Can CFD salaries compete with Big Tech salaries
 

Entry-level engineers at FAANG (facebook, amazon, apple, netflix, google) can easily make >200k in total compensation. Most CFD jobs require master/PhD and are as intellectually challenging (if not more). Can CFD salaries compete with Big Tech salaries? What is the highest CFD salary you have seen, where? And how many years of experience to get there? Which companies out there pay the highest CFD salaries? (Lockheed, SpaceX, Exxon, Amazon, Boeing, etc.?) And before you post money is not everything, remember money can buy freedom, and freedom is everything. With the way corporate America has treated its experienced engineers/scientists, I think its better for the best young quantitative minds to flee to the greener fields.

IMHO, no: thanks to Adam Smith. I hope he sucks donkey balls in his grave.

Nah Smith is a cool dude. Dont hate the player, hate the game.

On serious note:

I have still-in-contact friends (not LinkedIn contacts) where we started our careers after graduating from the same (the top in its country) university and same subject: one is a regional manager in Alphabet Inc (Google), one is a technical manager in Facebook, another is a regional manager in Ford, local managers in Loreal, Coca Cola, CitiBank, some German and Japanese machine builder companies; one founded a restaurant chain in California; not to mention high ranking engineers in various companies in various areas in various parts of the world; my family runs a family business in one of the most beautiful regions in the world (a touristic place always listed in lots of top magazines).

Among my friends, four (including myself) decided to go for an MSc and PhD in engineering. Two of us (incldng myself) moved to the industry after PhD, the other two are still fighting for a permanent academic position (one is looking for a post-doc, the other one is completing his post-doc).

Even though I love my job (which is CFD related) (I wanna rush into the office most mornings) and love my colleagues, we -the PhDs- are literally f.cked up in terms of financial power in comparison to my aforementioned friends - because we f.cking started our real lives late.

We were not anti-social (myself had been leading a volunteering club branch in the university, and was a founding member of two clubs), we were absolutely more successful in terms of our grades, we were fun and friendly; I was athletic/sporty.

Now, my family lives in a triplex during winter, and in a dublex with a beautiful garden in front of azure beaches during summer. I had been visiting my friends in their homes (pre-covid era obviously), playing with their kid(s).

And now I live in a 60(?) metre-square apartment, trying to convince my bloody landlord to fix the ventilation in the toilet since September 2020; trying to solve mentally challenging problems every day despite ageing; trying to earn some extra cash in daily stock market by using my mathematical skills in order to pay some part of the deposit of my first potential house; living under a dark, grey, cloudy weather - miles away from my family, loved friends, and azure beaches - who/which are gradually fading away.

I don't regret my decisions -because I didn't care about the money- I wanted to serve the welfare of humanity as much as I could be able to. But I know: I am going to regret it. I know I am f.cked up. :)

Hopefully these can provide you some insight about CFD jobs vs other-type of jobs; but, can't prove anything to you.

Good luck.

Hi HPE, thanks for your story. LinkedIn is another status game just like FB. I found out that a lot of LinkedIn positive thinking stories are fake, too :)). One of my favorite authors is Nassim Taleb. He's an intellectual at heart, but he also understands the importance of what he calls "Fck U money". I think that when we still depend on others for our income, we cannot truly be free thinkers, especially in the age of cancel culture where corporations seek conformity, not creativity. My plan is to earn enough money from FAANG and then retire to a life of self-study after I am 45 or so. With cloud computing, OPENFOAM etc., it wont be that hard to do CFD as a hobby ;)

FAANG won't be around for much longer. Stealing an election is treason and will be prosecuted as this. They will loose everything.

Facebook is Likely Just the DARPA LifeLog Project Re-Named | Decrypted Matrix

By giving your soul to the devil you will probably earn lot's of money but no freedom.

With the way things are going. I think the globalists are gonna be around for some time. Expecting FAANG to be prosecuted is a nice thought, but unrealistic. I live in a world where there are compromises to be made for the sake of myself and people I care about. I was pretty idealistic up until the end of my PhD when I realized academics are quite spineless as well. When was the last time STEM professor challenged the social justice gods successfully? Also most academics dont have skin in the game and publish for survival.

So staying in academia is also in some way making a deal with the devil as well. The only way to not compromise is to stay off the grid.

CFD jobs can absolute compete with FAANG. I think your premise of $200k for entry level is wrong. Maybe in the most expense part of the Bay Area you can demand some big numbers but with so many going virtual, no need to spend $4k / month on a one bedroom apartment. FAANGS are hiring at much less all over the USA. As for non FAANG jobs - yes, we can be competitive with a good pay (and cool projects).

Well then can you point me to the companies that pay CFD researchers well? Btw, youre right that I exaggerate the number a bit. But base salary + stock options is very close to 200k. This was posted 7 years ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerque...t_google_fair/

I don't know about all of the jobs, but you start out talking about entry level. If a person has a masters and then works 4 years instead of getting a PhD, the pay certainly goes up during that time. The company I workf for does a lot of CFD consulting so the work is varied and does include both research and application. We are hiring now as are many companies. Ours is here:
https://enginsoftusa.com/careers.html but a search of CFD jobs on indeed shows over 500 listings.