On the ground with both feet and running (A+ career right out of college)?

[GaryInCO]

Computer Science degree from a state school in '79, $18k starting salary as a programmer 1 week later (good at the time), standard almost linear raises for 27 years at 4 jobs.

That's me almost exactly: CS / Computer Engr degree from Iowa State in '79. My starting salary was $18600, which is $80,844 in current dollars.

Went to work for Hewlett Packard. Worked there for 13 years, met and married a lady I loved to death, and then we both quit (HP offered "we'll pay you a year's salary to leave" and we said "bye !!"). That was in 1991 and I never had another "real job" after that. I was self-employed, doing consulting/contract work. I couldn't find enough work to be "full time" employed but I made about as much as I would have if I'd stayed at HP, but working about half-time with complete time freedom. That worked for me.

I enjoyed my work and I intended to continue with my half-time/full-time plan until 65, then gradually coast into full retirement by 70. Unfortunately in 2023 my two main clients (who produced about 95% of my income) changed their business and stopped hiring me. I had just hit my FRA (66 and 4 months) so I decided it must be time to retire. Still getting used to no work and no business travel!

 

[Valid not Invalid]

My kid just graduated with an MIS degree with a minor in Computer Science and is still job hunting. I have faith he’ll soon land a job somewhere between $50K -$75K, but so far I know he doesn’t have the skills to save a portion of that. I’ve continuously pushed a federal gov’t job, but he hasn’t listened. I started in 1987 as an auditor w GAO. The starting salary of $18,358 was a bit low compared to my Accounting Degree peers who went to private firms, but with annual government raises and one promotion I was nearing $50K in 4 years. Hard work resulted in a good reputation that landed me a law enforcement position with a top tier federal corporation. The benefits included two retirement plans, with a 10 percent match, and a tweaked pension calculation due to the mandatory age 57 LEO retirement. I worked late nights and many weekends, but wife raised our kids, and I only moved once in my 34 year career. My ending salary was about $230K, which left me with a 6-figure pension, and a 7-figure portfolio. My second kid gets it-he’s pursuing his accounting degree and sees the benefits of a pension that’s guaranteed by the US government.

 

[imjustawarrior]

I spent 4 years in the Army out of HS. I then got my BSEE. I just ran my starting salary, and inflation adjusted to today it was $83.5K in a LCOL-MCOL area. I then got my MSEE while working (company paid for it). I got many promotions in my first 10 years. I was getting 2 raises a year some years. I then stopped trying to get promoted. I liked the level I was at. I would not have enjoyed the next level. I stayed at that level for almost 20 years.

 

[mickeyd]

My son has a cyber security job paying well north of $100,000. He works from home for a bank far away from home' Says that they can not hire enough qualified folks'

 

[PlayinwithFIRE]

i did a BSEE starting in 1988. Came out of that in 1991 in a job at 30K/yr. Thought that was bank.

Very uninteresting work setting up robots in factories. After 2 years, asked my undergrad advisor to
help me to the next step. He sent me to UF for a PhD in MatSci.

Came out of that into Display Tech at Motorola at 70K/yr. The division folded after 2 years.

Went to Si Valley .. Started to hit into the 6 figures range. All related to LED Technology (R+D engineer/scientist/manager/director) - the air is different there .

LED has been a great field for 20+ years, now it has mostly gone to Asia. Right about time for me to exit stage left I think. Topped out at about 200K/yr.. Some years higher with options etc.

Never willingly went toward management where there is clearly more $, much happier in a lab, doing experiments.

pwf

 

[corn18]

Sales seems to be a good career but if you aren't wired for it, it would suck. I was wired for it and did it for 13 years in a defense megacorp. Now I am consulting in it. My network is still relevant and active even though I retired 4 years ago with no intention to work again. My gig now is selling something I don't really know anything about but the customer is defense and I know that world. You can't do it from home, though.

 

[FlaGator]

If it's any consolation, I was the first in my immediate family with a college degree, and I worked in that field for 2.5 years before changing direction. That decision ultimately worked out well, but only after a few role changes and I understood there where things I could do "good enough", but there were others I could do "better than most". That's where I found my professional sweet spot.

I hung it up 10 years ago and periodically think about the "what if" scenarios, both professional and with relationships. We don't get a "do over", and after many restless nights decided I made the best decision I could at the time with the info and decision-making skills I had at the time. While wishing I had been just a bit smarter and less dogmatic in my thinking.

I respectfully suggest you'll have a happier life if you focus more on what you have achieved and the choices that gives you today instead of speculating on what could have been under scenarios that look possible in hindsight.

 

[lem1955]

Great public high school. Ivy League education with no debt. Knew I did not want a corporate lifestyle. First jobs were bicycle tour leader, apple picker, CETA (federal U.S. law enacted in 1973 to train workers and provide jobs). Eventually, learned bookkeeping and found a great job as CFO of a manufacturing company where I could dress in jeans and t-shirts.

 

[Patience]

To make great money requires a lot of hard work and sacrifice
With even more good luck
Pursue something you're good at that is highly marketable
Preferably you love doing it. If not, do it anyway and be miserable, but with money.

I did just that.
Engineering degree was more marketable than an Art degree. College in the sciences was hard and long (*snickers*) Got a great job immediately out of college. That was all luck. Hated it, but I was good at it.
Rose to the top, took over. Hated managing all those people. Decided some happiness is better than no happiness with work. Went solo. Now making more money freelancing than running an engineering firm. Also luck. Still don't love it, but it's better.

 

[Crewer]

I went directly to grad school after my BS and got a PhD in Chemistry. It was the early 70s and the wind-down of the space program meant fewer jobs for scientists so grad school was a good choice. Way paid with tuition and a stipend of about $3k/yr. Boy, those were the days. My first job - in the 70s at Los Alamos working on alternate energy - was pretty low paid but great for lifestyle since I had 24 days of vacation and at least 11 paid holidays starting year 1. Skiing, backpacking, hiking, etc for every single one of those days. But I only stayed 3 years. By then inflation had really set in and my salary still lagged new hires. My next job was academia and also low paid but very interesting and decent summer opportunities for money and/or time off. Only stayed 3 years. Then I hit it with an oil and chemical company. After I'd been there a few years DH quit his job to start a consulting business with electronics lab in energy storage. After 16 years at the oil company I took a severance package where they offered a year's pay plus other perks to not work. Seemed like an intelligence test of some sort at the time and, surprise!, I got a bonus a year later for the year I didn't work - oh, man were they crazy? It was the 90s and my stub for the year's pay says $100k.

I joined DH's company, part time at first, as our kids were 10 and 12. Later he and I traveled so much for work as he moved his company in that direction. A month here, a month there or maybe just a week or two here or there as visiting scientist, lecturer, etc. and I worked a bit too. It was a dream job.

We ended up with more retirement funds than anticipated and about evenly split between the two of us. But just as good was that each job was better and more interesting than the previous as I grew into each one. I think I loved every minute of them - I was so darn lucky. And I managed it by trailing DH.

 

[brydanger]

Depends on perspective I guess.

My first salary was $40k (in the year 2000) and I no doubt thought I’d hit it big. To be fair… I’m pretty sure that was at or near my father’s salary when he finally retired, so to me it was massive and I felt deeply obliged to never lose it.

Of course, that didn’t factor in the fact that I’d left anything/everything I was passionate about doing to take that job because I was already stressed about the over-6 figures of student loan debt I’d just accumulated, nor the fact I hated the work and would spend the next several years stuck in the cycle of working harder to more to buy more things to try and hide from the fact that I was miserable.

Don Draper can keep it if you ask me (all I remember is an alcoholic with a wife and daughter who resent him continuing to choose a cocktail with his boss over going home to them..

Looking back. I’d say the goal should be to land as high-as-possible W2, work your tail off to make as much as possible as fast as possible, invest/leverage as much as you can (meaning almost ALL of it) into the market and real estate (while you’re still young enough to be happy spending almost nothing) over a 10yr period and then walk away to start following your passions while all those investments do their work.

We missed it by a couple/few years because of some of the distractions, shiny objects and thinking success has anything to do with “stuff” money could buy… but if someone had the focus to know early on that all money has to buy is time/freedom - a decade should be more than enough.

 

[Robininsky22]

I post this here as it seems that many young folks have had a great start right out of college—I hear whispers of some with six figure salaries not long out of college. This wasn’t available to me, when I graduated almost 3 1/2 decades ago, but anyone is welcome to respond, of any age. Did you hit a home run with your first job as far as pay, flexibility, and lifestyle right out of college or nearly so? Is that possible, or is this a something I desperately wanted but made up in my mind?

A bit of background about me, and why I bring this up. I went to college initially for all the wrong reasons. Thought I was going simply to make a massive income, something no one in my family ever did. I thought simply the desire to do it and a willingness to live in NYC was all it would take. And I was so right about had I pulled that off and invested in Manhattan real estate 30 years ago, what a great investment that was.

A few things before I finish. I didn’t come from money, I saw a lot of money around me (mostly inherited), I attended state university because of the cost (and wanted out as fast as possible and did it in 7 semesters), and started out there contemplating a business major until a guidance counselor gave me literally the worst advice ever when I said my goal was to rise to the top in a major corporation in NYC (so I could get paid a lot). The advice—why study business, corporations love liberal arts graduates. And so, liberal arts it was, a degree that sounds better than English Lit but probably a lot less marketable. And, um, I had no COMPETITIVE it really is out there—reasoning that Baby Boomers would be retiring in huge numbers and no one left to fill their shoes, which, to me, simple supply and demand, meant I could make a whole lot of demands (due to lack of supply). I’m now nearly 55 and, so far, as far as career goes, I have yet to make one demand, even during COVID.

And so, I got my degree, went to NYC, handed out a lot of resumes (to doormen who, I’m sure, promptly filed it right in the trash). Got one interview with a temp agency, offered $12.00 an hour, no benefits, couldn’t even consider that with student loans (of $67 a month). Worked locally for a few years at minimum wage WITH that college degree, and got a job in the DC area as a GS-07. That pay now would be $57k a year (I started at $30,119 and lived in a cheap basement apartment and then an extension on a house) before attending graduate school. Again, not great timing and found my starting pay was less than what I left 4 years previously. Only since switching jobs and COVID has my pay gotten good ( and for that I’m thankful). And, my above experiences are what made me become frugal and why I can at least contemplate retiring at 57 if I want to.

Truth be told, if I had gotten that stellar salary, I probably would have blown right through it (many who are handed a lot for doing very little do just that) and ended up under the front tire of a Rolls Royce at the country club at age 39 and that would have been it .

Okay, now make me drool. Is living like Don Draper in Mad Men, or even far, far better, your reality?

Can’t relate, but satisfied with my own very different story. Graduated nursing school early 80’s, first job $7.70 an hour, last job $38.08 an hour, in the midwest US. Never hit even $80,000 a year, but retired after 39 years with over a million due to living below my means, saving above my means, and a good 401k match from my employer, which increased with longevity (same employer entire career). Retirement life is the best.

 

[Qs Laptop]

Not me but a friend of mine graduated from college with a Comp Sci degree in 1980. It was quickly obvious that he was doing very well. A few year later (1984?) we were having some beers and I asked him to give me a ballpark figure for his salary. He said it was around $80,000. I was making $30K at the time so I was impressed.

My son has friends that graduated from college in 2021 with computer science degrees and every one of them is making $175K or more. They work for Meta, Amazon, and Best Buy.

 

[1242Vintage]

Wasn’t a home run right out of college. Civil Engineering degree with a monthly salary of $2,200 a month for a green Junior Engineer with a bachelors degree back in mid-1980s. Paid my dues and sold a chunk of my soul to climb the ladder.

Was 30 year grind … including graduate degrees, licenses & a super supportive wife …. to get to the top levels in my industry (large infrastructure project finance & construction).

 

[Slim11]

Collage is a tool, you can eaiter use it to your advantage or not. To make it in life you need drive and to work. I am retired early, didnt go to collage and had a goverment job. But I was good at it, saved money, and invested well. I didnt spend on things I didnt need. I had a good career and retired. My buddy, who is way smarter then me, has a 4 year degree never had drive or purpose. He is living in a homeless shelter now. So life is not easy, but it is what you make of it. If you have the will to work hard and the drive to succeed, you will. If you keep blaming others for your problems, and keep saying how come I never get a break or a good paying job or nice things you will end up like my freind.

 

[mebden]

I hated high school only reason why I think I graduated was because I had to keep my grades up over a C to play sports which I loved. So my junior year 1983 I signed up for the delayed entry program for the US Navy so I had a job after the summer I graduated high school. So spent 3 years on a Navy Flag ship in Italy as a Postal Clerk and seen almost all of the countries over there which I will probably never see again. I got out and went home and a company in town was hiring and my dad made me go apply even tho I still had around 30 days of pay still coming from the Navy. I got hired and wasn't a year later they had a job posting for an apprentice for a Pipefitter and I took it and was a pipefitter for 18 years then the company decided it was time to tell me to take a hike because I made to much money and had over 5 weeks vacation thats when I went to management to supervise pipefitters and pipe welders and lots of other skilled trades and did well for myself so no regrets on my way to retire early and now I also can fix just about anything myself so it all worked out for me and my last Position was Pipe Superintendent making over 135k yearly .

 

[dg001]

I have been thinking about this a lot lately - mostly because my child is in college now, with a dismal job outlook and lack of internship in a fairly difficult major (ChemE).

I lucked into an MIS program (practically very little effort degree) at a good cheap state school in the late-90s right during the dot com bubble - they could not hire fast enough and I got kickass glamorous internships and good pay for part time work even in college. I found good jobs even through the bust, making fair pay ($100K in the mid aughts), met hubby who had a similar trajectory (though as an engineer had to work slightly harder in college!). I feel like "our generation" of computer science geeks meet the OP's ask of a good career right out of school.

Through all those years, there were frequent cries of "all the software jobs are going to India - don't do anything computer related!" (just as now all these jobs are going to be taken over by AI) - and all computer networking jobs moving to China (it did, but the US found social media instead). I guess it really is true that the only economy that matters to you is your own.

WSJ did a recent article on Gen X parents being well off but worried about their younger Gen Z kids and their opportunities. I always struggle with how much of our success was luck vs "hard work" or "seizing opportunities" - I tend to go with luck, and can only hope my kid is as lucky.

 

[COcheesehead]

It doesn’t matter where you start, it’s where you end that matters. I am sure most of us had to pivot multiple times in our careers and lives.

 

[athena53]

Engineering seems to be highly cyclical. When I started college in 1971, they couldn't find jobs. When I graduated in 1975, the smaller group that had been brave enough to choose that major had multiple job offers. It didn't hurt that my University Cincinnati) was a pioneer of the Co-op program and Engineering was one of the few majors for which it was available back then.

I had only one offer- entry-level actuarial position at $10,000/year, about $80K in today's dollars using CPI-U. Interesting- DS has 10 years of claims experience and 2 in Actuarial (3 exams, waiting on results of 4th) and last I heard he was making something over $70K in a LCOL area. Anyway, I remember asking a friend, "Wow- what am I going to do with $200/week?" Rent was $130/month for a 1 BR apartment. Also important: I had health insurance from Day One. I'd heard it wasn't great but fortunately I stayed healthy.

So.. 38 years as a Wage Slave, never got above VP level (and they're a dime a dozen in insurance) but it was a good career.

I think the jobs that pay huge salaries right out of college either work you to death (e.g. big-name law firms, investment banking) or lure you in with big salaries when they're desperate for your expertise and drop you like a hot potato when they aren't (e.g. Petroleum Engineering).

 

[Fermion]

It all boils down to luck and personality. Knew plenty of people who started a few years earlier at software and were multi millionaires after just a few years and others who worked 10 years after dot com bust and never even made it past a million. Some people were amazingly smart and were used by their superiors, others, not so smart but excellent on the social scene and promoted to the level of their ineptitude.

 

[NameTaken2]

Right out of college in 1981, got smacked in the face.
Went to Denver seeking employment in oil/gas, which was going into a trough and after a couple months of applying realized there were no jobs for applicants with no experience.
Had to lower my sights -got an interview at a very small firm for a night shift job running computer programs that people with the job I wanted generated during the day. At the interview, the office mgr. said that I'd get an opportunity to move up.
So, when he said "We normally start this job at $4/hr -but you'll start at $4.50 because you're a college graduate!" it was like getting hit in the knees with a 2X4 but I swallowed my pride for the opportunity. Min wage was $3.35.
Six months later, after working nights and spending my days cranking out application letters, I went to see the top guy (absolutely miserable human being). I'd been an exemplary employee, but discovered he had no intent to promote me. Gave my notice right there -realized had to shift gears.
Returned across the country to my home state, networked like crazy. Math/science for my major helped me find a good job and career in another industry. Made lemonade out of lemons, as they say.
That early adversity will never be forgotten, I could go on with many of stories from that crazy place!
Still have a 3-ring binder with all the rejection letters from >100 applications. Kept me humble LOL.
Challenges are a test of character, and the ability to find your way when the chosen path is a dead end.

 

[Lorenzo]

Right out of college in 1981, got smacked in the face.
Went to Denver seeking employment in oil/gas, which was going into a trough and after a couple months of applying realized there were no jobs for applicants with no experience.

Geology and petroleum engineering were crazy talk back then, and now it’s a different world with the shale oil boom in recent years. I know some who have made a mint. Maybe the best advice is study what interests you, and hope your timing is good.

 

[Diogenes]

... thats when I went to management to supervise pipefitters and pipe welders and lots of other skilled trades and did well for myself so no regrets on my way to retire early and now I also can fix just about anything myself so it all worked out for me and my last Position was Pipe Superintendent making over 135k yearly .

One hears that the really cushy jobs in the trades, aren't by being an exquisitely skilled tradesman, but by ascending to senior management, or running one's own company. The implication is that the non-college set, that's eager to enter the trades, needs to realize, that their financial success really isn't that different from the white-collar or STEM people... it's more a matter of soft-skills or entrepreneurialism, and not their technical acumen, or being "handy".

I think the jobs that pay huge salaries right out of college either work you to death (e.g. big-name law firms, investment banking) or lure you in with big salaries when they're desperate for your expertise and drop you like a hot potato when they aren't (e.g. Petroleum Engineering).

That's generally true, but one observes that over the past decade or so - and it's really only been a decade or so - there's a K-shaped divergence in STEM salaries. Various IT-related things, in certain sub-fields, have started commanding exorbitant salaries. Other types of STEM people are stuck somewhere around $150K, give or take... nice, but nowhere near "big bucks".

The result is frequent threads started here and on Bogleheads, of how a person had zero or negative net worth until maybe a dozen years ago, and is now sitting on something like $3M, currently with a $400K salary. Our hero is maybe 45, and is musing about FIRE. We respond that hey, amassing $3M is nice, but with a $400K W2, one should have had more money by now.. only to belatedly realize, that that cushy salary is only recent. Hard to justify retiring just then, isn't it?

 

[Koolau]

The result is frequent threads started here and on Bogleheads, of how a person had zero or negative net worth until maybe a dozen years ago, and is now sitting on something like $3M, currently with a $400K salary. Our hero is maybe 45, and is musing about FIRE. We respond that hey, amassing $3M is nice, but with a $400K W2, one should have had more money by now.. only to belatedly realize, that that cushy salary is only recent. Hard to justify retiring just then, isn't it?

In theory, at least, all that matters about being able to retire early is expenses vs potential income in retirement. Lots of nuances along the way, but I see that as bottom line. If you're making $400K but saving most of it, then you can maybe retire with $150K income because that's what your expenses are and your stash supports it.

 

[PristineSound]

I was at $57k/year, fresh out of college in 2002. According to inflation calculator, that is $101k today.

What stunned me isn't the amount, but rather how little $57k/year is back in 2002, I was still living at home with my parents. I could of moved out, but why pay rent when one can save to buy your own place.