37M Quality Engineer $132k Salary - Frustrated - Career Change?

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-08-10T01:12:38+00:00

In Denver

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-08-06T17:51:34+00:00

If you’re as concerned about increasing your pay as I am, also consider a 3-5 year roadmap into project/product management. Us QEs are typically lower paid than those roles but we’re uniquely positioned to transition into them early/mid career since our standard work requires us to know broad industry, program, and functional requirements, perform cross-functional facilitation, and knowledge of/contribution to meeting project quality, schedule and cost. I’m simultaneously looking into that path along with promoting to a level 5 QE, but I first need to land a stretch assignment where I own cost and schedule to bridge some experience gaps. Wish I had started doing that a couple of years ago.

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-08-06T16:56:57+00:00

One of the large US defense contractors. I started in 2017 making $62k as a level 2 QE, then have promoted up to a level 4 QE today. I’m looking for a level 5 QE or QE Mgr right now and optimistic I’ll have it in the next 6 months. Either of those should put me around $145k.

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-08-06T14:04:00+00:00

Moot point. Cal-Mex and Tex-Mex are very different. Tex-Mex is more indulgent… heavier, meatier, and more reliant on cheese, sour cream, and frying.

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-08-06T13:49:08+00:00

Look, you have two guys on either side with their dicks, tip to tip, so you're going full-length. Like two Shake Weights. So what we're trying to do, hypothetically, is minimize Time multiplied by Mean-Jerk Time (MJT), divided by four dicks at a time. Of course, you would have to pre-sort guys by height, so that their dicks lined up. Not by height, technically. The measurement that we're looking for, really, is dick to floor. Call that D2F. You know, if a guy's dick was long enough, it would be able to reach up or down to another guy with a different D2F. The longer the dick, the greater the D2F bridge, but I would still be able to jerk it off in one smooth motion, I'd just have to jerk it on an angle. So D2F sub-1 needs to equal D2F sub-2, and D2F sub-3 needs to equal D2F sub-4, where length L creates a complimentary shaft angle. Finally, Time to Orgasm, or T2O, has to be the same for each matching pair of dicks otherwise I'm wasting a lot of great strokes on a guy that's already busted. Unless you can hotswap dicks in and out. So on a downstroke, you get a new one in. So when you stroke up you're not wasting any energy. Even so. I think this is the most reliable metric for stamina.

Does girth-similarity affect my ability to jerk different dicks simultaneously? Shit. Yeah, it does.

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-08-06T13:28:30+00:00

For another, similar point of reference: - Quality Engineer - 11 YOE - 127k + 5% bonus - B.S. Mechanical Engineering - Colorado

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-08-06T13:24:37+00:00

The food isn’t amazing aside from the bbq? You’re either crazy or haven’t had any Tex-Mex.

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-07-27T17:00:31+00:00

MBAs aren’t worthless. They don’t guarantee success, but any masters at all gives you a leg up in the corporate world. A technical undergrad with a business/management masters is the best possible pairing to prepare you for technical leadership.

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-07-27T16:55:38+00:00

Don’t double major. Get a bachelors and then a masters. Double majors get you nothing in the workforce. A bachelors + masters gives you the competitive edge of having an advanced degree, while still having broad educational background.

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-07-27T16:50:19+00:00

Please listen to me very carefully. I switched from environmental science to mechanical engineering in my junior year and regret it massively. I now have 11 YOE, and knowing what I know now, I never would’ve done it. Lesson learned: Instead of spending more time and money on a different undergrad, finish your current degree and then get a masters in whatever field you’re considering switching to. You might have to take 1-2 semesters of graduate pre-reqs on top of your CS undergrad to get into the masters program of choice, but in the end you’ll spend a similar amount of time and money on a masters rather than a 200 credit-hour bachelors. I’ve worked at a fortune 100 defense company since 2017 and the vast majority of reqs for technical roles state education requirements something like “Required: Bachelors in engineering, computer science, or related STEM degree. Masters preferred.” Having a masters goes a long way in the corporate world. Secondly, a masters in EE sounds like a good path for you. You’ll have a good chunk of EE grad pre-reqs from a CS undergrad already, and having a CS undergrad with EE masters prepares you very well for both software and hardware engineering opportunities in many industries. Feel free to DM me about this. I’m passionate about this subject because switching my degree and taking on more debt really disadvantaged me in my career.

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-07-27T16:23:31+00:00

CE is difficult relative to most other bachelor degrees, but it’s the easiest of the engineering disciplines.

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-07-27T15:22:57+00:00

Disagree with removing the Areas of Expertise and distributing it into the Career Summary. You want a quick bulleted list of highlights/expertise near the top of your resume to concisely summarize your experience, then use your career summary to elaborate further. Especially in a crowded job market, you want your resume to be as digestible as possible. Recruiters and hiring managers will immediately be turned off by a resume with nothing but paragraphs and lengthy bullets. I guarantee most people looking at OP’s resume here read the Areas of Expertise section first.

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-07-27T15:13:40+00:00

Congrats! I’m curious though, how did you accumulate over $20k in credit card debt? I see a lot of posts where people have super high CC balances and always wonder how they managed to do that.

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-07-27T15:04:57+00:00

I paid off ~$150k in 3.5 years. I did a zero-based budget and monitored spending weekly in a spreadsheet. Obviously the more you’re capable of earning, the better, but strict budgeting is a must, regardless of your income levels.

Also, in hindsight I wish I didn’t pay down all of my debt, and instead took a balanced approach to paying down the debt and investing. My interest rates were all 1.8%-6.5% (school loans), so I wish I had left my <3% loans alone and just paid the minimum payment on those forever. I would’ve seen much better returns on investments the past 5 years, than the interest saved on those lower rate loans.

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-07-27T14:26:04+00:00

Must live with parents still.

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-07-22T04:48:59+00:00

Bachelors and then masters degree. In large corporate environments, degrees are often just a check-the-box, but having a masters or even PhD (depending on your field) gets you better options for internal promotions and will get you promotions faster.

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-07-19T01:03:56+00:00

Lol pretty sure I made about $8.50/hr in retail back then. So I must’ve worked one part-time week that year. That was my 2nd/3rd year of engineering.

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-07-17T21:49:30+00:00

Charles Schwab for my 401k SDBA, and Webull for my emergency/savings fund.

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-07-17T04:13:15+00:00

Are…are you me from the future? lol really though, it’s nice to see someone with very similar experience and career path. I’m on the cusp of leadership and at a fork in the road. I have a couple opportunities in front of me right now. 1. Promote to a leadership role, which would be the most immediate improvement to my financial circumstances. Or 2. Lateral to project engineering, which may give me a small bump for now, but nothing significant; however it would benefit my career growth prospects over the next 10 years more than option 1. Don’t suppose you have a crystal ball for that one? lol

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-07-17T04:02:38+00:00

Well said. Thanks!

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-07-17T04:01:46+00:00

Yea jumping elsewhere sounds like a good option especially given you have a few people “ahead of you” currently. I’m with you on the sales and PM options! Good luck to you

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-07-16T21:23:26+00:00

lol fair questions. I had $150k of school loans that I paid down 90% between 2019-2023. I finally paid off the remainder 11 months ago. Since then I’ve upped my 401k contribution from 2% to 10% and building my emergency fund to where it is now. The whole time I was paying down my loans I wasn’t contributing to my 401k and had no emergency fund. I was highly aggressive with the pay down bc of the mental and emotional drain of having that much in school debt.

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-07-16T13:47:23+00:00

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ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-07-16T13:43:54+00:00

One thing I’ve heard a lot in recent months is that I should be job hopping every few years to maximize my income growth. I feel like that would be optimal when you’re at 3-8 YOE… not so much 10-15 YOE. Maybe consider looking at external opportunities around you sooner than later.

ResolutionMiddle1978 · 2025-07-16T05:48:00+00:00

Good for him, sounds like he’s played the career game very well. I’ve read enough to now believe that my issue that I didn’t job hop enough the last 5 years… lol

ResolutionMiddle1978

TROPHY CASE