Engineering Grad School - Ja Oder Nicht Nicht

biak1

Got into grad school for electrical engineering at UW and was curious about the bored’s experience with this fun educational adventure and its impact on career/life/financials, etc. Two notes: 1) job will pay for about 1/3 of the total expenses (50k-ish), 2) considering going for MBA if/when I want to turn to the dark side and go management and because like any self-loathing UW fan I’m a glutton for punishment.

From my researching it seems like most people find that the degree pays for itself within 10 years depending on respective salary increases, so it’a a long run investment and that’s just fine by me.

Thoughts?

Doog_de_Jour

Congratulations! I’ve pretty much always been taking college classes or professional certification courses while working full time for ten years now. It’s been a very positive experience for me and manageable, but I’m single and don’t have kids. Having those extra obligations does amp up the degree of difficulty, but I know many that have pulled it off without ending up divorced or completely alienated from their kids. I guess the biggest thing is you’ll need to be pretty disciplined with your time and pick you your battles.

RaceBannon

The only thing worse than management is working for management

UW_Doog_Bot

You don't need an MBA for management though it can help. If you are in engineering bother to get your pmp if you haven't already. It's like six units and easy if you aren't dumb.

UW_Doog_Bot

Also, a payback period of 10 yrs isn't great.

Are you a fresh BS grad? Going back to school? Lots of experience? Etc.

89ute

So - dusted off my old HP12c and put in fresh batteries. Looks like your share of the expense is 33k. Assuming you pay the 33k at once, the present value of 33k at 15% interest over 20 years is $650,611. In other words, in stead of doing what you are about to do, if you take 33k and stick it in a fund that pays 15% you'd have 650K in 20 years and all you had to do was hold your dick.

I picked 20 years because I figure that is the minimum amount of years left in your career. Without taxing my HP and WAC education, time value of money bla bla bla, if you take 650K and divide it by 20 you get 32K per year for a simple ballpark.

If what you are doing is worth 32K or more - not just cold cash but enjoying what you do then there you have it.

Woof

89ute said:

So - dusted off my old HP12c and put in fresh batteries. Looks like your share of the expense is 33k. Assuming you pay the 33k at once, the present value of 33k at 15% interest over 20 years is $650,611. In other words, in stead of doing what you are about to do, if you take 33k and stick it in a fund that pays 15% you'd have 650K in 20 years and all you had to do was hold your dick.

I picked 20 years because I figure that is the minimum amount of years left in your career. Without taxing my HP and WAC education, time value of money bla bla bla, if you take 650K and divide it by 20 you get 32K per year for a simple ballpark.

If what you are doing is worth 32K or more - not just cold cash but enjoying what you do then there you have it.

The logic here is spot on, but what in the hell are you investing in that pays 15% long-term? Long-term, I think the S&P 500 is at 7% or so, gold is at 4-5%, and bonds are at 2-3%.

There are some other reasons that might change the equation a bit, in particular if you're going to go back and get an MBA, like your ability/desire to jump into a different industry, move to a new city, or find a different job, but the financial calculation needs to be 80% of the decision process.

creepycoug

The best part about advanced education in anything quant is that it gives you a leg up in the business world. Used to be the Ivy League MBAs ran the show, engineers were well paid staff, the two or three engineers who mattered were paid much more, and that was that. The guy who majored in Economis at Amherst and has a Harvard MBA ran the show and the technical people were overhead. Then the technical people started taking over the business lines and eventually started populating the C suite offices.

I'm drastically oversimplifying here, but that's been the general trend in my observation. I have a kid who is pure mathematics, who knows nothing about managing anything other than herself and no sense of capital markets or economic competition. And she has companies and consulting firms knocking on her door who would have never given me a second look with my UW Finance degree.

The engineers typically are not at her level from a purely quant. standpoint (she's in grad school for math), but they are obviously heavy on quant and, this is what I hear a lot, are strong on process, and they both translate well to running a bidness.

I doubt a UW engineering degree would take 10 years to justify economically. But I could be wrong.

Pitchfork51

Engineering is nice and if you have a little business acumen it's good stuff.

I wish I had done engineering in school but I have a lowly finance degree.

Fortunately I lucked out at my current thing so the res is strong and I get blown up by the recruiters constantly.

I'm not sure if I want to do more hardcore software stuff or focus more on the management side. I waffle between it

YellowSnow

creepycoug said:

The best part about advanced education in anything quant is that it gives you a leg up in the business world. Used to be the Ivy League MBAs ran the show, engineers were well paid staff, the two or three engineers who mattered were paid much more, and that was that. The guy who majored in Economis at Amherst and has a Harvard MBA ran the show and the technical people were overhead. Then the technical people started taking over the business lines and eventually started populating the C suite offices.

I'm drastically oversimplifying here, but that's been the general trend in my observation. I have a kid who is pure mathematics, who knows nothing about managing anything other than herself and no sense of capital markets or economic competition. And she has companies and consulting firms knocking on her door who would have never given me a second look with my UW Finance degree.

The engineers typically are not at her level from a purely quant. standpoint (she's in grad school for math), but they are obviously heavy on quant and, this is what I hear a lot, are strong on process, and they both translate well to running a bidness.

I doubt a UW engineering degree would take 10 years to justify economically. But I could be wrong.

I don’t understand what is happening.

creepycoug

Pitchfork51 said:

Engineering is nice and if you have a little business acumen it's good stuff.

I wish I had done engineering in school but I have a lowly finance degree.

Fortunately I lucked out at my current thing so the res is strong and I get blown up by the recruiters constantly.

I'm not sure if I want to do more hardcore software stuff or focus more on the management side. I waffle between it

The managers get paid. The more people in your org, the more you get.

creepycoug

YellowSnow said:

creepycoug said:

The best part about advanced education in anything quant is that it gives you a leg up in the business world. Used to be the Ivy League MBAs ran the show, engineers were well paid staff, the two or three engineers who mattered were paid much more, and that was that. The guy who majored in Economis at Amherst and has a Harvard MBA ran the show and the technical people were overhead. Then the technical people started taking over the business lines and eventually started populating the C suite offices.

I'm drastically oversimplifying here, but that's been the general trend in my observation. I have a kid who is pure mathematics, who knows nothing about managing anything other than herself and no sense of capital markets or economic competition. And she has companies and consulting firms knocking on her door who would have never given me a second look with my UW Finance degree.

The engineers typically are not at her level from a purely quant. standpoint (she's in grad school for math), but they are obviously heavy on quant and, this is what I hear a lot, are strong on process, and they both translate well to running a bidness.

I doubt a UW engineering degree would take 10 years to justify economically. But I could be wrong.

I don’t understand what is happening.

Think it over hombre.