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In Silicon Valley, my secretary earns about 65K before overtime. (All the secretaries have BA degrees, to the best of my knowledge, althought there probably is an exception to the rule somewhere.)
But did the secretary just graduate? Or does she have some experience?
Of course it's possible to make 65k with experience. But it's hard to make 65k right out of college.
Besides, you live in an expensive area (possibly the most expensive part of the country)
You may find that under $20k may be all there is in ones field. I was hoping for $40k for my first year of my first "professional" job (as a graphic designer). Boy, what a shock,,,,,, when the only job offered paid 6 bucks an hour to start (it did quickly go to $8) with crappy benefits. Six dollars an hour falls far short of 20k. And I was lucky, most of the other people in my class had to work freelance, temporary type jobs for the first couple of years after school before they got crummy low pay full time gigs. I had been making far more money part time during school doing maintenance work.
The thing is, all these schools with art programs(not just the for-profits) are still telling people that graphic design jobs pay $30k and up to start and $60k for more experienced people. They do not, not even in Chicago or New York, hardly low cost areas. I have never met a designer that made anywhere near that (and I live near Chicago, a major market for graphic artists). Never the less I never made much money as a graphic designer the almost ten years I did it. I loved doing the work, but it never paid the bills. I now work in real estate where I can earn more in one day (not that the money is all that great lately) then for a couple of months doing design.
I tell all grads that the shock is going to hurt because the vast majority will earn FAR LESS then they are hoping for. If you get more then what you are hoping for consider yourself lucky because you are the exception not the rule. One has to be in something like computers to be the exception, degrees in the humanities or the arts will only get very low pay and that is if you can even find a job in your field.
Reality can really suck sometimes.
What year did you graduate? Obviously 20k in 1980 was different than 20k now.
What year did you graduate? Obviously 20k in 1980 was different than 20k now.
It really depends what your degree is in. I know I took a 1 hour survey class on job search strategies in undergrad in the business school and they had recruiters come in every week to discuss interview strategies, what to expect, etc. and they all said starting salaries in business areas was low 30s, high 30s if you are lucky and this was in 2006, before the economy took a downfall.
I think starting in the mid to high 20s is realistic for some degrees.
It really depends what your degree is in. I know I took a 1 hour survey class on job search strategies in undergrad in the business school and they had recruiters come in every week to discuss interview strategies, what to expect, etc. and they all said starting salaries in business areas was low 30s, high 30s if you are lucky and this was in 2006, before the economy took a downfall.
I think starting in the mid to high 20s is realistic for some degrees.
Yeah, but I think there's a big difference between 20k and mid to high 20s
I think I might make in the high 20s when I graduate. But I wouldn't want 20k
20k is hard to live on. When we're talking about salaries this low, the difference between 20k and high 20s can be significant
I'm starting to think that I keep choosing the wrong majors/careers since everybody is claiming that they will start so high, unless I am undervaluing my future career.
I'm starting to think that I keep choosing the wrong majors/careers since everybody is claiming that they will start so high, unless I am undervaluing my future career.
I'm expecting in the 40-60k range for my first job, probably on the lower end at first. My major is Electrical Engineering and the fact that I haven't any experience will probably be a detriment to finding a good position for myself.
About to graduate soon with a B.S in Computer Engineering. I was expecting 55-60k but accepted an offer of about 70k. Kind makes me wished I gave more effort in classes as some of my friends are getting 80k+.
But did the secretary just graduate? Or does she have some experience?
Of course it's possible to make 65k with experience. But it's hard to make 65k right out of college.
Besides, you live in an expensive area (possibly the most expensive part of the country)
It is not uncommon for tech, engineering, or defense industries. The company I started working for gives BS grads 59k starting, and MS grads 65k. With additional work experience, it would be even higher. Those figures were last year's when I started. It increases every year.
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