When I was a student, they made the hard sell for 'where the big money was' in science. When I graduated, I found it hard to get any salary in my field at all, let alone the kinds of money I had been led to expect. Today, I read an article that finally made the mistake of adding a word that put everything in perspective and may help you make better decisions.
In mathematical comparisons, they use several words to describe statistically relevant figures. The mean is the average, the median is the middle value, and the mode is the most frequent. We could also talk about standard deviation, which describes how variable the field is, and the range, which is something they never mention, but it is valuable because it helps you manage expectations.
When they tell you that your vocational field will earn you some salary, pay attention to what number they choose. If they give you an average, remember that this value includes people who have been doing this longer than you've been alive and people who started doing it yesterday. As the baby boomers delay retirement, that might skew the average higher as it will bias the field towards the experienced. If that is true, expect the mean to drop by the time you graduate. If they give you the median, that is the middle value; it means that if the salaries are as follows, it will be $40,000:
21,000 25,000 28,000 32,000 40,000 52,000 71,000 74,000 80,000
Notice that in this particular example, the salaries cluster to one end. That will be true for you too, and in this particular example it means that half the people earn less than that, not just on average. If they gave you the mode, that would be the most useful, because it would tell you what MOST people doing that expect to earn. Starting salary is rarely reported but important to consider too.
Most of these stories are dishonest. Even out departmental brochures are dishonest. Even my parents expected me to earn more than I do. When it becomes a particular problem is in dating, since people have an expectation of a certain standard of living not supported by many employment categories. That might be why so many girls I know are looking for Doctors and Lawyers, without realizing that most of them start at salaries much lower than people think.
This article mentioned mostly the median salary. That means half of aspirants will earn something less than that. If the industry is heavily loaded or relatively new, expect most of the salaries to be clustered significantly less. It would be interesting to see the median and the mean, because that tells me more than just the middle value. Here are figures for my particular rank in the university system in the state for your reference (sample size = 14):
Range: $36,700-$54,500
Median: $48,600
Mean: $42,600
Mode: $38,000
Standard Deviation: $6600
Therefore, based on an average that is only about 15% higher than the lowest figure one may conclude that it is the most frequent that people earn near the bottom of the pay grade. The average is lower than the middle value, which means that on average people earn less than the median and some few folks earn salaries at the extreme top end. Also, the persons earning the second lowest and the second highest wages each have only four years on the job, and most people have been around a lot longer. With this data, it's easier to manage expectations, assuming you could get this data (it is publicly available actually online). Remember this includes only the people at my exact rank (ignoring step increases), and other people at different ranks have different pay data.
The data you choose to present and the way you choose to present it say a lot about the data. In this particular case, they clearly wanted to lead people to believe that a median salary of $60,000 for accountants was normal. Notice that for IT professionals they report a mean salary of $81,000 which is a different data type. It's probably not common, and it's certainly not a starting salary if people with the same number of years in the job can earn $16,000 difference in wages as they do where I work. In fact, the standard deviation for my job is rather large, which leads me to believe it's a broad range of values where 95% of salaries are between $55,800 and $29,400. Since the standard deviation is so low, it means you could expect to start as I did at a salary significantly lower than the current range.
Years back, I got the following advice about a job I really tried to get. "You don't join the Border Patrol for the money. You join because you love your country." If you take a job for the money, you are taking it for the wrong reason. Sure, we all need money, but money isn't even real. Be sure you do something that you love, and then your work isn't a chore, it's an endeavor that in itself gives us some direct satisfaction. We get what we seek, and when, as is the case with money, we seek for nothing that is frequently all with which we are left.
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