Hi TS,

I walked through the path of a fresh grad once so I feel obliged to share some information.

1) To answer your question, your salary of 3 k with 1 month AWS is considered decent for a fresh grad in the construction industry, dont worry you are not underpaid.

2) Grades will somewhat matter quite a fair bit as a fresh grad but as you gain more experience, the emphasis on grades will start to lessen. I am not too sure about the public sector, but for private sector, experience seems to be more important i.e my latest employer didn't even check my transcript when I switched over, they hired me out of my experience (I was also from NTU engineering, but with 2nd lower honors).

3) I have been in both M&E and upstream oil and gas companies so I believe I am in a position to advise. upstream oil and gas companies works on a low basic and high bonus compensation structure. With your degree, you may get something like 2.7 k/month in a oil and gas company like keppel or sembcorp marine with high variable bonus. And despite the oil price, they are still getting better bonus than an average person outside. But its not easy to get in now as most of them are having headcount freeze. For downstream oil and gas companies, they wont consider you unless u have 2nd upper honors and above.

Lastly, I would like to give a word of encouragement, dont feel disheartened that you didnt do well in university. In the outside world, your tenacity and ability to create and add value is what matters most.