I guess it depends on your field. We've got some experienced ME's coming up with new component designs on ProE and they don't make north of $80K. I've got a CAD administrator, managing all our seats of different packages dating back to UNIX Microstation, working directly for me that makes less than that! Of course I do believe we are cheap bastiges...

 

No way the average engineer is making $100k within a couple years. Starting salary REALLY depends on where you are employed. Few in my region (CT) made $59k right out of school with a BS. Average around here is probably 52-55k starting. Up in Beantown and down in NYC is a different story.

Thankfully I'm a 'contractor' and I'm not regulated by the wage masters, but the company I work with doesn't pay their engineers over 100k.. people with a ton more experience than I.

 

Sucks for those people then

In the NJ area, all the companies I've talked to were paying engineers 100+ after ~10 years or so and thats basically how the company that hired me will work as well.

As everyone said, location location location

 

My dad was a facilities manager for ADP (The check processing company) for 7 years before he just got laid off. He's been in facilities for 15+ years and ADP was extremely conservative in their way of running business. He worked at the Santa Clara office and last year (his full w2) before taxes was like 102k and that's including like a 8k bonus.. so figure like $95kish was what he was making a year. And that's with 15+ years experience, autocad experience, BS in ME and over 30 years as a ME.

I think it also depends on what certificates you graduate with. He was telling me the other day if he were to spend the 5-10k to get these couple certificates for engineering, he could increase his pay to 100-150k but

 

Funny you say that.. he was a drilling engineer back in the late 70s through late 80s. He was making stupid cash by those days' standards (around 120k). But he quit when me and my bro were born 'cause he was traveling so much. He has applied for the drilling companies many times, but they refuse him because they think his drilling practices will be "too old school".

He actually worked in Huston for a number of year.. also in the Gulf of Mexico on the off shores, and in Denver.. and bum **** nowhere texas, etc.

 

 

It's okay.. I've lived in buck fvck no where California, AND Arkansas!

 

 

I know a guy in his late 50s now who worked on an oil rig right out of college.. IIRC he made $60k/year for 6 months service.. I think it was 3 months on, 3 months off, rinse, repeat.

 

Right now EE's are more in demand than ME's...but you can't really plan your degree on what's more in demand NOW because you wont graduate for 4+ years and the demand is likely to be different by then...


The thing people need to learn about being an engineer...you are NOT going to be working on the stuff you want to right out of college (unless you are extremely lucky or know people). It's a tough market. You need to be flexible, willing to move (sometimes to crappy places), work in industries/projects that do not interest you, and basically do all you can to gain experience. After you have a few years of experience, then you can start to get picky and start being very specific on what you want to do.


Start investigating what companies you want to work for. Honda? In North America one of their main plants is in Alabama. Ready to move to the middle of no where Alabama so you can work for Honda?


Honestly, your best bet is to get a general degree like ME or EE and not something restrictive like Auto or Aerospace. Then be as flexible as possible for the first several years. Get as much experience as you can. After you have some experience, your understanding of how engineering works and what type of job you want will be completely changed. Then you'll be glad you have a non-specific degree...

I graduated 5 years ago with a ME degree. It was a tough market back then and pretty much my only job offer required me to move several states away to work in a chicken plant. Not what I wanted but I sure as hell wasn't going to turn down a job making $50k+ a year with nothing else to fall back on. A couple years into it I really loved it. The company was involved in a hostile take over and I had to start looking again. Luckily I ended up back in my home town working for a Fortune 500 engineering and consulting firm. I couldn't even get an interview with this company when I graduated but after I started working in the chicken business I used the engineering firm for some projects, made friends, and that's how I got my foot in the door. It's all about getting some experience and making connections. THEN you can worry about what you really want to do...