Salary raise survey 2

[COEngineeer]

Ok, I dont want know how much you make. I just want to see the average raise per year (even if you move to different companies). Please do this calculation for me and give me your answer

CS = Current salary or hourly rate
SS= Starting salary or hourly rate (after you just graduated)
Y= Years since graduation
R = % raise per year assuming you get the same % per year

If you own a company then only put the data only when you still work for a company.


R = [(CS/SS)^(1/y)]-1

Could you post your R on this forum

http://www.krmconsultants.com

 

[redbridge]

.09155 after 9 years.

 

[michfan]

Oh, that is depressing.

If you look at my first job to my second job... .11
That was $13/hr as a truss designer right out of college, then jump to structural work for a big company for 4 years til the bottom fell out and then I made virtually -0- for a year or so.

Now I've job-hopped 3 times in the last year, so my overall since graduation (7 years ago) is 0.04.

I'm still $7k per year below where I was when I was laid off. That's what's depressing.

But I'm $8k ahead of where I was a year ago with my first job after the layoff. I guess that's a bright spot, huh? Another jump or two and I might be back where I left off...what a depressing thought.

Geez, my career sucks...

 

[GrimesFrank]

I guess the real comment is that R you just calculated is more likely to;

A) Increase
B) Decrease
C) Unchange

Its easy for management to increase us youngin's, it looks like if you are 15+ a 10% ROI looks to be a pipedream.

Another reason for me to wish I stayed 25 forever....*sigh*

I'm hovering @ 12.5% at 7 years.

Frank "Grimey" Grimes
Rule 25. of Swanson's "Unwritten Rules of Management"
Have fun at what you do. It will reflect in your work. No one likes a grump except another grump.

 

[looslib]

.0549 over 28.5 years

Spent 5 years in the early 90's with a net of no increase.
Laid off from company A in 1989 at salary X, worked for company B for salary Y with raises, went to company C in 1994 at salary X. Company A was in defense, companies B and C were commercial work.

"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli
Sr IS Technologist
L-3 Communications

 

[KENAT]

Think about it. While we probably never stop learning as engineers the rate at which we learn new stuff, acquire new skills etc. typically slows as we get more experience.

Hence our 'rate of increase of value to the company' probably slows.

This probably corresponds to the slow in rate of pay increase as our career develops, and hence a lower average increase for those with more experience.

For instance an Engineer with 5 years of experience may well be one and half times more valuable than a new graduate so a pay level approximately 50% higher than that of a new graduate may not be unreasonable. This would correspond to a relatively rapid rate of pay increase, around 8.5% per annum.

However an Engineer with say 40 years of experience probably isn’t 50% more valuable than an engineer with 35 years of experience. In fact, other factors being even, they are probably of approximately the same value to the company and so may be expected to have similar pay. As such the pay increases from 35 to 40 years may at best be inflation/COLA.

Now there are a lot of factors that can make a difference, such as taking more responsibility, new qualifications, promotions changing jobs etc and the above examples make sweeping assumptions but I believe is basically true.

I forgot to take into account profit sharing at my current job, If I do then the higher figure (based on ignoring the couple of years I wasn’t a full time engineer) becomes about

.14 on 6.5 years

or .106 on 8.5 years (if I include them).

My starting salary was competitive, in fact it was better than many since at the time many large UK defense companies gave a slightly lower start salary with a hiring bonus and (more or less) guaranteed pay rises for the first year or two.

 

[GregLocock]

That made me laugh. I was just wondering which two graduates, at ~ $50k each, could do my job. I'd like to meet them.

I doubled my value to the company 5 years back, because I went into a new field and brought all my old skills with me.

That option is always available.

As to a better scoring system, I'm tempted to suggest an effective compounded interest rate backwards from your current salary to give the same total earnings, but I ain't gonna work that out. That doesn't work especially well if you've had years off, of course.


Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[KENAT]

Greg, you're not wrong. 2 Graduates doesn't necessarily = 1 guy with 20+ years experience just because what their combined pay equals, that's not what I meant to imply.

Like I said there are a lot of factors and my examples above are simplifications, but I think there's a grain of truth to it. Pay probably isn't directly proportionate to value to the company, and value isn't directly proportional to time at company, but I think there is a link most of the time.

Maybe what I put is nonsense but it makes sense to me

 

[TGS4]

0.103 over 10 years

 

[MedicineEng]

Pay is a little bit like stock market. Stock value is not only the actual value of the company but also the perceived future value that the company has in the market.
Imagine that a company has a very profitable product but in some time in the future will be forbidden due to for instance health/environmental concerns. Even if now the company is profitable, most probably its share price will drop as the perceived value of the its future by the market is fuzzy.
Your pay is also related with the perceived value that the company has regarding your work. That's why that when you change jobs tipically you go for a raise even if the productivity on the new job is, for some time, lower than your actual job (you need time to know colleagues, process, clients, etc.) but either way the perceived value of your new company is higher than the older one.

 

[kchayfie]

I get R=0.062 based on 6.5 years and 1 job-change.

Or possible R=0.078 if I decide to take the job offer on the table at the moment.

The numbers don't totally match up - I started on an hourly rate for the first year or so and then switched to the starting salary i used in the calc. I think the hourly rate and salary matched at the time but I can't remember that far back anymore!

 

[cedent]

R=0.11 over 4 years

 

[aey53]

R=0.113 N=2 years

 

[GregLocock]

OK, I stuck with the basic model pay0^((1+R)*(n-1))

but used a least squares fit to adjust both pay0 and R. This deemphasises pay0.

This gives 7.0% over 24 years - and clearly reveals that staying with one company and having more than 20 years experience is a bad thing - since the last few years are the only ones where I have consistently fallen below the overall trend.

Now that is not really doom and disaster - early on in my career inflation peaked at 18%, which will distort this sort of curve immensely.



Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[Senselessticker]

~9.6%, ~3 years, same company,

 

[JJPellin]

0.063 over 18 years with one company. Perhaps I am old fashioned, but it is not all about the money. Every move made to get higher pay also includes a risk that the job won't work out, that your new boss will be a jerk, that the wife and kids will hate the new city. Every move include major inconvenience and disruption of everyone’s lives. I place some value on avoiding those risks and disruptions. I am well paid relative to my experience and responsibilities. I would not be interested in moving to Albuquerque just to get a 12% raise instead of a 6% raise. (Nothing against Albuquerque, it’s a very nice city)

Johnny Pellin

 

[controlnovice]

0.0652 with 16 years....3rd company and looking for a 4th company now...

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

 

[ARenko]

.075, 12 yrs, on 4th company. Would be .085 had I taken the other offer f/ my most recent move, but chose the more interesting work over the money.

 

[clandry]

R=0.25. Wow, that's pretty good looking at other people's numbers. 2 years experience and second company as of the first of the year. I am the product of a booming market. However, I am in a volatile field and I am stashing away for when the bottom falls out again...

 

[Ashereng]

COEngineer,

This is a nice posting that you started. I think the R values, especially of those with longer tenure, gives a very consistent picture of the expected pay/salary increases over a career. Gave you a star.

I wonder what the R values are for some of the other "professions". Then again, topic for another thread.

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[LSA]

R = 0.032 with 3 years experience after graduation

R = 0.25 with 7 years experience since being in the HVAC industry