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The 10 Most Lucrative Jobs

Dynamic_1

There is so much learning throughout a Computing career with certifications in Cisco, Microsoft, SAP and a few others.

Those certifications are almost completely meaningless.
I was a MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional ) when I applied to Oxford from school and by the end of my first year had the MCSE+I ( Microsoft Certified Eystem Expert + Internet Certification ). I could probably do the Cisco certification with a month of preparation in my holidays, but cannot see it being of any use in my career path into academia. Some of my classmates have done a Cisco certification in their spare time.

Oxford ( and I presume Cambridge ) teaches you the theoretical underpinnings of Computer Science, which then makes it easy to pick up the practical details. Learning the details of a particular IDE or a version control system are trivial.

Reply 21

Dynamic_1

OP

1

fundamentally

Google and Yahoo were started by Stanford graduates. Stanford is the American equivalent of Oxbridge for computer science.

Brin and Page attended Michigan and Maryland, which are not Ivy league and only at graduate level did they gain admission to Stanford. Although both had highly educated parents, Math and Comp Sci Professors and a NASA scientist

Yang was at Stanford from undergrad, working class too, but Filo went to Louisiana, which is'nt Ivy league, before going to Stanford.

Jeff Bezos started Amazon, but he went to Princeton.

Pierre Omidyar, eBay went to Tufts, which is'nt Ivy leage. Although he recruited Jeff Skoll a Stanford MBA.

Countless numbers of other successful Internet and Software company founders and co-founders did not require a Ivy league degree to succeed.

Reply 22

fundamentally

15

Dynamic_1

In the long-term a Computer Science degree is worthwhile, especially when the Internet takes off.

Of course. It is a fascinating course. However, if you are looking for money, you will be disappointed. There is a lot of competition from India and "when the Internet takes off" I would not expect to see major benefits in your pay packet.

If you manage / run / start a successful IT company, of course you will get paid at management level. But that is hardly "IT" and you might as well do a Business Degree followed by a MBA and then get paid even better. Non-IT management do get paid rather well.

Dynamic_1

companies like eBay, Google, Yahoo, AOL with billion dollar market capitalisations. .

It is the owners and managers of Google and Yahoo who are making the giga-bucks. The employees of Google and Yahoo get paid the going rate.

One of the reasons the infamous Google-blogger ( Mark Jen ) was sacked was that he complained that he was paid less at Google than at his previous lower level IT job ( at Microsoft in a more junior level )

Reply 23

azrioch

3

You can put hedge fund manager at the top of that list. They make jokes out of any banker. Edward Lampert of ESL Investments topped a cool billion American year. http://newyorkmetro.com/guides/salary/14497/index1.html

While there is talk of a trading/hedge fund bubble, most simply don't have the dedication or multi-level genius to ever rise to this level. No one tops these guys.

Reply 24

Dynamic_1

OP

1

fundamentally

Of course. It is a fascinating course. However, if you are looking for money, you will be disappointed. There is a lot of competition from India and "when the Internet takes off" I would not expect to see major benefits in your pay packet.

When the Internet takes off, I want to be part of this revolution, I may end up starting a company, only time will tell. :wink:

fundamentally

If you manage / run / start a successful IT company, of course you will get paid at management level. But that is hardly "IT" and you might as well do a Business Degree followed by a MBA and then get paid even better. Non-IT management do get paid rather well.

My intentions are to startup eventually, to make it a success, you only have to learn from previous company failures. A Computer Science Bachelor's is more appropriate, as a PhD is possible. Business may be interesting, however there are'nt any courses that allow Economics and Computer Science, although there are some Management combinations offered. An MBA is what most people tend to do at a later date in their career.

fundamentally

One of the reasons the infamous Google-blogger ( Mark Jen ) was sacked was that he complained that he was paid less at Google than at his previous lower level IT job ( at Microsoft in a more junior level )

Was this prior to Google's Initial Public Offering? IPO. Many of Google's early employees are worth millions, however after taxes and the sky high property prices, it's not much. So yes, it is the founders and management, and possibly the talented employees who do recieve the most.

Reply 25

shady lane

16

Dynamic_1

Brin and Page attended Michigan and Maryland, which are not Ivy league and only at graduate level did they gain admission to Stanford. Although both had highly educated parents, Math and Comp Sci Professors and a NASA scientist

Yang was at Stanford from undergrad, working class too, but Filo went to Louisiana, which is'nt Ivy league, before going to Stanford.

Jeff Bezos started Amazon, but he went to Princeton.

Pierre Omidyar, eBay went to Tufts, which is'nt Ivy leage. Although he recruited Jeff Skoll a Stanford MBA.

Countless numbers of other successful Internet and Software company founders and co-founders did not require a Ivy league degree to succeed.

Stanford isn't Ivy League. The Ivy League is a football league, all of its members are on the East Coast. They are:

Princeton
Harvard
Yale
Brown
Columbia
Dartmouth
U Penn
Cornell

So you're right, you don't need an Ivy League degree to be a computer millionaire...but a Stanford degree sure doesn't hurt :smile:

but btw Hewlett and Packard went to Stanford too.

Reply 26

Dynamic_1

OP

1

shady lane

Stanford isn't Ivy League. The Ivy League is a football league, all of its members are on the East Coast. They are:

Princeton
Harvard
Yale
Brown
Columbia
Dartmouth
U Penn
Cornell

So you're right, you don't need an Ivy League degree to be a computer millionaire...but a Stanford degree sure doesn't hurt :smile:

but btw Hewlett and Packard went to Stanford too.

I've never heard of Tufts University until now, it's where Pierre Omidayar the founder of eBay went. He succeeded, it was'nt the degree that made him the billionaire he is today, it was the person he was that took him all the way with his first startup eShop acquired by Microsoft.

Larry Page attended University of Michigan, his father was a Professor of Maths so it was expected of him to do very well. Michigan is'nt Ivy league.

Sergey Brin went to University of Maryland, which is'nt Ivy league.

At Graduate level, yes, Stanford is brilliant, as Silicon Valley is close by. :smile:

There are countless numbers of millionaires and multimillionaires who started successful Internet/Software companies, and went all the way to the NASDAQ. None of the companies are perfect, there are opportunities, often some startups with similiar products result in a acquistion.

You have to be talented, or work very hard to start a successful company with a through grounding in Computer Science and awareness of Business. :wink:

Reply 27

shady lane

16

i was being facetious...don't worry
but Tufts is a really good university, so is Michigan, so is Maryland (I'm American so I'm more familiar). None of those would make the typical American say "No...impossible, a sucessful Tufts/Maryland/Michigan grad!"

Reply 28

azrioch

3

If you're in the management of a company before it goes public, chances are you'll get some stake of stock (not really sure, I know the board would), but employees still have to pay for theirs through stock options, an employee benefit to buy stocks at a lower price than market, but have them locked for a given ammt of time.

It really has nothing to do with a salary. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I recall reading that the CEOs of Google are paid a dollar (or a penny).

The money comes from how the stock multiples, which, to be honest, Google is nothing to make the janitor a millionaire. It started at 85 and is at 465, which would make you a billionaire or even millionaire unless you had a huge stake to begin with.

Microsoft started at 21 and split, what, nine times? That's the money.

I can't post pictures, so look here:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=my&s=MSFT&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=&c=%5EGSPC

VS.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=GOOG&t=2y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=%5EGSPC

Anyways, the more Wall Street buys, the more their initial shares are worth, but they aren't liquid instantly. People have wisened up after the stock bubble, however, and you can see that they're cashing in hundreds of thousands of dollars weekly.

http://biz.yahoo.com/t/20/976.html

But yea, my point is that the common man wouldn't have the balls to start leveraging themselves to take advantage of this, but instead have turned a tidy ~400% by getting in early.

Only the top three/four guys win and there are hundreds of failures for every success.

Reply 29

Dynamic_1

OP

1

It has been calculated it will take three centuries for Google to be the best search engine ever.

So there will be more startups improving search engine technology, within the next decade.

However there will probably be patent issues arising, with PageRank, Stanford recieved $300million from Google.

All the major Search Engines were a result of university research.

Stanford: Excite, Yahoo and Google

University of California, Berkley: Inktomi

Carnegie Mellon: Lycos

The Page Rank, finds the top 10 or maybe top 20 websites or pages, but there is so much conent on the WWW. No search engine yet indexes 100% of the WWW, Google has the largest index at 30%, the other 70% remains a problem to be solved. :smile:

Reply 30

azrioch

3

Dynamic_1

It has been calculated it will take three centuries for Google to be the best search engine ever.

So there will be more startups improving search engine technology, within the next decade.

However there will probably be patent issues arising, with PageRank, Stanford recieved $300million from Google.

All the major Search Engines were a result of university research.

Stanford: Excite, Yahoo and Google

University of California, Berkley: Inktomi

Carnegie Mellon: Lycos

The Page Rank, finds the top 10 or maybe top 20 websites or pages, but there is so much conent on the WWW. No search engine yet indexes 100% of the WWW, Google has the largest index at 30%, the other 70% remains a problem to be solved. :smile:

Interesting, though I'm sure that at the rate technology has been going in three centuries we'll be somewhere else entirely. :rolleyes:

I don't even know how you could get much better than Google without reading the user's mind. When you search for something, you get the item most linked, meaning what everyone else deems to be of value quantitatively. Other than looking at each site and judging good or bad qualitatively, Google seems to me like the best it will be, other than just optimizing their algorithm more.

Then again, maybe that's why I'm not going into IT.

Reply 31

rah2

6

fundamentally

I rather think not.

A cousin of mine joined Clifford and Chance ( a Magic Circle firm ) after he finished his degree at Cambridge and his LPC at the Inns of Court. I understand that he is getting 54K as a first year trainee solicitor ( including his bonus and various allowances ). He expects to be earning 80K in 2 -3 years. If he then decides that trying to be "made up" ( partner track ) is not for him, he can join one of the local American firms and easily earn 90 - 100 k. Sure, it is not the crazy money (100k+ in the first year ) that the investment bankers get, but the working conditions and hours are far better.

Of course, the smaller firms and the firms outside the City, pay much less.
On the other hand, the American firms with branches in the City pay more.

He is lying to you, CC pay 50k after completion of the TC, not even the US firms would pay 54k, max i've seen for first year trainees is 33k

All very respectable though :wink:

And the doctor figure is completly off, both my parents earn over the max there and neither have particularly large private practices or are particularly senior

Reply 32

fundamentally

15

rah2

He is lying to you, CC pay 50k after completion of the TC, not even the US firms would pay 54k, max i've seen for first year trainees is 33k All very respectable though :wink:

Fair enough.
I may have misundestood him. We were at a family dinner where his salary was only mentioned in passing.

Reply 33

Alaric

1

Dynamic_1

In the long-term a Computer Science degree is worthwhile, especially when the Internet takes off. On the Internet, no company can dominate it, no one controls it and no one owns it. Microsoft can't stop companies like Amazon, eBay, Google, Yahoo, AOL with billion dollar market capitalisations. It will get even more interesting should another two or three Google type startups succeed against Microsoft.

You'll find that software/information based industries tend to naturally monopolise. They may not be able to control the entire internet, but they'll each still have dominance in their own market sector. Ebay for autions, Amazon for books, Google for search, etc. It's also worth pointing out that Google wasn't really taking Microsoft on, they'd lose if they went after the OS market.
If you're really interested in finding out how these things work then I'd recommend reading Shapiro and Varian's "Information Rules - a strategic guide to the network economy" (HBS press).

And come on you guys, if you're wanting money from IT (well compsci) then the internet just isn't the place to be looking. Look at tech jobs in the financial industry.

A.

Reply 34

Treception

fundamentally

You list is out of date.
Since the dot com bust, web designers and those in IT are struggling.

Investment Bankers, Solicitors, Barristers and Doctors are still doing well.
However, they routinely work over 80 hours a week. So on an hourly basis, they are actually underpaid.

There is still no free lunch !

"those in IT are not struggling" its only E-Commerce that has struggled..

Things like software engineering are still MASSIVE bucks,just look at companis like marconi, microsoft, red hat, ebay, google, and a whole host of other smaller software engineering related companies. Its still the fastest growing market in the world with new technologes coming out all teh time e.g. skype and other VoIp related things.. computer game programming is also massive.. the computing industry in one of the fastest growing in the world, its just the E-commerce side of things that has slumped since the dot com boom...

Where do you think the software comes from that stock brokers use?? where does the network come from that the stock exchange uses? where does any software that any professional uses come from?? where does the software that mission critical things such as guidance systems and power stations software comes from, software enigineers, thats where. If your really good, there is a lot of money to be made in this very interesting industry, its not dying, its grownig faster than anything else, maybe your just looking in the wrong areas?

Reply 35

brabzzz

14

It's perhaps also worth mentioning that bulge bracket IBs (lol, or IBs full stop) are in the minority of financial services jobs - just as 'magic circle' firms are the same dream group amongst legal firms. They're not typical, far from it and the vast majority of people will not get jobs with them.

Shame there isn't a pre-complied table of pay quartiles over the first 5-10 years for a range of careers. That would be useful...

Secondly, if you are god (and I mean really good) at whatever you do (from chef to plumber to lawyer to translator to designer) you will make a LOT of money, will probably end up with your own firm - and enjoy the job. Which vastly increases earning potential and the burnout rate plummets. A fact worth considering before blindly heading for the law/banking world. Kinda wish i knew that years ago!

Reply 36

Dynamic_1

OP

1

brabzzz

It's perhaps also worth mentioning that bulge bracket IBs (lol, or IBs full stop) are in the minority of financial services jobs - just as 'magic circle' firms are the same dream group amongst legal firms. They're not typical, far from it and the vast majority of people will not get jobs with them.

The type of people who get the jobs tend to be educated at top private schools and grammer schools, who go on to attend the top tier univerisites, so elitism is well and truly alive. With at least 20 applicants for some graduate training schemes and upto 300 applicants for others it's incredibly competitive.

brabzzz

Shame there isn't a pre-complied table of pay quartiles over the first 5-10 years for a range of careers. That would be useful...

I recall http://www.insidecareers.co.uk had indepth salary information, however now there seems to be a lenghtly user registration process. :frown:

There must be information out there on the world wide web, it shows even Google is far from perfect.

brabzzz

Secondly, if you are god (and I mean really good) at whatever you do (from chef to plumber to lawyer to translator to designer) you will make a LOT of money, will probably end up with your own firm - and enjoy the job. Which vastly increases earning potential and the burnout rate plummets. A fact worth considering before blindly heading for the law/banking world. Kinda wish i knew that years ago!

The average age of a Entrepreneur is 36. Many of the Computer Software, Internet and Hardware companies were started typically in the late 20's to early 30's, with some closer to 40 to early 40's. :smile:

So there is alot of time for anyone to start a company. Alot of companies fail, there are many reasons for this, hwoever it is much easier if you are really passionate, dedicated and really have all the capabilities to succeed. One thing to note is, the Computer Nerds, dominate the Richest under 40's list. Computer nerds who start successful companies have far greater earnings than famous celebrities too. :smile:

What makes companies like Dell, eBay, Amazon, Yahoo, Google, Symantec, Real Networks, CNET and hundreds of other computer startups? There are one billion computer machines worldwide, this will increase to more than 2 billion computer computer machines within a decade. It can only get more exciting with software licences. :wink:

If you in your early 20's now, you work very hard, typical hours most people who love their career eg Bill Gates in a Interview last year by a reporter said he worked 12 to 15 hours on a weekday and 8 to 12 hours each weekend day. 70 hour weeks are the minimum, with 100 hour weeks being fairly common. What's the average most people do? 40 hour weeks?

Reply 37

Anne Auraque

2

brabzzz

I realised it was not yor personal list. I simply find the £XXXk+ a bit weird, as it is a meaningless number. Avg. London accoutancy partner pay is 500k, IB can take home tens of millions.

GS had an average bonus this year of £500,000, so I think what you said is a bit misleading. Yes, some do take home many millions, but these are the exceptions and not the rule.

Reply 38

brabzzz

14

Avg Partners at London accountancy practices take home 500k on average. Fact. The top end is up at around the 3m mark. That's not particularly misleading - hitting Partner in a Big4 means you will be minted!

You say 'average' regarding IB. I said 'can take home...' - the theoretical maximum is HUGE. It's not misleading, certainly not like the ''£100k+'' figures given...they're misleading! Indeed, any figures in IB are misleading due to the vast spread.