Jack Ma: Story of Alibaba E-Commerce and Online Retail by GineersNow GineersNow Engineering Magazine Issue No. 013, Jac | Page 27

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
The descendants of Nikola Tesla, the electrical
engineers, get one of the highest engineering
median salaries. Their job mostly revolves around
the design, testing, and supervision of electrical
equipment, but could work in related industries.
Starting electrical engineers could earn a median
salary of $57,330. With enough experience for a
mid-career engineer, they get a median salary of
$89,180. Take note that this sector’s job growth
is expected to be around 6%, which is a rate
lower than average. This will go on until 2020.
COMPUTER ENGINEERING
Computer engineering is divided into two main
areas: hardware and software. The former deals
with physical computer systems and components
while the latter involves application of engineering
discipline to the creation of software. But the
two have a relatively similar median salary, with
software seen to become more in demand in the
future. For starting computer engineers – either
hardware or software – the pay is estimated at
$63,970. This goes up in mid-career at about
$150,130.
AEROSPACE ENGINEERING
Planning to take a degree in aerospace
engineering? The time is now. This field which
studies the development of aircraft and spacecraft
has one of the highest paying jobs. Fresh
aerospace engineers can expect a starting salary
of $65,450, which will become $103,720 over
time upon reaching the middle of the career. Due
to the cutbacks in space exploration, it is most
likely that the job growth for aerospace engineers
is only at 5% over the next few years, which is
lower than the average job market.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
Usually employed in the areas of manufacturing
and research tasked to produce, transform,
transport and properly use chemicals, materials,
and energy, chemical engineers enjoy high-paying
jobs. The median starting salary for chemical
engineers is approximately $94,000, while the
mid-career salary is estimated at $154,840.
However, a caution: the market for chemical
engineers is expected to be reasonably flat
over the next few years. What is set to pull this
trend up is the related industries like biomedical
engineering, which is expected to have a much
faster average job growth.
MATERIALS ENGINEERING
As the name suggests, materials engineering
deals with the development and testing of
materials mostly used in the production of
industrial and consumer products. Engineers in
this field are responsible for opening doors to
new technologies across the industry. The median
starting salary of materials engineers is $52,900.
As time goes by, it increases to $85,150 during
mid-career. Job growth in this sector is seen to be
at around 9% until 2020.
E-Commerce, Online Distribution and Management • March 2017
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