Occupation and income - in the real world

[Munch]

I have an 18 year old, about to graduate. He's primed for college, but I think he reads all the scary stuff out on the internet. Some is good / some is bad. It started a discussion around what people really earn for a living. US News & World came out with their 2014 list: http://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/rankings/the-100-best-jobs but it's hard to understand those numbers when it's averaged.

So I'm curious what occupations do you have first knowledge of, and what sorta background on it? Doesn't have to be you if you don't want to share specifics.

At my company, we have senior Microsoft Developers earning $130,000/year 10+ years experience Web and DB. We have senior Business Analysts earning $95,000/year 10+ years experience in Court Systems.

 

[Craigar]

I know aprentiship not knowing much $15
c level mechanics at my work start around $17 hour
B level start around $20
A level around $23.50
Journeymen around $25 hour
Specialist start Around $27 hour

 

[charleshardy5]

I went to college straight out of high school and for me I feel like it was a mistake. I dropped out at 20 and joined the Army. 8 years and a solid job later I am going back to school now on the government's dime. For someone like me, who was on the fence about what I wanted to do with life the Army was a great option. Has its downsides yes, being gone all the time, but its definitely an experience I wouldn't trade for anything. Plus it gave me the time I needed to get my life in order and decide exactly what I would like to do as a career. So now im enrolled full time at colorado technical university studying networking and systems security and still doing Army part time in the reserves. Its not a bad gig

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[Munch]

So what's a typical workweek for a mechanic, 40 hours? Or does OT come into play? So specialist working 40 hours a week, 2080 - a year puts it at mid $55k/yr give or take

 

[Munch]

I went to college straight out of high school and for me I feel like it was a mistake. I dropped out at 20 and joined the Army. 8 years and a solid job later I am going back to school now on the government's dime. For someone like me, who was on the fence about what I wanted to do with life the Army was a great option. Has its downsides yes, being gone all the time, but its definitely an experience I wouldn't trade for anything. Plus it gave me the time I needed to get my life in order and decide exactly what I would like to do as a career. So now im enrolled full time at colorado technical university studying networking and systems security and still doing Army part time in the reserves. Its not a bad gig

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I agree, while I went straight to college, 20 years ago, things were different. The thought of graduating with 100k in debt and then digging out is a scary proposition. For example, tuition, room and board at CU Boulder is $30k a year.

 

[charleshardy5]

I was a mechanic in the army lol. I think at 8 years I was making 40k a year as an E5. The pay isn't spectacular but you habe to consider other things like not having to pay for healthcare and housing. Its all included too

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[Craigar]

Occupation and income - in the real world

So what's a typical workweek for a mechanic, 40 hours? Or does OT come into play? So specialist working 40 hours a week, 2080 - a year puts it at mid $55k/yr give or take

Normally mechanics work 40-50 hours.
You get 3 percent minimum raise per year

Last year I averaged 53 hours per week

 

[Craigar]

Then after you have been here for a while there's multiple avenues you can go into and we have our own training Instatute and you can take a ton of classes. Cat is a great place to work

 

[Haddonisreef]

I was lucky and jumped into the family business, we average 48hrs a week. I know this does not happen for everyone but for me was who you know not what.....

 

[jda123]

I have two teenagers myself, so I know what you are going through.

I am a software engineer at Google, so you have a pretty good handle on that.

What that article doesn't tell you can get you hurt. If your kid is going to be very successful, then he needs to 1). have the self awareness to know what he wants and 2). the skills to go and get it (resolve, ability to dig in and learn new things even on your own). These two things are hard to come by and most people end up just doing what they know, or stumble into, until they figure it out.

The most successful people that I have ever met know exactly who they are and what they want, don't love their job, but do love something about it (meeting people, deliver/building things, seeing places, etc.), know where they fit into the industry, know when to take risks or get out and, maybe most importantly, will roll up their sleeves and grab a shovel when the manure truck dumps a load that needs worked. If you have these skills, you will be VERY successful in life. Of course, these are harder to learn and teach than just saying "go to dental school."

Lastly, job is only one part of the equation to success, but spending money (or not spending it) is more important than making it. You don't have to print money at home to become very wealthy and have great security, but you do have to watch what you spend it on. IMO, this skill is more important than getting a career, IMO. The book is over 20 years old, but see if you can get him to read a bit in "The Millionaire Next Door."

 

[Balz3352]

Healthcare is usually a good option if that's what he's into. I personally think that boulder is a waste of money. I did half of my schooling at UCD and payed for all of those three years on my own.

 

[Ghxst]

Save him 50 years of misery and let him know life is much more important than making money. Have him find something he will love doing the rest of his life even if it takes years to figure it out, hopefully before he graduates. Economies come and go, passion for life and whats around us has always been a human motivation, our teleology so to speak.

There has been a drive and need for more science based degrees, with all this new tech we need smart people to apply it in intellectual interdisciplinary ways. There are a few great websites you can look up the current and projected job statistics including starting wage for particular jobs fields.

Hope you guys get it worked out, I had to chime in cause my brother, 21, just figured out what he is doing. He loves it and I've never seen him so happy now although he had a difficult time figuring it out. We tend to forget our brain isn't nearly being fully developed at that age to make such a big a life choice.

 

[zombie]

If hes good at math, engineering works out real well. Starting 50-80k, mid career 90-140k, senior 100-200k.

Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe and not make messes in the house. -robert heinlein

 

[Munch]

Electrical? Chemical? Geo?

 

[Blindrage]

The biggest thing about college today is to avoid the "soft" degrees. It used to be that having a BS proved you could learn just about anything, so an Art, Lit, or PolySci major could get a good job. That is no longer true of most employers. They now want degrees in useful subjects. Computer Science, Engineering, etc. Even for technology management firms they are now looking for technology degrees first, and an MBA on top of it for the management.

The other issue is that a BS is now what a high school diploma used to be. Even jobs that should never require a degree of any type are only looking at people with a BS because there are so many of them looking for work and they will take the same pay as a scrub right out of HS. Heck, the news is even reporting that traditional summer jobs for kids still in HS are being taken by people with degrees, because you have to do something to pay back all those student loans.

As far as income, my company is hiring right out of CU Boulder for people with engineering degrees for $50k-70k a year depending on how much SAN background they have. It is pretty easy to get up to around $100k a year, but gets much tougher to go over that unless you are willing to move to San Jose and work at the HQ building.

Good luck, and have him decide what interests him before he registers for the first class. It may change, but go in with a plan.

Edit, quick note: I started out as Computer Science, but my Dean talked me into switching to EE. His thought, "An EE can do anything in the computer field or beyond. A CS major is a programmer or maybe a project manager pretty much exclusively." Of course I went back and got my Masters in CS because I just love that stuff.

 

[jahmic]

I've been in healthcare forever. Wasted some money going to grad school and dropped out right before finishing my thesis and a couple credits because I ran out of money. With a BS and 35 grad school credits, I started in clinical research about 6 years ago.

Starting salaries are usually 40k-50k as long as you were wise during school and did some internships to gain just a touch of experience. The field is growing, and jobs are somewhat plentiful...but competition can be stiff depending on the location.

There are several positions that you can move into after 3-5 years in the field...for example, if you like travel, CRA positions will have you working regionally or nationally and pay 60-80k. They also offer home based positions in the lower end of that range for CRA. The other option is project management, but those positions usually take closer to 6-8 years. They typically pay 65k+ depending on who you end up working for. You also have the option of working from a home office after a few years in that position...and with 5+ years under your belt as a PM in a smaller company, large pharma companies easily pay 90k+ for Senior project management positions.

All that being said. My best advice is for him to be smart about pursuing a degree, and minimize the debt as much as he can. I had half my tuition covered by scholarships and grants in undergrad...and still came out in the hole big time because of where I chose to go to school. I turned down a free ride to a less prestigious school...because at that age, the financial side of things really was new to me and not a huge concern. The market definitely took a turn since I started school in 99, but that's beside the point. Looking back, my education prepared me well, and the name of my school undoubtedly opened some doors as my resume was shuffled to the top of the pile...but at this point, although I'm passionate about my work, I'm working to pay off a debt.

There's a lot to be said about freedom. If 5 years after graduating you want a career change and have to start at the bottom of the ladder...it's much easier to do when you are almost debt free and have less to worry about financially. What he's passionate about now could change in another 4 years...or possibly sooner. I switched degrees 3 times in undergrad before I was able to really pinpoint what I wanted to do...and made 2 career changes even after graduation.

 

[Miah2bzy]

I worked for chick-fil-a as manager. Started at 10/hr and moved to 15 plus profit sharing. It's not a franchise and u can work ur way from any position to operator if u have the drive. Was going to work as a grand opening supervisor and then to operator but moved in a different direction. I learned a lot there that I still use today and would highly recommend someone starting out to start there.
They also do scholarships for employees to go to college after they put in so many hours.
I loved working there and can't speak enough about how great a company it is. Store openings are posted on their website.
One in Greeley next week and one in centennial in April. Openings r a great way to get started with them.
I know many operators who started as breaders or cashiers and now they r running stores.


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[jda123]

Another thought: even 3-5 years ago, this did not matter, but now I have seen a lot of companies who care about where you go to school. Before a BS from just about any school was an accomplishment and could get you in the door. I guess that it is only natural with so many more people getting degrees... and from all kinds of sources. This is along the lines of what blindrage is saying about type of degree, which I am in total agreement with, but also where you go. I am pushing my kids to get a meaningful degree from a college that anybody in the US, who pays attention, has heard of... I am not really down with this because you can get great people come from everywhere, but it is important to the best companies. What I have seen in the last few years is even breaking the school down by degree - a school might be OK to Good in Engineering and Journalism, but badly rated in Business, or so. Each company will do this differently, but please do not think that they are starting to do it... or will not continue to do it more. I could go with this for hours, so sorry about the long post.

 

[Miah2bzy]

Definitely shop around for schools. I found a school 2 years in that gave me a full ride because it was a small college that only had students from 2 states and I was from outside their area. Got a full ride for being from co and was part of their "outreach" program. Still paying off my first 2 years 10 years later.


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[zombie]

Electrical? Chemical? Geo?

Similar for all of them, but chemical petroleum and electrical tend to make a bit more than mechanical civil geo and encironmental. The pay is close enough that interest in a certain topic is MUCH more important than what pays the most.

Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe and not make messes in the house. -robert heinlein