2019 Engineer Boards Salary Survey

[DLD PE]

Try LESS THAN $75K with 15 years experience.  I've been designing lighting, power and fire alarm and draft my own designs (in AutoCAD MEP).  I work in the Nashville area and I get plenty of contacts from recruiters asking me to interview with this firm or that firm.  The feedback I'm getting is 2 major things are holding be back from getting hired by another firm:

1.  Not having my PE license.

2.  No Revit experience.

The first one I kind of understand.  Hopefully I'll know in the next few weeks if I passed or not and it's good news.  The second reason I really don't get.  I had a reputable MEP firm interview me and spent 4 hours during the interview and it was a good one.  However, they didn't hire me because I didn't know Revit (I took the course but none of my employers have ever used it).  It wouldn't take that long to learn and get acclimated with it.

What I'm saying is, I'm basically seeing a LOT of engineering firms get all excited and want to hire people, but when it comes down to it they all want to nit-pick and find the ONE item on their long list of desired qualities and when they find that ONE thing, they use it as an excuse to either not make the hire, or make a low-ball offer saying "you need to have more experience before we can offer $85K, $95K, etc."

So yes I'm on the market and searching for another firm, but I'm VERY cautious at this point.

 

[phillstill]

Try LESS THAN $75K with 15 years experience.  I've been designing lighting, power and fire alarm and draft my own designs (in AutoCAD MEP).  I work in the Nashville area and I get plenty of contacts from recruiters asking me to interview with this firm or that firm.  The feedback I'm getting is 2 major things are holding be back from getting hired by another firm:

1.  Not having my PE license.

2.  No Revit experience.

The first one I kind of understand.  Hopefully I'll know in the next few weeks if I passed or not and it's good news.  The second reason I really don't get.  I had a reputable MEP firm interview me and spent 4 hours during the interview and it was a good one.  However, they didn't hire me because I didn't know Revit (I took the course but none of my employers have ever used it).  It wouldn't take that long to learn and get acclimated with it.

What I'm saying is, I'm basically seeing a LOT of engineering firms get all excited and want to hire people, but when it comes down to it they all want to nit-pick and find the ONE item on their long list of desired qualities and when they find that ONE thing, they use it as an excuse to either not make the hire, or make a low-ball offer saying "you need to have more experience before we can offer $85K, $95K, etc."

So yes I'm on the market and searching for another firm, but I'm VERY cautious at this point.

Not to sound rude, but you should have a left your company 10 years ago. Also, If you are working in Building systems/MEP then you should not have waited 15 years to get your PE. MEP is all about the PE!

Keep looking and be persistent. Make your LinkedIn profile pop out to recruiters. I was not thrilled with the salary grown I was getting compared to my responsibility/experience growth. I polished up my LinkedIn account and clicked that little "Looking" button. Two months later I had completed a few awesome interviews and found myself accepting a job with a 40% salary increase, amazing benefits, and a great work environment. 

 

[DLD PE]

Not to sound rude, but you should have a left your company 10 years ago. Also, If you are working in Building systems/MEP then you should not have waited 15 years to get your PE. MEP is all about the PE!

Keep looking and be persistent. Make your LinkedIn profile pop out to recruiters. I was not thrilled with the salary grown I was getting compared to my responsibility/experience growth. I polished up my LinkedIn account and clicked that little "Looking" button. Two months later I had completed a few awesome interviews and found myself accepting a job with a 40% salary increase, amazing benefits, and a great work environment. 

Not taking it as rude and you are 100% on both points.  My biggest mistake/barrier was getting my degree in mechanical and jumping the fence to do electrical design.  However I've really enjoyed the lighting/power design. 

I appreciate your advice!  I'll look into polishing my LinkedIn account.

 

[Tiger15]

I can't believe my eyes, we still have salary that are not 6 figures, its 2019!

Yeah, well to be fair, you're in NYC. Got to consider cost of living differences. NYC, Cali, DC, yeah 100k is nothing. Many other places have very different standards.

 

[DLD PE]

Yeah, well to be fair, you're in NYC. Got to consider cost of living differences. NYC, Cali, DC, yeah 100k is nothing. Many other places have very different standards.

Fair enough.  $100K is probably not a big deal either in the Nashville metro area, but I live in a rural area where the cost of living is way less so my salary doesn't kill me.  However, I still feel I'm underpaid but l accept most of the blame as "phillstill" pointed out.

 

[Vel2018]

Yeah, well to be fair, you're in NYC. Got to consider cost of living differences. NYC, Cali, DC, yeah 100k is nothing. Many other places have very different standards.

You'd be surprised, a lot of Design Engineers(non-PE) makes as low as $50k and on average $55-60k here in NYC. And some PE's as low as $75k-90k.

In my opinion, no PE should take that salary here in NYC. It's an insult. An average steel worker makes more than that. smh

 

[Orchid PE]

Shoot. I know some electrical engineers in the MEP field making $18.65/hr.

Someone dun goofed up that Civil tab.

 

[DoctorWho-PE]

Try LESS THAN $75K with 15 years experience.  I've been designing lighting, power and fire alarm and draft my own designs (in AutoCAD MEP).  I work in the Nashville area and I get plenty of contacts from recruiters asking me to interview with this firm or that firm.  The feedback I'm getting is 2 major things are holding be back from getting hired by another firm:

1.  Not having my PE license.

2.  No Revit experience.

The first one I kind of understand.  Hopefully I'll know in the next few weeks if I passed or not and it's good news.  The second reason I really don't get.  I had a reputable MEP firm interview me and spent 4 hours during the interview and it was a good one.  However, they didn't hire me because I didn't know Revit (I took the course but none of my employers have ever used it).  It wouldn't take that long to learn and get acclimated with it.

What I'm saying is, I'm basically seeing a LOT of engineering firms get all excited and want to hire people, but when it comes down to it they all want to nit-pick and find the ONE item on their long list of desired qualities and when they find that ONE thing, they use it as an excuse to either not make the hire, or make a low-ball offer saying "you need to have more experience before we can offer $85K, $95K, etc."

So yes I'm on the market and searching for another firm, but I'm VERY cautious at this point.

We have a pretty good Revit training program.  We hire many folk with little experience.  Plus, at 15 years experience, my firm wants you kess in Revit and more making markups for the designers to get into Revit. 

 

[leggo PE]

I updated the Civil tab with the graph like the mechanical tab has. I didn't include the first entry, because 2,111,111 years of experience seems to be a statistical outlier.

 

[leggo PE]

Also, I don't know why some of the civil entries are highlighted in green...

 

[squaretaper LIT AF PE]

Wow, those are some serious bonuses.

 

[Ramnares P.E.]

Holy crap to some of those salaries - 8 years experience making $205k in NYC!

 

[LyceeFruit PE]

@Road Guy are you gonna do a new one for 2020? Or should I modify my entry to show my 2019 bonus and raise? 

 

[squaretaper LIT AF PE]

The lime green. Ow.

 

[DLD PE]

If I get free food (almost every day), free alcohol (especially during holidays), lots of free golf, NFL tickets, should I have included that?

 

[Tiger15]

If I get free food (almost every day), free alcohol (especially during holidays), lots of free golf, NFL tickets, should I have included that?

perks and fringe benefits get very difficult to compare

 

[DLD PE]

perks and fringe benefits get very difficult to compare

True.

 

[DLD PE]

Not to sound rude, but you should have a left your company 10 years ago. Also, If you are working in Building systems/MEP then you should not have waited 15 years to get your PE. MEP is all about the PE!

Keep looking and be persistent. Make your LinkedIn profile pop out to recruiters. I was not thrilled with the salary grown I was getting compared to my responsibility/experience growth. I polished up my LinkedIn account and clicked that little "Looking" button. Two months later I had completed a few awesome interviews and found myself accepting a job with a 40% salary increase, amazing benefits, and a great work environment. 

Just FYI I took your advice and started asking around.  An engineering firm got wind that I was looking and after 1 interview they made me an offer on the same day with 20% increase plus better benefits.  I put in my two weeks and my current company wished me the best and told me if I didn't like it there to please come back, which was nice to hear.

I start next week!

 

[DLD PE]

I guess we need a 2020 survey now lol.

 

[Road Guy]

I have been meaning to do that! Will get it done...