Not bragging, just genuinely curious. As a habitual jobseeker, I have had a lot of offers over the years in various industries (power gen, university facilities/utilities, EPC firms, federal gov, public agencies, etc.) and all have been very strong offers. I don't feel like I am the exception either, I work with a lot of engineers that have had the same pay trajectory as I experienced. Maybe we have been lucky?
I'm with this guy. I work freelance, so asking for a raise doesn't apply to me, but at my prior full-time job the pay bump for getting my license was from around 60K to a little over 100K. If you guys are only getting offered a few percent raise and are nowhere near these figures, you should get your resume out and test your own market value. Not trying to be braggadocios at all, I just hate to see my peers selling themselves short!
Found problem #1.
Midwest. One of my motto's is you are only worth what you settle for. As unfortunate as it may seem, job-hopping in the 3-5 yr range is where one will make the largest bumps in pay. Negotiating skills helps a bit too. :thumbs:
CA, land development design.
Ahh, but his benefit package is quite nice.
We had an electrical with about 4 years experience come in and expect $90k, no license. They politely showed him the door. Perhaps it is the "small" town thing, but in this area there aren't many places that pay that well, even in the engineering fields.
Ahh, but that is often the old way of thinking. Private sector benefits have gotten pretty darn good and can even be negotiable at times too.
That's just silly. It's not a bad thing to ask what you think you're valued at, but you should have the credentials to justify it.
It's definitely locational driven, but probably independent of small town vs. city. If the talent, experience, and credentials are there, employers are willing to pay. :thumbs:
Currently in Texas, but have lived/worked in PA and FL prior. Concentration is Mechanical and have worked in power generation for the last 5 years. I job hop every 1.5 to 2 years and typically look all over the US (though mostly concentrate one a few East coast states).
I tend to disagree with fed benefits being nice. I have been offered several fed jobs and have found the benefits to be much worse than what I can get in the private sector. The last three places I have worked all had insurance fully paid by the company, excellent pensions (which obviously I won't get since I bailed), very nice bonuses (15-25%), good vacation/holiday allowances, and plenty of promotion potential.
I've worked in the private sector for 13 years and haven't passed the 6 figure mark, and I don't think I will anytime soon. I have doubled my salary since I started working, though.
