Mech Eng Fresh Grad Career path -> Technical/Management/others?

[ss1]

Greetings, I am a mech eng fresh grad with 2nd upper.
Currently I am wondering which field and what type of career path should I go.

First of all, the only place for good money in technical is no doubt O&G. It looks pretty well when I see my senior grad 10 yrs ago gaining 200kpa.

However I wonder if everyone can make such a good living as him out in the field. Besides, I am actually not so technical person. I enjoyed my time in university in SU, societies during admin,events, management thing. Hence I am considering the possibility of heading to management role in engineering company, such as pm, biz dev, or strategic planning field. No doubt all these need to be backed up by technical experiences too.

It sounds too kpkb as I think so much about future yet I haven't get into field. However I believe it is better to know where I wanna be in 10 years time so that I can plan a better path from now. Sorry for that.

My question is, what is the career path I should go for if I interested more on management side?
Apart form O&G, any other potential good field to go for? I have no problem to work overseas, but again need to see if opportunity is there.
Is there any other alternatives that I can look into? (I aware that finance is a big cake, other than that?)

Appreciate much for all the inputs. Thanks

Hi there fresh grad,

before i answer your question I just want to let you know I am also a mechanical engineering graduate who graduated a few years back and joined the O&G industry so that you know I am no ********ter. My salary is only at 80kpa, a far cry from your senior who is at 200kpa. For someone to make 200kpa, if you use maths to calculate that guy probably is earning at least 16k per month if you dont count bonus, only a few positions can get you this kind of salary in O&G.

First you gota ask yourself, which part of oil and gas you want to be in, because oil and gas is a very broad sector which consist of upstreams companies and downstream companies and also alot of job functions. These companies are further segregated into owner/contractor/consultant/subcon/vendor/supplier types of companies.

The most lucrative place for technical people to be in with very good career advancement will be downstream companies like exxon mobil, shell where you start with at least 3.6 k a month and they often give good increments and bonuses. But chances are even if you stay there for 10 years as a A+ performer for 10 straight years you still will not hit 200 kpa, sorry to dissappoint you.

The other path would be going to upstream companies, for your case you are most likely only able to join those local EPC companies or subcontractor/vendor companies as a project engineer/design/sales engineer etc. Those usually come with very miserable basic salary with high bonus and the only chance for you to make it big fast is while doing projects, mingle around with the ang moh clients, gain some experience and jump over to become client rep, you might have a shot at making 100+kpa in 10 years time.

I recall you mentioned you are interested to go into management, unfortunately fresh engine grads do not have any chance at all at those lucrative management positions (unless you are a psc scholar). Please take note those management trainee programs are not considered as lucrative management positions.

To sum it up, if you want to make 200kpa in O&G in 10 years time like what your senior did, still possible, but chances are gona be v low. So if you are really serious about it, i suggest you look into other greener pastures.

[ss1]

Hey mate, thanks for the advice.

For my senior, he is working as service engineer for turbo machinery . 200kpa has included the bonus and offshore allowance.

I was considering to follow his footsteps, whereby becoming a service engineer. As I like to go around and meet people too, so this might be good for me. I think upstream is more suitable for mechanical, so I might look into that. However the industry is quite tough for a fresh grad to get in, especially when without a first class degree.

I do aware that it is impossible to get into management as fresh grad, but I am wondering will it be easy if I convert from technical line to management line in o&g? considering the company might invested some money on you to get those qualification (i.e. offshore cert).

I am still looking into other possibility, appreciate much if you can give me some idea on the greener pastures. I read recently that the waste water field is getting better, but not sure how true it is..

Anyway, thanks a lot!

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi there fresh grad,

before i answer your question I just want to let you know I am also a mechanical engineering graduate who graduated a few years back and joined the O&G industry so that you know I am no ********ter. My salary is only at 80kpa, a far cry from your senior who is at 200kpa. For someone to make 200kpa, if you use maths to calculate that guy probably is earning at least 16k per month if you dont count bonus, only a few positions can get you this kind of salary in O&G.

First you gota ask yourself, which part of oil and gas you want to be in, because oil and gas is a very broad sector which consist of upstreams companies and downstream companies and also alot of job functions. These companies are further segregated into owner/contractor/consultant/subcon/vendor/supplier types of companies.

The most lucrative place for technical people to be in with very good career advancement will be downstream companies like exxon mobil, shell where you start with at least 3.6 k a month and they often give good increments and bonuses. But chances are even if you stay there for 10 years as a A+ performer for 10 straight years you still will not hit 200 kpa, sorry to dissappoint you.

The other path would be going to upstream companies, for your case you are most likely only able to join those local EPC companies or subcontractor/vendor companies as a project engineer/design/sales engineer etc. Those usually come with very miserable basic salary with high bonus and the only chance for you to make it big fast is while doing projects, mingle around with the ang moh clients, gain some experience and jump over to become client rep, you might have a shot at making 100+kpa in 10 years time.

I recall you mentioned you are interested to go into management, unfortunately fresh engine grads do not have any chance at all at those lucrative management positions (unless you are a psc scholar). Please take note those management trainee programs are not considered as lucrative management positions.

To sum it up, if you want to make 200kpa in O&G in 10 years time like what your senior did, still possible, but chances are gona be v low. So if you are really serious about it, i suggest you look into other greener pastures.

Originally Posted by ss1

Greetings, I am a mech eng fresh grad with 2nd upper.
Currently I am wondering which field and what type of career path should I go.

First of all, the only place for good money in technical is no doubt O&G. It looks pretty well when I see my senior grad 10 yrs ago gaining 200kpa.

However I wonder if everyone can make such a good living as him out in the field. Besides, I am actually not so technical person. I enjoyed my time in university in SU, societies during admin,events, management thing. Hence I am considering the possibility of heading to management role in engineering company, such as pm, biz dev, or strategic planning field. No doubt all these need to be backed up by technical experiences too.

It sounds too kpkb as I think so much about future yet I haven't get into field. However I believe it is better to know where I wanna be in 10 years time so that I can plan a better path from now. Sorry for that.

My question is, what is the career path I should go for if I interested more on management side?
Apart form O&G, any other potential good field to go for? I have no problem to work overseas, but again need to see if opportunity is there.
Is there any other alternatives that I can look into? (I aware that finance is a big cake, other than that?)

Appreciate much for all the inputs. Thanks

I would say either banks (e.g. management associate) or petrochemical companies (shell, BP, exxon).

5 year mark: $100K with bonus
10 year mark: $200K with bonus
15 year mark: $300K with bonus

i'm currently at 15 year mark with a bank

[ss1]

Thanks for that, I do though about bank before, but I am still a little bit hesitate to go into field that I do not hold experience, and perhaps passion as well.
Anyhow, can you share about your career path?
Are you from engineering background and join bank sector straight right after graduate?
Thanks

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I would say either banks (e.g. management associate) or petrochemical companies (shell, BP, exxon).

5 year mark: $100K with bonus
10 year mark: $200K with bonus
15 year mark: $300K with bonus

i'm currently at 15 year mark with a bank

Originally Posted by ss1

Hey mate, thanks for the advice.

For my senior, he is working as service engineer for turbo machinery . 200kpa has included the bonus and offshore allowance.

I was considering to follow his footsteps, whereby becoming a service engineer. As I like to go around and meet people too, so this might be good for me. I think upstream is more suitable for mechanical, so I might look into that. However the industry is quite tough for a fresh grad to get in, especially when without a first class degree.

I do aware that it is impossible to get into management as fresh grad, but I am wondering will it be easy if I convert from technical line to management line in o&g? considering the company might invested some money on you to get those qualification (i.e. offshore cert).

I am still looking into other possibility, appreciate much if you can give me some idea on the greener pastures. I read recently that the waste water field is getting better, but not sure how true it is..

Anyway, thanks a lot!

You mentioned you're not so "technical" and enjoy more management type of role, but you want to become service engineer? I think that's a job that requires quite a lot of hands-on and getting into technical details before you can become an expert earning 200k pa, IMHO.

Management or business type of roles are okay, but remember that the barriers to entry are low. Anybody, non-engineer also, can vie for such roles, thus creating a lot of competition.

I think nowadays young people tend to have quite unrealistic expectations about salary - maybe because too much equally unrealistic hype fed by the poly or universities... 10 yrs working earning 100k p.a. already can consider success for an engineer - but 200k p.a.??

[ss1]

I actually fully agree with what you mentioned. I do aware that as a 'not so technical' guy, service engineer might not be the cup of my tea, but on the other side, everyone can get into biz/management role, which means it might not be a good choice at the moment unless i can seize great opportunity in future.

In such dilemma, perhaps the best route I can find is try my way to sharpen my technical skills and focus on technical line, and only change to management when got good opportunity?

Well, my senior indeed got high pay, but sacrificed for work-life balance. He has to outstation and work even on weekends and public holiday. He got high pay mainly becuz of offshore allowance, and of course good bonus in o&g.

Anyway, thanks for highlighting out dilemma, it makes me think more.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

You mentioned you're not so "technical" and enjoy more management type of role, but you want to become service engineer? I think that's a job that requires quite a lot of hands-on and getting into technical details before you can become an expert earning 200k pa, IMHO.

Management or business type of roles are okay, but remember that the barriers to entry are low. Anybody, non-engineer also, can vie for such roles, thus creating a lot of competition.

I think nowadays young people tend to have quite unrealistic expectations about salary - maybe because too much equally unrealistic hype fed by the poly or universities... 10 yrs working earning 100k p.a. already can consider success for an engineer - but 200k p.a.??

Just want to share my experience as an engineer for nearly 5 years. I am not from O&G company. Started off as an junior engineer earning around $30kpa and now earning around $100kpa as a technical manager (a field that I like). Generally, I think it is not necessary to choose what type of engineer you want to be. As a fresh graduate, you should look for something that you like. Excel in it and you will benefit from it. From time to time, bring your knowledge and experience to the next level.

Originally Posted by ss1

I actually fully agree with what you mentioned. I do aware that as a 'not so technical' guy, service engineer might not be the cup of my tea, but on the other side, everyone can get into biz/management role, which means it might not be a good choice at the moment unless i can seize great opportunity in future.

In such dilemma, perhaps the best route I can find is try my way to sharpen my technical skills and focus on technical line, and only change to management when got good opportunity?

Well, my senior indeed got high pay, but sacrificed for work-life balance. He has to outstation and work even on weekends and public holiday. He got high pay mainly becuz of offshore allowance, and of course good bonus in o&g.

Anyway, thanks for highlighting out dilemma, it makes me think more.

Originally Posted by ss1

I actually fully agree with what you mentioned. I do aware that as a 'not so technical' guy, service engineer might not be the cup of my tea, but on the other side, everyone can get into biz/management role, which means it might not be a good choice at the moment unless i can seize great opportunity in future.

In such dilemma, perhaps the best route I can find is try my way to sharpen my technical skills and focus on technical line, and only change to management when got good opportunity?

Well, my senior indeed got high pay, but sacrificed for work-life balance. He has to outstation and work even on weekends and public holiday. He got high pay mainly becuz of offshore allowance, and of course good bonus in o&g.

Anyway, thanks for highlighting out dilemma, it makes me think more.

TS, no one is gona say this to you in school, not your professors, your relatives, not even your senior. Let me be the bad guy to break this demoralising truth to you, someone has to let you know.

If you want to make 200kpa in engineering, you need more than just technical skills to reach there. Everything in life happens for a reason, a company will only pay you 200kpa because the value you bring to the company way exceeds that value be it the sales u bring in or the responsibility you shoulder. Your senior might be lucky and earn 200kpa, but this does not mean the exact same thing will happen to you 10 years later. I have many friends working as application engineers who till date find no success in terms of monetary or work satisfaction.

I can tell that you have been brainwashed by what mainstream society/media/internet has taught you. Having goals in life and planning ahead is important, but one has to be realistic in what the world has to offer to you. if you said you wanted to achieve something like 140kpa in 10 years maybe people wont say you are unrealistic already.

[ss1]

You got 100kpa in 5 yrs? Other than o&g what field could have such great opportunity? The only field I can think of is M&E, but seems to be rare case too.
Care to share which field you're from?
The question is, I am not sure what I like, and I think I need to go through it first to know if I like it or not. Hence I though of going to o&g first,and if I don't like I can pull out anytime. Experience inside still consider not bad regardless which field I wanna go in future.

Thanks for your experience sharing, it indeed gave me some hope out there

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Just want to share my experience as an engineer for nearly 5 years. I am not from O&G company. Started off as an junior engineer earning around $30kpa and now earning around $100kpa as a technical manager (a field that I like). Generally, I think it is not necessary to choose what type of engineer you want to be. As a fresh graduate, you should look for something that you like. Excel in it and you will benefit from it. From time to time, bring your knowledge and experience to the next level.