3 answers
Isaac
Student
North Branch, Michigan
1
Question
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What field of work should I pursue? With the most money
Hi my name is Isaac Conley, I enjoy MANY different things. Those of which are horseback riding, motorcycle building, cnc and cad, and welding. I want to go in to some kind of engineering career but I am not sure if I should go for metallurgy or mechatronics and anywhere in between. I enjoy art and the finer things in life so is there any high paying engineering careers that align with my interests? Also I am currently in a pre college program so I will leave high school with my associates. #engineering #metallurgy #college #welding
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3 answers
Tony Rice
DevSecOps Architect
8
Answers
Raleigh, North Carolina
Updated
Tony’s Answer
Its not just about the salary. Many of the highest paying jobs require the most education, which costs money. While median salaries between $150k-$200k for physicians and pharmacists may sound really appealing, know that most newly minted doctors graduate with heavy student debt loads that take many years to pay off.
As you look through the list of highest paying jobs, notice that most talk about median income. You will not earn nearly that much until you've been in the industry for a number of years and even then it will be dependent on where in the country you live. For example, people working in San Francisco or New York City earn more because the cost of living is so much higher there.
All that being said, salaries are highest in the medical industry. Pilots, air traffic controllers and mechanics in the aviation industry are in demand and make good salaries. The computer industry continues to pay well, particularly those involved in architecture, data science, the cloud and especially security.
Rand Finch
Mechanical Design Engineer V
2
Answers
Rainier, Oregon
Updated
Rand’s Answer
Really Tony, simple advice is: do what you love! Chasing $ your whole life is a foolish and unhappy pursuit.
I am a Mechanical Design Engineer of 30 yrs, I make a good moderate living. If you choose to chase after abundance, and you are a good person, You will regret this..............Just saying.
Remember, good choices, good life.
Regards,
Rand
I am a Mechanical Design Engineer of 30 yrs, I make a good moderate living. If you choose to chase after abundance, and you are a good person, You will regret this..............Just saying.
Remember, good choices, good life.
Regards,
Rand
Greg Turnipseed
Systems Engineer
4
Answers
Leonard, Texas
Updated
Greg’s Answer
In one sense, I have to echo the feedback already given: do something you enjoy, but on the other hand, balance that with something that will make you a comfortable living. There is a happy balance somewhere between the extremes of "making as much money as possible" and "doing something enjoyable that doesn't pay at all". The reason I recommend avoiding the extremes is this: if you pursue a career that makes lots of money but isn't interesting to you, you will dread going to work every day (spoken from experience). On the flip side, if you pursue a career that is something you really enjoy but that doesn't pay well, your home life will suffer because you will constantly stress over paying bills. Somewhere in between—and it is different for each person—there is a happy balance between doing something that is interesting "enough", low-stress "enough", and pays "enough". So, I would suggest that you consider a few things:
* What are your passions? It's good to have many interests, but what are the things that you find yourself thinking about most often? What are the things you enjoy thinking about and working on the most? Of those things, how many of them are long-term interests versus passing hobbies?
* Of your passions, are they likely to make money or cost money? This is important because what field you choose depends heavily on that. For fields that make money (most STEM—science, technology, engineering, and math—fields tend to make money, for instance), getting into a job doing one of those things may be the happy middle you're looking for: your job lets you pursue your passion while making ends meet—making "as much money as possible" doesn't really provide much benefit since your needs are already met. For passions that cost money (horseback riding, for instance), finding a job that will let you afford to pursue those passions while paying for basic necessities will make you enough money to enjoy your home life while maybe not enjoying your work life quite as much. Most people, I think, fall into this latter category: they work so they can do what they want to do in their free time.
* If your passions are ones that make money, then consider which of those you enjoy the most and balance that against how well they pay. Search for jobs that use those particular skills (salary.com is a great place to start) and compare them. For example (and this may or may not be the case; it's just an example): if you really like doing mechanical stuff and kind of like electrical stuff but electrical pays much more than mechanical, which has more priority for you? On the flip side, if you really like doing mechanical stuff and hate electrical stuff but electrical pays much more, is it really worth it to make more money doing something you hate? This is the art of the trade-off, something you'll encounter a lot in almost any engineering field you pursue, so it's good to get your feet wet on it now.
* If your passions are ones that do not make money, how much money do you need to pursue your passions? What other expenses do you anticipate having? For example, as a horse owner, I can say that it's pretty pricey to keep one boarded, and that's money that I have to shell out on top of basic necessities (rent or mortgage, food, fuel, maintenance, utilities and so on). What are your long-term plans? If you want to own land to keep horses on or a shop to build motorcycles or your own CNC machine, those are also things that will cost money. If you don't plan on doing any of those things, then that's good to know, too. Knowing how much money you need gives you a measurable and much more attainable annual income goal rather than the much vaguer and practically unattainable "as much as possible" goal. Once you know that, you can look for professions that you like—that may not be your passion but that at least hold interest for you—that pay at least that much money per year.
In short, it's better to set SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based) career goals (such as basing the amount of money you want to make on how much you need to pursue the things you like to do) rather than open-ended ones (such as making as much as you can just for its own sake). Now, if your goal truly is to make as much money as you can for its own sake, then in general, C-level management (CEO, CFO, COO, CIO, etc.) is the way to go, but like any other career, that will take years to achieve, and you will need to have a job that 1) puts you on track to pursue that and 2) gives you a sense of fulfillment and purpose as you work towards your longer-term goal. Unfortunately, I can't provide much help on that—it's not a track I've pursued—but I'm sure there are people on here who can if you ask the question.
Whatever you decide to do, bear in mind three things:
* As has already been said, no matter what profession you choose, you most likely won't start out making the median income; you'll have to work up to it over a period of years. Case in point, I'm making 2-1/2 times now what I made when I started 12 years ago.
* No matter what profession you choose, there will be good times and bad times. Love designing things? Great! So do I. But, I spend a lot of my day attending meetings or doing paperwork. It's just part of the job, so know that even if a job isn't 100% perfect, if it's good most of the time, then it's probably a good place to be. On the other hand, if you're miserable or dispassionate most of the time, then it's probably not a very good fit, and it's worth evaluating why you're miserable or dispassionate and looking for something that's a better fit.
* Turning a passion into a career is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it's great to get paid to do something you love. On the other hand, it can introduce a lot of stress into something that you really enjoy, and that stress can take away a lot of the passion. For example, spending time with my horses is a good way for me to relax, but if I were training someone else's, having to meet someone else's deadlines or expectations would turn something relaxing into something stressful. I'm not advocating either way, but it is something to consider.
I realize this didn't directly address your question: "which engineering job pays the most", but hopefully this has given you some food for thought to decide whether pursuing "the most money" is really what you want. If indeed you do want to make the most money you can for whatever reason, salary.com is a good resource for that, too.
* What are your passions? It's good to have many interests, but what are the things that you find yourself thinking about most often? What are the things you enjoy thinking about and working on the most? Of those things, how many of them are long-term interests versus passing hobbies?
* Of your passions, are they likely to make money or cost money? This is important because what field you choose depends heavily on that. For fields that make money (most STEM—science, technology, engineering, and math—fields tend to make money, for instance), getting into a job doing one of those things may be the happy middle you're looking for: your job lets you pursue your passion while making ends meet—making "as much money as possible" doesn't really provide much benefit since your needs are already met. For passions that cost money (horseback riding, for instance), finding a job that will let you afford to pursue those passions while paying for basic necessities will make you enough money to enjoy your home life while maybe not enjoying your work life quite as much. Most people, I think, fall into this latter category: they work so they can do what they want to do in their free time.
* If your passions are ones that make money, then consider which of those you enjoy the most and balance that against how well they pay. Search for jobs that use those particular skills (salary.com is a great place to start) and compare them. For example (and this may or may not be the case; it's just an example): if you really like doing mechanical stuff and kind of like electrical stuff but electrical pays much more than mechanical, which has more priority for you? On the flip side, if you really like doing mechanical stuff and hate electrical stuff but electrical pays much more, is it really worth it to make more money doing something you hate? This is the art of the trade-off, something you'll encounter a lot in almost any engineering field you pursue, so it's good to get your feet wet on it now.
* If your passions are ones that do not make money, how much money do you need to pursue your passions? What other expenses do you anticipate having? For example, as a horse owner, I can say that it's pretty pricey to keep one boarded, and that's money that I have to shell out on top of basic necessities (rent or mortgage, food, fuel, maintenance, utilities and so on). What are your long-term plans? If you want to own land to keep horses on or a shop to build motorcycles or your own CNC machine, those are also things that will cost money. If you don't plan on doing any of those things, then that's good to know, too. Knowing how much money you need gives you a measurable and much more attainable annual income goal rather than the much vaguer and practically unattainable "as much as possible" goal. Once you know that, you can look for professions that you like—that may not be your passion but that at least hold interest for you—that pay at least that much money per year.
In short, it's better to set SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based) career goals (such as basing the amount of money you want to make on how much you need to pursue the things you like to do) rather than open-ended ones (such as making as much as you can just for its own sake). Now, if your goal truly is to make as much money as you can for its own sake, then in general, C-level management (CEO, CFO, COO, CIO, etc.) is the way to go, but like any other career, that will take years to achieve, and you will need to have a job that 1) puts you on track to pursue that and 2) gives you a sense of fulfillment and purpose as you work towards your longer-term goal. Unfortunately, I can't provide much help on that—it's not a track I've pursued—but I'm sure there are people on here who can if you ask the question.
Whatever you decide to do, bear in mind three things:
* As has already been said, no matter what profession you choose, you most likely won't start out making the median income; you'll have to work up to it over a period of years. Case in point, I'm making 2-1/2 times now what I made when I started 12 years ago.
* No matter what profession you choose, there will be good times and bad times. Love designing things? Great! So do I. But, I spend a lot of my day attending meetings or doing paperwork. It's just part of the job, so know that even if a job isn't 100% perfect, if it's good most of the time, then it's probably a good place to be. On the other hand, if you're miserable or dispassionate most of the time, then it's probably not a very good fit, and it's worth evaluating why you're miserable or dispassionate and looking for something that's a better fit.
* Turning a passion into a career is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it's great to get paid to do something you love. On the other hand, it can introduce a lot of stress into something that you really enjoy, and that stress can take away a lot of the passion. For example, spending time with my horses is a good way for me to relax, but if I were training someone else's, having to meet someone else's deadlines or expectations would turn something relaxing into something stressful. I'm not advocating either way, but it is something to consider.
I realize this didn't directly address your question: "which engineering job pays the most", but hopefully this has given you some food for thought to decide whether pursuing "the most money" is really what you want. If indeed you do want to make the most money you can for whatever reason, salary.com is a good resource for that, too.