Engineer in Training. Salary: $60,000 

You just graduated with a civil engineering degree and a minor in environmental studies. You barely squeaked by on your Fundamentals of Engineering exam, but you're not a regular engineer. You're a geothermal engineer. The "fundamentals" are for those other guys in electrical and mechanical.

Professional Engineer. Salary: $75,000 

After four years of work experience, it's time to get your license. You pass your Principles of Engineering exam with no trouble at all. Who cares if you're still a junior member of the team? Well, your supervisor Bob cares, because you still have to fetch him a coffee every morning.

Mid-career Geothermal Engineer. Salary: $80,000 

Using EGS technology, you're able to design and construct a geothermal well for only half a million dollars. That's chump change compared to the ten million the city spent on the last well. Saving the city money means a pay raise for you.

Senior Engineer. Salary: $90,000 

Since moving to the Philippines, the world's second biggest producer of geothermal energy and situated perfectly on the Pacific Rim, you've started taking language lessons. Do you know how to say "Hello" in Tagalog? It's "Helo." You linguist, you. Oh, and you've refashioned Singapore's electrical grid around geothermal energy. No biggie.

Geothermal Expert. Salary $95,000 

It's back to the States for you. Given the tremendous success of your endeavors in the Philippines, you've taken a job at the United Nations, where you'll be asking the big questions: What role can geothermal power play in world development? How can we make geothermal the Energy of the Future? And why does everyone walk so fast in Manhattan?