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MS Engineering ManagementBS Civil Engineering

AS CAD Systems Management

AS Arch CADD

EIT with 11 years of experience. Civil Engineering Designer (official title)

Only making in the low 50s with HORRIBLE health care benefits.

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You are underpaid for florida salaries. I am the office manager of a small (two offices) civil engineering company. If you are a reliable worker, you should be in the 60's. I pay Designers (without engineering degress in the 50's. Want to move to florida? Cost of living is high though in florida.

 
engineersalry.com just dont give them an email address you care about if you know what I mean

 
Is your company not an engineering firm or does not do any actual design? Seems like they should recognize it if they have any PE's in the company stamping plans, otherwise they would not be in business.
I work in manufacturing (said above), my company is NOT a design firm. There is a BIG difference between Public / Private. Much of the design engineering for our company is contracted out (building / etc.). If I wanted to move 500 miles and work in a corporate office pushing papers, I could get a job in division / corporate engineering stamping some plans (facility engineering), but I like it where I'm at.

 
I work in manufacturing (said above), my company is NOT a design firm. There is a BIG difference between Public / Private. Much of the design engineering for our company is contracted out (building / etc.). If I wanted to move 500 miles and work in a corporate office pushing papers, I could get a job in division / corporate engineering stamping some plans (facility engineering), but I like it where I'm at.
Ohhh okay. As long as you're happy, that's what we all hope for.... I guess I'm just used to being around Civil's... and no matter public/private.... somebody has to have the P.E. That's one of the main reasons I always wanted to be an engineer growing up, because I wanted to be able to design something, stamp the plans, see it being built, and then see the finished project.

 
Ohhh okay. As long as you're happy, that's what we all hope for.... I guess I'm just used to being around Civil's... and no matter public/private.... somebody has to have the P.E. That's one of the main reasons I always wanted to be an engineer growing up, because I wanted to be able to design something, stamp the plans, see it being built, and then see the finished project.
Outside of construction... PEs aren't required much. Obviously this forum is skewed a bit, and civils obviously find most of their jobs in the construction industry, but for most EEs, MEs and especially aerospace- PE licenses not necessary and pretty much a waste of time, money and effort.
I work for the federal government and don't need a PE license, but got it basically because I don't have an MS and I thought it might help me get promoted.

 
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Outside of construction... PEs aren't required much. Obviously this forum is skewed a bit, and civils obviously find most of their jobs in the construction industry, but for most EEs, MEs and especially aerospace- PE licenses not necessary and pretty much a waste of time, money and effort.
I work for the federal government and don't need a PE license, but got it basically because I don't have an MS and I thought it might help me get promoted.
Most Civil's I know are not in construction. They do Structural (either on the building side or transportation doing bridges, retaining wall and more), ITS, Traffic and Signalization, Land Planning, Civil Site, Water/Wastewater, Environmental, Geotechnical/Foundations, etc. and Most all need a PE at some point.

And like you said... a lot of those disciplines might not need the PE as bad as Civils or others, but I guarantee the Boss, or the Boss's Boss has the PE.... so if you want to be the big man on the totem pole, I'd go for it.... kind of like you said with the promotions.

 
Since this topis has already been bumped . . .

BSEE - 2000

MSEE - 2001

Six years experience including five in System Protection/Relaying

~$70 000

The P.E. designation will have no immediate impact on my salary since we are largely exempt from the NEC, but there are a few jobs that require the P.E. (mainly on the structrual/civil side, like substation and lines design). However, my company has recently developed parallel technical and management career paths. The technical path requires a P.E. for anything above the typical Senior Engineer.

There is also a growing notion that P.E.'s hold more weight in court, so there could be a push for more P.E.'s in jobs potentially exposed to litigation.

Besides, my boss has a P.E., her boss has a P.E., his boss has a P.E., his boss has a P.E., and his boss has a P.E. So there was just a little pressure for me to go for it. ;)

 
bump This is a great thread for research before salary negotiations. The newer members should weigh in.

 
Now that I am working in the private sector I'll weigh in:

BSChe - 1987

MSEE - 1997

PE in EE - Dec 2005

20 years in USMC

Work in Houston, Offshore Petroleum industry, Job Title is "Lead Systems Engineer"

105K per year plus benifits package

Freon - Oil field trash and proud of it....

 
BSME 1988

MEME 1991

EIT 1988

Waiting on October test results

Wide and varied work background.

State gov @50K

 
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BSCE 2002

EI 2002

PE (hopefully) 2007 <---keeping a positive attitude

3 yrs Construction Project Management

1.5 yr Structural Design

.5 yrs Forensics

Private Sector @ Low 60k (and am expecting a year-end bonus (regardless of PE designation) + raise when I get my PE)

 
You passed the EIT in 1988? I heard that was a very hard exam back then. What did you think?
It was a glorious bitch of an exam. Open book and covered all discipliness. It was was written so you couldn't posssibly finish either section. No one did. It was the most horrible experience of my life. I went balls out and still had to bubble in guesses on the last 15 questions of each section.

At least with the PE, I had time to go back and rework stuff and look up things I had absolutely no clue about.

 
BS EET ('96)

Passed EIT in '98

Took Oct. '07 PE (EE - Power depth)

Worked as contract engineer for consulting firm for 3 years - 40k/yr

Since '99 worked as distribution engineer one large utility company and two small utilities.

Current title - Operations Supervisor

Current salary 70k/yr plus company truck

Middle Georgia

 
BSCE 2001

EI 2001

Took 10/07 PE

Worked for Civil/Land development firm for 2 years, then got jetisoned for getting too stressed out(WTF?0. Was out of engineering for a year, then got hired for environmental engineering at a geotechnical/environmental consulting firm in 2004. Started at $40k with several raises along the way. Just after 10/07 exam, negotiated signifacnt raise to low $50's (even without results). When I pass, I will be up to mid $50's. Includes company truck (and with gas prices what they are here in the mountains of CO, I'm extremely happy to have it!).

 
Reliability Engineer with 4 years of work (only 1 year at current job.)

BS Chemical Engineer 2002

MBA 2006

EIT, no PE (yet :D ).

$79k plus government benefits. (GS13 at Fort Knox.)

 
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Outside of construction... PEs aren't required much. Obviously this forum is skewed a bit, and civils obviously find most of their jobs in the construction industry, but for most EEs, MEs and especially aerospace- PE licenses not necessary and pretty much a waste of time, money and effort.
I work for the federal government and don't need a PE license, but got it basically because I don't have an MS and I thought it might help me get promoted.
I disagree. I work for a large aerospace company and while it is not required, if you look at all of our Design Chiefs, Fellows, or Principal Engineers they are split with PE or Phd after their name. So if you want to be a grunt engineer, then you are probably correct. But if you want the fishbowl (what we call office) then you need a PE or Phd.

 
Oh here is my info:

BS Materials Engineering '97

MS Mechanical Engineering '01 (Mechanics of Materials Concentration)

FE April 07

PE Pending (Oct 07)

Large aerospace company in Northeast.

Staff Engineer

85 - 90k

 

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