PE and Money

[cajone5]

Folks, there is no money in the PE. It is how it is and that is the bottom line. If you are doing it for the money you are up for a rude awakening. Saying something different is just a sales pitch.

I'm making $85/hour on the side doing some consulting in a different industry from my day job. Work out of the house, on my own time. My only overhead there is a laptop and Autodesk Inventor that I have to keep reasonably up to date. I want to work an extra 5 hours a week, that's an extra $22k in my pocket.... for some relatively easy work. I do it in front of the TV. There is money to be made if you find the right gigs.

I don't even have my PE yet and I've been asked if, when I get my stamp, I'll review some work. It was about 40 hours of engineering and they wanted to pay me $1500! It would have been an easy gig. Too bad it's out of my area of expertise. I had to turn it down. Speaking of... any structural engineers with a Texas license want a consulting gig?

TX structural engineer checking in -- would be interested to hear more for sure.

 

[I M A PE]

Folks, there is no money in the PE. It is how it is and that is the bottom line. If you are doing it for the money you are up for a rude awakening. Saying something different is just a sales pitch.

I'm making $85/hour on the side doing some consulting in a different industry from my day job. Work out of the house, on my own time. My only overhead there is a laptop and Autodesk Inventor that I have to keep reasonably up to date. I want to work an extra 5 hours a week, that's an extra $22k in my pocket.... for some relatively easy work. I do it in front of the TV. There is money to be made if you find the right gigs.

I don't even have my PE yet and I've been asked if, when I get my stamp, I'll review some work. It was about 40 hours of engineering and they wanted to pay me $1500! It would have been an easy gig. Too bad it's out of my area of expertise. I had to turn it down. Speaking of... any structural engineers with a Texas license want a consulting gig?

TX structural engineer checking in -- would be interested to hear more for sure.

I'll reach out to my guy and see if he's still looking for someone. He's started his own engineering firm in Canada but has this job in Texas. I believe it's oil related. He needs somebody to review and stamp this structure they designed. If he says he still needs somebody, I'll let you know. I'll PM you and let you know either way.

 

[petegiam07]

Oh, and as luck would have it, I ran into an old geotech professor this morning. He is the Senior VP of the geotech dept at his firm and lives in my town. We talked for a few mins and he told me if I was ever interested in making a move, he would have a spot open for me. It would be a nice jump, from a small private consulting firm, to a larger corporate firm.

That conversation right there... that might be your next job. Why wait 9 months to continue this conversation? I'd keep it going, even if it's on a slow burn and see where the conversation goes. Tell him, "As a matter of fact, I have thought that it might be time to make a move. Let's talk about how I can help you because I'm interested." Carpe Diem!

I would consider the jump now also. First, these things sometimes take time (upcoming project needs sometimes get delayed). Second, it is NOT very often you can jump to a completely different type of engineering than you are currently doing. It is tough to change disciplines and if you have a chance to do it in a larger corporate place with all those experienced resources close to you why not try it?

Even though I'm still in Potable Water Resources with my new place, I moved from a division of about 30 engineers all doing Potable Water Projects to a division that only has 7 of us and trying to make a bigger splash in the NJ market. ( I do a little sewer work now too, but am enjoying learning some new things)

The new place for you may be looking to grab a market your already familiar with too. It really can benefit you if you put the time into have an interview with them to see what they would be looking for you to do.

 

[I M A PE]

AND.... my boss just came in and dropped a $15k raise in my lap for passing the PE. I told him on Tuesday that I passed. Today (the first day I've seen him this week because he works in a different office) he comes in and gives me this. I love this company. I was hoping for $10k based on a hint he dropped a while back but he didn't wait for me to bring it up. Instead, he surprised me by surpassing my hope by 50%. This is on top of a $10k raise and promotion that I got in February.

I've been a boss before and I tried to treat my people the way my boss is treating me now. THIS is how you earn employee loyalty. I'm about at the point that I'd jump in front of a bus for this guy. $25k in raises in 4 months. WOW.

Where's my wife? We are going to the nicest restaurant in Austin.

 

[working on PE]

WHat is your company?

 

[ilikespe]

Ready for PE what company is this? Heck my company will not even give me a day off to take the exam.

 

[Kolso1PE]

Same here. Yes - what company do you work?

 

[I M A PE]

Surveying and Mapping, LLC. Headquarters in Austin but offices in Dallas, Houston, Denver, Columbus. Several new offices are planned. We are growing and working on expanding geographically. We do mostly corridor surveying and aerial mapping but also some engineering services. I was in aerial mapping but now am in a subsurface utility engineering role.

www.sam.biz

 

[Porter_]

AND.... my boss just came in and dropped a $15k raise in my lap for passing the PE. I told him on Tuesday that I passed. Today (the first day I've seen him this week because he works in a different office) he comes in and gives me this. I love this company. I was hoping for $10k based on a hint he dropped a while back but he didn't wait for me to bring it up. Instead, he surprised me by surpassing my hope by 50%. This is on top of a $10k raise and promotion that I got in February.

I've been a boss before and I tried to treat my people the way my boss is treating me now. THIS is how you earn employee loyalty. I'm about at the point that I'd jump in front of a bus for this guy. $25k in raises in 4 months. WOW.

Where's my wife? We are going to the nicest restaurant in Austin.

wow that's a great boss. congrats on the heavier wallet man.

 

[acethepemd]

How many of you guys demanded pay raise after getting the PE license and really got the salary raise?

 

[Porter_]

ha 'demanded'. i did very well at my last company by being aggressive when asking for pay raises. my new company has a much different vibe and aggression will not get me far. i'm waiting until my mid-year review and then bringing up the topic with an unassuming attitude.

 

[DeltaT]

as with the game of chess.. and with matters in life, being tactful matters. Just some words of wisdom, but the word "demand" will probably not serve you well during a discussion with your superiors about a raise..

Try showing genuine gratitude first. The person you will likely be talking to about a raise probably vouched for you and put their own professional reputation behind you just so you could take the test.

 

[Golden Eagle PE]

My boss told me the salary range I would be making once I passed. So there is not much negotiating now except where I will fall in that range. It is a nice bump too.

 

[Darkness07]

Local government job = 5% raise... IF the city council approves the budget AND compensation committee agrees.

*sigh*

 

[I M A PE]

How many of you guys demanded pay raise after getting the PE license and really got the salary raise?

I've never had a boss who would have responded positively to a demand for more money. Everytime I've ever seen anybody draw a line in the sand, including when I'm the boss in question, it's ended badly for the employee. If you dare someone to show you the door, they often will. My question to an employee who made a demand for money would have been "or what, you'll leave? Need a few boxes?"

Gratitude will get you much farther. The first thing I did when I passed was send a thank you email to my boss and to the owner of the company for footing the bill for the exam as well as a review course. No mention of money. If I hadn't gotten the raise, I would have sat back and waited and probably not brought it up for several months (unique to my situation of just having gotten a raise). If you feel you're being treated so badly that you have to demand money, then a demand is even less likely to help. You should be out there looking for a new job. When you have an offer in hand that you're considering... then you might ask for a raise. Even then, I wouldn't word it as a demand (unless you like burning bridges) and I wouldn't say anything about the offer in hand. The offer is there as a parachute in case you're not satisfied with what your employer is willing to do.

Ultimately, how much the PE is worth is going to matter on industry, the particular work you're doing, and local supply and demand for engineers.

 

[Ship Wreck PE]

I just got 19% in Jan 2014 after passing PE. ^^^

 

[I M A PE]

altheablue, what's your company's bill rate for your services? In my company, the rough rule of thumb (open secret) is that the bill rate needs to be at least salary x 3.2. So take your bill rate, divide by 3.2, multiply by 2080. That's what my company would assume they could afford to pay you.

So if they bill you out at $160/hour, that translates to a max of $104,000 plus benefits.

 

[I M A PE]

..the only thing is that I think my firm feels they have some leverage because they know how much I value working at home, and I will probably not be able to set that up somewhere else (not right off the bat, at least)


They probably do have some leverage because of that. How much is it worth to you? If they offered you $90k but said you'd have to be in the office 5 days a week, would you take it? All of these things need to be looked at holistically. I'd probably take a $15k CUT to work at home. Of course... my commute is 75 miles round trip and I probably spend $10k on commuting expenses.

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

Good discussion here, really has me thinking a lot about my employment.

Assuming I pass the SE (which gets me a PE in my state) I'll probably be severely underpaid. Currently I've got 6+ years of structural and industrial civil experience but am only making about $48k per year. However, I do work for a GREAT small company and am getting LOADS of project manager/senior engineer job experience I know I couldn't get anywhere else under a brilliant, experienced engineer/mentor. Still, I really think I'm going to have to talk to my boss if I pass when I pass my license exam. Sounds like he has to start offering me more incentive to stay as I'd take a little bit less of a nice working environment for a 30% or more jump in pay.

Now all I need to do is pass the stupid exam.

 

[############01]

Interesting formula....I'm $140 so $91k. And working at home is worth a lot to me, but NOT $31k (given that I'm currently at just under $60k). You're right-working at home very well be worth a $15k concession. I bought a new car in January (very practical, nothing fancy) and I've filled the tank maybe 4 times. That is valuable to me.

I was actually considering that I'd like to end up at about $75k after my mid-year review. So that makes sense. I guess it just feels uncomfortable to be asking for 25%+ raise.