At age 65, the Median GT Grad has....

Possibly, but that's why I work in the private sector. I wonder if the percentages work out about the same for EEs that work at utility companies.
 
JTS said:
$3.07M more than a South Carolina Grad

$2.96M more than a FSU Grad

$2.64M more than a Tennessee Grad

$2.54M more than an Alabama Grad

$2.18M more than an Auburn Grad

$2.13M more than a LSU Grad

$1.92M more than a UGA Grad

$1.90M more than a Clemson Grad

$1.59M more than a Miami Grad

$1.36M more than a Florida Grad

Based on median salaries from age 22-65 from payscale.com with a 5% annual rate of return applied to excess salary
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Depends on how many wives one has had and if they were addicted to shopping :drinking:
 
gt7282c@prism said:
Thank you for that. But actually, as a CE, I'm making the GT graduate average for my age bracket. I'm basing this on information someone posted a couple weeks ago. Sorry, I didn't go digging for the thread.

We ain't bringing down the average. We're just riding the curve. :laugher:
Click to expand...

Must be nice. I got paid ass strait out of school. I'm right around those means JTS posted now.

Aren't CE salaries low due to the large number in gubermint jobs, as in DOT, environmental permitting/compliance agencies, water works, etc.
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CE salaries are low even in the private sector, because civil engineering firms and construction firms bid against each other for jobs, driving each other's margins down. It's a business model thing. ASCE has considered requiring a masters degree to get your PE, to try and thin the pool and drive salaries up, but that hasn't panned out yet.

Construction related CE salaries are going to seriously flatten over the next two years, as lots of engineers get laid off. I know of several site engineering firms in Atlanta that have fired 80% of their staff or more in the past year, due to the total collapse of the residential market. Commercial development (probably 60% of my firm's business) is going to follow suit in 2008 and 2009, btw, so if you guys have any way of turning that inside info into an investment opportunity, do it, and let me know so I can get in on the deal. :) We were told from one of our clients that they expect about half the commercial developers in Atlanta to declare bankruptcy in 2009. 2008 is supposed to be bad, but 2009 is (their words) "going to separate the men from the boys."

Mark my words - whoever gets elected president is going to be F'ed, because the 2009 economy is going to nosedive as the residential bubble burst cascades through the rest of the market sectors. I'm calling it now.

Depends on how many wives one has had and if they were addicted to shopping :drinking:
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No kidding. JTS is sort-of assuming everything gets invested when he's doing his math, generates a return, compounds, and produces wealth over the course of his calculation. (understandable - JTS is a M train guy) I own a boat, so it's sort of a disinvestment, so while I make pretty good money I doubt I'll be remotely near that level of cash he's listing.

Plus, he's forgetting that most college grads end school with a big pile of debt nowadays.

beej67,
has cracked the 'management' bubble since, and is making good money in civil
 
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Engineering rankings

1. Chemical Engineering
...
Second to last: Civil Engineering
Last. Industrial Engineering
 
We're still just taking about engineers. How do the International Affairs and Management grads stack up?

Beej,
These markets are cyclical and always have been. CS grads took it on the chin in 2001. CEs are feeling the pinch right now.

Despite the residential market being slow, I hear a lot of optimism from industry insiders. One, interest rates have remained relatively low, especially when you consider pre-Reagan rates. Two, the "boom echo" effect will soon hit the market, greatly increasing housing demand. Retail follows residential. It may be tight over the next couple years, but be patient.
 
Oh, I'm not predicting a permanent downturn. I'm just saying that market fluctuations only even out over the long term, and people lose their jobs over the short term if their companies don't have work.

Reasonably low interest rates will keep the residential market stable, but new construction is only a portion of the residential market, and that portion is boned for the next 5 years until the population catches up to the level of overbuilding we're at right now. There's simply not enough people in the country who can afford to buy a house "From the Low 800s" in a vacant unbuilt subdivision that'll stay unbuilt because the developer's profit margin was 2 lots out of 50, and he was banking on the revenue from lot sales to build more.

The reason construction is always feast-famine-feast has to do with project lead time. Once a developer identifies a demand of X, gets some land picked out, hires a landplanner, and gets financial backing, three other developers have done the same thing. Then four years later, when all their projects are complete, you don't just have X, you have XXX.
 
beej67 said:
The reason construction is always feast-famine-feast has to do with project lead time. Once a developer identifies a demand of X, gets some land picked out, hires a landplanner, and gets financial backing, three other developers have done the same thing. Then four years later, when all their projects are complete, you don't just have X, you have XXX.
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Ahhhhh, but that's exactly the reason the commercial construction market stays strong long after the downturn in whatever other related market indicator begins. With the financing and planning already in place, those projects move forward. A sufficient backlog allows you to ride through that first wave of developer bankruptcies and retool yourself, your company, or your target market to avoid the crash. We're projecting 2008 and into 2009 as lower than 2007, but still considerably better than 2006, which was a very good year.
 
GTKyle said:
Engineering rankings

1. Chemical Engineering
...
Second to last: Civil Engineering
Last. Industrial Engineering
Click to expand...


errr. where did you get this. At Tech, IEs consistently rate higher than CEs in starting salary.
 
ramblinwise1 said:
errr. where did you get this. At Tech, IEs consistently rate higher than CEs in starting salary.
Click to expand...

I was wondering the same thing. In fact, when I graduated in '01 only ChemE's and CompE's got paid more than IE's for starting salary.

I guess I just imagined my way to the bank.
 
2006 Commencement Survey (Fall)
Number of Offers​

Salary Offer​
Bonus​
Major​
Mean Job Offers​
Number Reporting Job Offers​
Placement Rate​
Number Reporting Salary​
Total Completing Survey​
Median​
High​
Low​
Median Bonus​
Total Reporting Bonus​
Aerospace Engineering 1.09
6​
69.2%
6​
21​
$55,500.00 $62,000.00 $46,000.00 $2,250.00
4​
Applied Biology 1.50
2​
75%
3​
15​
$40,000.00 $54,000.00 $30,000.00 $4,000.00
2​
Architecture 3.00
4​
100%
7​
8​
$36,400.00 $49,000.00 $30,000.00 $3,000.00
1​
Biomedical Engineering 1.00
2​
44.4%
4​
20​
$65,500.00 $68,000.00 $58,000.00 $12,000.00
2​
Building Construction 3.00
5​
83.3%
5​
7​
$52,000.00 $83,000.00 $50,000.00 $2,500.00
4​
Chemical and Biomolecular Eng 2.67
6​
50%
6​
17​
$59,000.00 $68,000.00 $41,100.00 $5,000.00
4​
Civil Engineering 3.22
18​
92%
23​
32​
$48,000.00 $56,160.00 $40,000.00 $3,000.00
9​
Computer Engineering 2.00
3​
43.8%
7​
20​
$54,000.00 $63,260.00 $40,000.00 $2,000.00
3​
Computer Science 3.19
14​
75.7%
25​
41​
$60,000.00 $80,000.00 $30,000.00 $3,000.00
12​
Electrical Engineering 2.91
22​
77.1%
25​
60​
$52,200.00 $63,698.00 $32,000.00 $3,000.00
13​
Industrial Design 2.00
1​
75%
2​
5​
$41,000.00 $42,000.00 $40,000.00 $0.00
Industrial Engineering 2.88
30​
65.5%
34​
60​
$57,000.00 $70,000.00 $48,000.00 $3,500.00
29​
Int'l Affairs & Mod Lang 0.50
1​
33.3%
2​
6​
$33,250.00 $35,000.00 $31,500.00 $4,000.00
1​
International Affairs 1.00
1​
80%
2​
10​
$57,500.00 $75,000.00 $40,000.00 $0.00
Management 2.35
25​
53.9%
38​
80​
$49,500.00 $75,000.00 $25,000.00 $4,000.00
17​
Materials Science & Engr 4.00
1​
33.3%
1​
3​
$56,000.00 $56,000.00 $56,000.00 $0.00
Mechanical Engineering 2.57
28​
69.7%
41​
75​
$54,000.00 $68,000.00 $21,000.00 $4,750.00
18​
Nuclear & Radiological Engr 1.25
2​
33.3%
1​
5​
$54,000.00 $54,000.00 $54,000.00 $0.00
Physics 2.00
1​
100%
1​
1​
$62,000.00 $62,000.00 $62,000.00 $1,000.00
1​
Polymer & Fiber Engr 4.00
1​
50%
1​
3​
$57,000.00 $57,000.00 $57,000.00 $5,000.00
1​
Psychology 1.00
1​
66.7%
1​
4​
$25,000.00 $25,000.00 $25,000.00 $0.00
Public Policy 2.00
1​
66.7%
1​
5​
$35,000.00 $35,000.00 $35,000.00 $2,000.00
1​
Science, Technology, & Culture 1.00
1​
50%
1​
4​
$57,000.00 $57,000.00 $57,000.00 $0.00
 
Wow, looks like the salary range between high and low is a lot tighter for CEs than many of the others. Only about $16K difference across 25 people.

By comparison, MEs look all over the map with a $47K spread across 41 people. And $50K spreads for both CS and MGMT.
 
Its not money we lack. What we lack is a connection to the parents of the kids we want to play for us.

Those with whom we compete do not lack this. Failure to understand this will result in lean recruiting years.
 
It is arrogance and the pious, holier than thou attitude of the majority of Georgia Tech graduates that lead to this. The majority of the people who live in our state view us in this light and as a graduate, i agree with them. Attitudes of humility, understanding, appreciation and giving would be of great benefit to the Georgia Tech community. I wonder what book teaches us those qualities? It is certainly not a calculus book.

Imagine the facilities we could build if we were willing to share our financial resources with the GTAA in the same manner as the Georgia Tech Foundation.

Couple that with an attitude that embraces our community and perhaps the football stadium would not be filled with opponents colors on Saturdays.
 
and for the record, who cares how much wealth one accululates during life. At the end, we are all pushing up daisies. Will you really say on your death bed, I wish I would have worked more to earn more money?
 
That presumes that you're aquiring wealth just for yourself, and not building a legacy for your decendants.
 
Some would argue that a legacy is more about character and contribution to society.
 
MacDaddy2 said:
Some would argue that a legacy is more about character and contribution to society.
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"A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous."

You mean something like that?
 
clapper said:
Ahhhhh, but that's exactly the reason the commercial construction market stays strong long after the downturn in whatever other related market indicator begins. With the financing and planning already in place, those projects move forward. A sufficient backlog allows you to ride through that first wave of developer bankruptcies and retool yourself, your company, or your target market to avoid the crash. We're projecting 2008 and into 2009 as lower than 2007, but still considerably better than 2006, which was a very good year.
Click to expand...

Yes, commercial staggers, but it still is pretty significantly effected.

Keep your eye on big box retail revenue projections for 08. They're currently being revised downwards pretty significantly. Other anchor stores usually follow suit, and most retail development relies pretty heavily on firm deals with anchor tenants.

Like I said, we're the primary engineer for one of the premier commercial developers in Atlanta (gets their name in the paper a lot) and they've told us outright they expect the bulk of their work in 09 to be finishing other guy's bankrupt half-developed sites.
 
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