switching to medical field?

[picusld]

I was thinking $75k for someone at a small firm with ~10 years experience sounded about right.

No way that is right for Cali or anywhere in the northeast.

 

[benbo]

I was thinking $75k for someone at a small firm with ~10 years experience sounded about right.

No way that is right for Cali or anywhere in the northeast.

THe California engineers union conducted pay parity salary surveys to determine the median salary for pay parity raises. This was a serious survey based on real data across public and private industry because real wages are based on it.

http://www.pecg.org/Members/MOU/salaries.htm

As of now, Associate Struc Engineers (basically means you have a license - you could technically earn this much 2 years out of school, certainly at 5 years) earn $8379 a month. After 10 years, a lot of Struc Engs will become seniors or principals. Seniors top at 10, 379 a month, principals at $10,826. THe salaries are similar for every type of engineer.

Entry level, often called "Range A" is $5334 a month.

So this is about the median in CA. If you live in Sacramento it's pretty good pay. In SF it's subsistence level.

 

[ironman]

Dang I need to move to cali, problem is you have to watch out for the cost of living. I desperatly need a new job but even though thoes wages look good im simply not seeing very many openings, of course im not in touch with the cali market only Alaska and there is not much going on up here, I hope things pick up. I make 4k a month with 5 years and a PE in chemcial engineering after taxes, so I guess are we talking before or after taxes.

 

[Dark Knight]

I make 4k a month with 5 years and a PE in chemcial engineering after taxes, so I guess are we talking before or after taxes.

Interesting. Your profile discipline says Civil Enigeering. Tell us more about that crossover.

 

[Chucktown PE]

Wow, I never expected ironman to return after we discovered his true identity.

 

[Dark Knight]

Wow, I never expected ironman to return after we discovered his true identity.

Is that him? The guy from Alaska? What was the name?...What was the name?...What was the name?...Ahhh....

Sarah Palin???????????

 

[new_injuneer]

Thank you everyone for the response. I look around in my firm, and see registered SE's with 10 years of experience making 70k a year, while putting in 50+ hrs a week, the principal nets 110k a year, and drives a camry. personally I have bigger aspirations than that. The work I do is moderately interesting(residential and industrial projects), but I also deal with bad building owners, architects a lot.
Chucktown PE, what you said really stroked home for me. I intend to study dentistry, maybe become a orthodontist. I'm 24 now, not a lot of commitment, I think it's the right time make a career change.

However, I'm a structural engineering grad student at a top university, should I finish my masters degree or completely forfeit that and take all the pre med/dental classes?

This makes me laugh a little. $110K a year is a lot of $ and a Camry is a pretty good car. $70K is nothing to sneeze at either, even for the NYC area or Bay Area.

If you're really looking to make $150K+, the only sure way I know to do that is to be a doctor or dentist. So you should look into that. But...

Another thing about doctors and making $ in general. I'm 35 years old and I know lots of doctors, including immediate members of my family. Money and prestige will never be good enough. Dentists look down on pharmacists, doctors look down on dentists, and radiologists look down at primary care physicians. Among doctors, there are those who laugh at other doctors who make $125K a year and work in 'crappy' hospitals.

So just keep that in mind. All the $ and prestige will never be enough...

 

[Dleg]

Plus, from my observations, doctors and dentists have pretty crappy jobs. Would you really want to spend all day just dealing with people walking in your office, in an endless stream, with problems that are 99% minor and the same **** you see every day? Poking around in their mouths, looking into their other orifices. TV shows like House, MD, don't portray reality, except for maybe a very, very small percentage of docs who are good enough to earn a more privileged position. But think about it, even the high paid specialists are really no more than jsut glorified mechanics. The only difference is if you fix people's hearts every day, or implant larger breasts. To me, it seems like that stuff would get old, very fast.

 

[navyasw02]

Plus, from my observations, doctors and dentists have pretty crappy jobs. Would you really want to spend all day just dealing with people walking in your office, in an endless stream, with problems that are 99% minor and the same **** you see every day? Poking around in their mouths, looking into their other orifices. TV shows like House, MD, don't portray reality, except for maybe a very, very small percentage of docs who are good enough to earn a more privileged position. But think about it, even the high paid specialists are really no more than jsut glorified mechanics. The only difference is if you fix people's hearts every day, or implant larger breasts. To me, it seems like that stuff would get old, very fast.

Is there ever a tv show (aside from documentaries) that presented a profession accurately? I'm sure there's a lot of lawyers and doctors out there who thought it was cool on TV and are now kicking themselves, but are too deeply in debt from student loans to change careers. The only medical thing I'd ever want to do is one of those doctors without borders gigs where they fix up people in jacked up countries. At least you know every day that you did something good in the world instead of just making a payment towards a loan or a BMW.

 

[Dleg]

^Yeah, I suppose those would be perhaps more "rewarding" jobs, but it's still the same basic thing - and endless procession of patients with mostly the same, minor problems that could probably be handled by a good nurse or even pharmacist (and in those countries, a good engineer - most of their health problems are related to poor sanitary infrastructure).

 

[HornTootinEE]

This is an interesting discussion. I have a sister-in-law on the other side of the coin. She's a PA, does orthopedic surgeries and the like. She started in EE in College, then changed to zoology and went to PA school. Now she scopes knees, replaces joints, etc. and wants to go get an ME masters or something to design implements. HA

 

[navyasw02]

This is an interesting discussion. I have a sister-in-law on the other side of the coin. She's a PA, does orthopedic surgeries and the like. She started in EE in College, then changed to zoology and went to PA school. Now she scopes knees, replaces joints, etc. and wants to go get an ME masters or something to design implements. HA

Biomedical engineering could be cool and certainly would give you a break from the mundane stuff like Dleg was talking about. Penn State has a joint Biomechanical PhD and MD program that you can do in a whopping 7 years, but that's probably overkill.

 

[Dleg]

Biomedical engineering was one of my focuses in my ME program. I really enjoyed it. A combination of anatomy and instrumentation. Learning how things like CT scans and MRIs work was fascinating. We got to build circuits in class that took electrical signals from our bicep muscles and cleaned them up, rectified & amplifed them and used them to switch a motor off and on. I still regret not pursuing jobs in that field, although I believe most jobs in that field are essentially in the role of maintaining equipment in big hospitals, and overseeing new purchases, repairs, etc.

 

[XOXOXO]

I just graduated and working for an consulting firm. The pay sucks, I work 10+ hrs a day sometimes weekend. I'm not sure if this is something I want to do for the rest of my life. I'm a masters student, I'm thinking about taking a few chemistry classes and apply to dental or medical school. Please share if you know anyone has done that, or any advise.

If I could do it all over again, I'd be an orthopedic surgeon. You're a structural engineer...should fit right in. They have to go to school for a LONG time, but many here in NY make a half-million dollars a year...and they have their own practices and make their own hours. If only I were 10 years younger...