Average salary for engineer in Bay Area 3

[Pipeline1972]

Hi all,
Recently I've been doing some research on what the average salary would be for someone like me in the Bay Area. I'm a U.S. resident with a foreign degree equivalent to BS Me. I worked some years prior to my move to the U.S., but for this exercise I'm not even counting these years. So let's say I have 3 years of engineering experience. I have an EIT.
My discipline: Process engineering which overlaps chemical eng and mech eng. I'm seeing results like 78k, 79k.
Yet my salary is 62k. In 3.5 years my salary went up 4.5%! I'm pretty sure this is ridiculous, but then again, these are hard times for everybody.
My company, an A&E firm designing mostly semiconductors fabs, is making a profit every year.

Am I being exploited?

Thanks!

Process - Piping
ing - EiT

 

[IRstuff]

Seems to be low, according to Salary.com:
Process Engineer II

I picked Los Gatos only because I knew what the zip code was. Nonetheless, there are a lot of factors that determine why you specifically get what you get.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[hokie66]

Which Bay?

 

[TheTick]

Green Bay, of course. $65k/yr and falling.

 

[msquared48]

Tick:

You should know that you have to humor Hokie occasionally. He's used to Geldings.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask

 

[hokie66]

Mike,
That took me a while to figure out, I guess because most of the geldings I back are old chestnuts.

 

[JohnRBaker]

Los Gatos . . . heck, it'll take a lot more than 78k/79k, to say noting of 62k, to live comfortably in that town ;-)

Very pretty, with a great little park downtown and some really nice restaurants. Lots of quaint little shops and boutiques to spend your money in.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[IRstuff]

Still own a house there, but it's rented out...

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[controlnovice]

Quite frankly, I'm tired of people thinking they don't make enough, comparing to 'what else is out there'.

If your company can pay you what they want and you take it, well, not much to do about it. The market will pay what it needs to.

If you feel you are worth more....ask for it or change companies.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/get-ready-to-ask-for-raise/id348912299?mt=8

______________________________________________________________________________
This is normally the space where people post something insightful.

 

[rbulsara]

What controlnovice said..

It is up to you to sell your skills and experience. If you want to find out your worth, apply for a few positions in your area that you are interested in and see what they offer, if they offer.

While all people may be created equal, all engineers are not.

Rafiq Bulsara

http://www.srengineersct.com

 

[Pipeline1972]

@ Controlnovice: I was just asking a question. I'm not thinking I'm making enough, or not. I don't know. I'm fairly new in this country and don't really know fellow engineers except those at work and they're all seniors.Besides, nobody here talks about his or her salary.
All those surveys and tables out there are what they are, and like IRstuff said, it depends on a lot of factors. But when I see what they say, I'm wondering. I have reason to believe my salary on the very left side of the bell curve.
Nothing but positive reviews, btw, and Boss says I'm close to becoming a PE4.

Oh yeah, it's the Bay Area, CA. San Francisco.

Thanks for your input!


Process - Piping
ing - EiT

 

[Hoagie]

I have lived and worked on both Coasts...I know the Los Gatos and Saratoga areas--I lived in the Mountainview area in 2005. My advice is you should brace yourself in regards to sticker-shock for housing (rent). The expense of nightlife is higher as well, (restaurant, bars, theater, etc.).

I never considered buying a home near the Silicon Valley area....since it far to expensive-then, I was making 90K/yr during my time in Silicon Valley.

I would expect that you will be able to bargain a 25-to-33 percent increase, unless you are already living today in comproble area (i.e. NYC, Greenwich CT, Cambridge, etc.)

Good luck. It's a lot of fun out there, but darn expensive. It's a great place if you're young, say under 35.

 

[Pipeline1972]

eh, I can't afford to live in SF. The only place I can afford to rent an appartment is in Oakland, and that's not in the hills of Oakland!

Thanks Hoagie!

Process - Piping
ing - EiT

 

[IRstuff]

> my parents paid $29,999 for their house in Outer Sunset, SF
> my Los Gatos house was $138,000, and that was overpriced at the time

dunno why people think there's a pricing problem ;-)

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[TheTick]

Circa 1999, $100k/year in Silicon Gulch put one squarely in lower middle class.

 

[Pipeline1972]

$29,999 to live in the fog? That's a lot! ;-)

Process - Piping
ing - EiT

 

[Hoagie]

Pipeline, you should make IRStuff an offer...but don't be surprised if he's selling doghouses!

 

[IRstuff]

Yeah, my parents didn't catch on to why the realtor never took them there at night, or early morning. It's actually less foggy than Daly City or Pacifica, and mostly, it's just overcast. That's why I went to SoCal for college.

My parents' purchase was in 1971, and my house was purchased in 1983, at a less than peak interest rate of 13.5% . The peak rate was about 19.5%, in my fuzzy memory.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[KENAT]

To the OP, I work in Santa Barbara not the bay area, but vaguely comparable cost of living etc.

I've found the figures on salary.com and the like to seem a little high. That said, there are folks around here that do a very similar job to mine, with maybe a little more industry specific experience, and apparently make maybe 50%+ more than me - so considerably north of 100k and on the high end of the salary.com bell curve.

That said, I'm apparently paid below the lower bound for my position according to the industry survey our HR uses - even though honestly it kind of seems like I make OK money, unless I look at SB house prices! This could be taken as a bad thing - or maybe it explains why I survived so many rounds of lay-offs!

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[Bobber1]

I'm a structural with 40 years experience, licensed in four western states, and I make less than 100K.

I will change jobs when the economy improves, if it does.