Here's the latest in my series of six figure interviews, discussions with everyday people who have grown their incomes to at least $100,000 annually.
My questions are in bold italics and their responses follow in black.
Let's get started...
Tell us a bit about yourself (age, marital status, kids, where you live, etc.)
32 married 3 kids, 11, 7, 3 living in florida
What do you do for a living?
Systems Engineer
How much do you earn annually?
$101,250 salary
Do you receive any additional compensation/benefits from your employer (401k match, stock options, etc)?
Profit sharing 2% annually, 6% 401k match, plus all the standard benefits
How long have you been working?
Ten years plus 2 years as an intern while in school and some time at my parents business before that doing a bit of EVERYTHING.
How long have you earned at least six figures?
1 year
What have been the key steps you have taken that have allowed you to earn this level of income?
1. Education. Hustle to get an education where you learn desirable (ie marketable) skills. Starving artists are called that for a reason. There are no excuses here. I was pregnant my junior year and had an infant my senior year of college. If I can work, have a baby and go to engineering school full time, anyone can get their degree. That said I spent two years not watching TV and not going out with friends.
2. Work hard, be willing to read the details and learn as much as you can. Anticipate the needs of your project, team members, project lead/boss and deliver what they need on time and on budget. Communicate at the right level of detail and in a way that your leadership can understand.
3. Take advantage of employer paid advanced degrees and get one! I got a masters degree that I didn't pay a dime for.
Which of the following career advancing strategies did you employ (if any) and which were most effective: a. Doing well within your current company and being promoted. b. Jumping around from company to company always seeking a higher salary & responsibility. c. Entirely changing your career path from a lower earning field to a higher earning field (going back to school, etc).
1. Do not stay working for the same employer for your whole career. Every 5-7 years you ought to move on to a new company to both broaden your knowledge and experience and keep your salary at market rate by giving yourself an opportunity to negotiate your pay. The last time I changed jobs I increased my total compensation immediately by 20% and entered a program where evaluations and merit raises were given every six months for three years, adding another substantial boost over my peers. (So far this window seems to allow enough time to get an internal promotion before changing jobs, which you can also sometimes negotiate, I negotiated the pay for my first promotion as well)
2. Network and build relationships to get job assignments that you want to build your skills and experience and also to build a group of mentors you can go to for advice. The last several assignments I had were because I had lunch with the right person. I have met wonderful brilliant people because I asked them to have lunch with me and tell me about their leadership role on a project and their insight into various things.
What are you doing now to keep your income growing?
Perform, seek out projects that grow desired skills, and work in desired roles. Right now, I'm looking around at opportunities at other local companies.
What are your future career plans?
I'm exploring the idea of working as a contract engineer and potentially growing my own small company of engineering talent. I have a couple of very talented friends who are interested in doing this with me on the side until we could grow the business enough for us to work at it full time. This is an age discriminating profession and there are lots of over 50 engineers who worked at the same place for thirty years only to get laid off and find their job prospects extremely lean. In my specific engineering discipline think its important to grow an expertise set at several different companies to give you a way to be marketable in your later years.
Have you been able to turn your income into a decent net worth?
Our net worth is near a half million. My husband is also a six figure engineer.
Why or why not?
We have no debt but the house and have been consistently able to save by living below our means. Additionally we have been able to give away a significant amount of our income to charity. That kind of thing helps you to be content and thankful for what you have.
Not having a heavy debt burden allows you to be able to take risks in your career and to whether life storms like a layoff without losing everything that you worked so hard to save.
What advice do you have for people wanting to grow their incomes?
1. Don't be afraid to ask for what you want. The answer may be no, and then you are right back where you are now. But the answer could be yes, and then you get what you want.
2. Read. Reading gives you different perspectives on things and makes you a more interesting person to talk to. Additionally I have learned a lot of business concepts and appropriate vocabulary from reading. It helps a lot to be able to talk to a higher up company leader about leadership topics they are interested in using the right vocabulary. It helps a lot to be able to talk to HR using their language of "total compensation" - all of this I got from books.
My questions are in bold italics and their responses follow in black.
Let's get started...
Tell us a bit about yourself (age, marital status, kids, where you live, etc.)
32 married 3 kids, 11, 7, 3 living in florida
What do you do for a living?
Systems Engineer
How much do you earn annually?
$101,250 salary
Do you receive any additional compensation/benefits from your employer (401k match, stock options, etc)?
Profit sharing 2% annually, 6% 401k match, plus all the standard benefits
How long have you been working?
Ten years plus 2 years as an intern while in school and some time at my parents business before that doing a bit of EVERYTHING.
How long have you earned at least six figures?
1 year
What have been the key steps you have taken that have allowed you to earn this level of income?
1. Education. Hustle to get an education where you learn desirable (ie marketable) skills. Starving artists are called that for a reason. There are no excuses here. I was pregnant my junior year and had an infant my senior year of college. If I can work, have a baby and go to engineering school full time, anyone can get their degree. That said I spent two years not watching TV and not going out with friends.
2. Work hard, be willing to read the details and learn as much as you can. Anticipate the needs of your project, team members, project lead/boss and deliver what they need on time and on budget. Communicate at the right level of detail and in a way that your leadership can understand.
3. Take advantage of employer paid advanced degrees and get one! I got a masters degree that I didn't pay a dime for.
Which of the following career advancing strategies did you employ (if any) and which were most effective: a. Doing well within your current company and being promoted. b. Jumping around from company to company always seeking a higher salary & responsibility. c. Entirely changing your career path from a lower earning field to a higher earning field (going back to school, etc).
1. Do not stay working for the same employer for your whole career. Every 5-7 years you ought to move on to a new company to both broaden your knowledge and experience and keep your salary at market rate by giving yourself an opportunity to negotiate your pay. The last time I changed jobs I increased my total compensation immediately by 20% and entered a program where evaluations and merit raises were given every six months for three years, adding another substantial boost over my peers. (So far this window seems to allow enough time to get an internal promotion before changing jobs, which you can also sometimes negotiate, I negotiated the pay for my first promotion as well)
2. Network and build relationships to get job assignments that you want to build your skills and experience and also to build a group of mentors you can go to for advice. The last several assignments I had were because I had lunch with the right person. I have met wonderful brilliant people because I asked them to have lunch with me and tell me about their leadership role on a project and their insight into various things.
What are you doing now to keep your income growing?
Perform, seek out projects that grow desired skills, and work in desired roles. Right now, I'm looking around at opportunities at other local companies.
What are your future career plans?
I'm exploring the idea of working as a contract engineer and potentially growing my own small company of engineering talent. I have a couple of very talented friends who are interested in doing this with me on the side until we could grow the business enough for us to work at it full time. This is an age discriminating profession and there are lots of over 50 engineers who worked at the same place for thirty years only to get laid off and find their job prospects extremely lean. In my specific engineering discipline think its important to grow an expertise set at several different companies to give you a way to be marketable in your later years.
Have you been able to turn your income into a decent net worth?
Our net worth is near a half million. My husband is also a six figure engineer.
Why or why not?
We have no debt but the house and have been consistently able to save by living below our means. Additionally we have been able to give away a significant amount of our income to charity. That kind of thing helps you to be content and thankful for what you have.
Not having a heavy debt burden allows you to be able to take risks in your career and to whether life storms like a layoff without losing everything that you worked so hard to save.
What advice do you have for people wanting to grow their incomes?
1. Don't be afraid to ask for what you want. The answer may be no, and then you are right back where you are now. But the answer could be yes, and then you get what you want.
2. Read. Reading gives you different perspectives on things and makes you a more interesting person to talk to. Additionally I have learned a lot of business concepts and appropriate vocabulary from reading. It helps a lot to be able to talk to a higher up company leader about leadership topics they are interested in using the right vocabulary. It helps a lot to be able to talk to HR using their language of "total compensation" - all of this I got from books.
Well done. I'd probably be more comfortable changing jobs every 2-3 years since you are in tech. 5-7 years is a
bit too long.
Posted by: Limey Junior | November 21, 2013 at 09:37 AM
Very nice! Good to see another woman in this series. I was just looking at statistics for people in the US with incomes over $100k by gender, and something like 75% are male while only 25% are female.
I need to work on having more networking lunches -- I liked your advice in this area.
Posted by: #1 Six Figure Interview | November 21, 2013 at 11:04 AM
I spent my working life as an engineer.
I started as an apprentice at a major aircraft company in England. As soon as the 5 yr. apprenticeship ended I married the girlfriend I had been with for 6 years and emigrated to Canada, with $450, where I worked for an aircraft manufacturer for two years. When the company lost its one and only huge contract we moved to Denver and I worked for a small aviation company. This job didn't have much future and I knew I needed to get an MS if I was to make anything of myself so we moved to California where I worked for Lockheed Missiles & Space company, they funded my MS degree and I stayed there for 32 years, received many promotions and raises, retiring at age 58.
Once you have three children and are living in a nice part of the USA that you really like and have a beautiful home I felt that there was far too much to lose by uprooting my family, disrupting their education and childhood and moving somewhere else. There were also great benefits by spending my whole career with Lockheed. I ended up with a nice 401K that they helped to fund. I also received a very nice pension and because of my long service we are in their retiree healthcare plan and have great coverage at a wonderful clinic for $326/month. I am now 79, my wife is 80 and looking back on my life I wouldn't change a thing. A side benefit was that my engineering skills helped me to become an outstanding investor and a multi-millionaire.
Posted by: Old Limey | November 21, 2013 at 01:07 PM
Thanks for sharing, and that's a nice net worth for age 32 BTW.
I agree with the part of trying to move around every 5-7 years in tech, although it could be 3-5 too. But it depends, like anything else. If you work for a large company and can move around a bit to broaden your horizons, that could also be an option. I've also seen the downside of staying as workers tend to get "institutionalized", to borrow from Morgan Freeman in the Shawshank Redemption. Either they cannot leave because of no better alternatives, or they find themselves in the job market post-layoff without necessary skills and/or connections.
Posted by: mateo | November 21, 2013 at 03:56 PM
Nice post! I am 31 year old male. I am in work force for 2 years now and married an year ago, no kids. Prior to that, I finished my PhD in engineering. I work in a large company and was wondering what additional advance degrees I might look for? Also, I have to be in the company for at least 3 yrs so that 401k is vested. Not sure about moving yet.
My boss is a good person. I go out with him for lunch etc and we became good friends. But when it comes to asking a raise, I am a little hesitant on how to ask the right way. You mentioned few books to read. Can you suggest some? Thanks for the post!
Posted by: SM | November 22, 2013 at 08:31 AM
On books try my two favorites "Get Paid What You're Worth" by Robin Pinkley and Gregory Northcraft and "What's Holding You Back? Ten Bold Steps That Define Gutsy Leaders" By Robert J. Herbold
FMF has a great post about how to ask for a raise. Bottom line is that you must be able to make the case and show your value.
Posted by: JB | November 26, 2013 at 09:12 PM