Salary of an Engineer
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| Bibliographic Entry | Result (w/surrounding text) |
Standardized Result |
|---|---|---|
| Morkes, Andrew, & Yehling, Carol, & Walsh, Nora, & Walsh Laura. Careers in Focus Engineering 2nd Edition. Chicago: Ferguson Publishing Company, 2003 | [see table 1 below] | $21,000–72,096 |
| Farr, Michael. Top 300 Careers Your Complete Guidebook to Major Jobs in Every Field. 9th ed. Indianapolis: JIST Publishing, 2006: 141-142. | [see table 2 below] | $43,679–$85,000 |
| Sieling S., Mark. Occupational Salary levels for white collar workers, 1982. Monthly Labor Review. 1982: 31. | "Average Salaries of employees in selected white/collar occupations in private establishments, March 1982 Engineers II (GS-7)–$23,622 Engineers III (GS-9)–$26,060 Engineers IV (GS-11)–$34,443" |
$23,622–34,443 |
| Prieser, Carl. Occupational Salary levels for white collar workers, 1985. Monthly Labor Review. 1985: 31. | "Average salaries for selected occupations, national survey of professional, administrative, technical, and clerical pay, March 1985 Engineers II (GS-7)–$27,405 Engineers III (GS-9)–$30,275 Engineers IV (GS-11)–$34,348" |
$27,405–$34,348 |
| Garner, Geraldine. Careers in Engineering. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2003. | [see table 3 below] | $46.065–$75,521 |
| Engineering Profession | Bachelor's Degree | Master's Degree | Ph.D. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aerospace | $46,918 | $59,995 | $64,167 |
| Biomedical | $47,850 | $62,600 | |
| Ceramics | $49,995 | ||
| Chemical | $50,000 | $56,700 | $72,000 |
| Civil | $40,616 | $62,280 | |
| Electrical | $51,910 | $44,080 | |
| Environmental | $48,000 | $63,812 | $50,000–60,000 |
| Hardware | $53,924 | $42,000–50,000 | $70,140 |
| Industrial | $48,320 | $56,026 | $59,800 |
| Mechanical | $48,426 | $55,994 | $72,096 |
| Metallurgical or Materials | $42,507 | ||
| Mining | $46,609 | $54,038 | |
| Nuclear | $95,600 | ||
| Optical | $21,000 | ||
| Quality Technician | $53,424 | ||
| Software | $58,026 |
| Engineering Profession | Bachelor's Degree | Master's Degree | Ph.D. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aerospace | $50,993 | $62,930 | $72529 |
| Agricultural | $46,172 | $53,022 | |
| Biomedical | $48,503 | $59,667 | |
| Chemical | $53,813 | $57,260 | $79,591 |
| Civil | $43,679 | $48,050 | $59,625 |
| Computer | $52,464 | $60,354 | $69,625 |
| Electrical | $51,888 | $64,616 | $80,206 |
| Environmental | $47,384 | ||
| Industrial | $49,567 | $56,561 | $85,000 |
| Materials | $50,982 | ||
| Mechanical | $50,236 | $59,880 | $68,229 |
| Mining | $48,643 | ||
| Nuclear | $51,182 | $58,814 | |
| Petroleum | $61,156 | $58,000 |
| Engineering Profession | Bachelor's Degree | Master's Degree | Ph.D. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aerospace | $46,918 | $59,955 | $64,167 |
| Agricultural | $46,065 | $49,808 | |
| Biomedical | $47,850 | $52,000 | |
| Chemical | $51,073 | $57,221 | $75,221 |
| Civil | $73,000 | ||
| Computer | $53,924 | $58,026 | $70,140 |
| Electrical | $48,613 | ||
| Environmental | $51,167 | ||
| Mechanical | $48,426 | $55,994 | |
| Petroleum | $53,880 | $58,500 |
he word engineering comes from Latin word “ingenium” which means “innate quality, especially mental power, hence a clever invention”. Much more than a word, engineers have adapted discoveries and inventions that we use every day of our lives such as the television or the computer I used to type this essay. One of the unique aspects of engineering is that even though an engineer may specialize in one area, they can correlate their knowledge into other fields. One example is the link between medicine and engineering which has created the field of bionics, which is dedicated to the study of biological concepts that can be applied to the synthetic implants in hopes of replacing biology with technology.
The salaries of engineers depend on a wide range of factors. The starting salary of an engineer is always going to be a small amount but they increase in time as one’s experience and education increases. The biggest factor that affects salary is primarily what type of engineer the person is. There are some fields in engineering in which there are too many or too few qualified engineers and the concept of supply and demand plays a factor. If one field of engineering has many workers, the workers may be paid a lesser amount than another field in which there are few engineers. The other factor is the company or firm that the engineer is working for. There are thousands of engineering companies and all of them set their own payroll for their engineers. The other factor is if you are a government employee where all the workers are paid at a fixed income. One other factor is where you are in the globe. Different countries pay their engineers differently and there may have vast areas of open land ready to be worked on where in the US, everyone is savagely searching for a piece of land because it is a vital resource that can’t be renewed. There are many other different factors that play a role as well including the career one chooses, such as if they choose to practice or teach.
Arif Hussain -- 2007