[quote=joec]Out of curiosity, does anyone know if CS/programing/coding/IT jobs pay a lot more than some of the hard (as in more physical) engineering disciplines such as Mechanical/EE/Materials?
I ask because when I graduated and the tech boom happened, everyone I knew in tech (SV) was paid a ton more than “regular” engineers. Maybe I didn’t know that many of the other engineers actually since a lot of the companies were more software based/web…
Oh well, just wondering since I wonder if everyone would just learn to code in the future vs. the less (maybe?) lucrative fields of EE/Mech/Materials/etc…
From all the salary surveys I see though, it seems petroleum engineers make the most out of school so maybe my circle just wasn’t the EE crowd.[/quote]
It depends on what specifically in each field…
Petroleum enginerds probably do pretty well. EE crowd does well if in the correct specialization…
CS crowd does well if in the right crowd and you’re relatively good. There’s a difference between being just a coder (know how to program), and being able to design. There’s a creativity component as well…
I think people should just consider “coding/programming” as a tool. The real bucks are finding solutions to problems or creating a product and using those tools.
Tools get smarter. Problems you solve get harder….
Compensation varies. Besides salaries, a good portion ends up being employee stock grants (RSUs) and/or cash bonus, which varies depending on performance.
