How much did you make straight out of college?

[Whisper]

$10.5k/year as a grad student. Yeehaw for living off of loans.

 

[Pacemaker]

Originally posted by: thirtythree
Are you supporting others?

If you are refering to me, I support my wife. I also happen to enjoy doing something that pays decently well. In many areas of the country it's not that hard to support a family (if both people work) on around 20k. However, it comes down to where you live. 20k in my hometown would buy you a 2 bedroom house (small midwestern town). 20k around New York city wouldn't cover the down payment on a house.

 

[Svnla]

Originally posted by: SirChadwick
LOL, gotta love some of the responses you'll get here in ATOT.... everyone makes bank supposedly.

QFT, like I said in another thread, I call shens at some of the posts. Prove me wrong by post your last year W-2 form. Or if you are shy, PM me.

At least this thread is not so full of BS like the one about "how old you were when you make 100K or more". IIRC, over 30 posters said they made over 100K when they were in their early to mid 20s :disgust:

 

[Pacemaker]

Originally posted by: Svnla

Originally posted by: SirChadwick
LOL, gotta love some of the responses you'll get here in ATOT.... everyone makes bank supposedly.

QFT, like I said in another thread, I call shens at some of the posts. Prove me wrong by post your last year W-2 form. Or if you are shy, PM me.

At least this thread is not so full of BS like the one about "how old you were when you make 100K or more". IIRC, over 30 posters said they made over 100K when they were in their early to mid 20s :disgust:

All money threads are shen city. I will talk generally in them but I choose to not participate in the "I make x per year *flex*" conversation.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: bignateyk
53K as an engineer. The cost of living is absurdly low however. (I only pay $250 a month to live in a 3 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom, 3 story townhouse with 2 other people). I also get amazing benefits (5 weeks vacation, 12 holidays, great insurance, tuition discount for graduate work, etc...)

Good lord, please tell me where you live. I pay $875 a month for a damn 1br basement in LI, NY. I'd gladly move anywhere for a 3 story townhouse for $125 a month less than that.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: Svnla

Originally posted by: SirChadwick
LOL, gotta love some of the responses you'll get here in ATOT.... everyone makes bank supposedly.

QFT, like I said in another thread, I call shens at some of the posts. Prove me wrong by post your last year W-2 form. Or if you are shy, PM me.

At least this thread is not so full of BS like the one about "how old you were when you make 100K or more". IIRC, over 30 posters said they made over 100K when they were in their early to mid 20s :disgust:

Ummm, the numbers posted in here so far seem pretty reasonable.

 

[nageov3t]

OP, it really depends on what your major is and where you're living (or going to live).

I graduated in '03 with a liberal arts degree (dual-majored in english lit and sociology)... I made like 27K in my very first job out of college, working as a grunt in the marketing department of a mid-sized company. my second job, which is where I am now and have been for three and a half years now, was in IT. it paid 33K. not really the tops when it comes to IT, but I've got great benefits, stock options, and have gotten pretty nice raises (8% my first year and 10% the past two years). overall, I'm happy with my job, though I wouldn't call it a career... right now I'm saving money so I can start going to grad school part time.

 

[markgm]

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: Svnla

Originally posted by: SirChadwick
LOL, gotta love some of the responses you'll get here in ATOT.... everyone makes bank supposedly.

QFT, like I said in another thread, I call shens at some of the posts. Prove me wrong by post your last year W-2 form. Or if you are shy, PM me.

At least this thread is not so full of BS like the one about "how old you were when you make 100K or more". IIRC, over 30 posters said they made over 100K when they were in their early to mid 20s :disgust:

Ummm, the numbers posted in here so far seem pretty reasonable.

I was one of those, it's not as unrealistic as you think. The best way to get a job that pays a lot of money is to apply for it. I know when I graduated college I didn't look for a job that paid over $60k because I didn't think would get one. Once I was working I found out that the person who previously was in my position had been making $90k a year doing the same thing I was. It didn't take long to realize that what a position pays has little to do with the level of responsibility or the level of skill needed to do that job. I worked longer hours and under more stressful conditions when I made $6/hr in high school.

 

[thirtythree]

Originally posted by: Pacemaker

Originally posted by: thirtythree
Are you supporting others?

If you are refering to me, I support my wife. I also happen to enjoy doing something that pays decently well. In many areas of the country it's not that hard to support a family (if both people work) on around 20k. However, it comes down to where you live. 20k in my hometown would buy you a 2 bedroom house (small midwestern town). 20k around New York city wouldn't cover the down payment on a house.

The second question was directed towards krunchykrome, actually. Uh... do you mean $20k total for an actual house? Just checkin'... perhaps I should move.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: Svnla

Originally posted by: SirChadwick
LOL, gotta love some of the responses you'll get here in ATOT.... everyone makes bank supposedly.

QFT, like I said in another thread, I call shens at some of the posts. Prove me wrong by post your last year W-2 form. Or if you are shy, PM me.

At least this thread is not so full of BS like the one about "how old you were when you make 100K or more". IIRC, over 30 posters said they made over 100K when they were in their early to mid 20s :disgust:

Your jealousy blinds your objectivity. There are many fields/professions out there that allow someone to earn that kind of money quite easily in their mid/late 20's. That's when many MD's/Pharmacists get out of school and start earning money. Real estate professionals can easily be established by that point, as can many other sales oriented professions. Independent contractors/consultants can easily bill out that much in a years time.

It's not some mythical figure that is only obtainable by 50 year old people in management positions. There are a lot of high demand positions that pay that kind of money.

It's not unreasonable at all to think that in a forum of 100,000+ registered members that 30 of them are in those fields/professions.

 

[krunchykrome]

Originally posted by: thirtythree

Originally posted by: Pacemaker

Originally posted by: thirtythree
Are you supporting others?

If you are refering to me, I support my wife. I also happen to enjoy doing something that pays decently well. In many areas of the country it's not that hard to support a family (if both people work) on around 20k. However, it comes down to where you live. 20k in my hometown would buy you a 2 bedroom house (small midwestern town). 20k around New York city wouldn't cover the down payment on a house.

The second question was directed towards krunchykrome, actually. Uh... do you mean $20k total for an actual house? Just checkin'... perhaps I should move.

Sorry, what I was trying to say was that overall, it's more important to be happy with an average paying job than to be unhappy with a higher paying job. But I also feel that sometimes, you should just make an exception and suck it up if the salary is exceptionally larger.

 

[Pacemaker]

Originally posted by: thirtythree

Originally posted by: Pacemaker

Originally posted by: thirtythree
Are you supporting others?

If you are refering to me, I support my wife. I also happen to enjoy doing something that pays decently well. In many areas of the country it's not that hard to support a family (if both people work) on around 20k. However, it comes down to where you live. 20k in my hometown would buy you a 2 bedroom house (small midwestern town). 20k around New York city wouldn't cover the down payment on a house.

The second question was directed towards krunchykrome, actually. Uh... do you mean $20k total for an actual house? Just checkin'... perhaps I should move.

Yes, the town has gone from 80,000+ people to 50,000 people in my lifetime there are many empty houses. Also, if you get a "Historical Society" house you can pick them up for less than that, but then you can't change the house only "restore" it.

 

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: bignateyk
53K as an engineer. The cost of living is absurdly low however. (I only pay $250 a month to live in a 3 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom, 3 story townhouse with 2 other people). I also get amazing benefits (5 weeks vacation, 12 holidays, great insurance, tuition discount for graduate work, etc...)

Good lord, please tell me where you live. I pay $875 a month for a damn 1br basement in LI, NY. I'd gladly move anywhere for a 3 story townhouse for $125 a month less than that.

Its a college town in the middle of nowhere(state college, pa), and any apartments and townhomes that are not within walking distance of the campus are cheap as hell. 53K is slightly lower than I could get if I went to a big city, or into industry, but for now I am happy with the benefits I get, and the cost of living.

 

[GasX]

As long as you make enough to survive, your first job should be a launch pad not something to keep you in bling...

I made ~$24K/year in 91 which was higher only than the philosophy majors... 15+ years later, I make WAYYY more money.... I went to school with guys who made over $100k, but they were Whartonites and went to prestigious Wall Street firms...

 

[hanoverphist]

i worked where i work now all thru school. i did drafting out of my house for an electrical contractor making 17 an hour. he got me to go full time 6 months before i graduated, with the agreement that when i did i would be looking for a job in my field. once i went full time i started getting into more stuff they do like the PLC programming and logic design as well as the graphics and project design they did for full SCADA telemmetry systems. i built them an inhouse network and took over the communications, then moved myself into a good position as the head programmer and integrations specialist. i still work there, my official title is Systems Integrator. making a bit more than that 17 an hour now, and even that was higher than my colleges grad placement office could get me. my degree was in digital animation production, so making projects that control water/ wastewater is pretty far off the beaten path for my degree. i do use a ton of the programming and interface design i learned, as well as the color theory and networking i picked up while in school working for various people.

 

[randumb]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Originally posted by: Svnla

Originally posted by: SirChadwick
LOL, gotta love some of the responses you'll get here in ATOT.... everyone makes bank supposedly.

QFT, like I said in another thread, I call shens at some of the posts. Prove me wrong by post your last year W-2 form. Or if you are shy, PM me.

At least this thread is not so full of BS like the one about "how old you were when you make 100K or more". IIRC, over 30 posters said they made over 100K when they were in their early to mid 20s :disgust:

Your jealousy blinds your objectivity. There are many fields/professions out there that allow someone to earn that kind of money quite easily in their mid/late 20's. That's when many MD's/Pharmacists get out of school and start earning money. Real estate professionals can easily be established by that point, as can many other sales oriented professions. Independent contractors/consultants can easily bill out that much in a years time.

It's not some mythical figure that is only obtainable by 50 year old people in management positions. There are a lot of high demand positions that pay that kind of money.

It's not unreasonable at all to think that in a forum of 100,000+ registered members that 30 of them are in those fields/professions.

There are also finance jobs. I know several people who made six figures (after bonuses) straight out of college working at hedge funds.

 

[ed0ggyd0gg]

My school only offers Economics as a B.A. Is that still considered a liberal arts degree?

They have a B.Sc. but it deals more with Operations Research (Management Science is the title). How to run a business effectively is the key concept.

I think Economics will give more flexibility. Could be wrong, as always. I hope to get 40k out of college.

 

[aswedc]

Because it can't be said enough - location!

Starting salaries in the same company for the same position can swing as much as 15k depending on where it is.

 

[interchange]

65K + pd benefits (makes a BIG difference)

B.S. CompE Georgia Institute of Technology

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: Pacemaker
If I remember my technical writing class correctly, probably writing manuals and other technnical documents.

Sounds about right, when I worked at my internship in between my junior and senior year in college, they also had some technical writer interns and... well that's what they did, write mostly manuals and such.

EDIT: I also don't get why people are calling Shens on some of these salaries. They seem right to me based on what I've seen so far. I've seen a decent amount of engineering students and they typically make around 50k or more depending on where they go.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: bignateyk
53K as an engineer. The cost of living is absurdly low however. (I only pay $250 a month to live in a 3 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom, 3 story townhouse with 2 other people). I also get amazing benefits (5 weeks vacation, 12 holidays, great insurance, tuition discount for graduate work, etc...)

Good lord, please tell me where you live. I pay $875 a month for a damn 1br basement in LI, NY. I'd gladly move anywhere for a 3 story townhouse for $125 a month less than that.

Its a college town in the middle of nowhere(state college, pa), and any apartments and townhomes that are not within walking distance of the campus are cheap as hell. 53K is slightly lower than I could get if I went to a big city, or into industry, but for now I am happy with the benefits I get, and the cost of living.

Heh, man I am so moving. I'm lucky enough to be in a field where there is such a massive shortage and a universal need anywhere (med lab) that I can get a well paying job (50K+) practically anywhere. Im perfectly fine with living in the middle of nowhere if I can get a huge house for cheap.

 

[esun]

I haven't graduated yet so I can't speak to my own experience, but my college statistics are available online: http://career.berkeley.edu/CarDest/2006Majors.stm

Typical medians are $50-70k for engineering majors, $30-50k for non-engineering majors.

 

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: bignateyk
53K as an engineer. The cost of living is absurdly low however. (I only pay $250 a month to live in a 3 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom, 3 story townhouse with 2 other people). I also get amazing benefits (5 weeks vacation, 12 holidays, great insurance, tuition discount for graduate work, etc...)

Good lord, please tell me where you live. I pay $875 a month for a damn 1br basement in LI, NY. I'd gladly move anywhere for a 3 story townhouse for $125 a month less than that.

Its a college town in the middle of nowhere(state college, pa), and any apartments and townhomes that are not within walking distance of the campus are cheap as hell. 53K is slightly lower than I could get if I went to a big city, or into industry, but for now I am happy with the benefits I get, and the cost of living.

Heh, man I am so moving. I'm lucky enough to be in a field where there is such a massive shortage and a universal need anywhere (med lab) that I can get a well paying job (50K+) practically anywhere. Im perfectly fine with living in the middle of nowhere if I can get a huge house for cheap.

Well, I share rent with 2 other people, but its still cheap as hell. I could easily afford to live their by myself (<1000 a month for the whole place), but I dont need a 3 story townhouse to myself.

 

[FallenHero]

42k a year. Just switched to another job...making 48.5, next month I'll be getting 50.5.

 

[mugs]

Graduated in 2003. Took a few months to get a job where I spent about half of my time doing work related to my field, half my time doing manual labor (strange job). I made $44k at that job. After about a year the company was in bad shape and they basically changed me from salary to hourly and cut my pay in half - that is IF they had enough work for me to be full-time, which they didn't. So I'd have basically been making like $12k a year.

About a month prior to this happening, my friend told me about a temporary opening at his company. I wasn't interested in anything temporary at that time, and my friend made about the same as me so I saw it as a lateral move. After my pay cut, I decided to go for that other job and I got it. It paid $70k/year. Worked there for a year, then took a permanent position closer to home making a bit less. Been here for a year and a half.