show me the money

so i do what i usually do at work in the morning and surf the net and come across this interesting site on cnn about an architect's salary. note that this oberservation is based on an Architect V, which is a project manager/ architect level with at least 4 years experience. the average pay, $48,932, looks pretty sad for someone with that much experience, who also had to go through 5 years of school (some 4 years, if you got the bootleg education). i'm just wondering how accurate this salary observation is?

another interesting note was the 50 best jobs in America. landscape architect came in 34th and urban planner came in 36th on the list. no signs of other design professions on the list, other than engineer (number 1!), oh wait hold on. a "software" engineer, not the engineers we're used to dealing with.

this all reminds me of an article my buddy emailed me once, big jobs that pay badly. the article says it best when it mentions about these jobs that "offer working conditions that only passion can excuse." and guess which job was on that list.

just remember. it's not about the money. it's about the passion. we do what we do because we love it. i mean, c'mon, would you rather stare at the computer all day and write codes and scripts and stuff and get paid a crap load of money, or would you rather stare at the computer all day and design and create (cad monkey) and get paid not by money, but by the pure satisfaction that you are really making a difference in this world by providing shelter? think about where these engineers are writing those codes. in an office building, at home, at a hotel, or wherever. and who designed those buildings. damn right. developers, i mean architects.

it's a good thing that writers are ranked 25th, 'cause i'm on my way.