Where is the crazy money

[u/DRJSAN]

What are the jobs that chemE’s can get that print crazy money.

I know for the most part engineers are well paid, but I’m wondering if there’s any shot to make ridiculous money (like the higher end of SWE or big 4 consulting) using an undergrad in chemE in conjunction with any experience or further degrees.

This may seem like a shallow question, and it definitely is. I’m happy with my degree and jog, I just really want to know what the top of the mountain looks like and how people got there.

[u/[deleted]]

That's absolutely untrue. I've met multiple software engineers making $300k+ working in Big Tech who don't work more than 40 hours per week, and have less than 10 years of experience. They're also working remotely in LCOL cities so a majority of that money goes straight into savings.

Yes, they're probably top 5% performers in their field, but so are some of the people reading this thread.

Some fields really do have better cost/benefit ratios than others. There are valid reasons why people with the most career capital (in America that usually means people graduating from the top ranked universities) tend to choose the careers that they do.

[u/thingleboyz1 → u/[deleted]]

Part of that is the supply and demand of SWE'S. During the period of the post 2008 boom and stimulus galore, top tech like Google were basically poaching talent so other companies couldn't have them, or "just in case" they needed then in the future. Basically engineers on retainer, thats why they got paid big bucks to do very little.

The opposite is happening now, with layoffs galore. Tech salaries will normalize, they'll still be highly paid mind you, but these unicorn jobs will go away.

[u/GlorifiedPlumber → u/thingleboyz1]

The opposite is happening now, with layoffs galore. Tech salaries will normalize, they'll still be highly paid mind you, but these unicorn jobs will go away.

YUP. You can't go into /r/cscareerquestions and suggest they're going to normalize to traditional engineering slaries though. Tar and feathers are ready and primed.

"why do some software engineers get paid so much" comes up a lot, and if you ask them, I get developersplained about how "You see, a software engineer automates so many things and adds value at a click that is 100x or more their salary... so you pay them a lot!"

Me, I am always like, "You see... "high salaries" and "tech" are synonymous. At the upper end a lot of tech salary is RSU based, which, in a "stocks are going up" industry, means they're attractive. PLUS, $1 of an RSU vesting is effectively "funny money" relative to a straight $1 of payroll, allowing companies with LARGE amounts of outstanding stock to offer stock based compensation at a rate higher than, for lack of a better description, dollar bill based compensation. Then, when this is layered over an environment that is effectively growing (adding staff), or an environment where you have convinced yourself you must grow (add staff), then the impact of "getting a software developer LATER at a lower cost" versus "hiring one NOW for $5k more than you paid the last guy or $15k more than they make now" is in favor of hiring now. This means, phat raises for swapping jobs, and high pay at companies that want people RIGHT NOW vs. slightly cheaper people later. Thus, there has been aggressive growth in higher end software developer salaries. When the music stops, top end pay will come down, and you too will go the way of the dinosaur (traditional engineers)."

Invariably out come the downvotes and some junior in college attempts to splain why I am wrong via one of a few typical reasonings.

Tech getting slaughtered in the stock market, layoffs, who knows what... is going to be wild west for tech salaries. I don't know what the end ultimately holds, but it could be an interesting few years of adjustment.

[u/thingleboyz1 → u/GlorifiedPlumber]

Well put. "Funny money" indeed, but people get bent out of shape and want the biggest number possibly. You can bet that new Tesla employees are examining their compensation packages very carefully now.