How much is the starting salary of a mechanical engineer coming out of college?

Hi Derronis,

Salary information can be found at salary<dot>com (sorry, Career Village won't let me enter internet links)
Click the Personal link in the top right corner, then click Salary.

Enter the following:
Job Title = Mechanical Engineer
City = whatever you want

Click the search button.
In the list that comes up, click the link for Mechanical Engineer 1.
Click the Free Salary Data button, and the salary graph will be displayed.

Hope this helps.

Sam

That depends on several things: where you work, and what you get hired to do. There are always external factors. My first engineering job was at a Naval shipyard. The pay was lower than I could have had with other companies, but the job was secure and I did not have to worry about lay-offs, down-turns, etc. I left that job for one with GE (for a higher salary). I did experience worry about a huge reduction in the work force, but was able to keep my job when several others were let go (I did end up working 50 to 60 hours a week to make up for all the people that were let go).
Your starting salary may also depend on your grades in school and what you did besides study (I once had an HR person remark that if all you did was study, you should have a 4.0). My grades were good, while I worked part time and had a family (went back to school after serving in the military).
Your job description is also critical to your salary. If you get hired to be one of several low level engineers tasked with keeping production going, you probably won't get paid as much as someone who gets hired to work in R & D. Just remember that your job performance and attitude have more to do with future compensation than grades; once you are in the work force.