He is the much younger one of three boys that ran as I did being the much younger of three, elder sister and brother. He is wrapping up his last year at A&M studying mechanical engineering. He spent the past summer working at a well known refinery in Port Arthur, the largest in the US, and thoroughly enjoyed the summer. It has been fun talking of his studies as he progressed, me being a 1985 vintage ME. When he started work in the refinery the phone calls got intense as I know them inside out. It was fun. Well two weeks after completing his internship as he headed off to his last year they offered him a job with an $8,000 signing bonus and a starting salary of $99,500 with a 0-20% bonus. I, as was he, stunned as we both were thinking $80,000 max. Damn proud of the boy. His fiance had an offer from USAA, where she has interned for two summers at $60k in San Antonio (she will have a Master's in economics after three and a half years of college and one "B", ever...) so there in lies the dilemma. Great jobs miles apart... They are more than bright and will sort it I am sure.

Tough problem!

Ha!

Cool, I wish him luck and hopefully a little humility.

Seems like a very happy success story - best wished to both, and congrats to dad.

Congrats to you and your family.

Congratulations that is Awesome.

Very cool Ed.....you have good reason to be proud.

It's a good problem to have.

If they live below their means, stay out of debt, save and invest they'll be millionaires in no time.

-Jake

I think it's a great achievement to raise a child who is a productive part of society. Congrats!

Great news, Ed! And certainly a proud Dad you must be.

Calm Seas and Fair Winds to your son

thats great Ed.

Squared away .

What is the 0-20% number? What does that mean?

The youngsters will figure it out. Hasbeen

I have always considered it the primary mission of parents to raise their children to be law abiding, productive members of society. I would say you have been wildly successful Ed and I applaud your efforts.

Matthew 6:33 comes to mind.
Congrats Ed on raising a fine set of kids.

Good job, not easy raising them anymore.

I love it when hard work and dedication pay off. Tell the lad that I am very impressed and delighted in his success!

Whether they end up together or apart they will both do well (congrats 😎)

But hey, if they end up together despite all of that, then they will have hit it clear out of the ballpark.

That kind of money just boggles my mind.

Congratulations to the boy....they don’t just give those degrees away! He earned and deserves that good salary! memtb

Excellent Ed!

Warms my heart to hear this.

Thought I’d be happy if I did well.

And I was.

But it pales in the joy of seeing your kids do well.


That’s some cool chit Ed, really happy for him, and you and Mom. Well done parents and kid 👍🏻

Congrats to all.
Hard work pays off.
If th year manage their money, they’re set for life.

Most likely they will assign an amount of tasks or objectives to complete. The bonus will be determined by how many of the objectives were completed.

The process is called, MBO. Manage by objective.

The great things you have built are more than just mechanical.

Good for you Ed, you have every reason to be proud.

Just for comparison, I graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in Chemical Engineering 40 years ago this year and went to work at another Gulf Coast refinery. My starting salary? $20,400 per year.

Well said, and I totally agree. Sounds like you raised a good one.

You should be very proud!!

Congratulations. Sounds like he has a bright future.

Something for consideration....

My brother is a Civil Engineer. His fiance at the time was also a Civil Engineer. Pre-marriage they both had excellent jobs several hundred miles apart. Plan was for her to move to his location. She spoke with her supervisor well in advance to let them know. They immediately asked if he would come for an interview. They hired him and he moved there. Your son's company may have an interest in another bright young hire..... It worked well for the company and the couple in my bother's case.

Thanks for all of the kind words gentlemen. I joined Shell at a refinery in NorCal in 1985 at $29,500. The kids have a plan to make it work. Sharp kids that have already engaged marriage counseling to help them land on the decision. They will marry upon his graduation next year. Then he and I will head to our place in north Idaho to chase bear for a few weeks. His dream is a woods hunt with Dad. I can't wait.

I’m sure they'll figure it out. I finished graduate school almost exactly 20 years ago and I still don’t know what I want to do with the rest of my life.

Congratulations to them both, you should be proud!

I try not to be an obnoxious braggart when it comes to my kids. I'm just not that insecure. Just sayin.

A&M must be a good engineering school in the south, my cousin chose A&M over Lehigh to receive his masters and doctorate in civil engineering.

You got bragging out of this?

My own kid had to deal with a divorce he didn’t want, diabetes and cancer, all by age 25. He still has to deal with the fact that his eight year old spends half her time in a house with some other guy living in it and he has to subsidize that with child support. On top of all of that his mom, who was his rock growing up, in recent years has gone seriously unstable.

Financially he’s getting by and has since found a good woman. They could advance their careers with the same company just 100 miles up the road in Austin but he won’t because his daughter lives here.

Never have heard him whine about any of that, he’s kind, gentle and he doesn’t do drugs, lie, cheat or steal 😎

See, that was me bragging

Have you thought about counseling?

I like that a lot, Mike!

Everyone measures success differently.

Everyone measures wealth differently.

There's lots more to being rich than getting a big paycheck.

You may get a big paycheck, but if it keeps you from tucking your kids in at night, or cheering them on at their Little League game, or playing catch in the back yard.... It may mean you are gone all the time, and not seeing your wife cry when she puts the kids to bed, and not being there when they need you.

If you move your family to a place where everyone is miserable or afraid, as a trade off for a big paycheck, then you have not made yourself richer.

If you give them everything material wise they could ever want or need, it's a vast shortcoming from being there when they REALLY need you.

Some folks are truly rich. Most know it. Some folks have lots of money, and think they are rich, and that ambition to accumulate wealth blinds them to not see how poor they really are.

Two quotes, Dizzy Dean, "It ain't bragging if you can do it."

Walter Brennen, "No brag, just fact".

The college will teach him to be ashamed of his white privilege.....

Do not confuse a College of Engineering or the hard Sciences to name just two with such nebuli as "Women's and Gender Studies" or "College of Education". Whole diff'rent ballgames.

My favorite quote from the National Lampoon High School Year Book Parody: "Money is the root of all wealth"




Anyhoo......

Absolutely nothing wrong with cows, but its important to remember what makes the "Lonesome Dove" story line epic ain't the cows.

IMHO if Ed's son and his girl can pull off the marriage thing too that would indeed be epic

None of my business of course.