrated, the company immediately proceeded to lay off most of the accountants and bookkeepers.

Well, not to be overly harsh, but if your father was really making 300k in 1999, and now you can't even afford trivial expenses and are deeply in debt, hey man, I frankly don't have a lot of sympathy for you. After all, the vast majority of Americans will never even make a third of what your father used to make. Yet they're still somehow able to afford "trivial" expenses.

ExplorerCY

what about aerospace engineering? like in lockheed martin or boeing?