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aw_tizm t1_iuuxxvv wrote

Reply to comment by apetnameddingbat in The average Aerospace salary is between $70k and $160k per year, based on salary reports of more than 500 aerospace professionals by Siglave

Low-paid? I know several making >$110k after 5 years in industry. Not insanely low by a long shot.

Seems like software is insanely high.. compare your salary with literally any other engineering field

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maybeitsme20 t1_iuvajfh wrote

When you factor that alot of those jobs are in HCOL areas like LA, Santa Clara, Colorado. Yes low.

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salocin22 t1_iuv5235 wrote

I think it’s more so that software compensation is more commensurate with the value provided to the company. Sure, plenty of Space Engineering positions pay 100-200k, but they are managing the work for 50-500 million dollar programs over a 2-10 year span.

I know plenty of very well paid software engineers, and I wouldn’t consider them more intelligent or efficient or getting more done than engineers in aerospace or anything, but software has become so important and with not enough people to do it that they can’t ask much closer to the going rate.

I read an article/study of NASA approved contractors (which many businesses have to go through to work in the public sector), and over half of those companies up charge their engineering hours up to 10x what they are actually paying the worker. The money has always been there, it’s just an inefficient system. In my personal experience most Aerospace grads or professionals are sometimes doing just as much software dev work as the actual software engineers, particularly in the areas of test or any sort of ground system work.

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CallinCthulhu t1_iux11ww wrote

Yeah the reason Software is paid so high compared to other engineering fields is margins. That’s it. Software development has insanely high margins, the only costs are developer salary and compute. Given the high margins it allows for more room for competition for developers.

For traditional engineering, there is a lot more overhead, so salaries don’t have room to grow as far in a competitive environment

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salocin22 t1_iuxdyb4 wrote

The margins really aren’t that much different, the overhead between infrastructure/etc. between the hardware and moving parts between the two aren’t that much different in my experience.

Software positions (at least the ones I’m familiar with) revolve around products. If you are a software engineer at Cisco you either work in sustaining/maintaining/troubleshooting products for customers, or you work on developing the product itself. You are “ahead of the curve” I would say with regards to contracts or procurement. In other engineering fields, the only difference is that a company is contracted to do XYZ, but based on work and engineering hours and deliverables as opposed to being product based. This essentially creates a bunch of middlemen between money received and work being done, where companies are paying realistic amounts (or getting paid) for work, but that money is cut tenfold before getting to the people doing the work.

Creating a similar example, you could be testing a spacecraft assembly at a company like Rockwell or a smaller company, who is then contracted by Lockheed for a spacecraft or hosted payload, who was originally contracted by NOAA or NASA or whoever. Your actual work has the same value as a software engineer, you’re just getting bent over because many companies are trying to get their dirty hands on the pie.

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DBMS_LAH t1_iuwes11 wrote

I'm a barber and I make 6 figures. As a blue collar guy, I feel like engineers should make much more than I do.

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xmilehighgamingx t1_iuwjt02 wrote

You are clearly good at what you do. Mediocrity in one field isn’t necessarily worth excellence in another. I also wouldn’t discount the value of quality service. I would imagine quite a few software engineers would be much more intimidated by the thought of carrying on a conversation with someone for an hour than you are by the thought of programming. A good engineer should make more than a good barber, but there is nothing wrong with an excellent barber making more than the average engineer.

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DBMS_LAH t1_iux9i1f wrote

Hey, thank you! The conversation is fun, but certainly draining.

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gwardotnet t1_iuyiwhc wrote

Postal carriers who average 55 hours a week make over 100k a year. Let that sink in. High school diploma only. And they always need more to apply.

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Cutecatladyy t1_iuwny4d wrote

All honest work is good work. It took you a lot of time to develop your craft and perform at the level you do, same as an engineer.

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DBMS_LAH t1_iux9f3i wrote

I appreciate that perspective. Thanks.

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