Engineer Salary
Engineer Salary
(OP)
Hi! I am a civil graduate (May 2005). I've been working for about 1.5 years since graduation. During college I worked several internships, a co-op and worked for the University doing structural work. I took a job with a relatively small company making an average entry level salary. $43680 + 1.5(OT). I'll probably make around $50k this year. Since I arrived, I have thrived in the consulting envrironment. I have a few clients, I'm doing project management work and I do more design work than any other civil/structural here. I am very proficient in STAAD and trained in Land Developement. I am the right-hand man of the principal civil engineer and will bill 1800+ this year. I guess right place at the right time sort of thing. So a year has past and I would like to ask for a raise. I know (at least think I do) there will be resistance. Do you folks feel I have some ammunition??? I don't want to leave but I want to be appreciated at the same time. I think I'm worth and my position is worth more, but I don't want to get shut down. HELP!! Thanks so much.





RE: Engineer Salary
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RE: Engineer Salary
RE: Engineer Salary
Will you be eligible to take the PE after two years experience? If so, you may want to focus all your energy and attention on passing the test, especially since you'll need your advisor and at least three other references to vouch for you in order to take the test.
If it has been more than a year and you feel you have earned a raise, do some research and find out what fair market value is for someone with your experience and credentials. Youy're doing the right thing by getting into project management. Try to find a way to negotiate an increase that will not leave you with a dollar more and your employer with a dollar less. For instance, what does your employer bill your time for? Billing rates are tyypically multiplied by 3. Maybe you can make a case for a higher billable rate and hence a higher hourly salary for yourself. The botton line is if you can find a way for your company to make more money, then naturally, you should make more money.
RE: Engineer Salary
Did you get an annual raise? Did you get a review? If not, I would ask to schedule a review and then, depending on how that goes, broach the subject.
Your military experience is irrelevant to this issue.
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RE: Engineer Salary
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: Engineer Salary
(1) you ONLY have 1.5 years work experience + internships. When I was just starting out I thought I knew everything and was invaluable to the company. 25+ years later, I now know this to be not true. EVERYONE needs to pay their dues. Looking back, I wish that I had concentrated on living my life at a younger age rather than allowing my ego to chase dollars, while at the same time booking some very valuable experience. But you must make that decision as to whether your current employer is providing you the opportunity to gain good experience.
(2) In my humble cynical opinion it's a falacy that pay raises are merit-based. They SHOULD be, but many times are not. They usually depend upon company health, economic factors, inflation rate, job grades and associate payscale restrictions, and unfortunately political factors. Typically pay raises will be inflation_rate + a little if you've been a good boy. It may be tougher if you work for a small company. The President of a small company typically started the company to fund his beach house and Trophy Wife's diamond collection, not to make his employees wealthy.
(3) Speaking of small companies, don't discount the fact that you may be wearing many hats and that you are gaining fabulous experience. A larger firm may pay more, but you might get stuck in a specialty. This kind of many-hats experience has a value that doesn't show up in your paycheck, but it might later on if you decide to leave.
TygerDawg
RE: Engineer Salary
RE: Engineer Salary
Spoken like a man who doesn't own or run an engineering firm. I would say most people who start a small company do so out of drive and ambition. Your attitude is why I have considered opening the books to all employees and letting everyone know what everyone else (and the company) are making. It may not be as rosy as you think as health care and insurance take bigger and bigger bites out of the cashflow.
As for brane23, don't forget the time the company funded you when you were training and getting started. Now that you are finally producing at the level they needed you at to begin with, you can start to help find ways to make the company more profitable. More profit and more profit brought in by you means more money for all.
I also agree with the others, sit tight and get started studying for your PE. You can make yourself feel better compensated by looking at it as paid grad school with lots of experience and an eventual PE to boot. Good luck and don't let a few dollars get in the way of good work and good experience.
ZCP
www.phoenix-engineer.com
RE: Engineer Salary
Work on your PE. Keep taking graduate courses. Keep building your experiences. Seek out the toughest projects. Don't bring up salary at all and try to stop thinking about it (I know how hard that is).
Five years from now take another look at your position and see if you are where you want to be. With 5-7 years and a PE and maybe a masters you should be able to enter a serious salary negotiation from a position of strength since you'll have the option of going out on your own at that point.
As a military vet who has hired a fair number of other vets over the years, let me say your military experience is not irrelevant to many prospective employeers. People who were not in the military may look at your service time as a wasted youth, but folks who have been there know what that experience can do for a person's leadership skills, problem-solving skills, etc. I always put vet's resume's on the top of the stack when I was looking for folks.
It looks to me like the only thing that can screw up your future is unreasonable expectations.
David
RE: Engineer Salary
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RE: Engineer Salary
One story is that a little boy had problem pronouncing cystic fibrosis when someone explained to him what his mother had. Not sure if the story is true, but it is a good one none the less.
brane23,
I don't often disagree with David, since he doesn't often give me reason to. And this is not one of them. I would like to add to his suggestion though.
You need to take a look around you (literally, not metaphorically) and see what similar duties to yours are paying. Some places are low payers, some, high payers. If you can make more money doing the same thing (all else being equal), then my suggestion is that you ask for a raise - and go to the other job if you don't get it.
Companies change suppliers all the time (changing office supply company because they offered much better prices on of all things, photocopying paper) and everyone says that is a good move. So, why shouldn't you, as an engineer, seek to maximise profits (your salary) also?
Keep in mind all that the other posters have opined. Money really isn't everything - it all depends on what is important to you.
"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?
RE: Engineer Salary
Of course, this mostly helps one to get hired in the first place, but may not help once employed unless the experience actually manifests itself in your performance.
Ed
www.engineerboards.com
RE: Engineer Salary
I think everyone deserves at least 4% raise on their first year.
RE: Engineer Salary
RE: Engineer Salary
RE: Engineer Salary
RE: Engineer Salary
RE: Engineer Salary
Many places give 6 monthly increases for the first year or two for graduate engineers.
As CoEngineer said your value as an engineer grows rapidly during the first few years then tends to slow down. As such other things being equal I'd expect your pay to increase similarly.
Out of interest did the issue of when/how you'd get pay increases not come up in an interview before you took the position?
RE: Engineer Salary
RE: Engineer Salary
I went three years without a review or a raise. I think they purposely didn't want to give me a review so they didn't have to deal with me asking for a raise.
I shortly left getting myself a $15K raise. But I still do contracting work for them making good $$$$$ and they pay me net 15.
RE: Engineer Salary
how do you find "what you are worth"? I looked on salary.com as mentioned in the FAQ's and the salary range was way way off from what I expected.
Anybody else have this issue?
RE: Engineer Salary
RE: Engineer Salary
Salary.com puts EE 5 at between $96K and $128K, so there seems to be some match.
Worth is very subjective and "your mileage may vary." What did you expect the salary to be?
TTFN
RE: Engineer Salary
RE: Engineer Salary
Though small local firms may be great "training grounds", larger national or international firms generally pay higher.
brane23: $21/hr starting pay sounds a bit low. Anticipate largest percentage increases over the next five years (if you are working for one firm). At certain milestones in your career, opportunities will present themselves to you at even greater jumps. 25 to 30% isn't unheard of once you have a P.E.
RE: Engineer Salary
Perhaps some sort of self assessment is in order. You should look at the job descriptions, both at salary.com and the ones for you current job and the next grade up. Find out what is required to advance.
How are raises given? Have you been getting reasonable raises? Did you start out really low?
TTFN
RE: Engineer Salary
And with new hires anything is possible.
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: Engineer Salary
RE: Engineer Salary
RE: Engineer Salary
RE: Engineer Salary
You are worth what people will pay. You move around a few times and your salary will increase dramatically.
If you've been at a company at year you should get an annual performance review minimum. That lets you know how you are performing. the pay raise or lack of should correlate to your performance.
Don't forget everybody in the US reading this got a 3.2%average pay decrease in 2006 (ie) inflation. Ref
U.S. Department
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Washington, D.C. 20212
Consumer Price Index
All Urban Consumers - (CPI-U)
RE: Engineer Salary
"Experience does not wait for the number of years" - Napoleon Bonaparte.
Think about yourself. You do not owe anything to anyone, you are selling your intelligence at a market rate, higher bidder out there, feel free to go without remorse.
RE: Engineer Salary
That said, I also am a big believer in asking for what you want without making threats. I wouldn't threaten to leave if you don't get the money you ask for unless you really want to get out. In my first 5 years, we had one year where work was really slow and I didn't get a raise and I knew it was because the company was barely making it. But when things turned around, I made it easy for my boss to give me something I wanted by asking for a raise in professional development allowance. I wanted to join NSPE and a couple other organizations and go to some conferences. I took that in lieu of a raise, but really it was win-win for us both as I would have paid out of pocket otherwise and this way I didn't pay taxes on the money. He didn't even bat an eye at it as it benefitted us both. I probably should have pushed for more cash, but I was happy and living comfortably enough. But bosses can't read your mind either and sometimes it is important to let them know your feelings.
Best of luck to you.
RE: Engineer Salary
Later on I learnt how much of the difficult bit my manager was doing for me.
You will understand when you get to the stage that you are making ALL the decisions for a project from start to finish.