Motivation to study/learn on my own time 7

[shacked]

Please understand this disclaimer, "I am not only concerned with the pay and I did not become an engineer because I thought it payed well.

Having said that, I have a question to other Structural engineers.

I have passed the FE and I now have 2 years of structural experience all in light framed residential structures.

I have experience designing steel moment frames, cmu and concrete retaining walls, structural foundation systems including cassions and temp shoring systems, not to mention all the other daily problems that one deals with at a small structural engineering office.

Now here is my dilema the way I see it. I make $24.00/hr which is just about 50k. My girlfriend makes $26.00/hr and she does not even have a degree. She is a surgical technician, and she still has a little more to go until she tops out as far as pay goes. Oh, she also hardely ever works more than 40 hours a week.

Now I am at the point in my career where I should start studying for the PE, which takes up a lot of my free time, but I am starting to wonder if it is worth it. So much of my own time spent studying for the PE and not to mention learning more about structural design in order to be a good practical structural engineer. All this extra time spent working towards my career, but the compensation is not even close to what it should be, especially considering that I live in Southern California.

Now as far as pay goes, all I have to go on is what I think that other small structural companies are paying in Southern California and I think that based on my experience, the average pay is just a little higher than $24.00/hr, say maybe $27.00/hr or so??

So just throwing this out there, and I look foreword to hearing your comments.

Thanks

 

[oldfieldguy]

Zog--

"Do what you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life"

Exactly! I have a hobby with a paycheck! I get to play with all this neat stuff (high voltage power systems, large rotating equipment, SCADA, etc.) and just generally "geek out" on enough days to where I think it's FUN!

And learning is part of the fun.

Sadly, I learned the other day that I'd become one of the most dangerous things in industry: an engineer with a new catalog...

old field guy