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Petroleum Engineers (US median - 129,990USD) and Computer Engineers (111,730 USD) are some of the highest paid engineers there are. And quite a few are in the s
by deaddodo 8y ago
Petroleum Engineers (US median - 129,990USD) and Computer Engineers (111,730 USD) are some of the highest paid engineers there are. And quite a few are in the same realm as Software Engineers (100,690 USD):
* Electrical Engineer - 95,230 USD
* Chemical Engineer - 97,360 USD
* Mechanical Engineer - 83,590 USD
* Biomedical Engineer - 86,220 USD
And when you consider the skewing of those salaries due to the majority of software engineers working in LA (and surrounding SoCal areas), SF, Austin, Denver and New York vs petroleum engineers working throughout the interior US, the gap is much larger.
Software engineers are paid well, but there are definitely other engineering fields beating them.
- fjsolwmv 8y agoSoftware engineer has a huge range, from $80K/yr senior engineer at Epic in Ohio, to a college hire at FAANG getting $200 total comp in year 1, $300k/yr in year 5.
- deaddodo 8y agoWhich is why I used the national median. And also pointed out the skewing. Since there are a ton of SWE in SF making 140-190k (and more with experience + title increases). But you're unlikely to make anywhere near that in Indianapolis, Cleveland, Mobile, etc. Petroleum engineers, on the other hand, make 100+k in pretty much any region.
- jeffreyrogers 8y agoWell being a petroleum engineer does limit you to regions that have oil and gas (or I guess you could work at a refinery too), but I see your point that there are some engineers who are compensated similarly to software engineers. I am not sure what their hiring process is like though.