<p>I have a friend who graduated from college 4 years ago, he was a math major, and according to him he is still making $35,000/year working as programmer.</p>
<p>Is that what it’s like out there? I mean, with 4 years of experience, with a degree in math and a programming job I’d hope that guy be making at least $50,000/year.</p>
<p>Just to get a job right out of college nowadays is a blessing</p>
<p>Is he working for a start-up? Non-profit? Gov’t agency? In a rural area? Those things all make a difference.</p>
<p>Your friend must be a terrible programmer if he’s only making 35k per year. Anyways, a lot of it depends on who you are working for, although 35k is probably on the lower end of salaries.</p>
<p>Holy smokes, my dad was making that right out of a cal state with a pseudo electrical engineering degree in the early 1980’s. It was also much easier to get an engineering degree back then, according to my father anyway, and nothing he’s had a hand in building ever crashed.</p>
<p>I don’t understand all the fuss about getting a math, science, or engineering degree when this is the end result. This sort of situation is also not atypical. I recall someone on these boards discussing how there daughter with a biology degree is working at a warehouse for $8/hr!</p>
<p>I theorize the flood of foreigners with high quality math, science, and engineering degrees are the cause of this phenomenon. Most the guys in my dad’s office are Indians, Persians, or some other Asian nationality. I don’t believe this was the case in the early 80’s.</p>
<p>Most of my friends are are their way to some sort of math, science, or engineering degree, but I just think its not worth the agony to end up with this result, which will probably become more and more common as China and India produce tens of millions of math, science, and engineering grads. And to think many in the US are worried about the rate of high school graduation. Dark times ahead, dark times ahead. . .</p>
<p>I should have just dropped out of college and instead kept my job at Albertson’s. I’d be making $10/hr by now! What am I going to do with a silly political science degree? I guess graduate school is almost mandatory.</p>
<p>It really all depends on the company and position you are in. I know a few programmers that work for Microsoft and Nintendo that make over $50k easy. They’ve worked in their company to gain seniority though.</p>
<p>The economy is bad right now and there isn’t an abundance of innovative programs being created so there is less demand on programming skills. If he is working for a small company then his pay is probably related to the companies profits whereas if he is working somewhere like Microsoft, he would be making more.</p>
<p>yeah, the physics/comp sci majors I know make 40k/year. I think people figure nerds don’t need money cuz they wouldn’t even enjoy it. It’s only the super genius types that invent google and make billions. But they’re outliers. </p>
<p>The U.S. is a sales and marketing based economy. I don’t care what Obama says. In fact, Obama is an example of someone who never built anything tangible; he’s very much a sales/marketing guy-just look at his campaign!</p>
<p>Speak well, be good looking, have a large network. You can make 100k/year in car sales w/o a degree if you have that down.</p>
<p>
So you think people who are interested in Science should instead study Literature or Communications or whatever? That makes no sense…you could also say it’s not “worth the agony” of getting a degree in the Humanities and half the Social Sciences - so many fields require Grad school. i’m guessing the average Engineer makes more than the average Humanities major…so why do people bother studying that? If your #1 goal is simply to make money, then study Business/Finance or whatever. But telling other people not to study anything else makes no sense. </p>
<p>If no one studied Science/Engineering, we’d have no doctors, medicine, research, buildings, technology, and would make no progress…</p>
<p>I agree with Wutang’s last sentence. A degree is simply what you make of it.</p>
<p>My dad cam out of of college with a double major in Biology and Chemistry</p>
<p>took him 6 months to get a job as a research chemist for 76.
He made 60+K a year.</p>
<p>I sense a latent aggressiveness stargazer.</p>
<p>I never said anything about telling people what to do. You are right, its just what I think, as articulated in the quote you used.</p>
<p>I just know a lot of my friends are agonizing about how dull and rather mundane their major seems to have become. I myself was initially a chemistry major, but after basic chem, and organic chem, and some professor insight, I discovered nothing much would ever change. Routine lab after routine lab, and the time allocations for lab and lecture were ridiculous. Perhaps it was my proficiency at learning the basics, but I always found too much time was spent on lectures, and not enough on labs, especially when the instructors wanted the most precise measurements possible, the purest distillations, and so on. Furthermore, the labs never allowed for some sort of self direction or choice.</p>
<p>At least in the Humanities and Social Sciences, it seems there is more freedom regarding what you choose to study. I guess it would have been better if i did not initially start out at a community college, but even my friends at various universities seem to voice the same sentiment. Regardless, I was on the fast track to complete burnout considering the the effort I put into high school, only to end up at the much derided “community college.” So I decided to study what I found most interesting, and not what might have been the most lucrative to study.</p>
<p>Besides, I think some fields are becoming antiquated, such as chemistry and applied science majors like engineering. It seems chemistry is becoming more and more similar to the physics major, which makes perfect sense considering the scientific developments of the 20th century and the drive towards a “theory of everything” in the 21st. Who needs applied science if you have enough well rounded math or physics majors?</p>
<p>Most of my friends here would consider it a crushing disappointment to be making anything under six figures four years out.</p>
<p>I don’t think that’s normal.</p>
<p>Comrade: i think you misinterpreted what I wrote if you think i was being aggressive - my point was, why is it not worth the agony to study something like Chem, but it is worth the agony to study a non-Science? I don’t understand. a degree’s a degree, might as well study what you like.</p>
<p>for the record, I’m a liberal arts major.</p>
<p>
That’s because you chose to study a boring subject like Chemistry :p…I’m studying NeuroScience (we only do like 3 Chem classes) and I love it. I imagine any major has its boring classes as well as exciting ones, nothing’s ever all-fun. But naturally when you’re a researcher, you have some choice as opposed to a student learning the basics.</p>
<p>Different people gravitate toward different things. I’ve met someone who’s major is Medieval Culture and he REALLY liked it! Weird, I know 
Personally, I can’t stand the Humanities. It bothers me how I can give the same paper to 2 professors and receive different grades, because my grade is a reflection of their personal taste rather my knowledge and writing skill. But my Humanities friends love their majors, and I understand why. I don’t see why anyone would spend 4 years studying something they dislike. I’m pre-Law so I have the luxury of studying whatever I want, so it’s easy for me to pick something I actually like without worrying about how lucrative it is. I wish everyone had that option (I know some people are concerned about paying back loans, etc).</p>
<p>Teachers will make that much being 4 years removed from college.</p>
<p>"Is he working for a start-up? Non-profit? Gov’t agency? In a rural area? Those things all make a difference. "</p>
<p>CountingDown, the company he works for has been around since the 80’s, and it’s neither a non-profit nor a government agency. I don’t think it’s located in a rural area. If I am correct, the office he works at is just half an hour north of the city, in a highly populated area.</p>
<p>"Your friend must be a terrible programmer if he’s only making 35k per year. "</p>
<p>Myrmirdon73,
Possibly. He says it has to do with his not having a degree in programming though.</p>
<p>My business school tells us that the average for commerce graduates is $45,000. Of course, it’s a rather inflated value for most people since it’s skewed by the finance geniuses earning $100,000. But, nonetheless, $35,000 FOUR years after university is a bit low. He’s probably unlucky and/or bad at interviews. </p>
<p>People often blame it on the industry or degree. But networking, resume and interview skills are super-important.</p>
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</p>
<p>Teachers will be lucky to make that much, with an MA no less.</p>
<p>Statistics show that I’ll make about $100k out of law school. However, after income tax, loan payments, and whatever else, I’ll be living on about $35k a year. :(</p>
<p>How much do programmers usually earn, anyway? I’m a pretty good Python programmer although I’m not in college yet, but would it be worth it to actually get a job as a programmer?</p>
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<p>I assume that’s for a T-14 law school. BLS shows that the average salary of a laywer 9 months out of school is $60k. [url=<a href=“http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos053.htm]Lawyers[/url”>http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos053.htm]Lawyers[/url</a>]</p>