Aerospace is a high-paying engineering field.
Engineers solve practical technical problems through the use of scientific principles. They can design and test robotic components, create new aircraft or calculate stresses on a new steel bridge. Because the field affects nearly every industrial process, engineers specialize, and salaries differ by subject. As of May 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, the highest-paying specialties are petroleum, computer hardware, nuclear and aerospace.
Petroleum
Graduates with petroleum engineering degrees create processes for removing oil and gas from beneath the earth. They typically work with geologists to understand how the earth forms such deposits, and then design equipment to achieve maximum flow at minimum cost. Even the best technology recovers only a portion of the oil and gas, thus guaranteeing jobs for these degree holders for a long time. Petroleum engineers make a mean $57.67 per hour or $119,960 per year. Their largest employer is oil and gas extractions, which pays a mean $60.62 per hour or $126,090 per year. The highest-paying jobs are with office administrative services, which provide management expertise for the petroleum industry. They offer a mean $70.41 per hour or $146,460 per year.
Computer Hardware
Computer hardware degrees grant the skills needed to design, develop, test and oversee installation of computer hardware such as systems, routers, printers, boards and chips. The education focuses on many of the same techniques and principles used by electronic engineers, but only as they relate to computers. Subjects covered also include basic software engineering, so graduates can best determine create machines that function efficiently for programming. Computer hardware engineers earn a mean $48.75 per hour or $101,410 per year, and work primarily for computer systems design services, where wages are a mean $48.30 per hour or $100,460 per year. These professionals make the most money working for lessors of non-tangible assets that do no include copyrighted work. Compensation here is at a mean $60.67 per hour or $126,200 per year.
Nuclear
Graduates of nuclear engineering create the processes, systems and equipment used to create nuclear energy. One of their chief areas of study is design, operate and monitor nuclear power plants. They may focus on produce, handle and dispose of nuclear fuel safely, or develop fusion energy. Some may also concentrate on using nuclear engineer to power vessels such as spacecraft or submarines. Others may be interested in using nuclear energy to treat medical conditions. Nuclear engineers receive a mean $48.25 per hour or $100,350 per year. They work primarily for architectural and engineering services, with means at $55.21 per hour or $114,840 per year, and for the federal government at a mean $45.55 per hour or $94,740 per year. However, their highest-paying employers are management, scientific and technical consulting services at a mean $56.09 per hour or $116,670 per year.
Aerospace
Aerospace engineering degree holders develop, test and manage the manufacture of aircraft, spacecraft and missiles. They may be called aeronautical engineers if they focus on aircraft, or astronautical engineers for space vehicles. They may also specialize in system such as navigation and control, or structural design, or specific products such as military fighter jets, commercial airliners or helicopters. They get a mean $46.29 per hour or $96,270 per year. Their biggest employers are aerospace product and parts manufacturers, with mean wages at $42.18 per hour or $87,730 per year. The highest paying are scientific and technical services other than marketing research, photography and translation. This pays a mean $56.24 per hour or $116,980 per year.
Tags: hour year, mean hour, mean hour year, computer hardware, create processes, degree holders
