New PE Salary

[tistrickland]

I just found out that I passed my South Carolina PE. I was expecting a raise, but I'm not sure if I got enough. After my raise, I make right at $70k.

I have both a Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Civil Engineering with an emphasis in structures. I have about 5 years of experience, primarily in bridge inspection with some load rating work. All of the performance reviews that I have had since I began working with my current company have been excellent. I have won two teamwork awards and was employee of the year for our region in 2010.

Obviously I can't really mention it to any of my bosses, but I know that there are other guys who are in my position working for my same company (but with no master's degree) who are making between $73k and $76k. In one case, there is a guy who failed the PE exam and is making $74k...same responsibilities as me....go figure.

Also, does anyone know what title I would qualify for? i.e., Engineer III, IV, V?

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

Here's a good place to start:

Passed, pay raise?

Here's my response about halfway down the 1st page:

http://engineerboards.com/index.php?showtopic=14835&p=6866872

Sometimes it's better to understand your own personal situation and how it relates to the company instead of focusing on what other people make. For example, I am one of 3 "Engineer 4's" on my project. We each make slightly different salaries because our roles, experience, work history, and day-to-day tasks are different. One engineer has 20 more years of experience than me, but doesn't have her PE (she's never needed it). Another has 5 more years experience, but is new to construction. I am the youngest of the 3, but I have had my PE longer and almost my entire work history is in construction.

Salary for your co-workers should only be used for very rough comparisons to see that you are at least in line.

Seeing a 2% variation in salaries, I personally wouldn't be worried unless you feel you provide significantly more to the company. Only then would I worry about discussing it with management, otherwise it would just seem petty and could cause additional undue tension within the company.

 

[Peele1]

I agree with Dexman... Don't compare yourself that closely. $70-76 can be explained by experience, negotiating skills, bonuses, odditites, and timing. If the economy is good, and engineers are in demand, the company may pay more to start with for one person, and it may be that years down the road, they are still making more. Sometimes places have guidelines or guarantees that a ____ degree or license is an automatic x% raise, and they may change that x% over the years, resulting in small variations.

It is also possible that someone makes more if they negotiated a higher pay for not taking a benefit, for example health insurance. Someone may take less pay for more days off.

Overall, salary is dependent on too many variables. 10% is not significant enough in my opinion to be too concerned.

The definition of fair varies by person. Nothing will be fair to everyone, based on individual's opinions.

 

[solomonb]

I am going to approach this a little bit differently. I do concur with the previous comments above. The difference in salary could be attributed to nothing more than tenure with the company-- the other folks have been there longer than you.

If money is important to you and it appears that it is, then show how having the new PE license makes you a more valuable employee-- what are you bringing to the fight that you did not have before? If it were I in this situation, I would probably ride the boat for another year and look for as many new opportunities in the firm that you can to showcase your PE and what you bring. The truth is that you need some more experience in doing a wide variety of different tasks in order to justify a big salary raise.

You might also take some comfort in knowing that you got a raise, no matter the magnitude. There have been many posts on this board that indicate that there were no raises, none were forthcoming, now get back to work and don't bother the boss anymore. Cold, yeah, probably. However, the facts of the matter.

Do some poking around and see what other PE's make with a Masters degree and your 5 years of experience in your area. You can do internet research to figure this out. Make sure you compare apples to apples-- if you compare South Carolina to California-- you have apples and lemons--no comparison.

Money is but one factor in the overall equation. If you like the company, like your colleagues, like your office and equipment, your boss and the work component, then you are well taken care of. Yes, you can make more money elsewhere, however, if you hate it everyday, hate your colleagues, work in dump and do mind numbing busy work, I can absolutely assure you that you wish that you would have kept the job with less money and enjoyed life.

Now that you have your PE, if you were the regional employee of the year, you have a good personality and some leadership skills, someone will be out to take you to lunch to talk about a new opportunity. It may not happen tomorrow, however, I postulate that it will within the next 6 months. Give it a shot and see what happens.

 

[pelaw]

If the company is billing $110 for your work, you should make $110/3 = $36.6/hr or about $76k.

The negotiation part comes into whether the owner will pay for your benefits out of the profits, or company reserve, or your $76k salary.

In that respect, $70k is alright, because you probably also get 401k, medical, paid vacations etc.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

If the company is billing $110 for your work, you should make $110/3 = $36.6/hr or about $76k.

The negotiation part comes into whether the owner will pay for your benefits out of the profits, or company reserve, or your $76k salary.

In that respect, $70k is alright, because you probably also get 401k, medical, paid vacations etc.

Unless you are in a pool of engineers who are all billed out at $110/hr, in which case the AVERAGE would be in the $76k range. I ran into this at my last job. There were a few engineers who were paid more than the average, so I was capped at a level below average so that it would balance and the company would continue making profit. They couldn't pay me more until either the billing rate went up (it was 2010, so highly doubtful), one of the other engineers was promoted to a new position and billing rate, or I was promoted to a new billing rate, and since the company was relatively small (no room for promotions) I ended up leaving to a different company.

 

[knight1fox3]

Posted some interesting salary info from my PE magazine here: http://engineerboards.com/index.php?showtopic=14835&page=8#entry7062829