Salary in Engineering Consulting 1

[HAN_11]

Hi guys,

I am a recently graduated chemical engineer and I am still deciding the type of career that i want to pursue. One that seems very interesting to me is Engineering Consulting. Here in Brazil (where I live), there are a few good companies in that line of work. Some of these have clients amongst the most important petrochemical players in the country.

That being said, there is still an aspect that isn't quite clear to me: the salary. I did some research but couldn't really find how much a process/chemical engineer working in this field makes a year, specially for more senior roles. I was able to find some figures for entry level roles and I must say I was not very impressed.

Just so I make myself clear, I am talking about companies that develop engineering projects for industrial clients (not only, but including in process engineering). To give an example, a company that most will probably be familiar with is Worley.

Would you guys have any idea of how much money someone working as a process engineering consultant makes a year in companies like that (both in entry, middle, and senior level positions)? I already can imagine the asnwer but, how does the salary compare to that of other consulting branches such as Strategy Consulting? Furthermore, do you know how career progression works in this field (what are the positions and how long it usually takes for someone to go from a position to the next)?

If you guys have any information that could help me I would appreciate it very much. Also, I apologize if my questions may seem dumb for some of you guys. I am starting to learn about different careers now and don't have much knowledge/experience yet.

Thanks in advance!

 

[IRstuff]

Seems like you are putting the cart before the horse. I would guess that unless you have a minimum of 15 years in the industry, you're not going to find a highly-paid position.

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[SWComposites]

And also first decide whether you want to remain an engineer (technical role) or want to sell your soul to become a “strategy consultant” (non technical financial bs role).

Look on LinkedIn and other job sites (and the company web sites themselves) for job postings for Engineering Consulting companies in your country; there should be salary info; plot that vs desired years of experience to get an idea of trends.

If there are local meetings of chemical engineering professional societies in your area, go to those meetings and talk to practicing engineers.

 

[dik]

I've always resisted management work and prefer to be in the 'trenches'... I'm better at that than management...

-----*****-----
So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

 

[MortenA]

ask your local (Brazilian) engineering "union" or organization. They might have a salary statistic available for members

--- Best regards, Morten Andersen

 

[Christine74]

In general Engineering/Procurement/Construction firms offer significantly higher salaries for the same level of experience. The reason for this is that they have a completely different set of incentives than traditional engineering firms when it comes to staff salaries (i.e. the higher your salary, the more profit they make billing your time to their clients).

The disadvantages of working for an EPC company include 1) mass layoffs are quite common, 2) opportunities for people with less than 10 years experience are somewhat rare, 3) PE licensure is often required (even if never used), 4) the work is often very compartmentalized (especially on large projects), and 5) middle management parasites create ever-expanding internal bureaucracies.


-Christine

 

[StrucPatholgst]

I've always resisted management work and prefer to be in the 'trenches'... I'm better at that than management...

Music to my ears. 20 years ago I had 28 employees and hated every second of every day. Went solo in 2013, and the last 10 years have been heaven on earth. Also make 3x as much.

 

[dik]

I intentionally avoided 'the Peter Principle'.

"The Peter principle is a concept in management developed by Laurence J. Peter which observes that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to "a level of respective incompetence": employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another."

It was a book I read 55 years back. I can do all sorts of 'wild and wooly' mathematics, but I cannot balance my cheque book.

-----*****-----
So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik