Good Time to be an Engineering Grad

[StressGuy]

http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/13/pf/college/starting_salaries/index.htm

I've been out of school for 10 years now and it look like starting salaries for ME's are up about 25% from the time I graduated. Not too shabby. Thankfully, I've stayed well ahead of that.

Edward L. Klein
Pipe Stress Engineer
Houston, Texas

"All the world is a Spring"

All opinions expressed here are my own and not my company's.

 

[Twoballcane]

I was talking to a good friend of mine who was a CFO of a medium company. He was telling me that his daughter graduated with an Accounting degree and found a job right out of college with a start salary of 35K (higher than the medium) he was kind of beaming about it. Well I was very un-couth and jokingly said that “Wow are you serious?! Mechanical Engr start salaries start at 50K and ten years ago I started at 40K”. He looked at me like I was lying.

In addition, I read some where that engineering is the hardest major in college. Because of this, there are less candidates qualified and have enough interest to take it. I am not for dumbing down the degree, but for creating more interest for the field in our high schools. My current company does that by supporting our local high school in robot competition and also creating ways to make math more fun.

Go Mechanical Engineering
Twoballcane

 

[ivymike]

was that the look, or was it "quit pissing in my soup?"

 

[davefitz]

I think part of the reason for the fast increase in engineering salaries is the great difficulty compaies are having in regards to obtaining visas for low cost foreign engineers.

 

[proletariat]

Interesting... If $45k is starting for a civil grad this year, and I add 3% inflation for each year I've been out of school (6), and 20% for a PE license, that is $62100. That is remarkably close to what salary.com has as median for someone of my experience. Too bad I am making nowhere near that now.

 

[wes616]

If $45k is starting for a civil grad this year, and I add 3% inflation for each year I've been out of school (6), and 20% for a PE license, that is $62100.

Wow... someone is getting screwed...

My first job was for about 20% lower than Stressguy's 10 year old national avg, but between 1996 and now, i've increased my salary 300%. Sometimes it's worth it to take the lower paying job out of school... if it cay pay off divs in the long run...

Wes C.
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When they broke open molecules, they found they were only stuffed with atoms. But when they broke open atoms, they found them stuffed with explosions...