Recently, I have been rethinking my career path. Is working for a government contractor as a part of an IT/Finance team what I see myself doing for the rest of my life? And if I'm not doing IT/Finance, what should I be doing? ...but this is a whole 'nother post.
Basically, I started looking up salaries to see which posistion pays more and which position pays less - and then it hit me: there are people who are smart and there are people who are brilliant. According to salary.com, the mean income for an Electrical engineer in the Washington/Metro area is between $57,916 and $68,623 a year.
An IT person (specifically an Application Systems Analyst in the Metro area) makes somewhere on average between $50,479 and $66,287 with the 90th percentile earning as much as $75,186 per year.
The mean income for a Commerical Real Estate Executive in the Washington/Metro area) is between $171,536 and $299,399 per year with the 90th percentile pulling in over $365,349 a year on average!
So... what's the difference between these jobs that puts the average incomes worlds apart from each other? Let's take a look... I searched ehow.com to find out their recommendations on how to accomplish the following:
Electrical Engineers....
- Major in electrical engineering during your undergraduate years in college.
- Look for student electrical engineering clubs and activities to help you apply what you learned in the classroom.
- Try to do some undergraduate research with one of your professors
- Join an organization for electrical engineers. Some groups, including the popular Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers
- Continue to stay up to date on electrical engineering advancements. If you want to become an excellent engineer, you'll need to realize that your education doesn't end when you finish college.
Systems Analyst...
- Begin the appropriate education to become a SAP system analyst. A bachelor's degree in computer systems, industrial engineering or business management is desired by the companies who hire SAP specialists
- Brush up on SAP computer software. It's utilized in different industries for system applications and data processing methods.
- Manage your choices wisely during college to prepare for a career as a SAP analyst. In addition to taking classes like SAP XI and NetWeaver, learn about business administration and sales and marketing.
- Apply for a position as a SAP system analyst.
- Get a professional certification to add to your credentials. In addition to your bachelor's degree, obtain a master-certification in SAP systems
- Continue your education. For further advancement in this field, a postgraduate degree can serve you well.
Commerical Real Estate Agent...
- Take real estate classes.
- Contact a commercial real estate brokerage that you would like to work with.
- Sign up for the real estate salesperson test in your state after you complete the preliminary course.
- Pay the necessary dues required by your brokerage.
- Continue your education in the commercial real estate field by signing up for ongoing courses through your brokerage.
So now you can see each job requirement. Can you see where I am going with this? The highest earning income required the least amount of work. Now, I'm not saying that commercial real estate agents accidentally become successful, but look, it requires NO undergraduate degree let alone a masters!
Back to my chapter title - those who are smart vs. those who are brilliant. Brilliant people are those guys who graduated valedictorian of their classes, took honors and AP courses their entire lives, and could tell you any mathematical formula and how it applies to just about anything. They know everything about everything. These are the people who I look at in awe and admiration.
But who I would like to focus most on is the smart people. The guy who made it through school and was happy to finish, has a great personality and even better leadership skills. The guy who can walk into a room of strangers and leave with life-long friends. This guy is the guy who will grow up to be smart. By smart, i mean this guy will have the know-how on how to network with the right people and which relationships to captialize on. He'll be known as that guy with "connections"... the person who "know's a guy"... in essence, he'll be the smart guy who makes more money than the brilliant guy.
It comes down to an easily stated yet complicated question: do you want to be knowledge rich or money rich? What do you think. Do you agree with these two categories of the workforce? Do you think brilliant people are the smart people in the end? I'd like to know!
Please, take time to leave a much appreciated comment.
I work for a government contractor as well, and I'm already worried that I'll be doing it the rest of my life. The problem is, I have no idea what else I would do!
I totally feel you on this one! So many choices but soo much more risks :(