<prompt> Human: I am a teacher, also studied design in an engineering field. Currently salary is 57,000, next year with my masters I will make 68,000. With 10 years of teaching experience I estimate I will be making 90,000. Now that might seem like a lot to some parts of the country some industries but I feel as though I could be doing better. I love teaching but I have the urge to find greater financial success. I know for instance that a good friend in Engineering makes 90K in computer engineering right now, he lives upstate a little.Obviously those are 2 different fields. I guess my question is what salary are you okay with making at age 30. I have a desire to better my career and keep moving up, which leads me to believe i might not be teaching forever. I love it, but really dont agree with the fact that teachers seemingly have to choose no respect and lower pay for what we do. I have thought about doing design in the summer to increase my earnings slightly too, but guess im just feeling lost. Of course im only basing my earnings off of other peoples, and there lies the proble, i suppose.  <response>: What salary youre OK with making at age 30 varies a lot by the individual. It sounds like youve learned that youre more money-driven than you might have originally thought when you chose teaching as a career field. My advice is to make some decisions - sooner rather than later as the longer you stick to a career the harder it is to change it. If you think you feel bad now about your friend making 90K, then imagine how youll feel when he gets bumped up to 135K in his next job a year or two from now. You say you studied design in an engineering field - can you be more specific? What career did other people with this major go on to do? Look into fields and industries that pay well and start assessing what youre willing to deal with - are you willing to go into sales at a tech company to double your salary? Do you have the skill set for that? Make some decisions. One thing is for sure - pay is not based on hard work or fairness. Now decide what your priorities are and what youre willing to live with. 