what is the potential salary after college... 5-10yrs or so with an engineer

[rocadelpunk]

well i've been working for my senior project at ashland chemical with the engineering dept. I like it a lot, I've been doing a lot of cad stuff and just many other things, but I decided that my decision to go into engineering was/is a good one.

I've gotten a lot of advice from the engineers there...mostly saying how there's so many things you can do with engineering you'll never really be out of a job b/c you can contract yourself and other stuff...however, the field is driven by the economy as well...2nd slump in last 25 yrs they've seen.

They said that the starting salaries out of college were about right from what colleges say...30-50k right out of college...hopefully in 4 yrs it'll be toward the higher end :0.

Anyway, on to the question.

the best advice they gave me was that one can't really work for a company now and retire...just b/c either a boss will like you and not promote you...many other factors.

they said it's 3-5 yrs and move on, take your experience and demand a higher wage/salary, and just sorta move up a ladder like that.
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I plan to earn a straight engineering degree and business hopefully...I dunno, I think ohio state has some combo engineering/business degree.
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question: what's the usual growth of a salary...like great that you make so much out of college...but after say about 10yrs 2-3 jobs maybe, how much does it usually increase?

 

[her209]

I think 4% per year is the standard rate.

 

[StormRider]

From what I understand, what happens is that you have the strongest salary increases during your early part of career and then it sort of plateau and becomes more flat later in your career.

For me that was definitely true. I was very depressed and lacked confidence and it was very hard for me to get a job. I had a masters in EE and finally took a sub-contractor job at around 32K about 3 years ago. Then I was hired by the company I was working at and my salary increased rapidly (30K --> 55K --> 68K --> 72K --> 74K) in about 3 years.

My salary increase was very flat last year though.

 

[zCypher]

Originally posted by: StormRider
From what I understand, what happens is that you have the strongest salary increases during your early part of career and then it sort of plateau and becomes more flat later in your career.

For me that was definitely true. I was very depressed and lacked confidence and it was very hard for me to get a job. I had a masters in EE and finally took a sub-contractor job at around 32K about 3 years ago. Then I was hired by the company I was working at and my salary increased rapidly (30K --> 55K --> 68K --> 72K --> 74K) in about 3 years.

My salary increase was very flat last year though.

Damn, man... that's nice! Congrats. Going from 30k to 74k in 3 years?? freaking sweet. Has your lifestyle changed much?

 

[Ameesh]

if you make 74k a year you should be able to afford more then 1/32 carat ring

 

[HokieESM]

Salary increase as an engineer is typically VERY rapid early, and then peaks early. Also, depending on the major, a PE can really change your pay/job prospects (especially in civil engineering). Most people that I've talked to got major raises within the first five years, and then just cost-of-living adjustments after that (for staying in the same position).

That said, some of them chose to rise into management (some didn't because they wanted to still do technical work)... and they make substantially more. Engineering to management is really common in technical companies after several years of experience.

 

[StormRider]

Originally posted by: zCypher


Damn, man... that's nice! Congrats. Going from 30k to 74k in 3 years?? freaking sweet. Has your lifestyle changed much?

I bought a car and a townhouse/condo during that period (I bought the condo last year). I'm just happy and grateful that I'm working although I'm a little worried because of some comments my supervisor made to me at the last review.

Basically he thinks I haven't made enough of an effort to learn about the underlying database and table structure that supports our application. He said that I have been a good software engineer but in order to be a good systems engineer I need to make more of an effort.

When he told me that I was thinking, "Huh? WTH are you talking about? I'm not the database guy -- Tom is the database guy. I'm the SAS/Visual Basic guy that writes the applications to access these tables and produce web-based reports. Why are you criticizing me for not knowing Tom's job? If you wanted me to know about this stuff why wasn't I ever invited to these meetings with Tom? Also, I'm a software engineer -- not a systems engineer. I don't want to be a systems engineer. I want to be a software engineer and I've been able to handle every task you've given me successfully (and usually in 1/2 the time I've been given). I learn enough of the database structure on a need to know basis -- if I need to know something in order to get my task accomplish, I learn it." But I just smiled and nodded.

I just don't get along with him that well. I don't understand his way of thinking. Sometimes he gives me vague assignments and he leaves out important information that makes me wonder if he is trying to set me up to fail or look bad. He comes across as real condescending (other people I've talked to said they felt the same thing) and I sometimes wonder about his qualifications (he has a PhD in agriculture -- so he's obviously an intelligent man -- but he has said and done some things that makes me wonder about his qualifications as a project leader on a software engineering project).

He has given me lackluster reviews. The times when I've gotten really high reviews was when I was working under other people (that's also when I got the big salary increases).

Anyways, I'm just venting...

 

[Hector13]

I will depend almost totally on the field you go into and the area. As for what areas you can get a job in with engineering, your co-workers are right, you can get jobs in many different fields. I graduated with an industrial engineering and operations research degree (IEOR) back in may of 01. I took a job in fincance on wall st and my salary has gone from 65K (first year) to 93K (last year) to hopefully something in the low 100K area this year.

While the pay is alot better than most people I graduated with, the cost of living here is also a hell of a lot more than ohio or elsewhere, so the difference probably isn't that big.

 

[StormRider]

Originally posted by: Hector13
I will depend almost totally on the field you go into and the area. As for what areas you can get a job in with engineering, your co-workers are right, you can get jobs in many different fields. I graduated with an industrial engineering and operations research degree (IEOR) back in may of 01. I took a job in fincance on wall st and my salary has gone from 65K (first year) to 93K (last year) to hopefully something in the low 100K area this year.

While the pay is alot better than most people I graduated with, the cost of living here is also a hell of a lot more than ohio or elsewhere, so the difference probably isn't that big.

Yeah, that's the nice thing about engineering -- you really can get a job in many different fields. I have an EE degree but I work as a software engineer/programmer.

 

[jteef]

hmm, thats one nice thing about joining the Air Force. I can look up my salary for the next 30 or so years right now on a chart Makes financial planning easy anyways.

 

[Hector13]

Originally posted by: StormRider

Originally posted by: Hector13
I will depend almost totally on the field you go into and the area. As for what areas you can get a job in with engineering, your co-workers are right, you can get jobs in many different fields. I graduated with an industrial engineering and operations research degree (IEOR) back in may of 01. I took a job in fincance on wall st and my salary has gone from 65K (first year) to 93K (last year) to hopefully something in the low 100K area this year.

While the pay is alot better than most people I graduated with, the cost of living here is also a hell of a lot more than ohio or elsewhere, so the difference probably isn't that big.

Yeah, that's the nice thing about engineering -- you really can get a job in many different fields. I have an EE degree but I work as a software engineer/programmer.

I think only one or two people that I know of in my major and graduating class actually took up "engineering" jobs. Most wanted to go work for consulting firms or .coms (this was right before the crash). I remember people who graduated the year before going to places like oven.com or askme.com