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Geotechnical News March 2011
ASFE NEWS
What Are You Complaining About?
So, how do major geoprofessional
careers stack up when it comes to great
pay and growth prospects? It doesn’t
take a degree in rocket science to
figure it out. According to
Money
and
PayScale.com, the top ten careers are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
,
7.
,
8.
,
9.
and
10.
.
Complementing these results, a
study by
The Wall Street Journal
found
that engineering graduates earned an
average $56,000 for their first full-time
jobs out of college, while communi-
cations and English majors, like your
editor, earned $34,000. Fort Collins,
CO-based career counselor Katy Pi-
otrowski said that the pay advantage
of technical-degreed graduates often
persists throughout their careers. Ms.
Piotrowski said that mid-career lib-
eral arts majors she knows make be-
tween $60,000 and $70,000. People
with technical degrees make at least
$10,000 more, she said.
An engineering grad interviewed
by your editor said, “My English
skills isn’t near as well as your’s, but
that there’s my new Mercedes Bends
parked up next to your old Chevy.”
You Are Not Going to Believe this Story
Thomas Stanley is thewell-knowauthor
of several “millionaire” books. His
most recent is
Stop Acting Rich…And
Start Living Like a Real Millionaire
.
In it, he relates University of Georgia
Survey Research Institute data showing
that engineers outdo physicians and
lawyers when it comes to transforming
income to wealth. (Stanley defines
wealth as having assets of $1 million or
more, not including one’s home.) Here
are some particulars:
• Compared to all millionaires, engi-
neers produced 22% more wealth
form every dollar of income.
• Millionaire engineers live in neigh-
borhoods where the median home
value is about 12% less than the
median home value of millionaires
in general.
• Millionaire engineers keep their cars
for 5.6 years while all millionaires
keep theirs for about 4.3 years.
And now, the coolest factoid of all:
Of the top 200 high-income-producing
occupational categories in the United
States, geological and mining engi-
neers ranked no. 1 in percentage of
millionaires.
FYI, Stanley explains all
this by noting that “Engineers in gener-
al are a frugal group.” Does that mean
that geoprofessionals are the most fru-
gal of all?
eBrownbag: No More Streaming Video
Effective January 1, 2011, eBrownbag.
comchanged froman online, streaming-
video format to a DVD-based program.
While the eBrownbag website will
still be “up,” you will no longer be
able to use it to view presentations.
We will issue to all current ASFE-
Member Firms a complimentary set
of DVDs, so you will be able to use
any or all of the presentations in-
house. Barring unforeseen production
problems, we will mail the DVDs in
January to the point of contact we have
listed for each ASFE-Member Firm.
If you are not with a current ASFE-
Member Firm, visit
to order a set of DVDs. They will
be free to ASFE members; $500 for
nonmembers.
Suggestions or requests for addi-
tional presentations or topics to be cov-
ered? Please let ASFE know
. We’ll pass your message
along.
