4 ms·

Engineering is certainly not a proletariat. Engineers make more money than most professions and have more interesting jobs as well as lots of respect from other

by flexie 12y ago

Engineering is certainly not a proletariat. Engineers make more money than most professions and have more interesting jobs as well as lots of respect from other professions (I am not an engineer and I can tell you lots of people admire engineers). Also, many professions experience "pay squash". It's a myth that most managers make much more than programmers and that they "just" organize your time. Let's have a little bit of respect, not just for our own professions, but also for the people we work with.

zo1 12y ago
>"It's a myth that most managers make much more than programmers and that they "just" organize your time." Well, instead of just saying it's a myth and relying on averaged stats in the industry to satiate peoples' curiosity/jealousy, perhaps we should just all be more open about how much we all make. I.e. let's not make it taboo and "contractually-breaking" to discuss salaries openly. I know, yes, our current employment culture won't easily handle the strain of all coworkers knowing each others' and their superiors' salaries. But I have noticed the trend reversing slowly.
- analog31 12y ago
  I suspect that sharing salary info will result in a gradual downward grind in salaries, as people are offended by seeing someone make what seems like big money for easy work. This has been the case with public school teacher salaries. I also think that salary data, with no corresponding ability data, will be meaningless.
  - Consultant32452 12y ago
    Salary data is already available at places like salary.com. You can see what people with your job title in your area are making for free.
LoSboccacc 12y ago
not when compared to all other profession that require a degree, constant lerning and are higly specialized (each enginering branch is not interchangeable, as well as within the same branch specializing in one area reduces your employment prospects in others) also, the majority of managers are not the one that are in charge, taking decisions, managing risks and settings directions; middle managers types are way more common. and I do respect those of them that work well, but they are so hard to find that I'll stand by the 'most' in 'just organize things'.
- TheCoelacanth 12y ago
  What professions would those be? Law and medicine are probably the two most people are thinking of. Law does pay more for very successful people, but at the median it actually pays less. Doctors do get paid more, but they also spend a much longer time in training. The amount of time that most engineers spend in training is more in line with the amount of time that PAs spend in training.

by flexie 12y ago

zo1 12y ago

>"It's a myth that most managers make much more than programmers and that they "just" organize your time." Well, instead of just saying it's a myth and relying on averaged stats in the industry to satiate peoples' curiosity/jealousy, perhaps we should just all be more open about how much we all make. I.e. let's not make it taboo and "contractually-breaking" to discuss salaries openly. I know, yes, our current employment culture won't easily handle the strain of all coworkers knowing each others' and their superiors' salaries. But I have noticed the trend reversing slowly.

analog31 12y ago
I suspect that sharing salary info will result in a gradual downward grind in salaries, as people are offended by seeing someone make what seems like big money for easy work. This has been the case with public school teacher salaries. I also think that salary data, with no corresponding ability data, will be meaningless.
- Consultant32452 12y ago
  Salary data is already available at places like salary.com. You can see what people with your job title in your area are making for free.

LoSboccacc 12y ago

not when compared to all other profession that require a degree, constant lerning and are higly specialized (each enginering branch is not interchangeable, as well as within the same branch specializing in one area reduces your employment prospects in others) also, the majority of managers are not the one that are in charge, taking decisions, managing risks and settings directions; middle managers types are way more common. and I do respect those of them that work well, but they are so hard to find that I'll stand by the 'most' in 'just organize things'.

TheCoelacanth 12y ago
What professions would those be? Law and medicine are probably the two most people are thinking of. Law does pay more for very successful people, but at the median it actually pays less. Doctors do get paid more, but they also spend a much longer time in training. The amount of time that most engineers spend in training is more in line with the amount of time that PAs spend in training.