Engineering in general might not be for everybody. Also aren't those jobs competitive? I'm not sure that everyone who goes into petroleum engineering leaves with a solid job in that field. Wouldn't it be even more competitive than banking and comparable to bulge bracket in terms of difficulty. I find it hard to believe that 115k jobs are given out like candy. Plus the clases are gonna be harder, plus your competition is gonna be smarter
don't do that..he'll work less hours, and still get good pay (depending on the engineering field). 5 years ago my sister (in her 40's) decided to go to college and get a degree in engineering. She had no degree, but was getting some disability from the Navy after damaging her hand in a work related accident - she was a mechanic and after the accident she can no longer work with her hand. She was making (low) Navy wages. Now she works for NASA and will be making 6 figures within the next 2 years. With engineering, you can still make good money, sometimes it just takes a few years early on to go up the pay grades.
Yeah the classes are harder and it might even take 5 years to complete your degree like my roommates. They're not as competitive as i-banking jobs though where you have to go through super days and case studies. My roommate has had his 115k job offer lined up with occidental petroleum since he was a sophomore and my other roommate will be mechanical starting with shell for 89k. They pay premiums for any engineer who has any remote sense of social skills.
Ah, was accused of a broken sarcasm detector recently so I may be a little defensive. Investment banking, however, does not involve actual investing. Purely a service/advisory business, so you don't typically see outsized bonuses.
The thing with investment banking is that it's usually a lot more competitive than engineering jobs. If he likes it let him stick with it. Plus the hours in engineering are MUCH more favorable. Also, depending on how much of a business mind your son has he can develop that business expertise in the future. Engineering is a very valuable skill to have if he likes doing it. BTW I was an engineering burn out and graduated with a history degree....then I ended up in the finance industry as a trader. The bottom line with how this relates to the OP is that you don't have to stick with what your degree is in for the rest of your life. Always keep your options open and keep an open mind with what suits you best in life while utilizing the skills you might have developed in school.
The demand for engineers is thru the roof right now. America simply is not producing enough engineers.
Another vote for investment banking, assuming you aren't married or have kids. Stick with it until you burn out, and then switch industries. The money doesn't matter -- they'll both pay you more than enough for a person your age. The investment bank will open doors to more interesting work opportunities later. Big Oil will always be willing to hire you later. IB won't be interested in you later, because they won't be able to exploit you as readily.
True, I don't have first hand knowledge of IB but I hear they make a bit more. But, those caveats I mentioned can help close that gap. An engineering manager in a remote environment can make about half a million.
Investment banking and its really a no brainer for anyone that has a lot of ambition...it will open up doors to just about any field in the long term. Yes your life will be horrendous for a few years, but you'll learn a tremendous amount.
exact opposite re: competitiveness... talk to any of the o&g engineering firms and they will all say the exact same thing, that they can't find find half the qualified engineers they need to fill. big reason why you see commercials from exxon encouraging a refocus of science and math skills to grade school students. and as their projects get more complex and more costly engineering pay is likely to continue a steady increase. my brother is studying petroleum engineering at UH and he'll very likely get a 6figure offer upon graduation. edit: to the OP... IB all the way. you're young, have little responsibilty and can handle the work load. you'll prob be making great $$$ after only a couple of years and it will open far more doors than big oil. and as others have said you can take the IB experience and relay that into a much more lucrative energy-related career down the road.
Investment banking, then move out of it when you get burned out. Does sound like a pretty lowball offer, but I guess my frame of reference is the northeast, since that's where I go to school.
So I got more information from the bank by their first year analysts. They used to be a small boutique that was acquired by a large middle market firm. They said that an analyst can expect about 30-60K in annual bonus for a total comp of near 105-135K. The analyst told me that he gets in around 7:30 each day and leaves around 7 or 8 on average? With about 5 hours of work on the weekends so he works about 65-70 hours a week. However, he did say that earlier this year he was working till about 10 or 11 consistently for about 2 months trying to close a deal. Which is okay to me as long as it isn't always like that. He said that for the 2nd year the base jumps up to 80K. My total comp at the supermajor would be around 75K for my first year. More accounting role. I started researching Controller positions and senior level finance positions and I saw that a lot of them require CPAs. Since I am Finance and not accounting, and will not be getting my CPA I think for me to grow as a professional I think I have to take the IB route.
always find it funny when people are shocked when they hear they will get paid a lot, but will actually have to put in a lot of work in order to do so.
Definitely take the IB role. That is a "front office" role (you are a revenue generator). The oil job is "back office" (cost center, don't generate revenue). Almost everyone in back office wants to be in front office. Once you are in back office it is very difficult to get into front office. That statement alone means you want the IB role. I doubt you will love the IB job, but it will provide you infinite options. In Houston IB, I would assume you will be focused on energy. That is a great place to be. You can continue in IB into less stressful, more lucrative roles, go do corporate finance for big oil, do complex trade structuring for an energy trading firm, evaluate projects for a utility, etc. Work hard, network (very important), save money, and you will be very wealthy compared to the cost of living in Houston. For more info, I would register at wallstreetoasis.com. You can search for similar forum topics or ask questions yourself. Most of the people there are douches (wall street attitude), but there is a decent collection of people that work in the Houston area doing the same thing you will be doing. I'm sure there are plenty of anecdotes and personal stories of what people have done after IB in Houston.
Some of us in IBs like the grind and fear the day when we're burned out or (god forbid) phased out. However, I've worked for one for 10 yrs and the exit opportunities are truly amazing - I just cant imagine leaving.... Yeah I need help.
That'd be kind of like watching a shuttle launch and pulling your son out of Naval fighter pilot training.
