While one should not choose their profession or plot their career trajectory based solely on its financial returns, it is still an important thing to consider and take into account. To that end, one can scarcely do better than finding one of the many rewarding jobs in the world of engineering.
As Thomas G. Loughlin, Executive Director of the American Society of Mechanical Engineering, says on the A.S.M.E. website...
"Engineering continues to be one of the most robust professions. It's one that offers immense gratification along with concrete economic benefits. It's backed up by the fact that the unemployment rate among engineers is currently about half the national average. Also, engineers end up in other leading positions like management and legislation, and other jobs that benefit the economy."
In fact, as far as entry level jobs go, engineering often ranks near the top for recent college grads in regards to the salary they will receive as they begin their careers. If a student is well versed in math, for instance, their future earnings show promise of starting out high and then only increasing.
Forbes and Payscale.com note that “the top 10 best paying entry level jobs are math heavy,” which, of course, includes more than a few engineering jobs.
Al Lee, Ph.D., director of quantitative analysis at Payscale, says, “Jobs where you take mathematic computing and turn it into something useful are jobs where we’re seeing high starting salaries.”
Of course, how much you make depends on what field of engineering in particular you’ve landed a job in but, suffice to say, you will be well compensated.
If you’re interested, as a student, in seeing how much you might make or, if you’re already working, what others are earning for their jobs in the engineering field, take a look at Salary.com and their section on salary ranges for “engineering jobs.”