8 tech degrees that will pay you back

Getting your college degree is expensive, so it’s important to consider the return on that investment when it comes to your education. If you have an interest in technology, you’re in luck, because tech degrees offer some of the best potential salaries. Technology degrees are growing, as areas such as social science and humanities have seen a decline, according to CareerBuilder. In fact, half of the fastest growing degrees are in STEM fields, especially in engineering.

PayScale collected data from around the country to find out what tech degrees will help you pay off your student debt fast. The reported salaries come from respondents with varying job titles, so keep in mind that your job title and location could mean you make less or more than the average reported salary for each degree.

If you’ve ever wanted to know how to build a device people use every day, like a smartphone or even a computer, you might want to consider a career in electronics and communications engineering. It’s clear that our passion for everyday technology isn’t going away, and consumers as well as enterprise business are hungry for more. An electronics and communications engineering is a versatile degree that can take you on either a technology path or an engineering path, but either way, it has the potential for a lucrative career.

Getting a degree in electronics and communications engineering can net you a median salary of $65,000 per year early on in your career. If you stay with the role, you can expect to make around $115,000 per year on average by the time you reach the middle of your career. According to PayScale, workers report making the most money with this degree in San Jose, Calif., where the average yearly salary in this field is $122,453.

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Do you like working with computers and do you enjoy math, science and engineering? Then you might be fit for a degree in computer science and engineering. It’s a well-rounded program that can take you on a number of different tech career paths, whether you want to focus more on the computer science side or the engineering side.

The average median pay for those starting out in their careers with a computer science and engineering degree is $69,100 per year and once respondents hit their middle of their careers, the average yearly pay jumped to $115,000 per year. According to PayScale, those living in Sunnyvale, Calif., and Seattle, Wash,. report earning upwards of $145,000 and $134,000 per year, respectively.

A job in systems engineering means working closely throughout the lifecycles of engineering systems as well as the reliability, logistics and requirements necessary for that system. It can include risk management; optimization and process improvements in software; project management and control engineering; among other disciplines. As a system engineer, you will need to focus on projects and systems with a holistic view, rather than a specific phase of the lifecycle.

For those with a job using a systems engineering degree, the average reported starting salary is $67,100 per year, with a mid-career median salary of $114,000. Respondents working in Atlanta report a higher yearly salary, with the average reported salary coming in at $120,000 per year. Washington, D.C., also reports a higher-than-average yearly salary at $96,565 per year.

Computer engineering degrees focus on electrical engineering and computer science, combining the two disciplines to teach you how to develop computer hardware and software. You’ll likely get training in electronic engineering, software design and hardware to fully understand what goes into building different types of computers.

With a degree in computer engineering, if you take a job in the field, you can expect to earn somewhere around $68,400 per year when you start out your career. Once you hit the middle of your career, the average salary jumps to $109,000. Workers in Boston and San Diego, Calif., report higher average salaries at $93,432 and $92,200 per year, respectively.

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If you know you want to work closely with computers and technology, but aren’t exactly sure what field you’d like to work in, a computer science degree is a great choice. It can land you a job in a number of careers such as software developer, systems analyst, software engineer, programmer, IT support and IT manager, just to name a few. It’s a broad degree that will get you the experience you need to enter the tech field with confidence.

Getting a job with your computer science degree can earn you a starting salary of around $63,100, based off the average reported starting salary in the survey. Once you hit mid-career, the average yearly salary goes up to $105,000. Respondents working in Seattle report some of the highest average salaries ranging from $65,889 to $120,391, depending on the job title. Same goes for those working in San Francisco, Calif, where the average salary for those with computer science degrees ranges from $65,889 to $120,391 per year, depending on the job title.

Getting a degree in software engineering means you’ll be working closely with researching, designing, developing and testing software of all kinds. It’s a focused degree for those who know they want to work solely with software, whether it’s industrial, medical, military, communications, aerospace, business, scientific or general software.

A degree in software engineering can land you a starting salary of around $62,500 per year, with a mid-career salary of $96,800. The highest paid software engineers report working in Mountain View, Calif., where the average salary is $118,450 per year. Workers in Sunnyvale, Calif., and San Francisco also report higher average salaries, at $107,241 and $104,617, respectively.

If you want a career in engineering, but also want to focus on the business side of things, you might want to consider a degree in engineering management. In fact, a Master of Science in Engineering Management is similar to an MBA for those looking to work on the business side of engineering. It’s a degree that can get you a job working in product development, technology production, design engineering, industrial engineering and a number of other similar industries.

The average starting salary for those with an engineering management degree is $63,100 per year, with a mid-career salary of $96,400. This career can lead to the role of director of engineering, which has an average yearly salary of $189,056 in San Jose, Calif., and an average of $177,591 per year in San Francisco.

A degree in management information systems means you’ll be studying technology as it relates to organizations and the people who work for those organizations. The focus is more on the business side of technology, even though you’ll have hands on experience with hardware and software. However, if you plan to go into this degree, you’ll need to come out with an understanding of finance, accounting, business management and marketing.

With a degree in management information systems, you can earn an average starting salary of $56,800 per year, with a mid-career salary of $96,300 per year. The highest paid workers with a Bachelors in Management Information Systems report living in New York City and Dallas where the average salaries range from $83,524 to $116,997 per year and $64,000 to $126,108 per year, respectively.