If u join civil after 6 plus years is around 4.5k for degree without honours. But if u join as an engineer in civil now yr starting pay can be as high as 3.6to3.8 k as the govt is encouraging more Engineering graduates.

i have some guys here who joined the civil service as fresh grad and trying for their professional engineer license but as they have no design experience, they went for attachment to private engineering firms in the hope of gaining more practical experience for their PE eligibility.

However bear in mind the recession has started. Thr private sector will be even tougher than before. The foreign talents in engineering are very impressive technically and competitive in nature also. You need guts and use your additional time outside of work to upgrade your knowledge in order just to survive. One of my friends with a first class in Mech eng can't even survive in a small consultancy for 4 months.