r/ChemicalEngineering • u/MistakeSea6886 • Sep 21 '23

Salary What’s the most profitable career path?

I’m a freshmen Engineering major that is taking gen Ed’s. I am thinking of switching to chemical engineering next year. I really like ChE but but want to pick a profitable career path, which is why I’m on the fence between it and Computer science. I did research and found that petroleum engineering is very profitable, and ChE can pick it pretty quickly. However with the way the world is going(more green energy), are renewable energy jobs such as nuclear power plants going to experience a boom in demand and become more profitable?

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u/JustAFlexDriver Sep 22 '23

Bs in ChemE and recently got an Ms in CS here, I think I could offer my $0.02. I graduated in 2018 and worked for a few different pharma/biotech companies for more than 4 years, the most I made (since you’re interested in the money) was $110K TC working my ass off 45-50 hrs/week. I recently switched career since I got my MSCS this year and work as a junior SDE now making ~$100K TC, a bit low given the current market situation, but long term prospect looks promising. Both of my salary numbers are in a MCOL. I would prefer majoring in CS in undergrad if I was to choose again, though.

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u/MistakeSea6886 Sep 23 '23

What’s MCOL?

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u/JustAFlexDriver Sep 23 '23

Medium Cost of Living area