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lightpole posted:I don't have right at graduation statistics for engineers in my back pocket for you so that will have to do. Dang I shoulda done that...cali I want my tax money back!
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Sep 25, 2015 14:47
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CarForumPoster posted:Dang I shoulda done that...cali I want my tax money back! If you live/work in Cali for more than six months you have to pay Cali taxes regardless of where your mailing address is. They will come for their money eventually.
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Sep 25, 2015 14:52
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CarForumPoster posted:No you dont. The bay area in cali. Thats it. Weve had a bunch of discussions about this in this thread. Do not be drawn in. I was that person making 6 figureds in the SF area. 72K in Florida is higher pay. Oh man I wouldn't work there if they begged me. California sucks.
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Sep 25, 2015 14:52
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You could go be a Shift Test Engineer for the navy, if you are willing to do the work, and probably start around 65k and move pretty rapidly to 75-80k base with government benefits, paid overtime (of which there will probably be plenty), and travel opportunities that include Japan, Guam, etc and the associated incentives for said traveling. You can look at my brief discussion with KetTarma about the job a fewish pages back. There's even a modest signing bonus. This position probably doesn't care much about your specific flavor of engineering so long as you can hack the training school.
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Sep 25, 2015 20:13
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CarForumPoster posted:No you dont. The bay area in cali. Thats it. Weve had a bunch of discussions about this in this thread. Do not be drawn in. I was that person making 6 figureds in the SF area. 72K in Florida is higher pay.  Wow, I always thought my family was kinda poor after looking at salary numbers around here, but I guess 65k in Northern MI is straight ballin'.
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Sep 25, 2015 21:51
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Eskaton posted:
120k is the average for software engineers in SF. Fresh little kiddies out of college with 0 knowledge make 6 figures. I've heard most of them don't even save any of it. They just spend it all. Gotta have all the new gadgets and gizmos as well as paying insane rent. I have two friends that pay my salary for a tiny 1 BD apartment. The conditions (amount of money) here are unimaginable mitztronic fucked around with this message at 22:52 on Sep 25, 2015 |
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Sep 25, 2015 22:50
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Eskaton posted:
California and the bay area is general are pretty hosed right now in terms of cost of living. Avoid it unless you get a offer you can't refuse.
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Sep 25, 2015 23:48
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Eskaton posted:
Do note that the standard of living calculator assumes you spend 100% of your income. If you spend less than that, it needs not go up as much for you to break even. If you save 20% of your income in either place, it's much better to be in the higher-paying place. But yeah, I knew people who were getting 6 figure offers in the bay straight out of school in 2009, it must be crazy now.
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Sep 26, 2015 00:07
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CarForumPoster posted:No you dont. The bay area in cali. Thats it. Weve had a bunch of discussions about this in this thread. Do not be drawn in. I was that person making 6 figureds in the SF area. 72K in Florida is higher pay. Higher pay relative to cost of living, but you're still in Florida.
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Sep 26, 2015 06:31
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Retirement is linked to pay as well.
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Sep 26, 2015 06:57
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mitztronic posted:120k is the average for software engineers in SF. Fresh little kiddies out of college with 0 knowledge make 6 figures. This was me. It is hard to save it in terms of cash savings. Not even because youre balling out, its not just rent EVERYTHING is expensive. EVERYTHING you buy costs more base price. EVERYTHING you buy costs 10% sales tax. As someone pointed out there is a benefit to your savings in the 6% +3% company matching is more money. Plus restricted stock. Shipon posted:Higher pay relative to cost of living, but you're still in Florida. I like being the smartest guy in the public high school. For real though I've lived in Orlando, the Space Coast of Florida, San Francisco and Silicon Valley as an adult as well as spent enough time to consider living in LA, Maryland, upstate NY, and Miami. Space Coast/Orlando win hands down in the overall category. Silicon Valley/South of SF is probably second. CarForumPoster fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Sep 29, 2015 |
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Sep 29, 2015 01:16
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Questions about returning to school for a civil engineering degree - I've been working as a technical director for live events for a few years now - think concerts, car shows, festivals, marketing stunts, etc. Hiring and interfacing with the vendors that provide temporary structures, engineering, heavy equipment, scenery, lighting/sound/video gear, all for an end client. Basically I'm a general contractor. I have wanted to get a structural/civil engineering degree to raise my skill set with regards to the projects that involve large temporary structures, rigging, automation, and fabricaton. The company I work for has been growing very quickly, and when I asked if they would consider funding me going back to school for engineering, they were very interested. They asked that I come back to them with a rough plan in a few weeks, so I've been doing my research. I have a bachelor of fine arts degree that I got in 2012. I learned to weld and draft and build/budget things in school and didn't have to take chem or bio or any of the hard sciences. I did learn some basic algebra based stuff - beam deflection, bay diagrams for structural framing, that sort of thing - but I know it barely scratches the surface of what real engineers learn. I did well in calc and physics in high school, and their APs got me out of any math classes I would have taken. The deal/plan would be something like: Spend a few months relearning calc and physics, take a few community college courses as needed for transfer prereqs Go to school, paid for by company, take a reduced salary while attending. Agree to a certain amount of time required to work with the company after graduation - a contract. Earn higher salary upon returning after graduation, do more advising on large structural projects Once required period is up, go work under a PE so that I can get the experience to take my PE. Currently I'm 25 and make $70k plus around a $10-$15k bonus in NYC. I would hope to increase that by 10-20% upon returning. What is everyone's take on this? It's more nebulous than I'd like, but the idea of combining my current work experience with engineering skills feels very attractive. I love figuring out how to design, build, and install big things in places they have no business going, and I think this would be a good next step in my career. School-wise, I am looking at places that offer a BS or BEng in civil - It's my understanding that with my education I would need to start with a second undergraduate degree / and a masters isn't worth much credit for the PE exam. Thank you!
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Sep 29, 2015 07:42
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Well, I was going to say a master's would be required to take the PE exam starting Jan 1, 2020, but it looks like NCEES reversed course and voted down that requirement about a year ago. Thank god.
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Sep 29, 2015 12:04
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Gaff Tape posted:What is everyone's take on this? It's more nebulous than I'd like, but the idea of combining my current work experience with engineering skills feels very attractive. I love figuring out how to design, build, and install big things in places they have no business going, and I think this would be a good next step in my career. School-wise, I am looking at places that offer a BS or BEng in civil - It's my understanding that with my education I would need to start with a second undergraduate degree / and a masters isn't worth much credit for the PE exam. I wouldn't write off the master's. They typically have a coursework bridge that'll let you just take the necessary undergrad prerequisites, which would save you a lot of time and money over the second bachelor's. The time calculation really comes down to dealing with the NYS PE requirements. Your current bachelor's plus a master's in engineering would get you 3 years of experience credit, while a second bachelor's would get you 6 (the first bachelor's wouldn't be counted). If you could do, say, an accelerated 18-month master's, then you'd need another 3 years of design experience on top of that to qualify to sit for the FE, for 4.5 years in total. If that'd be less time than it'd take to get the bachelor's, then that'd be the better path. However, one wrinkle is that if you do want to practice in other states, some state boards don't accept the combination of unrelated BA + engineering MS as valid. You may just want to get the bachelor's if that's the case. The Chairman fucked around with this message at 12:54 on Sep 29, 2015 |
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Sep 29, 2015 12:50
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Gaff Tape posted:Questions about returning to school for a civil engineering degree - I think you have reasonable expectations and a good plan. You're aware of where you are weak and taking steps to strengthen those areas with some JC time. Sounds like you have a good career ahead of you. I assume you've talked with some of the engineers you interface with to get an idea of real day to day expectations? E: I worked 30hrs a week while getting my degree. It's a lot of work, you will have a legit 40+ hrs a week of homework some semesters. Plan on it taking extra time, 5-6 years would be perfectly normal. Murgos fucked around with this message at 13:35 on Sep 29, 2015 |
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Sep 29, 2015 13:27
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The Chairman posted:I wouldn't write off the master's. They typically have a coursework bridge that'll let you just take the necessary undergrad prerequisites, which would save you a lot of time and money over the second bachelor's. Right, and design experience is something I am not likely to get at my current employer since we currently don't employ any PEs I could work under. My hope is to get the degree, sit for the FE, and get back to the workforce as quickly as possible, so that I can satisfy the "payback" time and find some route to working under a PE for my design experience. Also I have heard of some programs that do bachelors + masters in five years, though not many accept second baccalaureate folks. Does anyone have experience with the following schools? I know they all accept second bachelor seekers, and run the range of tuition costs. Cheaper is of course better, but Mines and Colorado College interest me based on their programs. The NYC based schools I am not too sure on, but as a local option I have to at least consider them. Colorado School of Mines CU Boulder Colorado College Northern Arizona University University of Utah University of Idaho NYU Polytechnic Manhattan College Stevens Institute
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Sep 29, 2015 14:28
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Missouri S&T and Georgia Tech are both pretty inexpensive, if you can finagle your way into meeting the in-state tuition requirements. Don't know how they are on accepting second bachelor's, but MS&T just accepted me last week and I'm in my late 30s seeking my first bachelor's, so they can't be too picky.
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Sep 29, 2015 15:00
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Gaff Tape posted:Does anyone have experience with the following schools? I know they all accept second bachelor seekers, and run the range of tuition costs. Cheaper is of course better, but Mines and Colorado College interest me based on their programs. The NYC based schools I am not too sure on, but as a local option I have to at least consider them. Stevens is good but really expensive. NYU Poly is pretty tiny but they have a solid program. Manhattan College's engineering program isn't great. For public local options, check out CUNY City College and NJIT.
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Sep 30, 2015 15:51
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I got an engineering masters at Mines after an undergrad degree in chemistry. The departments are small so Id suggest calling the department head of the program (I know him actually) and inquiring. Mines prides themselves on being open to students in that way. My masters was a cinch once I got in. They also have lots of night classes in the graduate schools so its easy to work and go to school at the same time. PM me if you want Edit: gently caress CC don't go there
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Oct 1, 2015 03:53
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Why is it that when I apply to (a huge number of) jobs by myself, I don't get any calls back (even after months of waiting). But if a recruiter finds me on linkedin and suggests I apply to a job I in no way qualify for, the company clamors over itself to get me in for an in person interview after stellar phone interviews?? What is it about a recruiter that causes this? Is it because they bypass HR and go straight through the managers? It's not like these recruiters seem to really know what they are doing. Applying to jobs in general seems like shooting fish in a barrel. I was finally offered a job but then found out I am moving (from San Jose to San Francisco), and the commute would be 2 hours (Santa Clara), so I had to decline it. I would have finally been out of systems engineering and into DSP. #life mitztronic fucked around with this message at 18:21 on Oct 1, 2015 |
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Oct 1, 2015 18:18
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mitztronic posted:Why is it that when I apply to (a huge number of) jobs by myself, I don't get any calls back (even after months of waiting). But if a recruiter finds me on linkedin and suggests I apply to a job I in no way qualify for, the company clamors over itself to get me in for an in person interview after stellar phone interviews?? Not sure but this is basically my experience in life. Why move to SF? Why not just live in Redwood City/East Bay/San Jose and take the new job?
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Oct 1, 2015 20:10
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CarForumPoster posted:Not sure but this is basically my experience in life. Why move to SF? Why not just live in Redwood City/East Bay/San Jose and take the new job? Going to be moving in my late grandfathers home and taking care of it, so i won't have to worry about rent, just upkeep and property tax. It was tough to say no, but it makes more sense. They weren't offering me much more than I am making now, so I'd still be financially struggling here, the upside being new career opportunities. Honestly we were going to move out of state before this came up. It's impossible to live in the conditions of the bay. I'm hoping to be able to find something in SF proper in the next year, instead. I've only look briefly at what's available in the city but there seems to be a good range to chose from.
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Oct 1, 2015 21:37
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Actually thought of a question, how would I go about working through a recruiter to find a job on my own? They generally get a headhunter fee for placing someone in a job, correct? So if I were to seek one out on my own, would they also charge me a fee? No idea how recruiters work
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Oct 1, 2015 22:02
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mitztronic posted:Actually thought of a question, how would I go about working through a recruiter to find a job on my own? They generally get a headhunter fee for placing someone in a job, correct? So if I were to seek one out on my own, would they also charge me a fee? They will get some percentage of your starting salary - I can't imagine they'd ask you to pay them directly. (In effect you are paying because the hiring company is probably not going to pay you as much if they have to pay a recruiter, but that's not what you're asking.) I've never sought one out though - random ones will contact people on LinkedIn. Maybe ask some (non-work) friends if they've ever worked with one, a referral works just as well.
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Oct 1, 2015 22:08
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mitztronic posted:Actually thought of a question, how would I go about working through a recruiter to find a job on my own? They generally get a headhunter fee for placing someone in a job, correct? So if I were to seek one out on my own, would they also charge me a fee? Small company lacks HR department that's large enough to do recruiting...so they hire a headhunter to bring them candidates. Large company has difficulty filling extremely niche position (or extremely terrible position that no one wants) and doesn't want to devote man-hours to do it ... so they hire a headhunter to bring them candidates Headhunter finds candidates at shotguns them at job postings directly (bypassing the black hole of online applications) Risk1 of using a headhunter: Candidate A is from a headhunter Candidate B is from an online application Candidate A will cost ~10-30k$ in extra fees paid to headhunter. Candidate B has a much lower total cost and may be chosen on that basis alone OR they lowball you to defray the headhunter cost. Risk2: Many firms refuse to do business with headhunters so if you exclusively use headhunters, you'll never be exposed to those companies. That's what "no third party applicants/principle candidates only" means. Interesting trivia: If you have already applied to that position then try to use a headhunter, they will not help you as they would not get the finder's fee.
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Oct 1, 2015 22:13
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Seriously be wary of headhunters though. They have been, by and large, super useful for me, but you shouldn't ever really trust them. They gossip, they're pushy, they can make things worse. I've heard horror stories of them doing things like inflating stuff on resumes. (Changing "managed a team of 5" to "managed a team of 20" - the candidate still got the job in that case because he acted as horrified as he was when asked about it in the interview.) One friend even had a headhunter call his current employer to try and get ahold of him after being blown off.
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Oct 1, 2015 22:16
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Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:Seriously be wary of headhunters though. Good advice, of the two I've had contact me one was extremely shady
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Oct 2, 2015 01:35
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mitztronic posted:Actually thought of a question, how would I go about working through a recruiter to find a job on my own? They generally get a headhunter fee for placing someone in a job, correct? So if I were to seek one out on my own, would they also charge me a fee? In your position I would strongly consider doing contract work through a contracting company. They will find you a spot and help set your fee and you can quickly get some very diverse experience.
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Oct 2, 2015 12:34
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I'm looking for some thoughts on something that came up while I was looking at a grad school application form for a mostly-distance based MS or ME EE program at the university a few hours up the road from me.University of South Carolina posted:Electrical Engineering - APOGEE - PhD Has anyone ever heard of a PhD program where most of your work is accomplished online? I'm trying to find more information on the online part of the program but the website has almost nothing.
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Oct 3, 2015 22:36
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I've never heard of a decent PhD program with that sort of structure.
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Oct 3, 2015 22:43
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Now that online/no thesis Masters degrees have pretty much saturated the market, unis are now taking it to the final frontier--their PhD programs. If you're going to apply for a job where they seriously need a PhD in something, one without rigorous contributions to the field is going to be looked over in a hurry, in my opinion. So why go to the trouble?
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Oct 3, 2015 23:12
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Right now I'm just trying to maximize promotion potential within my company. They count advanced degrees as experience. They also give 100% tuition assistance. I figure that I might as well take advantage of it. What should I do?
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Oct 4, 2015 00:30
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I'd only consider a PhD if I was actually interested in academia, and even then I don't think that program would get you very far with research experience. I'd look into the masters, I suppose. I'm doing full-time industry work and part-time uni and it's brutal, regardless of my employer's tuition assistance. Think long and hard about it.
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Oct 4, 2015 00:52
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CarForumPoster posted:I am the thread-resident salary curmudgeon I feel like...but I recall from graduating just 2 years ago that most people did not have reasonable expectations of salary when graduating. I lived the life youre describing as a CNC programmer in Florida and found that the salary cap as a guy with <5 years experience and an associates was $20/hr. The guys with lots of experience working as "manufacturing engineers" with a 2 years associates were making sub $50k. You can check my old posts for how Florida 50K is other places 70k but suffice it to say you shouldn't expect to be making "degreed engineer" salary with a tech degree, especially an associates. I can confirm that this is true in the Midwest as well. As a newly graduated engineer in an industrial environment, my hourly rate (assuming standard 40 hour week) is roughly the same as the top pay-grade for the blue collar guys, which are competitive positions that require 15+ years experience to reach. Plenty of those guys actually make more thanks to OT and shift differential, but making that extra money requires working long and/or unsociable hours. And engineers with 5 or more years in make more than the hourly guys at their peak earning potential, putting in fewer hours with less exertion, and they have the possibility of moving even higher up the scale.
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Oct 4, 2015 02:56
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KetTarma posted:I'm looking for some thoughts on something that came up while I was looking at a grad school application form for a mostly-distance based MS or ME EE program at the university a few hours up the road from me. This is probably not quite the same, but the university here offers classes remotely (basically online with taped/live lectures and someone to proctor tests for you at the remote site) at several locations around the state. I know of at least two people who are getting and one who has gotten a PhD without ever coming on to campus. All the course work is handled remotely and so is most of the advising stuff. This mostly happens with people who are currently working at one of the national labs that are in the area, so all their research happens there.
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Oct 4, 2015 10:49
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The focus of a PhD should be novel research. I can't really see the benefit of just taking more high level math and physics courses online. When I was doing my Masters I felt like the most productive time was spent in the lab doing the experiments and analyzing the data. The classes felt more like a nuisance than anything else.
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Oct 4, 2015 17:06
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KetTarma posted:Right now I'm just trying to maximize promotion potential within my company. They count advanced degrees as experience. Do the master's. You'll get it faster and it won't require figuring out how to fit independent dissertation research into a 40-hour workweek.
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Oct 4, 2015 19:31
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notZaar posted:The focus of a PhD should be novel research. I can't really see the benefit of just taking more high level math and physics courses online. When I was doing my Masters I felt like the most productive time was spent in the lab doing the experiments and analyzing the data. The classes felt more like a nuisance than anything else. The sole purpose of classes in grad school are exposure to very specialized topics and to support your research. The grades were basically a "did you go to class and complete your assignments" check. Below a B-average would get you on academic probation.
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Oct 4, 2015 20:47
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Frinkahedron posted:The sole purpose of classes in grad school are exposure to very specialized topics and to support your research. The grades were basically a "did you go to class and complete your assignments" check. Below a B-average would get you on academic probation. You have to royally screw up to not get at least a B in grad school.
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Oct 5, 2015 12:09
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Frinkahedron posted:The sole purpose of classes in grad school are exposure to very specialized topics and to support your research. The grades were basically a "did you go to class and complete your assignments" check. Below a B-average would get you on academic probation. I guess it depends on your school. The classes I had to take for my Masters were pretty drat difficult and the assignment workload was high.
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Oct 5, 2015 16:10
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