How much can people really earn?

Does this thread hold the record?

for the most deleted posts WITHOUT the thread bing closed?

My 2c is that the majority graduates don't earn six figures in their first job straight after graduation. Certainly not in IT, finance, marketing, commerce or any other field that I know of.

My experience has also been that a lot of people who work in finance like to talk a big game.
 
I run a specialist team within a top tier IT company, and I can tell you for a fact that NONE of our grads make $100k per year. Not even close. Not even with bonuses.

Why? Because they aren't worth that much.

$100k per year buys an experienced person with decent skills, who can work independently. $150k per year buys a very experienced, highly skilled person.
To make more than that in IT you have to work very long hours, and soak up a lot of stress and BS.

And if you think you can hold down a $150k per year plus job in IT while taking time off to travel, party and jerk around, you are kidding yourself.

I'm sure there's the rare occasion where a grad gets big money for some reason, but it's certainly not the norm. In Canberra (where professionals are thin on the ground and in high demand), most law, consulting and IT firms pay $50-70k per year for grads. And for that they expect them to work hard. Not many make it past the first 3 years.
 
What about 5 years after graduating?

Hubby and I are recent graduates (2-3 yrs of work experience) and while we definitely didn't start on 6 figures, I can see how it's possible after about 5-7 yrs in the workforce.
 
tess85 said:
What about 5 years after graduating?

Hubby and I are recent graduates (2-3 yrs of work experience) and while we definitely didn't start on 6 figures, I can see how it's possible after about 5-7 yrs in the workforce.
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It took me about 5 years, and I worked lots of hours and did a lot of extra things others didn't, although I entered the full time work force 11 years ago.
 
this is the age of the tradie... these blokes can pull more than a doctor if they go about it in the right way.

I get concerned when high house prices are supported by arguments like these. there are plenty of reasons why tulips should be worth a lot more than they currently are. reality is the market has set the price for a reason
 
Ausprop said:
this is the age of the tradie... these blokes can pull more than a doctor if they go about it in the right way.

I get concerned when high house prices are supported by arguments like these. there are plenty of reasons why tulips should be worth a lot more than they currently are. reality is the market has set the price for a reason
Click to expand...

Exactly right Ausprop.

Tradesman finishing their time can realistically come straight out into either the mining or oil and gas industry and cream three figures with ease.

All of this while only working half the year with the rosters available in both sectors of the resource industry.

Some people consider working away would detract from family life, however a lot in the industry would counter that 2 weeks on/ 2 weeks off actually gives more "quality" time than a simple weekend.

Horses for courses i guess.

Cheers

Rooster
 
tulips - great reference there!

100k is not "a lot" of money these days - only compared to the 89yo on a $400 a fortnight pension.
 
Rooster said:
Some people consider working away would detract from family life, however a lot in the industry would counter that 2 weeks on/ 2 weeks off actually gives more "quality" time than a simple weekend.

Horses for courses i guess.

Cheers

Rooster
Click to expand...

it does give more quality time - everyone i speak to agrees with this.
 
I'd agree with the quality time comment.

I'm working in Perth M-F's and flying back to Melbourne for weekends (white collar IT guy).
 
I can second that....most of the people in IT Consulting organisations who on over 150K have substantial experience. Typically we are talking 20 plus years experience.

Associate Directors/Directors (not the highest level) in consulting firms make between 155K - 300K. But they also have sales quotas and other stress items hanging over their head.

VYBerlinaV8 said:
$100k per year buys an experienced person with decent skills, who can work independently. $150k per year buys a very experienced, highly skilled person.
To make more than that in IT you have to work very long hours, and soak up a lot of stress and BS.

And if you think you can hold down a $150k per year plus job in IT while taking time off to travel, party and jerk around, you are kidding yourself.

I'm sure there's the rare occasion where a grad gets big money for some reason, but it's certainly not the norm. In Canberra (where professionals are thin on the ground and in high demand), most law, consulting and IT firms pay $50-70k per year for grads. And for that they expect them to work hard. Not many make it past the first 3 years.
Click to expand...
 
Jonathon said:
For anybody who starts comparing property prices in Melbourne to London or Mahhattan and expresses some concern that Melbourne is catching up, here's a simple fact - people in Melbourne earn as much as people in those other cities!!!

Aussies aren't underpaid, compared to Londoners or New Yorkers. (And that's at normal exchange rates, not the silly figures we have right now)

There might be a 10% to 15% difference, depending on jobs, but that's about it. And housing is a lot more than 15% cheaper in Melbourne than London...more like half the price, property for property.
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Having lived, worked and owned property in London and moved to a capital city in Australia doing the same work - I can say and I am sure people with the same experience of living in London - there is just no comparison.

It is just very expensive to live in Australia !

For eg - in London on average professional worker is on about 100 000 pounds - they buy a house in a good but average area in the out parts of London ( still on tube line) for 3-400 000 up to 4 times wage.

Back in Aust that same person gets the same job in the same company and earns a little over $100 000 - but to buy an average house within 30 min of work in a good area they are looking at $6- 800 000 over six times their wage -

The only thing that saved us was that we were able to buy before the boom and sell at the height - exchange was in our favour at the time and we are OK but all our UK friends all tells us how expensive it is to live here - even day to day food stuff.

So No people in Melbourne dont earn as much as other cities if they were in London they would be earning much more even now
 
And a big Thank you to sim for deleting all that rubbish! thanks mate!
Under grad overgrad , who cares grad , rubbish , there are more ways to skin a cat, its not relivent who earns what but more of what they do with it, my old business partner earned 140k a year, and his wife was on 80k and they lived week to week , the money earned was all keep up with the jonses crap , prado, $200 wine glasses , $80 bottles of wine and a nanny, now ten years later they divorce with a half share of 300k equity, $150 k each and no it specilist job to be had?
the SS group should pride themselves in the thinking out of the box stuff, being clever like earning 40k a year in their day job and turning a property into an extra 180k equity, now thats important no-grad development to write about.

My step sister is the only one in the familly with a degree, and still rents, but gee it was rubbed in to my face for years, i am a simmleton builder , that builds for profit, that on a good day could not be matched by any post grad specilist, but i am so happy they exist, because they could'nt build on there homes if their live depended on it! thank you ! for my income, :D
 
LOL at this thread. How many threads were deleted as pointless. People really like having a go at high income earners.

I have only one thing to say and that is, high income earners should be quiet at what they earn, people do not like boasters. There are many out there battling every day, trying to put food on the table, they don't want to listen to how you drive around in your exotic cars, earn your six figure salaries fresh out of uni!

There's ways two sides to the argument.

The high income earners say to themselves.. "I work my brains out, I want to show off how hard I work by showing off "toys" or how much I make.

The lower income earners look up to the high incomer earners and tell themselves "wow, what a wa***er, showing off.. probably got lucky etc...
 
I didn't know it was an argument?

I thought it was just people sharing what is possible. I find it really interesting.

The number of deleted threads in this has doubled up due to the thread split.

Thank you mods for reviving this thread.
 
there's no "two sides" AFAIC.

there's just people who are tall poppies, and people with tall poppy syndrome.

i call it green poppy syndrome - because it's only jealousy.
 
Blue Card! said:
100k is not "a lot" of money these days - only compared to the 89yo on a $400 a fortnight pension.
Click to expand...
And that, right there, is the crux of the entire argument of this thread. There's a lot of people out there that still consider $100K pa is a lot of income. I can safely vouch for the fact that its not.

But I can also say that most of the grads in my company earn nowhere near that much. I had a top notch grad working for me recently and fought very hard to get her salary up to about $80K after a few years working for us. She puts in 70-80hr weeks regularly and she topped her local school HSC with a TER of 99 and then went on to top her university degree both times. She is brilliant, hardworking, with fantastic interpersonal skills. She's on $80K at a push.

However, its not the grads that will be driving the prices of the top end houses so its all a bit of a moot point. I've been in the industry for a while now and am now a director of one of the business units so earn well more than double what this brilliant new grad earns. I could earn even more if I went back into Management Consultancy but I prefer the 40hr weeks and the time with my family. My hourly pay is now more than $100ph and I like that bang for buck.

The banks look after you if you're a high net worth, high income earner. Once I kick off my latest development I'll have several million in loans and double that in properties. Admittedly, its not only "my" income that's servicing these loans as they're all IPs. ;) But with a bit of time, and some capital appreciation on a sizeable portfolio, its not Mensa to figure out that you can sell down some of the portfolio and buy a top notch PPOR if you're so inclined. Its the up-traders that drive the top end price points, not the newbie FHBers with their 20% deposits.

Manhattan here I come! :D

Cheers,
Michael
 
the trouble is, with private enterprise, you really are selling your time for "x" dollars.

when you run a business, the more productive and streamlined you are, the more your hourly rate goes up - effectively.

so someone like me who might draw by hand may earn $45 a hour and charge $1800 to do a job that takes 40 hours. they can take on one job a week and earn $1800pw total.

someone uses a computer and charges the same $1800 for the same job may do it in 20 hours - so their hourly rate just went to $90. they can take on 2 jobs a week and earn $3600 per week.

someone who's UBER fast with self rendering CAD package may only take 10 hours - so their income is $180 ph. they can take 4 jobs a week and earn $7200 per week.

same individual job, same end cost, same end result, different hourly rate and different volumes. the buying market just got better value because they got a 1.5 day turnaround for the same money for someone else to do it in a week.
 
Rooster said:
Exactly right Ausprop.

Tradesman finishing their time can realistically come straight out into either the mining or oil and gas industry and cream three figures with ease.

All of this while only working half the year with the rosters available in both sectors of the resource industry.

Some people consider working away would detract from family life, however a lot in the industry would counter that 2 weeks on/ 2 weeks off actually gives more "quality" time than a simple weekend.

Horses for courses i guess.

Cheers

Rooster
Click to expand...

Agreed

Six Months On Six Months Off..then add in Annual Leave, sounds good to me :eek:

More time with the family than just the weekends and three weeks Annual Leave
 
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