PE and Money

[wizfan1984]

- Washington DC Area

- BS in Mech. E

- 7 years experience (Engineering Consulting)

- 90K without PE

 

[cajone5]

1) Austin, TX

2) BS Civil, MS Structural, ~1/2 way through Ph.D. in Civil (part-time)

3) 3 years pre-grad experience (co-ops and internships) in research, bridge inspection, drafting and structural engineering

5 years post-grad experience in specialized structural engineering field (defense related)

4) 70k prior and post PE... waiting on results of my SE (already passed vertical, waiting on lateral)

Anyone have any thoughts on whether my pay is commensurate with my experience? engineersalary.com puts my expected salary right in line with 70k without consideration of my additional pre-grad experience, partial completion of Ph.D. and PE and (hopefully) SE licenses.

Any input or thoughts would be greatly appreciated?

 

[Wesson9]

I don't know what commensurate means. All kidding aside, I really think location is the driving factor. I'm in northern VA ( DC area). 5 years experience with no PE and I make 81k. If I were in a cheaper location I'm sure my salary would reflect that. From what I've seen most companies in a given area offer fairly similar compensation packages.

 

[Distant Thunder]

You can do a PhD part time?

 

[Distant Thunder]

what school does that?

 

[nasasurfer]

- Hampton, VA

- BS Mechanical Engineering - Virginia Tech

- 5 years work experience at NASA for a design/construction firm

- Currently make 100k with no PE

I took the exam this October and am waiting for the results like everyone else. I took the Mechanical HVAC & Refrigeration section.

 

[cajone5]

what school does that?

It's more a matter of my employer being flexible with my time than the school having a part-time program per se. I'm at University of Texas at Austin. As far as I know I'm the only person who has ever even attempted it there Basically I take 1 class a semester and work on a research project through my job (although there's been a lot of hurdles with that so far). It requires a lot of discipline with my time but it's going OK so far. And I passed my quals a couple years back so it would appear UT is cool with me doing it as they didn't use that as a way to boot me out of the program...

 

[Butter]

They came at me with a 5k raise. I used everyone's advice and some articles and got a 12k raise. Thanks to the board for the extra 7k.

 

[Distant Thunder]

That's awesome Butters!!!! Congratulations!

 

[Seabushed]

Phila, PA

BS Mech Eng.

6 Years HVAC/Mech. Contractor

84k , without PE

 

[nasasurfer]

- Hampton, VA

- BS Mechanical Engineering - Virginia Tech

- 5 years work experience at NASA for a design/construction firm

- Currently make 100k with no PE

I took the exam this October and am waiting for the results like everyone else. I took the Mechanical HVAC & Refrigeration section.

Correction.... I now have a PE and will be asking my new employer for a raise. Expecting to get around $6-10k more now that I've passed the exam.

 

[cajone5]

They came at me with a 5k raise. I used everyone's advice and some articles and got a 12k raise. Thanks to the board for the extra 7k.

Congrats -- what kind of articles did you present as evidence?

 

[knight1fox3]

They came at me with a 5k raise. I used everyone's advice and some articles and got a 12k raise. Thanks to the board for the extra 7k.

Feel free to pass on a small donation to support this board that is hosted at the owner's expense. A supporting membership is a mere $25. :thumbs:

 

[Butter]

Article is probably too strong of a word. I used the data from EngineerSalary.com and this image I printed out from a different thread.

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/1361/z0z4.png (FYI this board sucks on IE 11. Or is it that IE just sucks?)

I also referenced pay from local competitors. I think that stuck with them the most.

Also they've tried to hire energy services folks in the past and have had a very difficult time with it. So I reminded them of that.

 

[cajone5]

Article is probably too strong of a word. I used the data from EngineerSalary.com and this image I printed out from a different thread.

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/1361/z0z4.png (FYI this board sucks on IE 11. Or is it that IE just sucks?)

I also referenced pay from local competitors. I think that stuck with them the most.

Also they've tried to hire energy services folks in the past and have had a very difficult time with it. So I reminded them of that.

Thanks for the response -- how did you gather intel on what other companies are offering? Job postings? Friends?

 

[Butter]

Friends.

Job postings is a good idea too. But I relied on friends, had some "mentor" engineers from previous jobs that I asked about it.

 

[solomonb]

The way that we counsel engineers seeking a raise is to build a chart from the NSPE 2013 salary survey. There is a tremendous amount of data contained in that report. We build a report that has a series of charts that are contained in the NSPE report. Interestingly, you will probably find the data is rich, but somewhat broad. As such, you can cast a wide net and use that for negotiation purposes. Our clients have had great success with this method-- you cannot argue with the data-- it is what it is. "The man" knows this data-- you need to be equally savvy so that you are both negotiating on an equal plane.

 

[Ivory]

I know there are a lot of threads about money that have been around for a long time. But I'm kind of weird and believe in firing up a new thread rather than going back to one that just won't die.

Anyway, I passed the Oct 2013 PE exam. I work for an Arch/ Engr firm in the Energy Services department. I have a few other certifications, CxA, CEM, BEMP. Oh and I have an MBA. I'm currently at about $55k. I have a meeting to discuss a pay bump soon... I'm pretty sure I'm under paid right now. I really like my company, but want to be properly compensated.

What pay range should I look for in the negotiation?

Do most people get a percentage pay bump or do you look for a certain number.

Thanks for any help.

Use your marketing and negotiation skills learned from getting your MBA to obtain a good salary. $55K is well below entry level pay for recent engineering grads. Companies will only increase your pay enough to keep you from leaving. You should seek as much salary the market will pay you. Why are you still at your current company? You could easily double your pay elsewhere, but you may need to re-locate.

 

[JMT]

The way that we counsel engineers seeking a raise is to build a chart from the NSPE 2013 salary survey. There is a tremendous amount of data contained in that report. We build a report that has a series of charts that are contained in the NSPE report. Interestingly, you will probably find the data is rich, but somewhat broad. As such, you can cast a wide net and use that for negotiation purposes. Our clients have had great success with this method-- you cannot argue with the data-- it is what it is. "The man" knows this data-- you need to be equally savvy so that you are both negotiating on an equal plane.

I have seen you mention the NSPE 2013 salary survey multiple times on the boards. I found that the 'NSPE's Engineering Income and Salary Survey was permanently closed on July 31, 2013' (http://www.nspe.org/CareerCenter/SalaryInformation/index.html). Is there somewhere else the report can be accessed from?

 

[cajone5]

The way that we counsel engineers seeking a raise is to build a chart from the NSPE 2013 salary survey. There is a tremendous amount of data contained in that report. We build a report that has a series of charts that are contained in the NSPE report. Interestingly, you will probably find the data is rich, but somewhat broad. As such, you can cast a wide net and use that for negotiation purposes. Our clients have had great success with this method-- you cannot argue with the data-- it is what it is. "The man" knows this data-- you need to be equally savvy so that you are both negotiating on an equal plane.

I have seen you mention the NSPE 2013 salary survey multiple times on the boards. I found that the 'NSPE's Engineering Income and Salary Survey was permanently closed on July 31, 2013' (http://www.nspe.org/CareerCenter/SalaryInformation/index.html). Is there somewhere else the report can be accessed from?

Same issue for me. Cannot find this report published anywhere...