[SmackAtom]

You can probably find something if you are flexible on salary. It's unlikely a solid shop will hire you for anything above junior level. I have a MS in Engineering and can relate. As a suggestion, don't jump into SE just yet. Use your still-fresh STEM skills to make a lateral jump within Academia. In the 10 years since school, I have lost many of my skills in Math and Statistics. I traded them in for applied engineering skills. In retrospect, my Math and Stats background, when combined with programming (different from Software Engineering) would have been much more interesting work. The field of big-data and analytics is growing and your PhD equips you well for it. Consider looking for a short-term opportunity (1-2years), where you can keep your math sharp. It should be something where you are proximal to good developers and expected to be learning SE practices while working as a subject matter expert (SME) to developers. In a position like this, depending on location, you might even enjoy a higher standard of living, than you would as a junior engineer. Do that for a few years, and when you're ready, you can jump from there.

[hakann]

Thank you for your input. A situation "where I am proximal to good developers and expected to be learning SE practices while working as a subject matter expert (SME) to developers" would be the perfect solution for me. It is just difficult to find.

I am flexible on salary besides junior devs are already making same or more than me as a hardware guy.

[marquis]

I would also recommend to be careful where you take a job: do you want to use your quick mind to build APIs or SQL queries, or do you want to be doing something more innovative like machine learning, or building codecs, crytography or working with data streams. There are some great companies out there (like Matasano for example), who will train you on the job in some pretty awesome areas.

[cprncus]

If you or anyone knows: What's a rough starting salary range for "junior level" (what? programmer, I guess?) in the high cost U.S. cities (like SF, Boston, NY) and the lower cost rest of the country?