re: Graduation theme. What was your salary at your first “real” job?

$65K after grad school. I was loaded.

$42,500, although I got a raise to $55,000 a year later, this was 2017 but I lived in Memphis so I lived quite well off that.

1996 - 55k working for one of the the 5 consulting companies.

Chemical Engineering graduate in 1965. Starting salary was $660/mo.

My first bonus was $900 in 1995. My boss apologized for it being so low. It was prorated for my start date.

What she did not realize was I came from lower middle class world where the word “bonus” never existed. $900 was 900 more than 0 and I appreciated every one of them.

Fast forward a couple of decades, and normal 6-figure bonuses were never fully appreciated like those first $900.

Money is a dissatisfier. Get some, want more.

Stay hungry / thirsty! Will taste so much better.

28k in 2010 straight out of school. Only stayed at that job for 10 months, changed jobs, and then 5 months later I transferred internally. I was promoted at my new job about 6 months after that. So, I went from 28k to 70k in about 21 months and felt pretty comfortable after that.

Those 10 months making a 28k salary were pretty depressing though

I made $18.8k my first year as a teacher in 1996.

2000 $11.25/hr roustabouting on Parker 20J drilling for Bios D'Arc in South Timbalier.

1983 and about 35 grand.

2007 right out of grad school. $38,000 and benefits. Also had a company truck and a gas card.

I thought I was Elon