ot enjoying it.

[IndyColtsFan]

at my first job, i thought and felt more like i was just working a job. now i honestly feel that i have a career in this field, and i strive to be the best, and it's paid off with where i am with my pay. i do some development work on my own spare time with ios/android apps and making money off of that as well.

As much as I've bashed the entire notion of a career, I think you have the right strategy and attitude and I know you're not one to work 100 hours a week and brag about it because it is your "career." :thumbsup:

 

[IndyColtsFan]

My manager told me that if I was good I could become project manager within 3 years (I work for a consulting company).

Yet I asked him how much he makes (project manager who's 29 years old) and I don't think he's over 100k.. and he's been with the company 6 years.

There's another senior guy who's 38 that doesn't even make 100k..

You're focused too much on money, especially for someone who graduated with such a low GPA. Stick it out a few years, get major experience, and see what happens. Look into MBA options. Once you get some major project experience, look into a PMP. The PMP with some solid experience is almost a guaranteed six figure position.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

I would advise you to just come to grips with the fact that you'll be working for the rest of your life unless you're really good looking or Mitt Romney 😛

That said, you should spend more time looking at the benefits of working. You can get your own place which means you can bring girls home to cook you breakfast without your mom looking at you funny. hehe You can actually afford to go out and buy some drinks and talk to some strange, and maybe even hook up with some regularity since having a job is like quality #1 most women over 21 are looking for.

Look man, you only get one go round on this big blue marble so just work and use that money to have as much fun as possible. Fly to another country for a weekend, buy a sweet home theater setup, make yourself expensive and delicious foods....I mean a young guy with a decent job, the world is your oyster man. Help us rebuild the economy ~_^

 

[purbeast0]

You sound at the higher tier with your own mobile apps etc., where I'm coming from is most engineers sitting $50-$80k their first 5 years, then $80k-$95k their next 5, then if they are really good they get into the $95k-$120k area for the rest of their career. I talk about this as a recruiter of software engineers.

Obviously enjoyment, etc. is key. If you love what you do at $80k, I don't think you should take money into account anymore you've got enough to live comfortably. But there is definitely a cap in place unless you go into business for yourself.

Point being, unless you really enjoy it going after credentials (MBA, M.S., etc.) isn't very rewarding. It is a better idea to put yourself in the middle of transactions because those people (usually sales people) make as much if not more than someone with the most sterling credentials.

well to be honest my mobile apps are very niche market, and all of them use the same framework. i designed it in my first app, and i've built off of it. my latest app i pretty much ONLY changed my data xml sheet and did some new graphics, and made minor code changes, and its basically plug and play.

i was at the 50k - 80k the first 7 years of my career. but like i said, i kind of got lucky w/some cards just falling perfectly in my career path, to be at a salary that i am currently at.

the thing is, companies have the resources to pay more, they just don't want to pay for it or have too strict of requirements. in this field, if you are a good developer/engineer, you can pick up ANY language giving a short amount of time. the problem is, many companies still are not in that mindset, and it's going to hurt them in the long run.

 

[purbeast0]

As much as I've bashed the entire notion of a career, I think you have the right strategy and attitude and I know you're not one to work 100 hours a week and brag about it because it is your "career." :thumbsup:

yea fffuuuuccckkk that hah. 40 hours and i'm out 99% of the time. i've worked more than that a couple weeks in my entire 8 years in the industry, but i was also compensated when i did. it was probably 3-4 times total over that time span.

and i'm one who pretty much always has a 0 PTO balance because i use my vacation time. hell right now i'm -32.8 hours since i just started here and 2 weeks after i started i took a week long vacation.

work hard, play hard 🙂