Individual Income Poll

[Cheerio]

My family is fairly well off (both my parents are lawyers), and no one in my family has ever had a new car.

[Bownesian]

Originally Posted by jhunt223

This seems like an appropriate enough thread to ask this question. My friend is considering getting a degree in Geophysics. I was wondering where a typical geophysicist in the oil industry in Calgary slots in on this poll?

Geophysicists in training (i.e first 4 years out of school) have a Median base salary of $61K in all fields and $78K in resource exploitation. Base salaries don't include bonuses etc.

See: http://www.apegga.org/pdf/SalarySurvey/VPS2011.pdf

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by SeeBass

Here I looked up frugal for you as I didn't use the word cheap.. Our ideas are probably the same you just misinterpreted my meaning. So my point stands either there are a lot of FRUGAL people here or liars


fru·gal

   /ˈfrugəl/ Show Spelled[froo-guhl] Show IPA
adjective economical in use or expenditure; prudently saving or sparing; not wasteful: What your office needs is a frugal manager who can save you money without resorting to painful cutbacks

Looks like we both effed up then. Carry on.

[darklord700]

A few days ago, Chad Occhocinco wrote on his facebook page about high private school tuition fees. Just shows that it really doesn't matter how much you make. Life is tough even for NFL players.

[freedogger]

Originally Posted by Scoopdogg

I'm a software developer as well and by the time I was 5 years into it, I was making 80k per year. Now I'm well over 100k at 9 years. I have moved around alot so that helped with the salary increases and I'm now working for one of the larger O and G players in town.

Ditto, enterprise application development. Out of the fourteen years, only 4 have been with oil & gas. I was between 70-100 (including bonuses and OT) the first 8 years out of school. For the last five years, I've been an independent contractor/consultant at about double the previous range. Seems like I have peaked in terms of what people will pay, even though my skills and ability to complete projects successfully are still growing every year. I have worked really hard, mostly self taught, and have been extremely lucky.

Scoopdogg hit the key point - moving around a lot, always after delivering successful project(s) is key. Your network grows, you learn a lot more and negotiate higher at each new gig.

[freedogger]

Originally Posted by Finner

I'm 24 and make ~58k per year between regular salary and bonus but not including benefits etc.

I work 37.5 hours per week, and have some university education. My job also includes a generous benefit plan with a health spending/wellness account as well as a DB pension and 4 weeks paid vacation.

I'm actually surprised as well about the amount over 100k. The company i work for is probably one of the 10 largest companies in Canada and employs over 80000 people, yet in our "job zone" alberta, in order to be over 100k you'd have to the either 1 or 2 promotion steps from a VP position.

I highly doubt i'll be over 100k by the time i'm 30, regardless of if i have a degree or not. Potentially with good performance, some promotions etc. i'd be maybe at 100k by 35
(again not including benefits).

Hearing some of these salaries is mind boggling, not because of the salaries, but because of some of the jobs people have that are making these amounts of money. In the industry in which i work to be at 100k, you are senior, likely manage in excess of 30 people, have several junior managers report directly to you, and have a wide array of responsibility and experience (probably at least 10 years). You would have also had to have been well liked, smart and a performer, and by those levels of seniority have at the least an undergraduate degree.

Interesting to see the difference in other industries, where it sounds like you just put in a few years, and BOOM you're there.

Either way, interesting survey.

If you can't change your company, change your company...

[pylon]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

You have a cruiser right? I have a sport bike... I'm just a wuss. My roommate takes his bike 180km/hr all the time on highways (he has a 636)... I think he's topped out at 220km/hr? I think he said 220-230 starts to scare him.

I own a Hayabusa, and 300 Kph is very scary..... so I have been told.

However, if the stretch of road is long enough, straight enough and you have enough visibilty to react should you need too... (like 500 metres of time to react) you would find bikes are incredibly stable at those speeds.... so I have been told.

A loose calculation is You are traveling at a footbal field per second at 300 kph. or 5 km/ minute. You would have to be insane to attempt that.

[Finner]

Originally Posted by freedogger

If you can't change your company, change your company...

Haha, unfortunately not a ton of options or salary competition in financial services (be that commercial/small business banking, trading, retail etc.). Especially for something without a degree (yet), regardless of experience level and performance. But point taken.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

You have a cruiser right? I have a sport bike... I'm just a wuss. My roommate takes his bike 180km/hr all the time on highways (he has a 636)... I think he's topped out at 220km/hr? I think he said 220-230 starts to scare him.

Gold Wing. You don't notice the speed as much. Like I said, the sports bike riders who do that are nuts. I have little expect for them if they ride like that. Not all do.

[freedogger]

Originally Posted by Finner

Haha, unfortunately not a ton of options or salary competition in financial services (be that commercial/small business banking, trading, retail etc.). Especially for something without a degree (yet), regardless of experience level and performance. But point taken.

24 is way to young to box yourself into anything. I didn't even start school until 23. Good you are taking a degree, doing things that keep your options open is key.

[Ozy_Flame]

So from the high income earners here . . . Is a good lesson learned that you can increase your salary by regularly looking for jobs in new companies? That seems to be a common thing in this thread. Is that a smart route?

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

So from the high income earners here . . . Is a good lesson learned that you can increase your salary by regularly looking for jobs in new companies? That seems to be a common thing in this thread. Is that a smart route?

You need to find a good balance.

Too many places on your resume and potential employers will be suspicious/leery. No one wants to hire someone that is going to get trained and up to speed only to leave shortly after.

On the other hand, sticking it out at one place rarely leads to the same raises you get by switching jobs.

If you find yourself in a boom, start contracting/consulting. Consultant rates are way more volatile. You can cash in like crazy during a boom. As soon as you smell things cooling off, try find something permanent while there is still jobs or you may find yourself screwed.Your best case is not seeing a rate increase for several years. People doing the same job as a permanent employee will start to catch up.

[Knut]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

So from the high income earners here . . . Is a good lesson learned that you can increase your salary by regularly looking for jobs in new companies? That seems to be a common thing in this thread. Is that a smart route?

Yeah... you should be continually looking at new opportunities even if you like where you are. The fact is that you can often get an idea of your worth outside of the company and use it as leverage with your exisiting company. Now you dont want to be over-zealous and move jobs every year, but it is a good pathway for upwards movement, especially if you are able to increase your areas of expertise.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Gold Wing. You don't notice the speed as much. Like I said, the sports bike riders who do that are nuts. I have little expect for them if they ride like that. Not all do.

Just because your bike is more stable? I haven't gone on a straight road yet, but I wonder if riding my roommates 636 would be easier at high speeds cause its a heavier bike.

[WilsonFourTwo]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

So from the high income earners here . . . Is a good lesson learned that you can increase your salary by regularly looking for jobs in new companies? That seems to be a common thing in this thread. Is that a smart route?

In 15 years I have had 7 positions with 3 different companies (starting 8th with 4th later this month).

I try to stay with the same employer for as long as possible, given that they meet a few basic criteria:

1. I want to be there (duh)
2. New (quality) opportunities are made available when I earn them.
3. Salary/benefit adjustments match the opportunity, not my current paycheque.

When any of those conditions cannot be met, it is time to move on.

This method has worked well for me (8/10) and has resulted in a nice balance between stability, career growth, and earnings.

[V]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

So from the high income earners here . . . Is a good lesson learned that you can increase your salary by regularly looking for jobs in new companies? That seems to be a common thing in this thread. Is that a smart route?

My income tripled over 9 years, and every significant raise came from switching companies. I'm now on my 4th company, all in similar industries, so it's not like I moved to something like O&G to get my raises.

As a rule, HR departments spend far more resources in attracting talent than retaining talent. It's very frustrating for me as a manager and as an employee.

Plus, our generation (I'm 32) is known for moving around. We learned from the baby boomers. Be loyal to yourself, because your company won't be.

I've also found that now that I'm established in my career and am very good at what I do, companies don't have a problem with me moving around. They know that they won't have to train me to get me established in the company.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

Just because your bike is more stable? I haven't gone on a straight road yet, but I wonder if riding my roommates 636 would be easier at high speeds cause its a heavier bike.

Because at those speeds it doesn't take much, and the results can be deadly. Some guy doesn't see you and changes lanes in front of you or turns onto the highway because he doesn't see you or misjudged your speed and you can die. A friend of mine hurt himself badly when the car in front of him braked quickly and my friend riding his bike piled into the back of him. He had been riding way too fast. When you're driving that fast there is no room for error.

I'm one of those who earns over $100K and I have too much to live for. I also don't want to spend the rest of my life with a walker or with any kind of disability.

I also have zero tolerance for drink g then getting on a motorcycle.

[4X4]

Sorry, guys. I voted for the >100k, but I was BSing.

[KTown]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

You need to find a good balance.

Too many places on your resume and potential employers will be suspicious/leery. No one wants to hire someone that is going to get trained and up to speed only to leave shortly after.

On the other hand, sticking it out at one place rarely leads to the same raises you get by switching jobs.

If you find yourself in a boom, start contracting/consulting. Consultant rates are way more volatile. You can cash in like crazy during a boom. As soon as you smell things cooling off, try find something permanent while there is still jobs or you may find yourself screwed.Your best case is not seeing a rate increase for several years. People doing the same job as a permanent employee will start to catch up.

I am a consultant and yes you are right you can make more during the boom because there are a tons of hours of work up for the taking. With that being said the problem with a lot of consultants is they tend to spend everything they make. If you are going to consult, you must at minimum save 6 months worth of living expenses. I am assuming most people could find a job within 6 months, even if it is doing something not related in your degree. I try to keep 2 years of living expenses in my company so I don't have to change my lifestyle during a recession.

With that being said I worked 2400 hours in 2009 when half the O&G engineers were out of work. I've been very lucky obtaining a boat load of work throughout but with that being said I am not like most people my age. I put my work first and its paid off. I've consulted for one company now over 5 years. I've seen this company go from 250 people to 50 people and back to 200+ now. Yet they kept me over staff people during the down turn, so I am not sure it is in my best interest to move around for an extra $5.00 an hour and rebuild the relationships that I currently have with my existing contracts. I've hit 2800 hours this past year.

Work hard, play hard. That's what I stick by.

[RogerWilco]

Originally Posted by Azure

If you make $150,000/year and you're mortgaged through the roof, you clearly don't know how to manage your money.

The strange thing is that the more people make, the broker they seem. Save for a select few that actually know you can't just blow paychecks.

I would agree with that, but would also add that it doesn't matter how much you make unless it is millions. It wouldn't be hard for some one making 150000 to get mortgaged through the roof if you must have a house in the inner city worth 2.5 mil.