r/financialindependence • u/fidgit86 • 9d ago

What do you do that you earn six figures?

It seems like a lot of people make a lot of money and it seems like I’m missing out on something. So those of you that do, whats your occupation that pays so well?

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151

u/rokit37 9d ago

Aerospace Engineer

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u/roseblood_red 9d ago

Hi, this may be a stupid question, but... Is aerospace engineering as hard as it sounds?

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u/rokit37 9d ago

The school part was hard. Really hard. Depending on your job (mine is for a large defense contractor) it could be pretty laid back or high pressure depending on contract(s)

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u/RuneScapeAndHookers 9d ago

There’s always money in the banana stand. And defense contracts.

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u/Ohigetjokes 9d ago

Goddamn you earned my "Best Username I've Seen Today" award.

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u/HotRock5 9d ago

"Oh, most definitely"

-Patrice "T-Bone" O'Neal

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u/NuttyhatchAf 9d ago

Raytheon?

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u/Killer_Bs 9d ago

Or Lockheed Martin, bae, northrop grumman, Pratt and Whitney, Boeing, general dynamics, etc. it’s a large and busy field

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u/vera214usc 9d ago

My husband was at Lockheed Martin then went to Blue Origin. Now he's a software engineer at a different company and makes twice as much.

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u/Memphizgrizzly 9d ago

FSR gigs are the best currently trying to switch from the maintenance side to the FSR side

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u/Smite_Evil 9d ago

Sounds like Raytheon to me.

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u/deepthought515 9d ago

I work for Rtx, pretty good company..

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u/Smite_Evil 9d ago

Same. It's a mixed bag depending on location and position honestly, but as giant evil corporations go there are certainly worse.

I know engineers that were chronically underpaid and overworked. As a result, talent retention was pretty meh.

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u/Mezmorizor 8d ago

It could be like 5 companies. It's a bit more likely to be Boeing, Lockheed, or Raytheon because those three do a lot of aerospace in particular, but BAE and Northrop are definitely "big defense contractors" that hire aerospace engineers. Probably others slipping my mind right now too.

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u/rokit37 9d ago

Similar, but no.

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u/Boilrup 9d ago

School (Purdue University) was really hard, so many hours every week doing class work and a lot of stress. Gave me a solid background. Work isn't as hard...but when shit goes bad, you need that background to solve problems.

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u/rokit37 9d ago

class of 2018! boiler up

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u/AshtonTS 9d ago

Engineering school isn’t so much “really hard” as it is a ton of work. It requires a lot of discipline to stay on top of challenging material, but it is very doable if you have good study habits.

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u/LoadedRhino 9d ago

It is a ton of work, but it is also really hard for some people. I've known people with all the discipline, but who simply did not have the analytical skills. Some made it through and have had great careers. Others switched out and have had great careers. The common ground is the work discipline leads to a great career.

Interestingly, I've known plenty of naturally brilliant people who got through school and then did poorly with their careers. Working hard with a good attitude is A#1.

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u/cranberrypaul 9d ago

I think the missing piece here is the "soft skills" aka collaborating with others. Some of those who switched out were probably trying to do too much out on their own. If you create a network while in the program (classmates, TA grad students, professors) it helps a ton. Just like in the profession, there's a lot of "magic" to putting heads together in front of a white board.

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u/rokit37 9d ago

That's a good point. I'm kinda of the opinion you can get any degree if you work hard enough and are put in a position to do it at the right school. I don't think that takes away from how hard the classes actually are though. But then again "hard" is relative.

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u/allgood347 9d ago

Fellow aerospace engineer here - can confirm. I went to school with a guy who was a long haul trucker in his first career, and decided he wasn't happy with it and wanted to become an engineer. He seemed plenty smart, and had an incredible work ethic, but man he struggled with the advanced aerospace curriculum material at the end. But he made it through; he basically just brute forced his way through the degree, putting in easily 2x-3x more hours than other students. I hope the work paid off with a job he loves, that dude earned it.

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u/we_win_those 9d ago

Aerospace engineer PhD here: can confirm, school’s a bitch. But if you love it, it’s fun

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u/Orleanian 9d ago edited 9d ago

I would second the opinion that the schooling was harder than the job (will obviously vary depending on the company, the program, and your position).

I worked harder to get by and finish my degree than I have worked for most of my job positions in the past decade or so. But you do need the degree to get the job. The various jobs I've had are generally pretty undemanding of any intense technical knowledge. They are, however, demanding of interpersonal skills, time management, and a certain level of critical thinking that are tougher in a different way than how I worked in school.

There are some brilliant engineers who are absolute shit at some engineering jobs, because they can't work well with others. Not necessarily in a "they're a jackass" way, but in a "they don't efficiently and successfully convey their ideas or contributions to the rest of the team" way a lot of times.

On the other hand, there are some smooth talkers and quick thinkers who fumble and make a dunce of themselves over basic engineering concepts (like not knowing what a countersunk fastener was).

However, they all exist, and they all get paid fairly well, once you've got your foot in the door.

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u/corranhorn6565 9d ago

Concur,

I'm an aerospace engineer. My dad is mechanical engineer. He always told me, you work a lot harder than all your classmates in school/college. Then you can sorta coast through work. Obviously if you want to get the next promotion keep pushing. But at some point salary and 40 hrs a week is plenty. Pretty solid job security too.

Gonna cross that $100k line here soon. 6-7 years in.

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u/Extreme-Range-3137 9d ago

If you’re an aerospace engineer and you’re just hitting 100k 7 years into your career, then you should definitely look into switching from civil servant to private. You’ll make A LOT more.

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u/corranhorn6565 9d ago

Do you feel you have accomplished a solid work life balance?

How about benefits with your company? Time off, etc?

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u/Extreme-Range-3137 9d ago

Yes!! Very much so!! I work the exact same amount of hours as I did as a civil servant and have pretty much the exact same benefits. I get 4 weeks of PTO per year, which is also the exact same as I got as civil servant. The only big differences are the salary, work culture, and pace of work.

Also remember this one HUGE thing as well - the average age at NASA is 54. In private, I’m surrounded by people my age that I can actually connect with. It’s a whole different environment in the best way possible.

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u/Orleanian 9d ago

Probably true. I spent 5 years on the civil servant side. Swapped to defense contractor, eventually hit 100k around my 9-year career point.

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u/Desarticulation 9d ago

I'm an aerospace engineer.

Pretty solid job security too.

I'm gonna guess you're not in civil lol.

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u/AccioAmelia 9d ago

Yeah ... I'm assuming this, too. My hubs is an Aero Eng. Used to contract for NASA down at JSC. We wanted to get out of Houston so we both found jobs elsewhere (i'm a ChemE). He's now a project manager making WAY more than he did at "NASA". Hoepfully these private companies are paying better than the government did in the past.

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u/Extreme-Range-3137 9d ago

Same thing happened to me. Worked at nasa for a few years. The pace of work was unbelievably slow and boring. Switched to private sector aerospace and got a 50% salary increase.

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u/corranhorn6565 9d ago

Lucky for me, this has not been my experience.

I am a civil servant. This year I will probably break 100k with OT, performance, travel, etc. I'm in RUS pay zone (comparable to some of the other comments about trades folks working lots of OT but breaking $100k). Another couple of years and I'll do that by default.

Projects take time but I don't think the work is slow.

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u/Extreme-Range-3137 9d ago edited 9d ago

I was in the same boat as you. Was making just over 90k a year before any OT or performance compensation. Now in private I’m making 130k a year base before any OT or bonuses and I’m only 3.5 years out of school. We also get stock options and profit sharing on top of that. It’s fairly well known that anyone switching from private to civil servant will take a pay cut. Also, can’t really deny that the pace of work at NASA is slow. They’re known for being slow, especially considering the government money never stops coming in. The private sector has a pace and pressure much more similar to the automotive industry. It’s a much better environment for anyone looking to grow and move up throughout their career.

Edit: also forgot to mention you actually get to see your projects fly regularly in the private sector instead of once every 5-10 years :)

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u/Orleanian 9d ago

I started my career as a NASA contractor. My salary skyrocketed (pun intended, I think I went from 51k to 85k) swapping to one of the big name defense contractor programs.

NASA is good prestige, but most folk in the industry know it to be cruddy pay and bogged down in proverbial red tape.

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u/corranhorn6565 9d ago

Nope don't have that problem

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u/drunktacos 9d ago

I did mechanical, but the degrees are like 90% similar. If you're good at physics and math and have a decent work ethic, it's not bad. Engineering colleges are full of the "I was in honors and didn't have to study"-types, and plenty of them get burned out when they realize that doesn't work in college.

Working full time is WAY less stressful than school (for me) depending on which company you end up at. Different industries yield different results.

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u/AnusCruiser 9d ago

Not an aerospace engineer but I took instructions from quite a few. For difficulty of their job I couldn't really say. It probably isn't much different than other engineering fields but each one has its own principles and necessary education to learn. I can really only speak for the day to day work and how stressed/relaxed the engineers seemed compared to other departments.

They had A LOT of leeway. Almost every design change was wrong or off in some way, but there's 100000 things to consider when moving a hole in a wing strut. It's understandable that the tiny drill hole moved 1/100th of an inch left might cause an issue 1000 steps down the line. They never seemed too stressed, and our management never made a fuss about time or mistakes. It was a very "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" environment. Maybe other places were different but at least where I worked there were no repercussions for mistakes or failed designs. Of every proposed change to a design maybe 1/50 would actually be in the final product.

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u/LoadedRhino 9d ago

Failures in the design stage are how you get everything right in the final product. If there are negative repercussions for early mistakes that makes a very toxic and dangerous environment. It is too easy to hide a mistake that then gets into production.

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u/AnusCruiser 9d ago

Yeah that mindset got burned into my mind pretty early on working there. It was refreshing going from a place where I was constantly worried about bringing up anything wrong even if it wasn't my fault. I have a lot of anxiety talking to management because of that place so going into aerospace was strange at first. Spending 30 minutes thinking of the perfect words to say to not piss off my boss only for him to say "oh haha I've done that".

One time a guy didn't follow the directions causing a $20k error. My boss said to the guy "You know I have to give you the run around for this but before I start I'd like to tell you about the time I did a 6 figure blow to this company".

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u/ARBS380 9d ago

As the others have said, industry is better than school. School is just an ass ton of work to weed those who can't cut it out. I've seen very smart people not able to do it, so it's not for everyone.

In my honest opinion, engineering degrees really are just, "I am able to learn quickly and think intuitively" degrees in general. The Venn diagram between things I learned in school and things I do now is a very small overlap. Most jobs are expect to have to train you for almost everything you'll be doing unless it's a very specific specialty that they've hired you for.

So in comparison to school? No, work isn't hard. Having worked other jobs, it's harder than previous non-skilled jobs mentally, but you just have to have a brain that can think through complex problems and brainstorm ideas for more efficient ways of doing things.

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u/slimdiesel93 9d ago

From a pure welding standpoint no. I'm an application engineer for a manufacturer(I'm a process and applications expert) and the amount of times we end up onsite helping them because of poor fundamental design issues or poor practice is mind bogling to me when I think about the stigma

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u/Ezio9076 9d ago

Does aerospace engineering really make over 100k? I want to know because I’m still in High School and don’t know what path to take but here where I am in the UK it says Aerospace Engineers only earn around £30k.

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

In the U.S. you earn that much. Some countries don’t pay what an engineer would make here.

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u/Jjamie42 9d ago

The UK doesn't have a big aerospace industry so less opportunities especially depending on what route you go down. I graduated back in 2019 and now in a more general mechanical role for a completely different industry, earning just under £30k. £30k-ish isn't bad starting salary though, it's the average UK salary plus as you get more experience you'll have more opportunities to get a higher salary.

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u/Dr_nobby 9d ago

It's £30k starting usually. Once you're chartered and have the CENG title you can earn easy 50k in a senior engineer role. Then once you start leading teams you pay will be bumped. Then you can go into consulting which brings in 80k.

Getting a chartership in engineering takes about 4 years in industry from your bachelor's. Or it might be quicker if you do your masters.

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u/heres_what_happened 9d ago

In the US, yes. You can earn that amount relatively quickly out of college. But recall that US govt spending is highly military concentrated and tends to focus a lot on Aerospace products. As a result we have several huge companies in the game. So, lots of taxpayer dollars flowing into these industries, along with large numbers of companies competing for employees, drives wages up. The UK has fewer companies in the industry, and lower military spending, so people with Aerospace Engineering backgrounds may not be as in-demand and may be forced into other roles or lower salaries.

Also most here will be speaking in USD. $100k is only ~£72k. So £30k=~$40k, still sounds low to me, but wages also tend to be lower in the UK and EU than US; might also be worth checking the source - is it average, average starting, average for people with an Aerospace Engineering Degree, etc? If it's starting, or people with the degree (who may have left the industry and thus lower the average income) that could also explain the discrepancy.

Probably doesn't help much with your career search. I know less about the UK job market but in the US, engineering in general is a career path that offers pretty good long-term stability and job security but slightly lower earning potential than other paths.

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u/drunktacos 9d ago

US makes a bit more than UK for engineering in general. I think you can still make it in the UK, but it just takes a bit longer. There's just more money flowing stateside.

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u/LengthinessDue5066 9d ago

They must be using the term differently.

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u/Mr-Tots81 9d ago

A standard aircraft engineer can earn a basic of 35-40k without overtime which at the moment in non existent. If you study and get your B1/B2 license with type and company approvals that will rise anywhere north of 60k+. Contactors generally earn quite a bit more but with the amount of work out there right now not being that much the rates are alot lower.

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u/rokit37 9d ago

I can comment on this because I interned for Airbus in the UK and now work in defense in the US! The pay is drastically different. Grad schemes at Airbus start at around 30K pounds, whereas the equivalent in the US is around 80k dollars. You start making "six figures" if you have an advanced degree or 2-5 years of experience.

I am a dual UK/US citizen and heavily considered moving to the UK after finishing school (in the US), but the pay difference didn't cut it for me. However, cost of living in the US can get high due to healthcare, school, and everything that is privatized as compared to the more "socialist" (I know, probably not the right word) aspects you get in the UK.

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u/Smite_Evil 9d ago

Aerospace inspector here.

Just put aerospace in front of something.

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u/r3v314710n216 9d ago

I work as a QA and metrologist for a subcontractor that deals with Aerospace as well as nuclear, defense, etc. We make machined parts. Trying to move into an aerospace field, do you have any suggestions for what might be most important or what might be looked for in a new prospect, considering that I don't have a formal educational background, just work experience, unfortunately.

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u/Smite_Evil 9d ago

Yes. Apply apply apply.

I applied to literally every position available for three years. My resume had some decent work experience on it, and when I was finally selected for an interview I interviewed well.

Actually got interviewed three times for different positions. They were batch hiring, so really if you were selected for the interview you had about a third chance of getting hired.

To be quite honest, from an inspection point of view, most of our processes are qualified and put into pretty well defined work instructions. Being someone with experience in manufacturing, familiarity with tooling/gauges, and a positive workplace attitude is more valuable than a savant with a chip on his shoulder.

Edit: attention to detail and familiarity with gd&t also good. It's a pretty low bar.

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u/go_fight_kickass 9d ago

Same but it really matters what city you live in

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u/NostalgicForever 9d ago

Easy on the west coast with a few years of experience

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u/hartsy8 30M | Half way there! 9d ago

Second this. If you have a clearance you will be making 6 figures out of the gates if you work ina “hub” city

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u/thisistediousnow 9d ago

what do you think of Skunkworks? Have you read Kill Chain by Christian Ambrose? Accurate?

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u/yourboychin 9d ago

Can I dm you ? I have some questions about availability of jobs for international students given ITAR restrictions. Am an aerospace undergrad currently and can’t find any answers.

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u/rokit37 9d ago

Sure you can. But to work in defense you need a citizenship or a green card. Right now the commercial side jobs are few and far between. u/pinkymd14 explained it probably better than I could. The international student from my grad school group also went into consulting, so that is always an option for engineers.

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u/pinkymd14 9d ago

I work with a lot of people who can't touch the itar stuff for military derivative aircraft but still support the commercial side if that helps.

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u/yourboychin 9d ago

It does give me hope. I really want to work in the aerospace industry but as a non-citizen I’m not sure if anyone will even interview me once I graduate. Considering giving up my dreams and going for some random mech e job.

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u/SadAmerican420 9d ago

I worked in Aerospace handling ITAR materials. My boss was from another country. He wasn’t allowed to view any ITAR stuff at our company until after he gained citizenship. He was hired on 15 years ago. The company no longer hires anyone who isn’t ITAR compliant because they’re too lazy to properly secure ITAR materials.

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u/yourboychin 7d ago

Yeah I’m afraid that’s gonna be the case for me since I’ll be a fresh grad. Companies might think it’s not worth the extra effort :/ .

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u/yourboychin 9d ago

For reference companies I’ve been interested in are Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, GA, Boeing. Any suggestions for maybe smaller companies that handle more commercial and less defence ? It seems all the ones that have some form of defence contracts don’t even consider freshly graduated non-citizens since it’s a hassle.

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u/pinkymd14 9d ago edited 9d ago

The companies with a heavy emphasis on defense contracts will probably be tougher, depending on your nationality (ex. Canadian would probably be easier than say Russian). But Boeing and Airbus have big commercial sectors. Otherwise Garmin, Cessna, Gulfstream, Rockwell, Honeywell, GE, not to mention the endless list of suppliers to those companies. Could also look into airlines such as American, southwest, jetblue, or abroad anywhere. Big companies like Boeing, Airbus, GE also have field reps that "live" at the airline. Maintenance repair operators (MROs) also support mainly comercial stuff. Liaison engineering in the factory, or at completion centers around the world including US, UK, Germany, France, China. Aerospace is worldwide and most people I interact with in my day job are non-US/ITAR people. Bonus if you like to travel, airlines get flight benefits too!

Edit: Didn't even mention space side of things like SpaceX, virgin orbit, blue origin, NASA, etc Raytheon, mod centers, R&D, data analytics, testing (flight or materials/lab),. Scholarly part of it too, could do research at a university, professor of your favorite subjects, etc. This is just the top ofy head. There's TONS of stuff you could do with non-ITAR!

Good luck and wish you the best, i hope this gives you some ideas and inspiration!

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u/yourboychin 9d ago

Thank you so much! This has definitely broadened my perspective and gives me a lot of motivation. :)

But also I’ve always assumed space side is 100% under ITAR. Are there ways of working on space tech for non-citizens? I’m a Malaysian studying in the US FYI

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u/yeliandbeli 9d ago

Change your major to mechanical engineering. You won't be able to work in the aerospace industry without US citizenship. It sucks but it's better to realize it now before it's too late.

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u/yourboychin 7d ago

It seems others in the industry are saying there are still opportunities. Are you working in the industry and notice that there aren’t any/many opportunities for non-ITAR compliant ?

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u/yeliandbeli 7d ago

Sent you a DM

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u/pinkymd14 9d ago edited 9d ago

Honestly, I'm not too sure, since i haven't worked on space stuff.. I work on commercial aircraft and my team is from all over the world: Turkey, Canada, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Slovakia, Russia, Ukraine, UK, Ireland, Pakistan, Romania, China, South Korea, Guatemala, Colombia, Thailand, Egypt, Malaysia, Vietnam and so on just to make a few. I have buddies I went to school with and many didn't have citizenship and are now working in US aerospace.

A lot of these people do have dual citizenship in the US now, but that's something you want, can work towards it while working on something relevant. For example, if you want to work on ITAR satellites as a designer someday, any design work in aerospace would help build your resume while you work on citizenship. And ITAR isn't just citizen, i believe permanent resident also can work on ITAR. Check out who can work on ITAR here, specifically definition of 120.15 US Person.

Mechanical and aero are so close that if you did really want to change fields after graduation, you'd be fine too. I work with a variety of engineers, even civil. (Edit, not intending to put civil down. I just think it's funny that margins of +16 and heavy steel/concrete structure people are working on lightweight aircraft. Engineering really didn't change when you get to the work stuff. Materials, stresses, systems, etc. School is building how you think about stuff and your "engineer toolbox." You'll learn the specifics of your eventual at your job.)

I'd recommend talking with your schools career advisor, they might have better information for your exact situation. Dassault Falcon, Bombardier, Embraer, cub crafters, Icon aircraft, jeppesen, foreflight; the more i think, the longer the list will get lol.

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u/yourboychin 7d ago

Thank you so much for the wealth of ideas and pathways you’ve provided. It definitely helps me feel less anxious. Not sure if citizenship or permanent residency is something I want since I want to eventually return to my home country but it’s definitely something I’ll consider when I start working. With covid I’ve felt a bit disconnected from school resources but I’ll definitely make better use of them this year. Thanks again you are truly a gem <3

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u/yavanna12 9d ago

This is the field my son wants to go into.

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u/HiiiighAllTheTiiiime 9d ago

I used to work on a military site where a majority of the work was aerospace, the engineers are the nicest yet dumbest people I'd ever met. I spoke to some of the management, even made some friends there and they all gave me similar stories, the company hires 16-19 year olds that just finished collage (UK here) and don't care if they dumb as a bag of rocks, if they followed orders correctly they were in and during their first 6 month probation they were paid weekly. The job was incredibly well paid, £40k minimum up to £90k and sometimes more. I asked about getting in and they said they'll message me when something opened up, then covid hit lmao, fortunately I had a job security and they didn't since aerospace dried up overnight.

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u/MobileSuitGundam 9d ago

Yea but how much? 6 figures could be a little as 100k or as much as 999,999.

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u/Diligent_Nerve_6922 9d ago

Look on Glassdoor for a specific job. Aerospace engineers in the US I’m guessing $50k-$300k depending on degree and years of experience. My husband and I both have masters in aerospace engineering and after 7 years of work we both make $170k in a coastal city.

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u/MobileSuitGundam 9d ago

God damn. Are y’all looking for a dog? I can bark. 😂

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u/rokit37 9d ago

I got an MS and my base out of school was 100k exactly. I live near DC, so I'm not exactly raking it in but I'm comfortable.

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u/razorney 9d ago

Username checks out.

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u/kellylicious3 9d ago

I’m QC for aerospace, I do not make 6 figures haha

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u/cable1965 9d ago

QC for aerospace/defense sub-sub contractor. Can attest to less than 6 figs. We also don’t make anything interesting or sensitive. Might have something to do with it.

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u/kellylicious3 9d ago

I inspect super cool stuff then super lame stuff. Honestly depends on the contracts.

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u/JustMyOpinionz 9d ago

Ty and your colleagues for at least keeping us close to the future.

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u/Outrageous-Rip-2834 9d ago

I’m considering studying this in uni after my gap year. My biggest concern is social life while studying. The university claims the average week in the program is 42 hours. How was it for you?

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u/rokit37 9d ago

I had a great social life, was in a fraternity, able to meet people and enjoy the proverbial "best years of your life". You should be able to balance, and that will make you a more well-rounded employee candidate as well because you'll have soft/personal skills.

Balance in my case was buckling down Sun-Thurs, going to class on Friday, and doing no school and enjoying life from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning. Repeat for 4 years.

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u/Outrageous-Rip-2834 9d ago

Thanks for the response. I think I’ll manage then.

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u/Neo1331 9d ago

Same up until 2 years ago. My hair is slowly coming back....

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u/yogIE2021 7d ago

Can ME become AE? My daughter is studying Mechanical engineering