What do you do that you earn six figures?

r/financialindependence • u/fidgit86 • Aug 13 '21

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?

15k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

View all comments

911

u/way2complex4me8 Aug 13 '21

Mechanical engineer

127

u/caffeinefree Aug 13 '21 edited Aug 13 '21

Checking in. Also mechanical engineer. But it took me 12 years to hit 6 figures - I was making $55k in my first job out of college. Starting salaries are definitely higher now, though, I think most kids are making like $80k starting.

Edit: Lots of people are asking about that $80k number. That's somewhat a guess on my part, but I know 6 years ago starting salary around me was around $70k. This is at Fortune 100 companies, meaning you need a 3.5+GPA and multiple internships to qualify for an entry level position. So yeah, my comment about "most kids" making that salary is likely off mark. If your grades are crappy and/or you didn't do any internships, you're not going to get one of those jobs out of school - but you might be able to get one after a few years of work experience elsewhere.

Also a note, lots of people are talking about location. Location doesn't matter that much for MEs in my opinion - I have friends on the west coast with similar resumes who are making maybe 10-20% more than me with 2x COL. I've been in the Midwest almost my whole career and have been making $80k+ for the better part of the last 7 years. I made a comment farther down detailing my career path and salaries if anyone is curious.

68

u/Dotrue Aug 13 '21

As a recent MechE grad can you direct me toward the jobs like that? Everything I see starts around $50-65k, with a few on the higher end around $70k.

1

u/The-Confused Aug 13 '21 edited Aug 13 '21

The car company I worked at in the Midwest had a starting salary right out of college of around 60-70k in a location where cost of living was tiny ($600 month for rent for a nice 2 bedroom apartment or $800 for a 3 bedroom house mortgage). I would have been in the 6 figures if I had stayed for 6+ years. The trick is to also be bilingual and focus on new model development as you will be fixing issues before mass production where parts are manufactured, many of which (for the USA) will be in Mexico.

My issue with the company was not the work, but the way the company was run, it was a Japanese company and was a watered down version of the usual "Japanese salaryman" culture.

One thing I did appreciate about the company though was that people working the line could apply for an office job where their experience building cars on the line would help them update manufacturing practices and manage suppliers for the mass production environment. A lot of those transfers became very successful and valuable mass pro engineers/managers. The company had a better chance of hiring a quality person from the line than right out of college.