Most Lucrative College Degrees '04

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

No the true test is the time weighted salary accounting for inflation.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Asher

You're confusing something like computer science with computer technicians, are rather dishonest comparison seeing as CS requires 4+ years of university in a variety of fields (philosophy, economics, management, etc), and computer technicians are lucky if they have a 2 year community college diploma.

Mathematics requires the same requirements- does not mean mathematicians are out there making the big buck.

I also disagree with the statement that they "rarely" rise to the extremes, virtually all of my friends have parents "technical" degrees and they make very, very good money. My dad had "only" a civil engineering degree, and he's managing the multi-billion dollar Alberta Oil Sands projects for a major US oil company, etc.

First of all, what is "very very good money"? over 150k a year?

Second_ what percentage of the workforce do you know? : my guess, tiny.

As for your dad- fine, he is managing a project- what percentage of the profits does he see? Would it be wrong to guess that perhaps chief corporate council for that company makes as much, if not much more? Or that the CFO makes a lot more? or that dozens of other people in that corporation who had some of those dgrees that are way down on your scale are making as much if not more? and if so, what does that say about your chart?

[Asher]

Originally posted by GePap
First of all, what is "very very good money"? over 150k a year?

Yes, excluding profit sharing, stock options, and operational bonuses.

Second_ what percentage of the workforce do you know? : my guess, tiny.

*shrug*
I'm not going to play this game with you, but I do know tons of people with "technical" degrees that earn a ton of money, far more than I know people with arts degrees or even economics. My BF's father is an economist, and he makes good money but nowhere near the level of my dad's.

As for your dad- fine, he is managing a project- what percentage of the profits does he see?

I have no idea what percentage of profit sharing he sees these days. But he does get substantial "operational bonsues" since things go right with the project.

Would it be wrong to guess that perhaps chief corporate council for that company makes as much, if not much more? Or that the CFO makes a lot more? or that dozens of other people in that corporation who had some of those dgrees that are way down on your scale are making as much if not more? and if so, what does that say about your chart?

I think that's a tad bit misleading because you're looking at positions that maybe 0.00001% of the workforce will ever attain, so attributing this to their degrees is somewhat ridiculous.

And there aren't more than "dozens of other people" making more money than my dad, at least in the Canadian subsidiary he works for. He's got a handful of people above him. At least one of those I know very well and he has an engineering degree as well, and he's the President of the Canadian subsidiary...And starting in March he leaves to head up the Venesualan subsidiary...

[Zylka]

Heck, you make more starting out as a roughneck in Alberta than any of the above listed without a degree. That means nothing after 5-10 years of industry reality

[Japher]

No biosciences? Hardly surprising, I've found it to be a dog of a sector...

bioscience Really, you'd need to be in microbiology at least...

how much does a Chemist earn around the US? I always wanted to go to the USA to make some cash.

Chemist do pretty good in the biotech sector...

Thank god I'm a ChemE...

[Bereta_Eder]

What's the difference between computer engineering and computer science?

[Asher]

Originally posted by paiktis22
What's the difference between computer engineering and computer science?

Computer Engineering -> Hardware
Computer Science -> Software

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Japher



Thank god I'm a ChemE...

Where you at Japh?

[monolith94]

Yes! Liberal arts is UP!

[Japher]

Palo Alto, CA... I live in San Jose... Cost of living sucks

I figure I'll get the experience (3 years so far, 2 somewhere else, I figure 2 more years) and then find some start-up pharma or biotech company somewhere nice and cheap...

[Asher]

Originally posted by Zylka
Heck, you make more starting out as a roughneck in Alberta than any of the above listed without a degree. That means nothing after 5-10 years of industry reality

Those are in US Dollars, remember.

Novice roughnecks really make >$72,000CDN a year? And even so, that's very dangerous work, forces you to live in the middle of nowhere, and work obscene hours.

[Zylka]

Yeah, they do. And none of the above, unless so chosen to make more through reality of living costs

At which point you're doing larger stints where you don't pay rent, and have allowances for food and booze - as well. A great, laid back buddy of mine does 2 or 3 month quick work. He's the type who hangs out at the local surf shop for 8 bucks an hour - coming back from a few winter months in AMAZING shape and driving a fully purchased Land Rover

Doesn't mean you can assure a stable life of it, of course.

[Az]

so, wtf is a roughneck, and where do I sign up?

[Zylka]

In Israel - you don't

An (often) entry position for leather skinned alcoholics and/or farm boys to run spinning pipe at a drill site in the frigid north. Incredibly dangerous, incredibly physical, put your nose to the grindstone work. If you're not a flake or an out of place temp planner, you can make a decent career of it.. alas that's rarely the case

[Asher]

Originally posted by Zylka
Yeah, they do. And none of the above, unless so chosen to make more through reality of living costs

At which point you're doing larger stints where you don't pay rent, and have allowances for food and booze - as well. A great, laid back buddy of mine does 2 or 3 month quick work. He's the type who hangs out at the local surf shop for 8 bucks an hour - coming back from a few winter months in AMAZING shape and driving a fully purchased Land Rover

Doesn't mean you can assure a stable life of it, of course.

The Globe and Mail say Roughnecks are making CDN$20/hr...

http://www.globeandmail.com/series/hitchhike/0829.html

so, wtf is a roughneck, and where do I sign up?

They work in the middle of nowhere at oil pumps. It's dirty and dangerous work, my dad was one over a summer between HS and Uni and a friend of his lost an arm.