prospects of a scholar

Originally Posted by Unregistered

You are so wrong...

you said he was wrong in estimating DSTA CE making ~900k. what would be your estimate?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

You are right in that at the end of 6 years, you'd be in middle management.. typically DSTA staff start at grade 6. If as a scholar you do well, in 4-5 years you would make grade 8 (senior engineer) and would have held the title of "project manager". Note that this title is not taken lightly in dsta context because it sounds trivial but you bear full responsibility for your project. You would then likely be seconded out (perhaps DrTech or MINDEF) or rotated within DSTA (unless of cse you express a strong desire to continue what you are currently doing) for more exposure to upper management (more "tests" for you). The main thing they are looking out for is your ability to make things happen out of your own initiative. Because that's the kind of leadership that they want. (actually what all organisations want)

Amen!
This guy is speaking the truth.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

You are right in that at the end of 6 years, you'd be in middle management.. typically DSTA staff start at grade 6. If as a scholar you do well, in 4-5 years you would make grade 8 (senior engineer) and would have held the title of "project manager". Note that this title is not taken lightly in dsta context because it sounds trivial but you bear full responsibility for your project. You would then likely be seconded out (perhaps DrTech or MINDEF) or rotated within DSTA (unless of cse you express a strong desire to continue what you are currently doing) for more exposure to upper management (more "tests" for you). The main thing they are looking out for is your ability to make things happen out of your own initiative. Because that's the kind of leadership that they want. (actually what all organisations want)

Ok i have not heard of DSTA people becoming technical consultants on their own and providing services back to MINDEF (maybe i havent seen widely enough) though i have heard DSO people forming their own technical consultancies.. examples are LOOP (RF electronics), Dr Chew Siou Teck (icredo) and Dr Anthony Ng (d-crypt) and provided services back to the defence industry. But note that these people are very very established in their chosen fields, very well-known in the defence circle before striking out on their own. It may sound glamorous having your own consultancy but i've heard its very very tough to survive outside. nobody owes you a living.

again like i mentioned in my previous posts, you take up a scholarship BECAUSE you've already decided to make it your life-long career. Example, a teaching scholarship from PSC because you've already known early on you really really want to be a teacher or DSTA scholarship because you want to be an engineer in our defence industry. The scholarship thus makes your original choice sweeter because it gives you a headstart over your peers who want the same thing.

Its NOT the other way around where you become an engineer in the defence industry because because you took up the DSTA scholarship for watever reasons like: to study overseas, to make your parents proud, to go one up over your non-scholar sibling or whatever.

thank you for your enlightenment. it is indeed very insightful.
any idea whats after grade 9 and the remuneration? tks

Originally Posted by Unregistered

thank you for your enlightenment. it is indeed very insightful.
any idea whats after grade 9 and the remuneration? tks

Well, if I am not wrong, grade 8 is split into 2 tiers. Most people get stuck here for quite a while before getting grade 9 which comes with the title of principal engineer. I do not know the salary range. The highest grade is 16 which is for the CE. Below that, there is DCE, Dir, DD, AD and the other appointments like Program Managers, Head Capability Development etc. I do not know if there's a 1 to 1 mapping for the grade numbers to the appointment, maybe some appointment spans more than 1 grade?

Perhaps those who know SAF officer's salary ranges can provide a clearer picture. Old birds would recall a COL Simon Hoon from the navy who took on the Dir HR after he hung up his uniform. And also the previous DCE(SD) BG Sin Boon Wah who was our defense attaché to Washington before joining DSTA. So the DIR's pay would be ~COL's pay while the DCE's pay is ~BG pay. Perhaps slightly less because they no longer have the uniformed services allowances, vocation pay and what not.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

The other good choice would be to go into CSIT. They are into Infocomm research. Essentially, this is the technological arm of SID. Scholars such as yourself get the chance to join the Intelligence Officer (IO) Scheme upfront (Although i heard that recently, they are tightening the entry criteria for this scheme of service). This is a pension service and the renumeration is 2nd only to the Administrative Service - the only other remaining pension service, short of joining politics and the AO scheme is by invitation only. The pension scheme requires you to serve 8 years but then your bond already takes up 6 years. You serve well you get paid well. Comfortable living. What for take the risk of joining the financial industry where there is no guarantee of big bucks?

Is it true that PSC scholars also get the choice to join the IO scheme? Then PSC is quite a good option isn't it, provided you intend to root yourself in Singapore for the rest of your working life.

Can I assume the grades salary range:

grade 6-->Engineer, fresh grad $3280(2nd lower) to $3880(1st class), as far as i know
grade 7-->Senior Engineer
grade 8-->
grade 9-->Principal engineer
grade 10-->
grade 11-->
grade 12-->Asst Director
grade 13-->Deputy Director
grade 14-->Director = COL rank approx
grade 15-->Deputy CE = BG rank approx
grade 16-->Chief Exe

can someone fill in the salary range for the rest?

How much increment % will it be when someone is promoted
from grade 6 to grade 7,
from grade 7 to grade 8 ??

Please guys, someone please tell him how his life will be from 25 yrs till retirement, with accurate details of work, salary, moeny, status. he has no confidence so please outline his life for him. make him feel that DSTA will be a great choice and he will never regret looking back at the past. please convince him.

It takes 5 years for a scholar to make middle management? Then what about normal 2nd upp grads? how long will it take to reach 6k region?

[bongewj]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Please guys, someone please tell him how his life will be from 25 yrs till retirement, with accurate details of work, salary, moeny, status. he has no confidence so please outline his life for him. make him feel that DSTA will be a great choice and he will never regret looking back at the past. please convince him.

much needed and very constructive helpful advice.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

you said he was wrong in estimating DSTA CE making ~900k. what would be your estimate?

Grade 16 was in the region of 20+ per month.
That was the figure in 06 or 07.
In 08 or so, the scale was removed.

It will take an obscene amount of bonuses/ readjustment since those years for the CE to reach ~900k per annum.