intercst
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Suspect. You don’t need astrophysicists to spy on a rocket company. I’m an astrophysicist. You would want engineers and rocket scientists, not astrophysicists.
Perhaps just sloppy reporting?
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Maybe the astrophysicists are cheaper to send? The Chinese are very cost conscious. They wouldn’t send an Engineer, if someone else could do it cheaper.
But astrophysicists may eventually have their day. I remember reviewing applicant resumes at Exxon in the early 1980’s, and the managers thought it was hilarious that an applicant listed “artificial intelligence” on his resume.
The guy being interviewed is a former Member of Congress from Texas who worked as a CIA intelligence analyst .
intercst
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Astrophycist is innocuous on your resume. “Will you want work with telescopes”? Like opening the wrong spam email.
My former supervisor didn’t think so. He saw it and said “I want to talk to this guy”. Later, he hired me. He had decided I had a solid science base, and could learn what I didn’t already know to do the job.
A lot of people actually were intimidated by it. Or they thought “he isn’t an electrical engineer” (which most of my coworkers were).
I don’t doubt that. The Physics majors I’ve seen doing engineering jobs over the years have been highly competent.
But when you look at salaries for Electrical Engineers vs. Astrophysicists after 10 years of work experience you see a wide gap.
Based on 2026 data, Electrical Engineers generally offer higher, more consistent salaries after 10 years of experience, typically ranging between $111,000 and over $155,000 annually. Astrophysicists have a wider salary range, with academic or research roles often starting lower, but mid-career roles in specialized industries (like theoretical astrophysics) can exceed $128,000, while others may average significantly lower, around $54,791 to $93,977.
I played golf with a Georgetown grad who graduated the same year as basketball star Patrick Ewing. Art History majors had the highest average starting salary that year. (Though "median’ was a different story.)
intercst
Yeah, I did start at a lower salary. In fact, the really big bump came when I changed jobs (lateral transfer). They made me equal to everyone else doing my job (more or less…we never discussed salaries). It was the biggest bump I ever got, even including promotions.
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It’s gets worse. New BS engineering grads started at Exxon at Salary grade 22 and we’re generally promoted to SG 23 after 12 months. Someone who spent an extra year to get a Master’s degree started at SG 23, too.
So you spent an extra year in college, and forgo 12 months of an engineering salary to end up at the same salary as someone with only a BS.
Made no sense to me. But you could take some classes at night to get a Master’s degree while you were working, and you did get a small benefit when computing salaries if you had a Master’s. Whether it was worth the time spent was unclear?
Lot’s of people with just a BS degree did well to outstanding.
intercst
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