Who here's an engineer?

[AlanY]

It sounds like you have a healthy attitude. Just fyi, if you're hoping to aim for the highest salary ranges, you may want to consider doing a Master's degree in engineering. You don't have to, but keep your options open by keeping your grades up, getting to know professors (so you can get reference letters), etc. If you do plan on doing a Master's, I'd recommend doing it right after your undergrad degree. It's harder than you expect to go back to school after you've been in the work world for a few years; I only know a couple people who did it successfully (not counting MBAs).

 

[marvin]

Field was power systems, because my advisor didn't tell me squat about fields when I transfered into Texas A&M my sophomore year. My actual concentration was in computer architecture and engineering. I interviewed with most of the defense companies in this Texas (Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Bell Helicopter, etc), some other major government contractors, (Halliburton, etc), a few private companies (L3, TI, NI, IBM), and a couple of small companies like Mustang Engineering.

I was looking to get into medical school, which is why I had so many credit hours, but that didn't pan out too well. Did pretty decent on the MCATs (35 out of 45 or 96% percentile), but my math and science GPA (which includes engineering for some unfortunate reason) was an abyssal, for medical school at least, 3.35.

 

[jefemeister]

or get a job with continuing education and go to school for free. My company will pay up front (not reimburse, which is an important detail) $5400 a year. Only catch is you have to stay with them 2 years to not have to pay it back, 1 year to only pay back half which is not uncommon but they just added that little detail this year.

 

[sionghchan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pne Just wondering how many engineers we have on these forums. Please post your field. Right now I'm studying engineering at university, but I'm really starting to have my doubts, so I need some advice. Basically I just realized that starting out the average salary is 30k canadian and maxes out at 50k. 25-42k american..

No, your estimates are not quite right, especially the top end. They maybe right for Alberta (that's where you are studying right?) but certainly not true for Vancouver nor Toronto.

I'm a Software Engineer with MDA (of the Canadarm, Canadarm2 and the Radarsat fame). I'm hiring fresh grads into my team at roughly mid 40K mark. As for top end, where do you want to start? Principal Engineers in MDA earn around $100K to $120K range. Senior Engineers here make roughly $80K to $90K.

 

[AlanY]

It's not the cost as much as the time commitment and sacrifices that makes it harder to go back to school as you get older. Most quality engineering master's degree programs are full-time, though you may luck out and live in a city with a university that has a decent evening program. It's much easier to do an evening MBA later in life, if that's your inclination. That's a different career path.

 

[Orpheus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pne guys you are getting it all wrong, its not all about the numbers. While engineering isn't my first choice for a career, I can see myself doing it because I've always been a very mechanically inclined person. If the wages I posted do stand however, I would enjoy being a technician or mechanic much more. However if the top is 130k I will definately continue on. Thanks for the encouragement guys.

yeah, i dunno how canada compares with america... but i do know that my company, which has offices worldwide (literally) has a pay scale. and for technical jobs like engineering, level 1 is 45k-75k american $. that's entry level. when you get to your 40s, you will be level 3 if you suck, and i forgot, but i believe that's somewhere like 60-100k. but most will be 4-5, which is much more. but of course, engineering is pretty competitive as well. my dad's a civil engineer, with a phd, and he got laid off 2 time i believe. maybe 3. so, job security isn't always there. there are plenty of easier jobs that make more money and are more secure (pharmacist, dentist, hell... even nursing.)

but good luck in whatever you choose man.

oh, ...forgot, maybe it's significant to you, but level 4-5 is pretty much management level. there's fewer pure technical avenues of promotion. so, be prepared to do less technical work and more business/management as you work yourself up. otherwise you might be one of those stuck at level 3 forever.

 

[bobeau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sionghchan I'm hiring fresh grads into my team at roughly mid 40K mark. As for top end, where do you want to start? Principal Engineers in MDA earn around $100K to $120K range. Senior Engineers here make roughly $80K to $90K.

That's pretty much spot on for salaries here in San Diego (in US dollars though).

 

[Elec]

I'm a computer/network guy (software/network engineer, if you like) and I make pretty good money. My ex is a mechanical engineer and she works for Boeing. Right out of school she made more than I do. I've been working about 4 months and she's coming up on 2 years, but I think she's making at least 25% more than I am. The money CAN be good for engineers, and that first link posted was only from the 16th to 66th percentile. So that 51k was not a max, it was 2/3 of the max for that job in that area, which still seems low to me.

 

[sgrossklass]

EE student here - 4 semesters done, at least 5 (likely 6) more to go. (And still sooo much to learn...) Not quite clear on what I'll be doing in the future - maybe classic RF stuff, maybe something in the direction of field theory, that signal processing stuff doesn't seem too bad either (it's just that I'm not exactly a programming nut and still need to take some C), and last but not least audio isn't too boring either. Working on harddrives or DACs or fancy communications receivers would be pretty cool. As for the money, I don't really care since it can pretty much only be more than I have now - Team Broke, you know.

 

[rreynol]

Computer Engineer here. BS in '02, MS in '04.

 

[klemchang]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chesebert Go Blue anyone?

Hail to the Victors!

Another wolverine here, though still fighting hard for my PhD in mechanical engineering.

Let's GO BLUE!