Computer Science Vs Investment Banking vs Law

CS makes no sense to me but, IB they say you make lots of money.
CS seems harder...but here is my question
Why are the salaries so low?

They say for CS you will make 70K out of grad, and like 100-200K after 10 years.
And for IB you will make 100k out of grad, and like 200-500k after 10 years...

But, in law you make 100K out of grad, and 1M++ after 10 years

What has a higher salary?

13 Comments
 
Best Response

These numbers don't really make sense. As a software engineer at a top company you can make 120k+ right out of UG. Sometimes even more. Your number for IB and Law are off just because you aren't taking into account a number of things. Remember lawyers need to pay for three years of school and banking usually requires an MBA which is two years. Both of those are a huge cost. In law you probably won't crack a million in salary by the time you're 30.

Basically if you're trying to get the best bang for your buck you should do CS and kill it. You don't really need an advanced degree to move up and even though you might have a lower ceiling than some of the other jobs you'll make more money quicker. The lifestyle will also be better than banking or big law. From there you just need to figure out how to network well and keep moving up. The problem is that most brilliant computer scientists don't have the social skills to keep moving up so it's kind of a paradox.

 

This is a played out discussion. I would be more interested to hear what people have to say about packaged goods, retailing, or fashion. Hear me out, if you work in one of these industries, most people will never see more than 45 hours per week in their life and many people are fairly mediocre to begin with. The typical finance person would be a veritable Jedi compared to the competition, thus making it relatively easier to rise through the ranks.

Thoughts?

 

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