engineering salaries 20

[ballist]

hi!

I work as a trainee in a large automaker in UK. The pay is decent, comparing to other sectors, but not considerably. Graduates start with 30k, reaching 38k in 4 years. Then, it is a bit hard to become senior, in order to earn 50-60k. Some people after 7-10 years haven't become seniors. After that, it's harder to become supervisor (I guess you need 10+ years) and supervisors earn 60-80k. To become chief engineer or director, it's even harder and comes after 20 years of service at least.

Is there any department I could try to get in to earn a bit more or have better career progression? Maybe legal or finance or IT? Any advice please?

 

[nickelkid]

If money is your objective do not be an engineer. If you want to be an engineer, you can make a good living, but engineering will not generate excessive financial wealth.

 

[IRstuff]

That all depends; a EE/CS major, not even 2 yrs out of college making $150k is nothing to sneeze at. While it's still not excessive financial wealth, it's not that shabby.

TTFN
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
homework forum: //

http://www.engineering.com/AskForum/aff/32.aspx

faq731-376 forum1529

 

[MacGyverS2000]

I'd like to meet a 2-yr EE grad making $150k...

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[andriver]

I think IRStuff is alluding to the few that make it into Google, Apple etc...

Those kids grew up tinkering with computers, writing code in their early teens to try and hack a computer or modify a video game. By the time they made it into college, they could probably teach the college course. This does not sound like OP.

 

[tempeng]

OP: Maybe a bit of perspective is needed.

Graduate Engineer - Knows all the math in the world but not really how to do the job. 30k to start is pretty good. Most are lucky to hit 25k. 4 years sounds like the minimum training period before the company will let you loose on your own stuff, at which point the graduate will be worth paying the 38k.

Senior Engineer - You start to step back slightly from the technical side and move into the management part of things. This isn't something you'll be able to jump into after a couple of years on the job. Most places will want you to have achieved the I.Eng professional qualification (at least) with the respective institute. The only way to jump the career ladder on this is if it's 'punishment by promotion' which basically means that you're rubbish and the company doesn't want you putting pencil to paper unless you really have to.

Chief Engineer/Principle/Director - A lot of engineers can go their entire working life without reaching this level, especially in a competitive industry like the automotive industry.

With all that said; engineering is a very rewarding profession. Job satisfaction can be off the scale at times but it's not a 'get rich quick' scheme. It's long hours and lots of CPD. The 9 to 5 worker won't see quick progression.

TL;DR

If you want the cash, you've got to be good and that doesn't happen after a year unfortunately or the forum would be called SuperRichNerds-Tips. IT is even more competitive and Law is for alcoholics in training. A lot of folks can't handle the stress.

Good luck

 

[moltenmetal]

A friend and uni classmate of mine works for Google. When he announced that he'd gotten this job, I replied to him that I wasn't going to congratulate him because, in statistical terms, nobody actually worked for Google ergo neither did he.

 

[testing]

That all depends; a EE/CS major, not even 2 yrs out of college making $150k is nothing to sneeze at. While it's still not excessive financial wealth, it's not that shabby.

It's not that shabby unless you're somewhere like the Bay area where the cost of living is huge compared to BFE, Midwest. Salary numbers aren't super useful without context like location since you may be much more comfortable on 100k in one location v. 125k in another.

 

[IRstuff]

zwtipp05, etal,

True, but not all Facebook and Google employees were computer geeks from day one. Some actually didn't start on computer science route until high school.

While the cost of living is high, in the Bay Area, these people are able to afford substantially higher rents than they necessarily need to because of the higher salaries, free food, and free shuttles. A nice 2-bedroom apartment in SoMa goes for about $4k/mth, but only because there's so many highly paid engineers that want to live there. Prior to the advent of the free shuttles to/from the south bay, rents were substantially lower in SoMa and other SF neighborhoods. Oh, and most of these companies also give substantial signing bonuses, on the order of at least 25% of yearly salary, as well as a number of other perks.

TTFN
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
homework forum: //

http://www.engineering.com/AskForum/aff/32.aspx

faq731-376 forum1529

 

[ballist]

Basically I am not sure if I made it clear in my first post, but what I am after is some insight about the legal and financial teams of automakers. Do they pay more? Can you get training in such legal department? Are there better career progression prospects or it is like the overcrowded engineers who are basically admin assistants and that's why they get low pay?

 

[JNieman]

http://www.glassdoor.com

 

[ScottyUK]

Based on the numbers you posted earlier the engineers / admin assistants are on pretty good money. Why do you think otherwise?

 

[ballist]

Glassdoor has no information and when it has it's vastly outdated or inaccurate. I didn't say engineers are not in good money, I just explore other routes, which if I am capable to follow, they may be attractive, is that bad?

 

[andriver]

Maybe ask questions about financial or law careers in a more applicable site. You're asking engineers to comment on careers they are not in...

 

[ballist]

Yeah, but they are in companies that have them, that's why I am asking if anyone knows.

​

 

[IRstuff]

sure, there's 20 engineers within shouting distance, the lawyers are in New Jersey.

TTFN
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
homework forum: //

http://www.engineering.com/AskForum/aff/32.aspx

faq731-376 forum1529

 

[KENAT]

ballist, I don't know the salary details of my immediate colleagues, I have no clue about folks in other departments (except the manufacturing engineers make less than design engineers).

Posting guidelines faq731-376

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

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

 

[IRstuff]

As a general rule, coworker salaries are not known.

TTFN
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
faq731-376 forum1529

 

[MacGyverS2000]

As a general rule, coworker salaries are not known.

I'm finding that's often not the case with the current generation (for better or worse). At my last position, there was an incident that created a lot of bad blood... new guy spouted off how much he was making, mid-level guy was making significantly less. The ensuing "discussion" between mid-level guy, management, etc. over the next few months left blood splatter on the walls.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[Latexman]

As it should have!

Good luck,
Latexman

To a ChE, the glass is always full - 1/2 air and 1/2 water.

 

[jayrod12]

I think what other my co-workers make has zero impact on what I should make. I negotiate my salary based on what I feel I'm worth when compared to the salary survey put together by our licensing board. The fact that I'm a better, or worse, negotiator than the guy working down the hall from me is not my employer's fault.