About me: I've Just graduated UCI eith a bachelors in Computer Science, I've been looking into [url=http://www.glassdoor.com/Job/software-engineer-jobs-SRCH_KO0,17.htm]software engineer jobs[/url], But I want some conclusive information on what exactly I
can expect to be making for the first five years of my career. My girlfriend and I are engaged, but I'm not sure if I can expect to earn enough to support a family. I found some really useful information on this one site, where it details how much annually
each company pays SE's but I was wondering what you guys thought, how long into your careers did it take you to reach a stable point where it became viable to start a family will that ever happen, or should I just go for the gusto and do it? The way I see
it, smart people have a lot of catching up to do breeding-wise (joke), honestly, thanks ahead of time.
Salary.com is a decent place to start. It provides reports on what different job titles make based on region and provides the bell-curve showing the range and distribution, though to be honest, I've found its average estimates a little high (especially
in a struggling economy). There are 3 main considerations when trying to estimate what your salary might be:
Location
Location
Location
My situation is a little unique in that I did a stint as an air force officer for 5 years before getting into the public industry for web development. So I took a pretty hefty pay cut when I left the service. In the 4 years after I separated my salary
has gone from about $45k (in Tucson) to over double that (though in California). Don't anticipate the same results, I got pretty lucky and landed a good job where I was one-on-one with the director and had a lot of opportunities to show my stuff. Though,
being a contractor, I am constantly in jeopardy of having to look for work should my contracts not renew (my current issue). Either way, I'm still not ready to start a family, though that's probably because I'm still a kid myself.
My advice is to approach what you enjoy doing, whether that is bar tending or software engineering. The world will always need both of those, yet both provide their unique challenges. Bartenders never get to party on the cool holidays because they are
working and software engineers must constantly be refining their skills lest they fade into obsolescence. If you decide on software engineering, hold off on your dreams of driving a Porsche until you've managed to prove yourself in the industry (5-10 years
of decent work history is a good start).
"Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today." --James Dean
JohnnyFC
Member
2 Points
2 Posts
PMJ
Dec 09, 2010 10:25 PM|LINK
About me: I've Just graduated UCI eith a bachelors in Computer Science, I've been looking into [url=http://www.glassdoor.com/Job/software-engineer-jobs-SRCH_KO0,17.htm]software engineer jobs[/url], But I want some conclusive information on what exactly I can expect to be making for the first five years of my career. My girlfriend and I are engaged, but I'm not sure if I can expect to earn enough to support a family. I found some really useful information on this one site, where it details how much annually each company pays SE's but I was wondering what you guys thought, how long into your careers did it take you to reach a stable point where it became viable to start a family will that ever happen, or should I just go for the gusto and do it? The way I see it, smart people have a lot of catching up to do breeding-wise (joke), honestly, thanks ahead of time.
John
AceCorban
Star
12358 Points
2274 Posts
Re: PMJ
Dec 09, 2010 11:06 PM|LINK
Salary.com is a decent place to start. It provides reports on what different job titles make based on region and provides the bell-curve showing the range and distribution, though to be honest, I've found its average estimates a little high (especially in a struggling economy). There are 3 main considerations when trying to estimate what your salary might be:
My situation is a little unique in that I did a stint as an air force officer for 5 years before getting into the public industry for web development. So I took a pretty hefty pay cut when I left the service. In the 4 years after I separated my salary has gone from about $45k (in Tucson) to over double that (though in California). Don't anticipate the same results, I got pretty lucky and landed a good job where I was one-on-one with the director and had a lot of opportunities to show my stuff. Though, being a contractor, I am constantly in jeopardy of having to look for work should my contracts not renew (my current issue). Either way, I'm still not ready to start a family, though that's probably because I'm still a kid myself.
My advice is to approach what you enjoy doing, whether that is bar tending or software engineering. The world will always need both of those, yet both provide their unique challenges. Bartenders never get to party on the cool holidays because they are working and software engineers must constantly be refining their skills lest they fade into obsolescence. If you decide on software engineering, hold off on your dreams of driving a Porsche until you've managed to prove yourself in the industry (5-10 years of decent work history is a good start).