Do engineers not make good money anymore?
- Thread starter The motor guy
- Start date
What is your eventual goal / career field to work in after getting your ME degree ?
At the large govt contractor I work for, my official title is Senior Mechanical Engineer. I never went to Engineering School, and I don't have a degree in anything. I parlayed a trade I learned in high school into a career through hard work, persistence, scratching, clawing, and never, ever giving up. I've been at it for 32 years. I make decent money but nowhere near what I would be making at this point in my career if I had gone to engineering school, and then worked my way up to an upper management role.
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I'm at the ripe old age of 44 so I grew up in "simpler times" lol...the cost of EVERYTHING is so much more. Not that it is required but we all have some combination of a cable/internet/phone package, a cell phone plan with multiple phones on it, etc. Bills that didn't exist 30+ years ago.
Electricity is much higher compared to what it used to be as is fuel for our cars and our homes for heat. Health insurance is much higher, car insurance and homeowners insurance is much higher, taxes, real estate values, etc. The cost to live a comfortable life with modern amenities is considerably higher than it was 30 years ago. The average wage has not kept up with the cost of living, at all.
I'm an Electrical Engineer working in the Aerospace industry. I make good money....but it sure doesn't feel like it! My house is old and nothing fancy, I drive my cars until they run into the ground and can barely spend on the hobbies I enjoy.
My student loans (that I am still paying) are the same as many peoples mortgages. Add a wife with some health issues that is no longer working and a couple kids and my "good" salary just doesn't stretch as much as it used to.
So moral of the story...Engineers make plenty of money, but the cost of living of living has gone up so much that it doesn't feel like it!
And in MA I can agree on the child care costs. My kids have been out of child care for 4 years but when both of them were in at the same time it cost $600/wk...and that was for 4 days....way out in the suburbs!! The same place 4 years later costs $900 for two kids for the entire week now!
Electricity is much higher compared to what it used to be as is fuel for our cars and our homes for heat. Health insurance is much higher, car insurance and homeowners insurance is much higher, taxes, real estate values, etc. The cost to live a comfortable life with modern amenities is considerably higher than it was 30 years ago. The average wage has not kept up with the cost of living, at all.
I'm an Electrical Engineer working in the Aerospace industry. I make good money....but it sure doesn't feel like it! My house is old and nothing fancy, I drive my cars until they run into the ground and can barely spend on the hobbies I enjoy.
My student loans (that I am still paying) are the same as many peoples mortgages. Add a wife with some health issues that is no longer working and a couple kids and my "good" salary just doesn't stretch as much as it used to.
So moral of the story...Engineers make plenty of money, but the cost of living of living has gone up so much that it doesn't feel like it!
And in MA I can agree on the child care costs. My kids have been out of child care for 4 years but when both of them were in at the same time it cost $600/wk...and that was for 4 days....way out in the suburbs!! The same place 4 years later costs $900 for two kids for the entire week now!
Automotive and manufacturing are my true passions, so I'd love to work in the automotive sector. However, I also like heavy equipment and power generation systems, so I wouldn't pass up a good opportunity in one of those fields.
