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07-08-2008, 12:01 PM
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#61 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 116
| Caution is in order here, IMO. A relative of mine is a civil engineer in a pretty
large firm. His salary in 1987 was about $50K. His salary in 2007 was about
$110K. No bonuses ever, one lay-off (he eventually got rehired with a pay cut) and perhaps another to come.
I'm talking big city, not Podunk. You can stagnate very easily in engineering
if you aren't opportunisitic. There have been lots of foreign-born and trained engineers
in his field too. I think they drag down the salary levels. Do not think short-term when you see salary levels, they do not mean much after awhile.
A couple of weeks ago CNBC did a report on the need for more engineers
in the US and a caller (or e-mailer) pointed out that she left the field because of the salary issue. If you have the ability to stick out the academics
and do well, get the degree and go into a general management position or
some other field. It's still a great all-purpose degree to have. | 
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07-08-2008, 01:53 PM
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#62 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Seattle, Lynchburg, VA
Posts: 8,323
| " These are dwarfed by starting salaries at major firms in major legal markets, which average $145,000 in Chicago, LA and DC, and $160,000 in New York. At those rates it takes 2-3 years to recoup the investment, opportunity costs included."
Yes, but in those jobs you get in 4-5 years worth of work in 2-3 years. On an hourly rate it's not so great. | |
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07-08-2008, 02:29 PM
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#63 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Olympia, WA
Posts: 8,764
| "Median salary for lawyers:
1-4 years $67,178
5-9 years $91,221
10-19 years $95,901"
Take the two-year cost of the community college for an RN, and subtract it from the four-year cost for the prestige private for the future lawyer, and bank it. Bank 10% of the nurse's income starting the year out of college. Bank the three-year cost of law school, as well as 10% of the nurse's income. Let it accrue at the average stockmarket rate of 11% before taxes, as well as adding in the increases for the nurse's salary (as you would for the lawyer.)
The median lawyer would be well into his/her late 40s or 50s before catching up to the two-year degreed RN. | |
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07-08-2008, 02:33 PM
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#64 | | Member
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 723
| Nobody uses the word Programmer anymore. The job title is software engineer.
No Software Engineers in my IS department, nor other 8 places in my carrier. We call ourselves Programmers and that is what written in our Resumes. However, I have seen this terminology and always wonder what that means. Well, we decided at lunch that if we start calling ourselves Engineers, maybe we can demand more $$$, just kidding, it did put us in a better mood though. | |
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07-08-2008, 03:50 PM
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#66 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 1,525
| Software Engineering is usually more math oriented. It also may encompass the whole software engineering process including project management, testing, writing specifications, gathering product requirements, development and debugging. Engineering is frequently associated with making products for resale, sometimes for mass markets.
The titles programmer, programmer/analyst frequently refer to those that work in-house or as consultants. I worked as a programmer/analyst back in the 1980s and moved to software engineering several years later. We also had business analysts that had no technical background - they interfaced with our internal customers to design systems from a technical perspective and handed requirements off to the technical team. These people generally had a good business background. The programmer/analyst could do this too which could save some communications times as the programmer/analyst would understand the technical and business sides. | |
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07-08-2008, 04:00 PM
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#67 | | Junior Member
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 38
| Hey guys. this thread is very captivating, and it plays into my question here.
I"m currently in high school, and thinking about college. Either I want to go into the business world, or engineering. If I do go into business, I would definently get an MBA.
If you guys have any experience, do share it, and what is your take? I'm interested in both and I can handle the workload and get through it.
What do you guys suggest?
One other thing, what do you guys mean when you say that all these engineering guys are ending up at wall street??? | |
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07-08-2008, 04:45 PM
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#68 | | Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 394
| A lot of engineers end up doing finance related jobs. At my college, 20% of the graduating EE majors went on to finance.
I would say do engineering undergrad then do an MBA. If you do business undergrad there's no way you can do engineering grad. | |
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07-08-2008, 07:14 PM
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#69 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 49
| true, however it probably depends on the quality of the business school. i bet that wharton majors make more right out of school than penn econ majors. | |
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07-08-2008, 10:07 PM
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#70 | | Member
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 723
| If you do business undergrad there's no way you can do engineering grad. - that is VERY true.
Engineering is it! It is a profession. MBA ia a degree, I (Programmer) have it, my husband Electrical Engineer has it, my manager has it. Your future/salary will depend on your position in organization. You will get into management if you have a desire to do so and get promoted, not because you have MBA. However, MBA from Ivy's is a different story, I am not familiar with that, I will let somebody else talk about it. | |
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07-08-2008, 10:58 PM
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#71 | | Member
Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: CT
Posts: 606
| Quote:
Take the two-year cost of the community college for an RN, and subtract it from the four-year cost for the prestige private for the future lawyer, and bank it. Bank 10% of the nurse's income starting the year out of college. Bank the three-year cost of law school, as well as 10% of the nurse's income. Let it accrue at the average stockmarket rate of 11% before taxes, as well as adding in the increases for the nurse's salary (as you would for the lawyer.)
The median lawyer would be well into his/her late 40s or 50s before catching up to the two-year degreed RN.
| Forget going to college. Forget getting a job. Sell cocaine to Ivy league students. Bank the two year cost of the community college and the 3 year cost of law school and for good measure the 4 year cost of med school. Buy a house at a subprime rate. Rent it out to illegal immigrants by the room. Bank the difference. Place earnings in offshore accounts so that you don’t have to pay taxes. Accrue balance at the average 20% rate of hedge funds.
The RN will need to run an HMO to catch up to the jobless, uneducated cocaine dealer.
I love these unrealistic financial models that can be made to show the most extravagant results. I guess I hadn’t noticed that RNs owned all the fancy houses in our neighborhood!
Even the oft-misquoted Dale-Kruger study found that the more expensive the education, the higher the lifetime ROI. | 
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07-09-2008, 01:00 AM
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#72 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: SoCal.
Posts: 2,460
| Quote: |
I maintain it's silly to compare salaries of an undergrad degree as a terminal degree in fields in which many, perhaps most, view it only as a stepping-stone to a more lucrative advanced degree.
| Then compare salaries of Engineers with law degrees versus Poli Sci majors with law degrees? | |
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07-09-2008, 01:05 AM
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#73 | | Member
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 723
| Is RN a Registered Nurse? Don't they require Master's Degree? | |
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07-09-2008, 01:09 AM
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#74 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: chicago suburb
Posts: 252
| RN does stand for Registered Nurse. The RN is a 3-year nursing program. Next higher level would be the BSN, Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Then there are various Master's degrees in nursing. | |
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07-09-2008, 01:20 AM
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#75 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 161
| Would it be better to go into a career that I know I will like and that I know I will make a lot of money or go into a career that I will like a little bit more but not necessarily make a lot of money. Specifically, I'm stuck between becoming a doctor and becoming an engineer. My plan right now is to get my undergraduate engineering degree regardless of what I decide and take the additional premed classes if I want to become a doctor. This isn't enough, though, to get into a top med school (UMich). If I decide I want to become a doctor, I'll need internships at hospitals and medical research experience on top of the premed classes. I'm just wondering, is it ok to give up a little job satisfaction for a lot more money, or at least a lot more assurance that I'll get a lot of money? | |
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