Dear colleagues, How much is today the salary a CFD senior developer (holding a Ph.D. in CFD) in USA? (Range) Thank you very much, Dan

I have recently been told by a Fluent company representative that the starting salary for a 'fresh' PhD, i.e. having 0 or less than 1 year of professional experience is $60,000 a year, based on the living expenses in Lebanon, New Hampshire, which (according to their findings) is around the national average.

For a "Senior CFD Developer" with a PhD I would estimate that it is considerably more (>$100K/year). If you work in Silicon Valley, you can multiply that by a factor of two (due to high living expenses).

The problem with CFD jobs in the U.S. is the following: if you are not a U.S. citizen or at least a permanent resident (green card holder) you might as well forget it. Most 'PhD type' CFD jobs (right now) are directly or indirectly sponsored/funded by the Department of Defense. Secret clearances are generally required, and they won't even consider foreign nationals (non-residents) regardless of their qualifications.

I am a recent PhD graduate, BS, MS, and PhD in aerospace engineering, all from accredited U.S. schools. My MS & PhD research was in CFD, with a focus on aerodynamics and compressible flow. After I got my doctorate, I received a 1-year work permit. Over a job search period of six months, I had several companies contact me about positions for which I had applied. Initially, they all seemed eager to hire me, but when they found out about my immigration status they either quietly disappeared or told me outright that due to my lack of a green card they could not accommodate me.

If you happen to be a foreign national with a PhD and you want to come to work in the U.S., my advise would be the following: Bring enough funds to start your own consulting business and get a good immigration attorney. The U.S. still EMBRACE entrepreneurs!!!

(1). Try the website:http://www.ecn.purdue.edu/ESCAPE/stats/salaries.html (2). The salary mentioned seems to be consistent with the chart.

Thank you very much for your honest answers! Dan

(1). I think, it is a good idea to keep "CFD research", "CFD codes", and "CFD jobs" in separate places. (2). To do "CFD research" does not have to involve the use of commercial codes. (3). A "CFD job" does not have to involve in CFD research. (4). At the PhD level, one can do a lot of different things other than writing CFD codes. But if one is interested in writing CFD codes, he can do so in many different ways, as a hobby, as a consultant or as a way to help others. (5). If one need to have a job to survive, then any job is a good job. It does not have to be called a CFD job. (6). This forum was created to answer questions in CFD. Mainly the numerical analysis and math modeling in CFD. (7). And even though there are vendors selling what they called CFD codes, I am still not sure that they should be part of the CFD activities. Because anyone can sell any codes, including CFD related codes. (8). So, it happens that some vendors are selling codes, does not mean that it is the standard part of CFD. (9). The only thing which is important is: when you need to do CFD analysis, you know how to do it right. Whether you will be doing CFD analysis all the time or part of the time is something else. (it depends on the job) (10). And the job market changes from time to time, from company to company. It is better to find a job in general engineering field than to specify your next job specifically in CFD. (unless you are your own boss)

Hi,

Is the consulting market very difficult to break into? What do you feel the initial costs would be?

Thanks.