Must lucrative college degrees - Page 4

Ted Striker · May 9, 2003, 01:30

EE's can do anything technical

Though I agree it's soooo dry...

loinburger · May 9, 2003, 01:32

I showed the link to the CS people in the lab today, and they were pretty incredulous about CS being in second place. 'Course, they're all Indians (except for the Taiwanese guy, and the girl from Bangladesh (which you should not mistake for India, though the mistake will not get you castrated as quickly as it would were she from Pakistan)), so their "salary sense" might be a bit off yet. They were duly upset over EE being in first place, though, since the EE people are all ****ers.

loinburger · May 9, 2003, 01:33

It's ****ing incredible that they censor out "****." I suppose I ought to have said "EE people are all chronic masturbators."

Frogman · May 9, 2003, 01:41

I majored in Chemical Engineering 20 years ago. At the time the average salary starting out was 27k. Now I make 110k but I'm in sales and not really doing engineering. One field not enough people think about is sales. I sell chemicals and anyone with a chemistry or chem eng. background and 5 years experience can bring down 60k in sales. You're not stuck behind a desk, you visit all sorts of different companies, and really learn whats out there.

I thought I'd go back for an MBA but I'm glad I didn't. I wouldn't trade 40 hours in a cubicle for the office in my home.

The issue for me now is what advice to give my 17 year old daughter. No math or science for her she says though she does well in it. Its a little tougher with girls, they got the family life thing to consider more than the guys do. Whats a good major for girls who want to raise a family at the same time or have something to go back to? She's thinking about law.

Kramerman · May 9, 2003, 01:55

anyone know anything about architecture and its lucrativeness right out of college?

Victor Galis · May 9, 2003, 02:19

Well, at least there's still some money in CS, and with luck I'll be employed for the summer in the next couple days.

Kidicious · May 9, 2003, 02:21

Quote:

Originally posted by Frogman
The issue for me now is what advice to give my 17 year old daughter. No math or science for her she says though she does well in it. Its a little tougher with girls, they got the family life thing to consider more than the guys do. Whats a good major for girls who want to raise a family at the same time or have something to go back to? She's thinking about law.

Teaching maybe. You just tell them you won't be there next year. And you go back whenever you want.

Ted Striker · May 9, 2003, 02:23

Quote:

Originally posted by Kramerman
anyone know anything about architecture and its lucrativeness right out of college?

I think the starting salary is like in the mid 20's and the jobs aren't that plentiful.

Seems like alot of hard work for diminished returns.

If you really love it though go for it.

Kidicious · May 9, 2003, 02:25

@loinburger

More! More! More!

Worthingtons · May 9, 2003, 02:33

Frogman I'm in Sales as well (Part time,and not hard sales at that), although I dont quite agree with your reccomendations.

Sales is something most people with just a bit of Charisma can suceed at. Sure, if you're good at it then you're not going to be poor, but the extra pay is because salesmen work damned hard for it!!, and you also have to arselick somewhat too, which i absolutly hate doing.

I Choose my options of what to study later today (I have a choice of Accounting,Business and Marketing , either Joint , Major/Minor or Minor/Minor/Minor). As I will probably choose Marketing (I know i shoudnt be making that decision today!!) I guess Sales is something I wont be likely to leave for sometime.

Urban Ranger · May 9, 2003, 07:32

Quote:

Originally posted by Kramerman
anyone know anything about architecture and its lucrativeness right out of college?

Architecture is more of an art than anything else. You will end up as a draughtsman right out of college, which is pretty boring work. You need to get a license to go anywhere, but it's also the same with engineering. You need to be a PE to bring in serious $.

It is potentially a very lucrative field, but you have to be the best of the best, like Frank Lloyd Wright or I.M. Pei. If you don't have what it takes, you'd better off to be an engineer.

A dog boring job that makes serious money is actuary.

Urban Ranger · May 9, 2003, 07:35

Quote:

Originally posted by Ted Striker
EE's can do anything technical

Though I agree it's soooo dry...

ME's worse.

Jon Miller · May 9, 2003, 07:58

Quote:

Originally posted by Kramerman
What a very helpful thread!

I cant decide on a friggin major! I originally was planning on aerospace engineering, but several months ago I started having second thoughts, and have heard many horror stories in that field.

Currently im thinking about electrical engineering, but i hear the major is one of the most difficult.

My interests are very broad, and so ill be doing what ever i end up doing because of the money. Does anyone have any suggestions for a lucrative field to go into that isnt plagued by long hours of desk work?

physics?

Jon Miller

Urban Ranger · May 9, 2003, 08:16

Quote:

Originally posted by Jon Miller
physics?

Jon Miller

1. It's not lucrative
2. You still sit behind a desk all day anyway

Jon Miller · May 9, 2003, 08:23

it is lucrative (as much so as EE)

you don't have to sit behind a desk all day (depends on what you do)

Jon Miller

JohnT · May 9, 2003, 08:34

Quote:

Originally posted by Kontiki
A huge amount depends on your personality/drive/etc.. One of my best friends from high school - who was incredibly bright, BTW - decided to totally slack off his senior year and barely graduated (again, if he applied himself even to half his ability, he could have gotten into university no problem). He was a compu-geek, but not in the programming kind of way. He got some crap job testing games at Electronic Arts, and within a few years became a producer and even designed/created/launched a top-selling game himself (well, with the help of his team at EA). He then went on to co-found a tech company, left to do some free-lance consulting work, and is now a producer at one of the top electronic ad agencies in Canada, handling Microsoft's accounts. All of this without ANY post-secondary education, but alot of drive and determination.

Kontiki gets it, or at least his friend does.

The more important thing than your major is your career path. Do you want to work for a large company your entire life? If so, are you executive material or do you want to stay in middle level positions your entire career? Do you want to be an entreprenuer somewhere down the road? Do you want to work for government, academia, or non-profit organizations?

The above are the real questions you need to think about in determining your career path.

But the real secret to success is to find something that you will want to spend 50-80 hours a week doing it, a task or a question so fascinating that you don't mind thinking about it even while off the job. One thing about successful people is that they never really turn it off... even in relaxing moments, you can always tell that there's something going on, that they are thinking about the job. If you can get into this sort of zone, and keep it for 20-40 years, you've got it made.

So my advice is this: throw away that stupid income chart and major in something that will enable you to get paid for doing stuff you love to do, even if the chart says that you are making a financially wrong choice.

Then, you ever have the opportunity to work and socialize with people in your chosen field, do so. If the history department has a dinner for people with history majors, go. If you have a chance to grab a beer with one of your departments TA, then by all means grab it. Why not apply at EA for a games tester?

In short: DON'T BE AFRAID TO TALK TO PEOPLE!!!!!

DAVOUT · May 9, 2003, 08:54

Quote:

Originally posted by Paul Hanson
I see Politics is some way down the list.

****.

But Diplomacy is out ...

Presumably replaced by the Marines Corps

:

Jeltz · May 9, 2003, 09:06

Electrical engineering $50,566?

America, I'll see you soon!

Az · May 9, 2003, 09:11

How much does a poor chemist get?

Inverse Icarus · May 9, 2003, 09:48

to quote my compsci TA: "co-op or die"

Kidicious · May 9, 2003, 11:06

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeltz
Electrical engineering $50,566?

America, I'll see you soon!

Japher · May 9, 2003, 11:13

You are so right JohnT. My dad always say do what you like and do it well, and you will never want for anything.

Also, this

Quote:

In short: DON'T BE AFRAID TO TALK TO PEOPLE!!!!!

Is soooooooo true.

Some may call it kissing butt, yet kissing butt is more than just being social.

In one of the books a just finished, can't remember tell ya when I get home, they talk about a classmate who almost flunked out school. The guy didn;t really try, and thus he got what he deserved mostly C's and D's. Yet, when that guy got his degree he was immediatly handed a sales job with a starting salary in the six figures!!!! How? He spent most of him time talking to ppl, working his way around social groups, until he found someone who was willing to give him a job... Now that's moxy

Urban Ranger · May 9, 2003, 11:18

Quote:

Originally posted by Jon Miller
it is lucrative (as much so as EE)

You are boinkers

You need a doctoral degree in physics at least to make that kind of money, while for EE all you need is the bachelor's.

Urban Ranger · May 9, 2003, 11:21

Quote:

Originally posted by JohnT
Kontiki gets it, or at least his friend does.

Nope. The real secret is luck.

Kidicious · May 9, 2003, 11:26

Quote:

Originally posted by Urban Ranger

Nope. The real secret is luck.

There's a lot to what he said about talking to people. That's what college does. It allows you to talk to people.

Urban Ranger · May 9, 2003, 11:32

That's just part of it.

Once I went to an interview with a company, whose big cheese happened to be an alumnus. Eventually I didn't get the job I applied for (tech support), but he offered me a better job (network admin) at the company he was considering creating.

Kidicious · May 9, 2003, 11:36

Quote:

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
That's just part of it.

Once I went to an interview with a company, whose big cheese happened to be an alumnus. Eventually I didn't get the job I applied for (tech support), but he offered me a better job (network admin) at the company he was considering creating.

right.

Jeltz · May 9, 2003, 11:38

Quote:

Originally posted by Kidicious

Well, actually all I'd have to do is move to Germany or UK and easily make >5/3 times the money/month that I would make here after I graduate. Being an engineer (master's level) in Finland sucks, but I shouldn't have a problem finding a job.

Frogman · May 9, 2003, 11:55

Quote:

Originally posted by Azazel
How much does a poor chemist get?

You are right to say poor chemist.

Chemists just aren't as marketable as Chemical Engineers and typically start about 15% lower.

I still say that sales is a good area to consider if you don't like being behind a desk. Most big companies have salaried sales positions and your calling on professional purchasing people. Everything has to be sold by somebody and most chemical companies or companies with technical products would rather teach sales techniques to technical people rather than teach technical information to business majors.

Coming out of school, getting a sales job will get you lots of contacts at different companies and is a great way to see whats really out there. Don't believe that there is one "sales type", all you need is honesty, reliability and some knowledge about what your selling.

Kidicious · May 9, 2003, 11:58

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeltz
Well, actually all I'd have to do is move to Germany or UK and easily make >5/3 times the money/month that I would make here after I graduate. Being an engineer (master's level) in Finland sucks, but I shouldn't have a problem finding a job.

I guess they don't need you as bad in Finland.