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palvarez83 said:
willsee said:
Why would you get two PE licenses when one wasn't really rewarded?
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For me there's more to it than financial reward in the short run. The PE gives you upward mobility in the long run. Really I did it for a sense of personal achievement. Just like I did 2 masters degrees after bachelors. I don't do as much design as I do engineering management type stuff in the MEP field. I'm only 27 years old, so I have plenty of time to move around to other companies in my career. I'm just trying to knock out of my tough goals, before I'm married with children and have forgotten school coursework learnings. Civil PE is my next goal.
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Wow, 2 PE, how can you do that? How many years of experience do you need before you can approve for PE exam in CA?

 
JoeBoone82 said:
Have any of you tried engineersalary.com , if that's not it, try a search for engineer salary calculator. I was wondering if you think it's pretty accurate or not?
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I just tried it and it was correct within 1K for my current salary

 
mars said:
palvarez83 said:
willsee said:
Why would you get two PE licenses when one wasn't really rewarded?
Click to expand...
For me there's more to it than financial reward in the short run. The PE gives you upward mobility in the long run. Really I did it for a sense of personal achievement. Just like I did 2 masters degrees after bachelors. I don't do as much design as I do engineering management type stuff in the MEP field. I'm only 27 years old, so I have plenty of time to move around to other companies in my career. I'm just trying to knock out of my tough goals, before I'm married with children and have forgotten school coursework learnings. Civil PE is my next goal.
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Wow, 2 PE, how can you do that? How many years of experience do you need before you can approve for PE exam in CA?
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California lends itself well for this. I know other states have more rigorous requirements. In CA, you have to have 6 years of "qualifiying experience". You are awarded 4 years of credit for a bachelor's degree and 5 years if you also have a master's. Also, you can reuse educational experience multiple times, but not educational experience. Therefore, since I have a Master's, I only need one year of actual work experience per exam.

 
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If you want to see how your salary compares to the public sector, just about all state agencies and some local agencies have the salary data posted online. http://pibuzz.com/government-pay/ has some. Also, ASCE has a salary survey you can participate in and then get a free basic report.

 
HurryCA! said:
If you want to see how your salary compares to the public sector, just about all state agencies and some local agencies have the salary data posted online. http://pibuzz.com/government-pay/ has some. Also, ASCE has a salary survey you can participate in and then get a free basic report.
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I'm about 10k (13%) less than what engineersalary says it should be. The joys of civil service.

 
Vandal said:
HurryCA! said:
If you want to see how your salary compares to the public sector, just about all state agencies and some local agencies have the salary data posted online. http://pibuzz.com/government-pay/ has some. Also, ASCE has a salary survey you can participate in and then get a free basic report.
Click to expand...

I'm about 10k (13%) less than what engineersalary says it should be. The joys of civil service.
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The problem with that site is that it only covers base salary (I assume) and not total compensation. As a civil servant you probably get other fringe benifits (e.g. pension plan) that folks in the public sector don't get. I work for a big oil company and likewise, salaries are lucrative, but fringe benifits compensate for that.

 
palvarez83 said:
Vandal said:
HurryCA! said:
If you want to see how your salary compares to the public sector, just about all state agencies and some local agencies have the salary data posted online. http://pibuzz.com/government-pay/ has some. Also, ASCE has a salary survey you can participate in and then get a free basic report.
Click to expand...

I'm about 10k (13%) less than what engineersalary says it should be. The joys of civil service.
Click to expand...
The problem with that site is that it only covers base salary (I assume) and not total compensation. As a civil servant you probably get other fringe benifits (e.g. pension plan) that folks in the public sector don't get. I work for a big oil company and likewise, salaries are lucrative, but fringe benifits compensate for that.
Click to expand...
Several of the sites do look at total compensation. I found that the public counterparts in my state are making a lot more than the private sector (or at least more than the engineers at my company).

 
jrf500 said:
The Man said:
I passed the October PE exam and have barely received a congratulations from my company. I sent this email to my boss this morning. Do you think I did the wrong thing? I work in the northeast in an average sized city with a company of about 100 (10-12 engineers in the company) and I am making in the low 50s. I feel I deserve mid 60's. Let me know what you think.
Approximately 6 months ago I passed my PE exam. This was a very exciting moment for me and my family, however, I did not receive the response in both responsibility and compensation I was hoping for from ____.

I understand that the economy is not what it was 5 years ago, however I hoped that my hard work, 6+ years of experience, and skill set has proven me to be an asset to the company. After passing my PE exam, I was hoping that there would be some opportunities in which I could take additional responsibilities and in turn an increase in my compensation. I am open to any opportunities that may exist within the company and I am willing to put in the time and effort to ensure their success. I am interested in doing whatever is possible to advance my career and expand my professional experience and in turn increase my value to the company. I do not feel that the opportunities that will benefit both me and ____ in the future are available in my current situation.

I was hoping that we could sit down and discuss these items and also discuss what opportunities might become available to me in the future. We could discuss this over lunch or after work sometime you have availability.
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For what it's worth....I think it's very well written and very fair "argument" for you to bring up. He has the right to say "no", but that doesn't mean you don't have the right to bring it up in a professional manner just like you did. If nothing else, the company owes you some discussion as to why the PE won't be recognized in terms of responsibility or compensation. They obviously don't have to give you a raise or more responsibility/opportunities (I hope they do and think they should...but they don't have to)....but I think they do owe you an explanation. You presented it in a very professional manner, you also waited 6 months. You didn't send this to him the day after you got your PE which would have not been quite right.

Good job on your part to look out for yourself. FYI, I passed just yesterday and plan to present a similar "argument" to my supervisor in a few months if the company hasn't acknowledged my registration at all in the meantime.

Good luck to you!!!
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I just used the engineersalary.com website and i am about 15% below their calculation. This is pretty much in line with other salary estimators I have used so I guess I'm not far off of the 20% raise that I feel like I am deserved.

 
JoeBoone82 said:
Have any of you tried engineersalary.com , if that's not it, try a search for engineer salary calculator. I was wondering if you think it's pretty accurate or not?
Click to expand...
28.8% in the NEGATIVE according to engineersalary.com. Nice. :blowup:

 
I used similar tools to check my previous salary and I was very upset to find out I was under paid by 25%, that was one of the reason I changed my job 6 months, now I'm 13% over which feels very good in this economy. My advice to all is if you are been underpaid seek couple of interviews and see what is your REAL market value.

 
DannyV said:
I used similar tools to check my previous salary and I was very upset to find out I was under paid by 25%, that was one of the reason I changed my job 6 months, now I'm 13% over which feels very good in this economy. My advice to all is if you are been underpaid seek couple of interviews and see what is your REAL market value.
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Agreed. Tis what I started doing about 2 weeks ago. At least this will hopefully give me a more accurate idea of my market value to compare against the various salary websites.

 
I get 14 K pay rise. My salary would be 84K and if I wait 3 months for my promotion to come and then ask HR to apply my PE license, I will be making 86-88K.

I have 3 years work exp. And a masters degree in transportation. I live/work in bay area, CA. So it is not so much as it seems to be. But, I can't complaint, I am happy with the present salary.

 
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I am making 3% over what engineer salary said I should be and that is before I get my raise because of passing the PE.

 
I'm still gathering my stuff to apply for my license in Illinois. Once I get it all together and (hopefully) get my license I will ask for a raise then go from there.

My salary is about 15% less than the website but I don't feel underpaid.

 
Within 1/2% of the the number spit back by engineersalary.com that's pretty neat. My education, and job description didn't quite fit the categories i could select from, but I chose the closest alternatives.

 
According to that site, my base salary is 22% below where it should be. But I make up a lot of that with paid overtime and bonuses.

 

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