engineering vs nursing

[Anonymous]

Nurses now make more than engineers right out of college.

(some numbers and discussion here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Salary/comments/1lew9ni/nurses_now_earn_more_than_engineers_fresh_out_of/)

both 5-yr pay and and mid-career base pay favors engineering by a little, although nurses are working fewer hours. and overtime is available substantial.

discussion leaning pro-engineering here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Salary/comments/1mb5a4a/do_nursing_grads_actually_make_more_than/

Salary tops out around 150-200k for both.

there is speciality engineering where you can make substantially more, but there are also nursing specialities that make substantially more. in both cases, these seem to be less than 10% of population of the engineers/nurses.

nursing AI proof. engineering less so. nursing more family friendly and portable.

Here's my question: why is engineering the dream of every DCUM mom for her "highest stats" boy while nursing is "smart decision" for the b student girl?

[Anonymous]

They are very different work environments and jobs. Which does your student want to do?

[Anonymous]

very different jobs, but nursing is every bit the money maker engineering is. and yes, AI proof.

I will say for both: it doesn't matter where you go to college for either of these degrees. look at AVERAGE salaries out of MIT, they're good but they're not much different than any other engineering program.

[Anonymous]

Nursing tends to involve more bodily fluids, exposure to infectious disease, emotional trauma from watching others suffer and die, and physical/verbal attacks from people who are at their lowest points, than engineering.

[Anonymous]

WOAH.
You can't compare the 2 at all.

1) Nursing salaries are much higher in CA than anyplace else in the US because nurses are unionized there. An RN can easily make $200K doing hospital nursing. In DC it's more like $90K, in middle American it can be $60K. There are a LOT of nurses in California and the salaries are so inflated that they increase the average throughout the US. That's why the university with the highest post-grad salary in the US is a Cal-State one.

2)The average nursing salaries also include advanced practice nurses like NPs, midwives, and nurse anesthetists. These jobs all require master's or generally doctoral level degrees which cost an additional $150-250K in 2025. It used to be much cheaper to get a graduate degree in nursing (to become an NP, etc) but now the schools have increased their tuition to almost the level of medical schools.

Plus the skill set, personality, aptitude of nurses vs engineers is entirely different. I'm an RN, NP married to an engineer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nurses now make more than engineers right out of college.

(some numbers and discussion here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Salary/comments/1lew9ni/nurses_now_earn_more_than_engineers_fresh_out_of/)

both 5-yr pay and and mid-career base pay favors engineering by a little, although nurses are working fewer hours. and overtime is available substantial.

discussion leaning pro-engineering here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Salary/comments/1mb5a4a/do_nursing_grads_actually_make_more_than/

Salary tops out around 150-200k for both.

there is speciality engineering where you can make substantially more, but there are also nursing specialities that make substantially more. in both cases, these seem to be less than 10% of population of the engineers/nurses.

nursing AI proof. engineering less so. nursing more family friendly and portable.


Here's my question: why is engineering the dream of every DCUM mom for her "highest stats" boy while nursing is "smart decision" for the b student girl?

Honestly this is a weird comparison. Why pick "engineering". There are a lot of other fields more appropriate to compare to nursing.

[Anonymous]

There are many positives about nursing. But lots of disadvantages vs. white collar engineering. Here are the ones that come to mind.

-Bad hours, have to work on holidays

-Disease exposure, risk of violence, ergonomic stressors

-Lack of respect from doctors

-Majority female profession (if you have a preference for mixed gender or male-centric occupations)

-Work with people in distress/extremis/when they are at their worst

-Emotional impacts depending on the kind of nursing

I've known nurses who got high-paying desk work or consulting jobs. But they had to go through harder assignments to get there.

[Anonymous]

Plus I don't think people on DCUM understand that if you're anywhere near patients in a hospital as an RN, a part of your job will include wiping poop off a$$es, suctioning chunks of sputum and all sorts of close contact with disgusting fluids. The sicker the patients (and hence the more autonomy the nurses have and more interesting the work is---I.e. ER, ICU, etc) the more contact with poop and fluids you'll have.

Just an FYI. It's not the job for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WOAH.
You can't compare the 2 at all.

1) Nursing salaries are much higher in CA than anyplace else in the US because nurses are unionized there. An RN can easily make $200K doing hospital nursing. In DC it's more like $90K, in middle American it can be $60K. There are a LOT of nurses in California and the salaries are so inflated that they increase the average throughout the US. That's why the university with the highest post-grad salary in the US is a Cal-State one.

2)The average nursing salaries also include advanced practice nurses like NPs, midwives, and nurse anesthetists. These jobs all require master's or generally doctoral level degrees which cost an additional $150-250K in 2025. It used to be much cheaper to get a graduate degree in nursing (to become an NP, etc) but now the schools have increased their tuition to almost the level of medical schools.

Plus the skill set, personality, aptitude of nurses vs engineers is entirely different. I'm an RN, NP married to an engineer.

My daughter just started in Chicago. Makes 38/hr plus 4 at night (plus 2 on weekends). She'd aiming to make 100k this year with some overtime. Not bad for a 22 yr old with no advanced degree and not in CA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nurses now make more than engineers right out of college.

(some numbers and discussion here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Salary/comments/1lew9ni/nurses_now_earn_more_than_engineers_fresh_out_of/)

both 5-yr pay and and mid-career base pay favors engineering by a little, although nurses are working fewer hours. and overtime is available substantial.

discussion leaning pro-engineering here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Salary/comments/1mb5a4a/do_nursing_grads_actually_make_more_than/

Salary tops out around 150-200k for both.

there is speciality engineering where you can make substantially more, but there are also nursing specialities that make substantially more. in both cases, these seem to be less than 10% of population of the engineers/nurses.

nursing AI proof. engineering less so. nursing more family friendly and portable.


Here's my question: why is engineering the dream of every DCUM mom for her "highest stats" boy while nursing is "smart decision" for the b student girl?

Honestly this is a weird comparison. Why pick "engineering". There are a lot of other fields more appropriate to compare to nursing.

Agreed… there are few nurses that could do engineering and few engineers that would have any interest in being a nurse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WOAH.
You can't compare the 2 at all.

1) Nursing salaries are much higher in CA than anyplace else in the US because nurses are unionized there. An RN can easily make $200K doing hospital nursing. In DC it's more like $90K, in middle American it can be $60K. There are a LOT of nurses in California and the salaries are so inflated that they increase the average throughout the US. That's why the university with the highest post-grad salary in the US is a Cal-State one.

2)The average nursing salaries also include advanced practice nurses like NPs, midwives, and nurse anesthetists. These jobs all require master's or generally doctoral level degrees which cost an additional $150-250K in 2025. It used to be much cheaper to get a graduate degree in nursing (to become an NP, etc) but now the schools have increased their tuition to almost the level of medical schools.

Plus the skill set, personality, aptitude of nurses vs engineers is entirely different. I'm an RN, NP married to an engineer.

I have a kid who is an engineer at makes 90k in DC. So not sure this is a great point.

I think nursing is a great profession. Engineering and nursing would appeal to very different people. But I also don't understand why engineering is the dream of some parents. I hope kids know what the job is. A lot of students go into engineering without knowing what the job is. It can be dull! I'd say the same about lawyers. FWIW, my kid also thinks a lot of their work will be taken over by AI in 5 years. I'd be afraid of starting out in college now, graduating in 4-5 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WOAH.
You can't compare the 2 at all.

1) Nursing salaries are much higher in CA than anyplace else in the US because nurses are unionized there. An RN can easily make $200K doing hospital nursing. In DC it's more like $90K, in middle American it can be $60K. There are a LOT of nurses in California and the salaries are so inflated that they increase the average throughout the US. That's why the university with the highest post-grad salary in the US is a Cal-State one.

2)The average nursing salaries also include advanced practice nurses like NPs, midwives, and nurse anesthetists. These jobs all require master's or generally doctoral level degrees which cost an additional $150-250K in 2025. It used to be much cheaper to get a graduate degree in nursing (to become an NP, etc) but now the schools have increased their tuition to almost the level of medical schools.

Plus the skill set, personality, aptitude of nurses vs engineers is entirely different. I'm an RN, NP married to an engineer.

My daughter just started in Chicago. Makes 38/hr plus 4 at night (plus 2 on weekends). She'd aiming to make 100k this year with some overtime. Not bad for a 22 yr old with no advanced degree and not in CA.

But yes, but unless she retrains as an NP (and pays $150-250K in tuition) her salary will not increase much with time. It's not like she's going to be making $150K/year in a decade. There is no value to the hospital to do that and they won't. Hospitals don't give a sh$%T if you have 2 years of experience or 20 years. They pretty much pay the same because they can always find a nurse RN who will work for the lower wages.

You have to change job titles and unless you retrain as an NP or slowly make the creep up the management path (like $100K as an an assistant manager and then all the way up to director of nursing--being the top nurse at a hospital out of thousands for $400K) there is very little way to make more. And as soon as you move away from the bedside (to outpatient work, case management, public health, insurance company work, etc etc) your salary goes down and people want to pay you $80K because there are many nurses who will work for less because they want to get out of the hospital setting.

Those of us who are nurses bring up these issues all the time on these threads and DCUM posters who aren't nurses continue to insist that it's some hidden, fabulous pathway to high salaries. But it's not. It's a calling, it's an interesting career but it's not a very lucrative one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WOAH.
You can't compare the 2 at all.

1) Nursing salaries are much higher in CA than anyplace else in the US because nurses are unionized there. An RN can easily make $200K doing hospital nursing. In DC it's more like $90K, in middle American it can be $60K. There are a LOT of nurses in California and the salaries are so inflated that they increase the average throughout the US. That's why the university with the highest post-grad salary in the US is a Cal-State one.

2)The average nursing salaries also include advanced practice nurses like NPs, midwives, and nurse anesthetists. These jobs all require master's or generally doctoral level degrees which cost an additional $150-250K in 2025. It used to be much cheaper to get a graduate degree in nursing (to become an NP, etc) but now the schools have increased their tuition to almost the level of medical schools.

Plus the skill set, personality, aptitude of nurses vs engineers is entirely different. I'm an RN, NP married to an engineer.

My daughter just started in Chicago. Makes 38/hr plus 4 at night (plus 2 on weekends). She'd aiming to make 100k this year with some overtime. Not bad for a 22 yr old with no advanced degree and not in CA.

But yes, but unless she retrains as an NP (and pays $150-250K in tuition) her salary will not increase much with time. It's not like she's going to be making $150K/year in a decade. There is no value to the hospital to do that and they won't. Hospitals don't give a sh$%T if you have 2 years of experience or 20 years. They pretty much pay the same because they can always find a nurse RN who will work for the lower wages.

You have to change job titles and unless you retrain as an NP or slowly make the creep up the management path (like $100K as an an assistant manager and then all the way up to director of nursing--being the top nurse at a hospital out of thousands for $400K) there is very little way to make more. And as soon as you move away from the bedside (to outpatient work, case management, public health, insurance company work, etc etc) your salary goes down and people want to pay you $80K because there are many nurses who will work for less because they want to get out of the hospital setting.

Those of us who are nurses bring up these issues all the time on these threads and DCUM posters who aren't nurses continue to insist that it's some hidden, fabulous pathway to high salaries. But it's not. It's a calling, it's an interesting career but it's not a very lucrative one.

Did these same jobs pay this same salary 10 years ago? No. The market is tight and wages increase.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WOAH.
You can't compare the 2 at all.

1) Nursing salaries are much higher in CA than anyplace else in the US because nurses are unionized there. An RN can easily make $200K doing hospital nursing. In DC it's more like $90K, in middle American it can be $60K. There are a LOT of nurses in California and the salaries are so inflated that they increase the average throughout the US. That's why the university with the highest post-grad salary in the US is a Cal-State one.

2)The average nursing salaries also include advanced practice nurses like NPs, midwives, and nurse anesthetists. These jobs all require master's or generally doctoral level degrees which cost an additional $150-250K in 2025. It used to be much cheaper to get a graduate degree in nursing (to become an NP, etc) but now the schools have increased their tuition to almost the level of medical schools.

Plus the skill set, personality, aptitude of nurses vs engineers is entirely different. I'm an RN, NP married to an engineer.

My daughter just started in Chicago. Makes 38/hr plus 4 at night (plus 2 on weekends). She'd aiming to make 100k this year with some overtime. Not bad for a 22 yr old with no advanced degree and not in CA.

But yes, but unless she retrains as an NP (and pays $150-250K in tuition) her salary will not increase much with time. It's not like she's going to be making $150K/year in a decade. There is no value to the hospital to do that and they won't. Hospitals don't give a sh$%T if you have 2 years of experience or 20 years. They pretty much pay the same because they can always find a nurse RN who will work for the lower wages.

You have to change job titles and unless you retrain as an NP or slowly make the creep up the management path (like $100K as an an assistant manager and then all the way up to director of nursing--being the top nurse at a hospital out of thousands for $400K) there is very little way to make more. And as soon as you move away from the bedside (to outpatient work, case management, public health, insurance company work, etc etc) your salary goes down and people want to pay you $80K because there are many nurses who will work for less because they want to get out of the hospital setting.

Those of us who are nurses bring up these issues all the time on these threads and DCUM posters who aren't nurses continue to insist that it's some hidden, fabulous pathway to high salaries. But it's not. It's a calling, it's an interesting career but it's not a very lucrative one.

Did these same jobs pay this same salary 10 years ago? No. The market is tight and wages increase.

No, the thing is that they do. That's exactly the problem. Nursing salaries have been COMPLETELY stagnant for 20 years.
I made $85K as a new grad in 2005. New grads today (in DC) pretty much make $85K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WOAH.
You can't compare the 2 at all.

1) Nursing salaries are much higher in CA than anyplace else in the US because nurses are unionized there. An RN can easily make $200K doing hospital nursing. In DC it's more like $90K, in middle American it can be $60K. There are a LOT of nurses in California and the salaries are so inflated that they increase the average throughout the US. That's why the university with the highest post-grad salary in the US is a Cal-State one.

2)The average nursing salaries also include advanced practice nurses like NPs, midwives, and nurse anesthetists. These jobs all require master's or generally doctoral level degrees which cost an additional $150-250K in 2025. It used to be much cheaper to get a graduate degree in nursing (to become an NP, etc) but now the schools have increased their tuition to almost the level of medical schools.

Plus the skill set, personality, aptitude of nurses vs engineers is entirely different. I'm an RN, NP married to an engineer.

My daughter just started in Chicago. Makes 38/hr plus 4 at night (plus 2 on weekends). She'd aiming to make 100k this year with some overtime. Not bad for a 22 yr old with no advanced degree and not in CA.

But yes, but unless she retrains as an NP (and pays $150-250K in tuition) her salary will not increase much with time. It's not like she's going to be making $150K/year in a decade. There is no value to the hospital to do that and they won't. Hospitals don't give a sh$%T if you have 2 years of experience or 20 years. They pretty much pay the same because they can always find a nurse RN who will work for the lower wages.

You have to change job titles and unless you retrain as an NP or slowly make the creep up the management path (like $100K as an an assistant manager and then all the way up to director of nursing--being the top nurse at a hospital out of thousands for $400K) there is very little way to make more. And as soon as you move away from the bedside (to outpatient work, case management, public health, insurance company work, etc etc) your salary goes down and people want to pay you $80K because there are many nurses who will work for less because they want to get out of the hospital setting.

Those of us who are nurses bring up these issues all the time on these threads and DCUM posters who aren't nurses continue to insist that it's some hidden, fabulous pathway to high salaries. But it's not. It's a calling, it's an interesting career but it's not a very lucrative one.

Did these same jobs pay this same salary 10 years ago? No. The market is tight and wages increase.

Huh? Yes they did.