Do you find salary.com to be representative of your salary given your location and grade level?

[xlundyx]

I just passed and got my stamp and am making what a fresh out of school engineer would be making. I'm making 65k working 45 hour weeks when in reality I should be making 100-110k per salary.com

 

[Lomarandil]

I've always suspected that Salary.com, if not deliberately inflated, is at least not well suited for detecting the nuances between different subsets of industry (in my case, structural engineering related to construction versus structural engineering related to architectural design), and certainly not levels of responsibility (having a PE stamp versus being the primary EOR in an office).

 

[xlundyx]

I think you are right and agree with you. I'm going to aim to get around 85-90k during my review (hopefully today, if not tomorrow). If not I think I'll search around for other companies. I think that amount is respectable given the other couple engineers I know in my area and do the same job as me....Thanks for your input Loma!

 

[1gibson]

Sorry, but nobody gets 30-35% raises during a normal review cycle, it makes no business sense whatsoever for the employer. 15% would be impressive, and that's if both parties openly discuss that you were underpaid. Start looking around, talk to recruiters to get a better feel for the local salary range.

 

[xlundyx]

I spoke with a recruiter and they recently placed a PE with 6 years experience at a little over 70K but total compensation was 110K. He then went on to say that the median range for base pay seems to be in the low 80's. Maybe I should shoot for 80-85k, still ambitious. I've been meeting with 2 other companies so we'll see how that pans out.

 

[1gibson]

What industry are you in, and how do you get to 40k in terms of total compensation? Some 401k matching and over $30k bonus?

 

[xlundyx]

Mechanical Engineer, HVAC and refrigeration, load calcs, energy modeling, permit drawings, equipment selection, LG and mitsubishi VRF software...

That 40k came from the recruiter I talked to 401K, guaranteed bonuses, healthcare, profit sharing, allowances, vacation/sick...etc. I don't know how it came to 40k though

 

[1gibson]

I guess if I added up vacation, personal, sick, holiday, 401k match, health/dental/vision, employer sponsored training, max potential bonus, the free coffee, office supplies, free lunches, and maybe a gift card at the Christmas party, I could see it happening. I'd talk to a different recruiter, that doesn't smell right.

 

[xlundyx]

Will do Gibson.
Here are some other postings I've found that are helping me. I posted the 2 to reddit.

http://engineerboards.com/index.php?showtopic=25170&page=1

http://engineerboards.com/index.php?showtopic=25257&hl=salary.com#entry7282426

In the Portland area

http://www.reddit.com/r/Portland/comments/37ikkw/portland_engineers_is_salarycom_representative_of/

A subreddit just for engineers

http://www.reddit.com/r/engineering/comments/37h68k/do_you_find_salarycom_to_be_representative_of/

Then from the recruiter
Hope you are having a good week and congratulations on passing your exam. That is a little high from what I have seen, but I am curious what all is factored in. I have helped hire 2 mechanical PE's this year and had many conversations with others about pay and what the market is looking like. Salary is somewhat relative to what all is included- bonuses, profit sharing, benefits, allowances etc. One gentleman I was working with had roughly 6 years of experience, a PE and was making in the mid 70's for a base but his total compensation package came out to be around 110K. Another woman I worked with 15 years of experience and was given an offer of $85K base with a total compensation package valued at nearly $127K. These compensation packages included guaranteed bonuses, profit sharing, 401k matching, full healthcare coverage and a few other incentives. With other people I have spoken to the median range for base pay seems to be in the low to mid 80's.

Greatest advice I have for your negotiation is to look at 1) where you are at, 2) what you think the added responsibility of stamping is worth, 3)what benefits you have/want , and 4)what you think the company can sustain. A lot of companies will get creative with compensation outside of base pay in the forms of incentive bonuses, guaranteed bonuses, etc., so know that you can sometimes get more if you are flexible with the base. If you have any questions or want to talk about this further, feel free to give me a call. 503-403-1928. Good luck and its great to hear things are going well for you!

-Brady

--------------------
Hello Brady,
I know that we've talked before on the phone about jobs but I just have a general question for you right now. I just passed my PE exam to become a licensed engineer which puts me around the grade level IV engineer. Is salary.com representative of what an engineer should make in Portland? It shows the lowest 10% making 90k and the average (with bonus) at 112k, this seems high compared to colleagues I've talked to. When I sit down for a raise I would like to know what I'm worth. Should I be going with salary.com numbers or could you send me over numbers or give me better data?
Thanks,

 

[miningman]

Total remuneration is , in my opinion a very nebulous, inderterminate, useless number. Whatever impressions I originally had were definitely cemented when negotiating with an HR weenie (and I did eventually accept the position) told me the offer on the table was over $300,000 I had to review his arithmetic to see that not only had he included all the normal benefits etc but also included all the extras that they were contributing to vacation allowances, statutory holidays, pension etc etc, and also included all the statutory costs that he had to pay to the government like CPP, UIC. Definitely never seen that done before.

 

[Latexman]

Throwing healthcare into the total compensation for an individual is pretty meaningless in a comparison. One could get a $100k bump in a certain year by eating burgers from Five Guys at every meal!

Base pay for a local ChE level V at Salary.com came in pretty close to my base salary, so not bad!

Good luck,
Latexman

Technically, the glass is always full - 1/2 air and 1/2 water.

 

[CarolinaPE]

You did not mention your years of experience, if you have around 5 years and your PE most of what I have seen is in the 80K range. Sadly I recall talking with a recruiter in 2003, he was getting 80K for mechanicals with a PE and five years experience in MEP systems way back then.

 

[xlundyx]

I have around 6 years of experience, I've also worked at civil engineering companies during college. I graduated civil but took And passed the HVAC and refrigeration test. It wasn't that easy teaching myself some of the test material but it was well worth it

 

[Triangled]

I think salary.com has been high for southern California entry level since the recession hit.

 

[moltenmetal]

Salary.com does not match the only good, useful survey data available for engineers in Ontario, Canada. Depending on category, and particularly for the entry level, it tends to be inflated by as much as 20-30% relative to a survey made by OSPE which has thousands of respondents and which surveys employeers AND employers in alternating years to keep bias or manipulation under control. I have no idea what they are using as the basis for their numbers, but you'd think that this salary survey would be the first place they'd look.

 

[MortenA]

Im with 1gibson - if you are lookiing for +10% pay increase the _only_ way to do this is to find a new job.

If you go down this route dont volunteer your salery now (or lie).

Best regards, Morten

 

[KENAT]

Im with 1gibson - if you are lookiing for +10% pay increase the _only_ way to do this is to find a new job.

Sorry, but my personal experience shows that to be a false statement.

OP, yes Salary.com tends to run a little high from what I see.

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[JNieman]

I've gotten merit raises that were higher than 10%. One company gave me two or three raises of that magnitude. One was 15% and the other was a fraction shy of 20%. The latter was my first raise and was more of a "Ok wow, you're better than advertised and worth more to us, so we adjusted your pay." - It's rare to find an such altruism in company ownership and if I hadn't needed to move across the country, I'd still be loyal to that company today. Rare, but such companies do exist.

_________________________________________
NX8.0, Solidworks 2014, AutoCAD, Enovia V5

 

[1gibson]

10%, even 15% is feasible. 30% or more just isn't, I'm trying to manage the OP's expectations. I had to argue/negotiate (I still don't know what exactly to call it) for two ~10% raises over a few years, where 1-3% was the norm. I then left that position when looking for what I came up with as fair market value, about a 20% increase. They offered to match and then some on the last day of my 2 week notice, but it was too late and there are plenty of threads to read about counter offers.

What I am saying is that it doesn't make any business sense to hand out a 30% increase with or without serious discussion. If you're that indispensable, and losing you is totally unacceptable, it's still bad business for the employer to even be in that position. What if you get hit by a bus? That 30% raise won't eliminate any more risks than a 15%, or maybe 10% raise. If you get 10-15%, you'll stick around a bit longer.

Unfortunately, everything depends on your current salary, that's why we're talking in percentages. You're at a disadvantage even trying to change jobs if your salary is way below market value. Best bet is to get what you can where you're at, until a 20% increase at a new job will get you where you want to be.

 

[Terratek]

It's pretty close for Geotechnical in my area.