Salary for mechanicalengineer with 7.5 years experience 6

[Plasmech]

I know, this is an impossible question. But...mechanical engineer who designes machinery of moderate complexity, does everything from concept layout, mechanical design, electrical design, R&D, testing. Has one employee under him. Southeast Pennsylvania.

What approximately should salary be? I fully understand that at BEST I'll get a ballpark figure. Thanks for any replies

 

[ctopher]

Just a guess...with a BS in engineering and 7.5 years experience in Pennsylvania, $70,000 ?

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 2.0
AutoCAD 06
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[IRstuff]

Just to take Chris' example, an ME-II on salary.com for zip code 15122 25th percentile is $61K, for zip code 94116, it's nearly $75K

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[Lion06]

IRStuff-
try zip code 19087. That is a pretty strong SE PA zip code. I don't know the others that you mention.

 

[IRstuff]

15122 is in Pittsburgh somewhere, 94116 is in San Francisco

19087 gives $66.7K

But bear in mind that their salary surveys aren't necessarily updated every day, so there might be considerable lag in the numbers.

The two points were chosen to demonstrate that the salary display is predicated on the location and supposedly a whole bunch of other factors. Ultimately, it's only an educated guess, since no one has the money or time to actually do a salary survey for each major city in each state.

Your results obviously differ, but there's no "right" answer, since it's economically unfeasible to get better numbers. A different site might get you an answer that's close to what you think you should be at, but, that's most likely a coincidence, rather than the other site being "right"

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[JamesBarlow]

Being in the Philadelphia area with a very similar background I will give you my experience. I will also add that I have 12 years experience.

Over the past 12 months.

Had a job making $58K. Mid size company that liked to play the profit sharing/bonus card constantly as an excuse for the low pay.

Currently in the mid $70's with a larger company that actually pays bonuses.

Within an 1.5 hour drive of me, and after getting my PE license, I have been offered $85K, $92.5$, and have also been told I was overpriced at my current position.

The moral of the story - pick the job/work you want to do. You won't get rich being an engineer but you will make a good living so it's important to like what you are doing.

As I have been learning, there is a lot more to a job offer then just the salary.

 

[PJones]

Just a comment... I've found that after 5 years of machine design experience, you never get paid what you are worth. You get paid what you can talk someone into paying you.

Sometimes it's better to be bold than good.

 

[Heckler]

I would not put to much value in those salary-dot-com numbers. A big factor is how well you sell/market the skills you possess during the interview.

Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SWx 2007 SP 4.0 & Pro/E 2001
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_`\(,_
(_)/ (_)

This post contains no political overtones or undertones for that matter and in no way represents the poster's political agenda.

 

[controlnovice]

Those numbers seem high for that area with 7-8 yrs experience. I'm in the MidWest as well and am currently looking. I've been told that my current salary is too high for them to make offers. So it appears the average is less than what I'm making now.

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

 

[SomptingGuy]

Back in '94 with only a British bachelor's degree and 4 years of experience I spent a Summer working on site for one of the "big three" in Michigan. I enquired (out of interest and for future reference) what salary I might expect if I were to jump ship and work for them directly. I was told $65k by my client. I wasn't even making £20k at the time and the £/$ rate was only about 1.5 then.

I wonder if the big three salaries are still that good?

- Steve

 

[KENAT]

Sompting, I had similar discussions with some of the people from US defence contractors I used to work with back in the UK before I moved here.

I now live & work in the US and the pay does seem quite a bit higher but somehow I don't seem that much better off, although that may be my issue!

As to working out what you're worth, by all means check out the salary sights but be careful what you describe you job position as (you may want to investigate more than one) and be aware that most of the values they give have a big range. Also look at newspaper/online adds for what similar positions offer (if stated). Finally play close attention to any first hand information you can get as from James above.

Bear in mind too, if considering re-locating you need to work out what you need to be earning. Also salary is one part of the equation, what about benefits such as health & 401k etc.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[IRstuff]

Salaries and costs of living seem to go hand in hand. A single Starbucks a day would cost about $1000 a year, so you have make that extra money to support that lifestyle.

When I was growing up, taking the bus was the only way we had to travel and we lived in a 1200 sq ft house. Now, we drive everywhere and live in double area and feel cramped. If we had elected to live in a smaller house, the house payments would be smaller and our possessions would be fewer.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[Plasmech]

Man IR, you must be old!

 

[KENAT]

Um, I'm barely 30 and I had similar experience to IRstuff, thanks for making my day Plasmech!

Not sure if this is more relevant to this or the other thread you started re $alary.com but...

We're doing self appraisals at the mo' and I went on there as part of my deliberations on if I should ask for a job re-classification, I'm a apparantly a _ Engineer IV which I thought would make it easier. Anyway they didn't have my job title so I looked at similar. For 3 of them that were various types of Engineer IV I was below the 10% mark (not sure I was even on the chart for one of them;-)). However, I found a different description for a job that actually sounds more like my day to day task and I was roughly at the 50% mark.

So maybe if you find the right job description maybe it's fairly accurate!

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[IRstuff]

Well, I certainly don't feel old...


NOT!!



Not that I'm THAT old. But, I'll let Plasmech take his shot, since I owe him ;-)

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[Senselessticker]

The size of the company you work for is also a factor. It has been my "perceived" experience that salaries vary much more in smaller companies as compared to larger companies.

 

[IRstuff]

Up to point. While there are general guidelines and salary ranges within a company that look somewhat similar to those in salary.com, the actual range within a given department or across a company can still be quite large.

In a previous large company, we still had people that ranged across the entire pay range of a single pay grade just within a department of about 50 people.

There was a period of a couple years when I was topped out in my pay grade and got no raises until I could qualify for a promotion into the next pay grade. Once I was in the next pay grade, its low end pay was still well below mine and I was already in the middle of new pay grade.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[Plasmech]

IR: what do you do anyway...something to do with infrared? Just curious about your handle.

 

[IRstuff]

As it should say in my profile, I work in EO systems, almost exclusively tactical systems for the military. Otherwise, I'm a lapsed EE.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[cksh]

I would say between 60 and 70K on the low end.

Lots of companies will use any excuse they can to get you to lower your expectations. You may have 7 years but they will try to break it down. Another company may be looking for a ME that has done nothing but mechanical components. You have done electrical so that might take away from your experience in their eyes.

As others have posted, they will play the bonus card too. Unless its guaranteed (not likely) you can't count it.

I remember about a year or two ago I was looking for a new job (made mid 60's at the time) and this head hunter is arguing with me about how much he thought I could make (low 60's). Told him we had engineers at my current company making upper 70's (with less experience then me). He said, we'll your better of staying there. he wasn't very freindly. Ended up finding a job that gave me a 20% raise plus a bonus.

But I have it a little worse then some as I have only had my degree for 3 years. But I have almost 15 years of design experience. Some employers wouldn't even consider my experience before my degree. Nice of them

I have heard that the big three don't pay as well as their suppliers. With a supplier now. There is no way I could make the same salary at the big three.

I better quit now before I REALLY start to rant Don't want to get started on pay grades, job titles/descriptions and everything else a company will use to stiff you out of a raise

Cksh
Human capital