Is $70,000 a decent salary for new college grad? (rental car, rental)

[jade408]

Originally Posted by ezjackster

How about the fact I worked my ass off majoring in one of the hardest fields out of college... engineering. When most Americans fail college algebra.

The fact I did take two years off to do in total four paid internships at respectable fortune 500 companies. When most college students have troubles landing one internship

Also the fact, I have "computer skills" (Java, .Net, etc...) that most people, like your self, most likely don't have.

Now please **** and leave you retarded prick.


//END OF RANT for implying I have no experience.

P.S. if you must know, going to college isn't cheap. It's an investment.

I don't have rich parents to pay for my school. Though I went to a state school I have ~$30k in debt. I worked most my college career 6 years to help support my education. Don't I have the slightest right to give a @#@@ how much I'll be making after the hell going through college... to land a single piece of paper, that starts my career.

And other people work as hard as you did during college, and would be lucky to get $70k at the top of their career. You are lucky you get to walk out of college starting at $70k.

There are plenty of hardworking people who struggled to pay for college, put them selves through school and took a different, yet rewarding path (for them) that won't make as much money.

Your post (theead title) makes you sound extremely entitled. $70k is awesome for the first job out the gate. It puts you in a great financial position for the rest of your life. Be grateful. I know plenty of people my age, with master's who haven't hit that mark. Be happy that you, i assume, enjoy and excel the work that puts you in oath for a high initial salary. That is not the case for everyone. Our senior teachers top out at around $80k, amd no one can argue their jobs are not critical to our success.

What you are doing has a name: humble bragging.

[RecentGrad1]

Originally Posted by ezjackster

How about the fact I worked my ass off majoring in one of the hardest fields out of college... engineering. When most Americans fail college algebra.

The fact I did take two years off to do in total four paid internships at respectable fortune 500 companies. When most college students have troubles landing one internship

Also the fact, I have "computer skills" (Java, .Net, etc...) that most people, like your self, most likely don't have.

Now please **** and leave you retarded prick.


//END OF RANT for implying I have no experience.

P.S. if you must know, going to college isn't cheap. It's an investment.

I don't have rich parents to pay for my school. Though I went to a state school I have ~$30k in debt. I worked most my college career 6 years to help support my education. Don't I have the slightest right to give a @#@@ how much I'll be making after the hell going through college... to land a single piece of paper, that starts my career.

It sounds like we have very similar situations as recent graduates, though I didn't get a technical degree. But I am at a high-tech company, and I did put a LOT of work into internships, student projects, academic club leadership positions, etc. at my state school.

Unfortunately the business world is brutal. People don't care what you're capable of. They see you as a fresh graduate who knows nothing. Actually, they see themselves as doing a favor to you hiring you right out of college. Unfortunately they're going to want you to do something outdated such as "paying your dues" before you get serious compensation and responsibility.

So here's my advice: take the job now and put a good 1-2 years of hard work into it. And then, be up-front with the company on how well you've done and ask for a big raise. And if they don't give you what your market research says you're worth, interview elsewhere. And when you interview elsewhere, don't tell the new company how much your previous job paid - period.

Think of divulging your salary history as akin to underbidding in a salary negotiation. Just as you wouldn't want to tell a prospective employer how much you want to make, you wouldn't want to undersell yourself if your salary history was not indicative of your worth. (This goes both ways, incidentally. You similarly wouldn't want to scare off a prospective employer if your previous income was significantly higher than what you suspect they'll offer you.)

Once you get some experience on your resume, you can move on to increasing your salary and advancing your career. If you have good experience at a solid company, you can ask for a lot more at a new company than your current company will most likely pay you.

[MediocreButArrogant]

OP - don't let other people make you feel guilty for your starting salary. You're not responsible for creating the conditions that lead to high tech salaries and the current income inequality. And if salary was so important to those who are complaining, they had the option of choosing different careers.

What you are responsible for though, is maximizing your earning potential. With all of the aggressive cost managing all companies are doing, you never know when your job might be off-shored to a country with lower labor costs and you might be out of a job for a while. $70k is actually pretty low for a new grad in a development position. I haven't seen an offer under $100k for a new grad go past my desk in two years now for a development position. New grads in QE positions are in the mid to upper $80k range. So there is more money out there, though there may be valid reasons to choose a lower paying position. We recruit from the top CS schools (Stanford, MIT, CMU, Cal) including public schools (most of the UC campuses, U of W, U of I Champaign).

You probably should have gotten a stock grant equal to a year's salary when you joined too.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by jade408

And other people work as hard as you did during college, and would be lucky to get $70k at the top of their career. You are lucky you get to walk out of college starting at $70k.

There are plenty of hardworking people who struggled to pay for college, put them selves through school and took a different, yet rewarding path (for them) that won't make as much money.

Those people chose their majors the way they want, they will live with the money they make (or not make). There's no luck involved.

No point in guilt-tripping the OP for majoring in something desirable and getting paid what he/she deserves.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by ezjackster

How about the fact I worked my ass off majoring in one of the hardest fields out of college... engineering. When most Americans fail college algebra.

The fact I did take two years off to do in total four paid internships at respectable fortune 500 companies. When most college students have troubles landing one internship

Also the fact, I have "computer skills" (Java, .Net, etc...) that most people, like your self, most likely don't have.

Now please **** and leave you retarded prick.


//END OF RANT for implying I have no experience.

P.S. if you must know, going to college isn't cheap. It's an investment.

I don't have rich parents to pay for my school. Though I went to a state school I have ~$30k in debt. I worked most my college career 6 years to help support my education. Don't I have the slightest right to give a @#@@ how much I'll be making after the hell going through college... to land a single piece of paper, that starts my career.

Calm down OP. No need for the rant. Just let it slide. I'm pretty sure any of us who have gone to college knows it isn't cheap, so no need to point that out. You did great, and the salary is good, enjoy it and climb the ladder, pay no heed to the people who make snide remarks. You'll be fine

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

My employer offers the Eco Pass, which allows me to pay $35 for unlimited rides for the whole year, but HR where I work is a major pain the [expletive deleted], so I just pay $70 a month for the standard VTA monthly pass and don't deal with them.

I don't know the whole story, but on the face of it, this seems insane for someone earning at or near minimum wage.

$70 X 11 +35 = $805.

$805 * 10% discount for tax for contributing to IRA = $80. 805+80=$885.

$885 ($73.75 per month) X 30 years compounding at 8% = $110,646.00

[RecentGrad1]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

I don't know the whole story, but on the face of it, this seems insane for someone earning at or near minimum wage.

$70 X 11 +35 = $805.

$805 * 10% discount for tax for contributing to IRA = $80. 805+80=$885.

$885 ($73.75 per month) X 30 years compounding at 8% = $110,646.00

Well said. I ran this exact same analysis and determined that a yearly mass transit pass was actually quite expensive. So I just ride my bike everywhere and take the bus/light rail only where needed.

[neutrino78x]

$35 a year is cheap. I just don't want to deal with hr. Not going to get into it on here.

800 a year is also cheap compared to 5000 a year ownership of a car, including maintenance and gas.

If you have a decent job, of course, such as one requiring a college degree, you can easily afford either.

[neutrino78x]

I definitely agree with others who said if you get yourself qualified for a decent job, you are much more likely to achieve a high salary. A degree in sociology or English would not be expected to result in as high a salary as engineering.

[nagleepark]

Originally Posted by RecentGrad1

Unfortunately the business world is brutal. People don't care what you're capable of. They see you as a fresh graduate who knows nothing. Actually, they see themselves as doing a favor to you hiring you right out of college.

Very true, especially now that I'm long past that time and have the benefit of perspective.

Originally Posted by RecentGrad1

Unfortunately they're going to want you to do something outdated such as "paying your dues" before you get serious compensation and responsibility.

The sweet spot is 5 - 10 years of experience (ages 27 - 35, maybe). That's your "window", just like a NFL quarterback. You can be frugal at any age but your window is when you have a real chance to amp up your salary and career. So, you start at "no experience", then you pay your dues (though nobody cares), then you graduate to the "right age, right experience" hopefully, then you think that your salary will rise forever (but it only does for 5 - 10 years), then you graduate to "too old, too much of the wrong experience". You've really got to focus on your window and take advantage of it when you're in it which plenty of people fail at.

But considering the rise in rents/the cost of housing, I'd hate to be a young engineer again. I suppose it's still viable if you are lucky to have the right friends or have the right personality (for making friends) or stumble into the right company or marry a second income or become a real estate market winner or move to cheaper housing. But, in almost all those cases, it's about relying as little as possible on being a competent, working engineer.