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A common thing amongst most of those are extremely steep requirements for entry level low wage positions.
Woo hoo, a bachelors degree to make a median wage of 34,000 as an accounting clerk. Just what I always dreamed about. Then I can look forward to a ceiling of about 50k without a masters degree, and an expensive certification I have to keep dumping money into every year with CE credits.
A common thing amongst most of those are extremely steep requirements for entry level low wage positions.
Woo hoo, a bachelors degree to make a median wage of 34,000 as an accounting clerk. Just what I always dreamed about. Then I can look forward to a ceiling of about 50k without a masters degree, and an expensive certification I have to keep dumping money into every year with CE credits.
This is not for you ... but someone will take it and be happy
and live and pay there own way through life ! ! !
.
Depending on where you live, $34,000 is a joke. In some areas in this country, you cannot live on 34 grand. It's not because people are overspending, it's because to even find a place to live that is not in the ghetto, you'll eat your entire 34 grand salary per year. That's a ridiculous amount to pay someone who has the education and specialty to be in that line of work.
With regard to engineering, to break it down a bit more:
1) Aerospace is close to dead. Unless you've had the opportunity to intern at Boeing or similar, it is brutal to try to get into this field because of the experience requirements.
2) Transportation / automotive: Doing okay. Again, often steep, industry specific requirements, but still a reasonable number of job postings.
3) Defense: Sequestration and a financially broke nation - not much more to say there.
4) Biomedical: The next big thing.
5) Consumer goods: Most have been very heavily off-shored, though you'll find a few bright spots here and there.
As for fields, Software and Systems are in high demand. Electrical engineering is mid-level (I think Civil is in this group, too). Mechanical and Manufacturing are low to mid, and Chemical and Materials engineering are probably the hardest engineering majors to find a job in these days. This is just based upon the job postings I've seen while looking for work, but it is worth keeping in mind for folks heading to college.
A common thing amongst most of those are extremely steep requirements for entry level low wage positions.
Woo hoo, a bachelors degree to make a median wage of 34,000 as an accounting clerk. Just what I always dreamed about. Then I can look forward to a ceiling of about 50k without a masters degree, and an expensive certification I have to keep dumping money into every year with CE credits.
You left part out....
Quote:
These workers earned a median annual income of more than $34,000, while the median for auditors and accountants was almost $62,000.
The article is full of BS! If engineers are in high demand, why am I unemployed for nearly 4 years now? I have some experience, a top 6 college degree, and a good broad skillset.
And I think civil eng is dead, it's a similar industry to architecture which took a big hit in this recession.
IT is being outsourced to many H1Bs. Let companies cry for IT workers when they don't support American IT workers! I'm glad I didn't switch to an IT career when I was swayed by the Dot com era around 2000!
If you notice there are a lot of comments on that web page article. Many Engr comments too about being unemployed or underemployed. A lot of people are suffering.
If America continues with high corporate profits at the expense of low wages to all type of workers, then America will be another third world country, - just like the Philippines.
Being Filipino, sometimes I thought about living and working in the Philippines, but wages are too low there and there are no jobs there for a Product Design Mechanical Engineer.
Jesse69: From one mechanical engineer to another, I wouldn't say it is a "white man's position" - The real problem is that company leaders happily hire and retain nitwits thanks to connections and appearances. In some industries, this may give the impression of racism, but I think what you're really seeing is cronyism... not that it's excusable, but there is a technical distinction... for one thing, cronyism (sadly) is not against the law...
I graduated 3rd in my class, don't even have a speeding ticket to my name, and was a top-notch worker at my former employer. And yet I'm the one out of work, while people who kept their jobs include: managers who physically attacked other employees, "engineers" who barely bothered to show up for work, more "engineers" who didn't know how to use any of the tools required to do their job and who regularly designed products that caught fire, and managers who vandalize private property and the offices of their rivals.
What do all these useless scum have in common? Every last one of them was connected to some nitwit in power, and thus rendered completely immune to the consequences of their actions. Suckers like me, however, thought that working hard and helping other people would ensure a long and successful career - I guess I learned my lesson... and the same nonsense goes on at most companies to various levels. They'll hire the boss's son (who may not know his right hand from his left), or a good-looking bimbo, but not the guy who's out of work but qualified and eager to learn.
So, it's more about connections than race, IMHO, although that is small comfort. Add in the massive off-shoring of jobs relating to manufacturing, and it is no wonder that engineering is not the good career field it was once.
Good luck.
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