Engineering and Technology Careers are Not Valued - Singapore is "High Cost Low Tech"

hi engineer,
1st of all, PM in Singapore is just like another general manager. Pay sucks and you work long hours. If you do a check on Aussie job search engines, PM (esp those in Civil Engineering) can expect about AUD 200k. After tax it comes down to about AUD130k which is still not bad. You may still work long hours but at least you are rewarded.

This is also for Howcome: you can move from IT to front office, however, just like ants attracted to honey, there are so many ants while with only a few pots of honey. That is, it is EXTREMELY difficult to get to front office unless you are really talented, especially in the banks. Honestly, a back to middle office quant's salary aint too bad liao. If you really want more info on what FE or Quant Analytics is about, try www.markjoshi.com and read his advice. Mind you it is not for the faint hearted. Most of the quants are PhDs in pure maths and physics and the questions they ask you at interviews will entertain the brightest of minds. Also read E Derman's blog at www.ederman.com. You better know who he is, cos if don't you ain't in the game.

Engineer, that said, I think its best if you join a boutique hedge fund. Like Citadel or DE Shaw, then again people in there are Maths Olympiad champs....

Engineer: Sorry for my spurtsof thoughts, but actually I think you will be more suited for a Quant DEVELOPER rather than analyst. They are different. Read it in Mark Joshi's advice. A developer doesn't require so much math but will need the software technical know how. The industry is really go berserk whereby like a millisecond of trading time counts a millions....

Al C appreciate your comments. For a newb like me, I appreciate any kind of sharing.

It's kindof crossroad for me right now cos I'm deciding on the next career move, I'm pretty sure there are engineers out there in the same predicament.

something that I can share is that I heard from people in the finance industry is that the lifecycle is pretty short. E.g. front office people, get replaced by new and young blood.

More volatile as there are higher chances of retrenchment during bad economy (LIFO - last in first out).

IMO, I think if the $$ is really good, the risk is justifiable.

Al C Thanks again for sharing your experience.
Cheers

There aren't many Maths Olympiad champs. In fact Singapore has never produced a gold medal winner, yet. So take heart. If you've got gold distinctions in 3 S papers including double maths and breezed through college math, you'd be fine.

Sorry, I meant "distinctions", not "gold distinctions".

engineer: I mean IT in front office. Again even in front office there are many kinds. There are people who literally sit shoulder to shoulder with traders. There are people who work on trading applications that are used by traders and the bank's clients. I'm presenting that 3rd option to you because at 5.5k/month, I feel that you have a lot of room to go up.
Al C: sure, I'm just presenting an option to him/her. Just because somebody is a developer doesn't mean s/he's math-inclined. At the front office IT you don't need to be so math-savvy--but you'd better be able to fix things yesterday with traders screaming at you. Then again there's that quant developer, like you said.

Oh, engineer, to answer your question--depends. PM in IBs is definitely not a poor prospect. Just ask any IT dude from Barclays Capital GSDC (I'm not there BTW). Good PMs there are Unit Manager candidate--your road to Directorship liao.
But don't hope too much on local Singapore SMEs lah...

just do your best, whether you are pm, engineer, consultant, IT sales.
some sectors pay more than the other...however, if you are really good at your trade. it is possible to get a 6 digit annual income by 30....
need to work in a co that really appreciates your work...

i agree with MakeTheBest. I may not be in some of the seemingly lucrative industry like investment banking. But I'm 27 this year and I m not far away from the 6 figure annual income. So it's most important to do our best in whatever that we are doing. Cheers.