mining engineering is where its at!.. my cousin got staright onto $105k/year with bluescope and is on alot more now.
or a lawyer.. average lawyer earns $350 an hour as a minimum, if you can get the clients you'll be rolling in it.
Yes and no.
The high salaries of mining engineering grads is a direct result of the shortage of mining engineers coupled with the mining boom. Contractors also pay significantly more than mining houses but the grad ends up doing a lot of people managing instead of hands on design and engineering.
When I was a mining engineering grad in 2002, it was before the mining boom and there was no shortage of mining engineers available. As a result, the only job I was offered was as a coal miner on $63k a year, which I accepted. My first real grad engineer job was my next job with one of the countries largest zinc and lead miners and the salary was $49k.
Around about the time I graduated, the numbers of people enrolling in mining degrees almost stopped as it was hard to get a job. When the boom took off, there was a shortage.
I think graduate salaries will start to scale back, already Xstrata offer around $70k package for graduates, which realistically, is all they are worth. The quality of todays graduates is also questionable, as most universities dropped the requirements to enrol in order to boost numbers, so as a senior mining/geotechnical engineer, I have found most graduates severely lacking in mathematics and rock mechanics and with an expectation they will be promoted to a senior position in 3 years, which they probably will due to the shortage.
And forgot to mention i am a computer technician and run a local repair and retail store for hardware and software.
