When you pursue a masters degree or PhD, you expect to earn millions, but that is not the case. The salaries of individuals, whether degree holders, masters graduates or PhD holders depend on the company they work for, type of degree and the job title.
There are individuals who earn even Ksh 1.5 million per month with only a degree certificate. Such people include civil engineers, financial analysts, actuaries, software engineers, lawyers, journalists, and politicians. There are also individuals who can never earn more than Ksh400, 000 per month even if they pursue PhD. Such people include teachers customer care and front office staff.
Generally, if you average the salaries of professionals across industries and specialization, the ideal salary of a masters holder in Kenya is Ksh 150,000-Ksh180,000 per month.That of PhD holders is Ksh350,000-Ksh500,000 while degree holders pocket Ksh 80,000-Ksh150,000.
If you have pursued any of the above qualifications and you aren’t in the salary category we have stated above, then there is something wrong with you, but if you are earning more, well and good.
The highest paying sectors in Kenya include NGO, United Nations, Banking and Insurance, while manufacturing and education sectors are the worst paying.
There are careers which don’t require a PhD to earn extra ordinary salary. Such courses include:
- Business Administration
- Civil Engineering
- Electrical Engineering
- Sales and Marketing
- Human Resource Management
- Bachelor of Commerce
- Bachelor of Computer Engineering
- Bachelor of tourism and Hospitality
- Bachelor of Criminology and Forensic science
- Bachelor of Actuarial Science
- Bachelor of Architecture
- Bachelor of Medicine
- Bachelor of Law
- Bachelor of IT/Computer science/Software engineering
- Bachelor of structural engineering
- Journalism and mass communication
- Sales and Marketing
- Terrorism studies
There are also courses that require a PhD or masters. If you don’t upgrade your studies, chances are that you will earn the least. Such courses include:
- Statistics
- Economics
- Bachelor of Mathematics
- Bachelor of Education
- Bachelor of Agriculture
- Bachelor of Biostatistics
- Bachelor of Population studies
- Bachelor of Horticulture
- Bachelor of Industrial Chemistry
- Bachelor of Economics and Statistics
- Bachelor of Arts General
- Bachelor of Science General
Those are just but a few of the courses that require a PhD for you to earn more than others.
You will notice that courses aligned to mathematics and teaching require at least a masters qualification to be referred to as “successful”. The more you upgrade the better. But courses aligned to business, engineering, IT and media only require undergraduate degree, professional experience and perhaps a professional course.
