Posted on 03/13/2010 5:59:10 AM PST by reaganaut1
New college graduates may be entering the worst job market in decades, but there are still some majors that pay off—and all of them are in the applied sciences.
A new report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers finds that eight of the top 10 best-paid majors are in engineering, with petroleum engineering topping off the list at $86,220.
"Petroleum engineering has been at the top for the last three years," said Edwin Koc, director of strategic and foundation research at NACE. "The oil industry for the last couple of years has been a bit more active and a bit better off than some of the other sectors. Texas had a better employment picture than other locations, and a lot of the [petroleum engineering job] offers came out of Texas schools."
Computer science was the fourth most lucrative degree, with graduates starting at $61,205 on average. The average salary for computer science majors has increased by at least 5% each year since 2007, said Mr. Koc.
The other non-engineering major in the top ten is information sciences and systems, with an average starting salary of $54,038. According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, this field will add 155,800 jobs between 2008 and 2018, an increase of 53.4%, the second fastest growing career in the data the BLS offers and well above the average job growth for all professions of 10.1%
The BLS projects biomedical engineering jobs to increase by an astounding 72%--the top-growing field--from 16,000 in 2008 to 27,600 in 2018. The NACE survey did not record enough offers for jobs in this field to include it in the top ten, but Mr. Koc said that the major commands a salary comparable to chemical engineering, $65,142.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
“Went to an Engineering Conference last week and was around a bunch of engineers for the first time in months and was shocked at how awkward they were. The people I work with at Wal-mart, the fitness center, and even the people at the Library I’m at as a Census worker seem to be nicer. “
Next time you apply for an engineering job, try not pointing at your prospective employers face while yelling “Nazi Pig!”.
You may also find work teaching engineers how to dance, maintain proper hygiene, and dress stylishly.
“I’m shocked that graduates with degrees in Peace and Environmental Studies (an actual degree from a known university...a friend’s daughter has one), Womyn’s Studies and other PC studies aren’t top of the list. However, anyone with a degree in community organizing probably has a six figure government job in the Obama administration.”
The joke around my campus is that people undertaking those sorts of degrees {especially liberal arts} are destined to jobs that involve asking “do you want fries with that?” :^)
“There’s also a limit to how much PC crap professors can smuggle into math, science, and engineering classes. (And the professors keenest to do this will be teaching subjects like sociology.)”
None of the PC crap professors are smart enough to have succeeded in the real sciences that are the backbone of an engineering degree.
PE right here!
Your engineers will have very successful careers. Their varied skills and interests are what will open up the opportunities. (I am assuming that they are early in their careers)
The “high functioning autistics (LOL)” that a previous poster described still have a place in engineering but are usually found in R&D.
Those that venture into the world of “operations” won’t be as successful without additional skills. The need to communicate with multiple audiences of different levels of technical understanding is key.
“None of the PC crap professors are smart enough to have succeeded in the real sciences that are the backbone of an engineering degree.”
In my engineering campus they don’t even try because we (postgrad students) are quick to call on them to back up with hard data, and they don’t want to be embarrassed in front of their students.
I’ve been an engineer for 31 years.......
At the university where my children studied, first-year engineering was jokingly called “pre-business.”
With advances in technology over the past few decades, the body of knowledge required for an engineering degree makes the curriculum brutal. Those high salaries are an indication of how much these grads must know to do the job.
There were so many engineering dropouts that the business school actually raised transfer requirements so that now it is very difficult to gain admission unless a student applies as an incoming freshman. True story, and great school.
Any of you unemployed engineers send me a resume. Westinghouse is hiring and is in dire need of experienced engineers. We have several thousand fresh college grads needing mentors. Offices in Cranberry, PA, Charlotte NC, Chicago, IL, Dallas TX, San Jose CA, Windsor CT.
PM me for email address.
Quite a few of my mechanical engineering friends are out of a job right now. Same with many civil E’s.
A guy from India can do the job for pennies on the dollar for what an American can.
Hasn’t hit chemical engineering as hard yet, but it is coming.
I'm still an engineer after 30 years. Some engineers move into sales or management after a few years, which does not mean they are on the street and Unemployable.
Beat me to it!!
In the office, you can be a bit sheltered and awkward. On the floor, the guys will eat you alive if you come across as a reject from “Revenge of the Nerds”.
Granted, that doesn't mean you will communicate in the most technical way. I can't talk about an evaporator to a high school grad like I would to another engineer.
Engineering ping!!
Your exposure is apparently very limited.
Or maybe your “few family members” indicate that your insensitivity is just a genetic problem.
Before other engineers get jealous of the significantly higher salary, be aware that the job may involve travel to, and living in, uncomfortable places for extended periods of time.
There, fixed it.
The only English major at my plant is the HR guy.
And he only talks about strippers, baseball, and how much he can drink.
Very odd duck.
If you can apply EE with RF, which I can assure isn’t done, those numbers move quite well. Keep in mind it is a lot of hard work to get these disciplines. Most do not have the drive.
When I earned my Chemical Engineering degree more than 40 years ago we weren’t subjected to so much of the PC stuff. I even took a number of courses as electives that would be considered ‘liberal arts’ today. Even there we did not have the PC crap.
“Some engineers move into sales or management after a few years, which does not mean they are on the street and Unemployable.”
I agree whole heartedly with the moving on portion of your statement. Especially as a career progresses.
As an engineer, wife of an engineer and sister to 3 engineers with long careers the results have covered the spectrum. Those that stayed in engineering, moved into management or moved on to own small businesses;
The foundation of an engineering degree opens many doors of opportunity.
Love It!
Hell yeah! GO PACK!
As an electrical engineer and employer I could not agree more about English speaking and writing skills being super-critical. The sharpest engineer in the world can do our company as much harm as good if he/she has poor communication skills (and the communication skills coming out of our public school system today border on the semi-literate!).
It is funny how the grass is always greener on the other side. My coworker who is one level above me never stops complaining about our company and his position. He, like me, has been to a bunch of different companies and has been laid off before like me. He keeps saying he can do better starting his own business.
I, on the other hand, am very thankful for my job, and I just pray that I can keep it for another 15 years. I would like to make more money, and I have seen individuals with less experience promoted over me, but, overall I feel blessed to be where I am.
I have been a Mechanical Engineer for 25 years (Purdue, 1984). While I probably would have done something different given the chance (Actuarial Science and/or Finance), I do love my job.
I’ve got a lot of respect for NCSU. I was able to pull info from their ChemE website that helped me get through my Separations class.
One thing I find very interesting is that Science majors (in general) are not on this list. I wonder where Applied Physics, Chemistry, and Biochemistry fit in. I am also surprised that Accounting and Finance are not on the list.
True, but how long can you be an engineer? The carrer path can be very short.
Is there a career you can name where the path can’t be very short?
My goodness. It appears my exposure isn't as limited as you seem to suppose.
That's good to know.
Probably in Klingon... ;)
I don't care who you are, that's funny!
1. 1”
2. ‘69 Chevelle
3. None, my uncle ain’t making no rotgut
4. A case
5. Zero
6. None if by night, three if by day
7. Yes
8. 1:1
9. Six
10. Three generations longer than it took to breed them rappers
Hey, for me -- as is usually the case for enginers -- it was that difficult choice between engineering, professional football, or porn star.
But engineering is more glamorous.
There's some truth to the charge, though. Isn't there a moral component to the projects we do? And how many of us will rationalize them away because the project is flat-out cool?
And I will suggest to you that engineers do tend to be more naive than most, when it comes to political or interpersonal matters. No doubt you've heard as often as I have an engineer introducing some political idea with, "if everybody would just...", as if human behavior is as easily understood, predicted, and controlled as a thermostat.
My son has a degree in English, and makes a very good living as an engineer.
Without engineers we would still be in the stone age. Without English majors we ... uh .. hmm.. wait...ahh... would anyone notice?
IMO if he didn’t receive classical Engineering Education he is no Engineer. It’s a free country you can call yourself anything you want.
33 years here, never missed a day I wanted to work but have had several employers, most changes by choice others not. Now I have clients. You survive by your wits and your skills, your reputation and your work ethic. It is true that it can be a very volatile career path much more so since the fall of the industrial era in the US.
I’ll probably keep working as long as I can. I’m one of the lucky people who really like what I do and a little fate hasn’t hurt either.
A good engineer has to keep his eyes on technology, economics, politics (our biggest threats are regulations imposed by people who know little), people and communications. You have to constantly sell ideas and technical solutions to people who hold the purse strings of the business. These people are mostly light years removed from details and have no time for them either. As an engineer you have to craft your communications for economy to hit the critical issues for the business. Some of us also are challenged to complete our ideas by getting others to help build them, people who need to be led.
My father was an engineering professor and then a practicing engineer for 39 years. I still have the little brochure he used in his introduction to engineering class for Freshmen it said: “Engineering is the application of physical principals to economic ends.”
As for autistic klingons, I am the least artsy of the three generations of we engineers...Pop could play just about any musical instrument by ear, he painted and wrote poetry but only for Mom, he also marked up reports by diagramming sentences. He managed up to 350 people at a time (he was great at managing by wandering around as he called it) and a lot of them retired when he did. My son has two engineering degrees, was state finalist in classical clarinet, speaks French and German fluently, doesn’t really care what you say or think so long as it is grammatically correct, can fix just about anything from air conditioners to airplanes, is very athletic and seems to have a pretty good time while making a good living.
The "hard sciences" (I am including the "liberal arts" of mathematics) require at minimum two years of foundation courses with a certain degree of attrition.
“There’s some truth to the charge, though.”
No, there is no truth to the charge. Bring evidence.
“And I will suggest to you that engineers do tend to be more naive than most, when it comes to political or interpersonal matters.”
I would say some are idealistic - but not sure it is because they are engineers. Before the present administration you could use Jimmy Carter - engineer - as an object lesson on your point, but he is no longer the worst president ever, and Obama is not an engineer.
“No doubt you’ve heard as often as I have an engineer introducing some political idea with, “if everybody would just...””
You must be kidding. An engineer *might* say “if everybody would just...” but a non-engineer will say “Everybody has to, under penalty of....” just like the Obamanoids are saying about nationalized health care.
What is more naive? What is more Nazi-like?
Not to belabor the Nazi point, but Hitler wanted to be an artist. He wasn’t an engineer.
So Liberal Arts folks WERE in actual fact Nazis.
Of course, that the previous point is true doesn’t minimize the stupidity of the statement - and the equal stupidity of the same statement applied to engineers.
Now, back to my work on the molecular vaporizer - to be used for peaceful toxic-waste disposal purposes only, of course.....
I manage both engineers and scientists (chemistry and biology degrees) based on market value they are paid 25%-30% less then the mechanical and chemical engineers on my team. (Similar years of experience in their respective fields)
“It’s a free country you can call yourself anything you want.”
Actually, technically, you can’t call yourself an “Engineer” unless you are a registered professional engineer. That is established law in every state - but isn’t often enforced, and sometimes excepted for “internal titles” within companies.
Starting salary of a liberal-arts major: $23,239
The half-life of an EE is roughly 5 years. A few make it through to the end of their careers.
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