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

I refer to what Nicholas mentioned about engineering where "Engineering is more than one or two person's efforts and decision". But, in a construction industry,a PE is qualified and will have to endorse all the structural plans before the building is allowed to be built. And who come after the PE if something goes wrong, be it his negligence or others such as his subordinates who did all the design ? The PE (Professional Engineer). He will need to face the music as BCA will come after whoever that endorsed all the plans. Read the Building Control Act and you may get frightened.
So, what is the reward if he has to be accountable and responsible with building contracts that may be more than $100 million ? The PE may earn $10-20 k after netting the overheads and expenditures. If you compare with a doctor, I say it is peanuts but come with a great burden. I am not refering to the wage statistic for all ages. One have to compare apple with apple. Professionals !

Engineering is an interesting field but it comes with a price to pay for those engaged in this line. There are all sorts of work hazards and one must be careful in going about the daily chores. More so if you are working in a shipyard, steel manufacturing, construction, workshops, etc. You put on the requisite PPEs and expect to sweat a lot especially for those working on sites. Even for engineering directors, they have to sweat from time to time at the worksites or workshop floors. Even those engineering staff working in so-called clean environment may be exposed to all sorts of health hazards. The starting average pay for engineering graduates may be slightly higher than other disciplines but in the long run, it makes no difference.

Just look at the accident statistics - when was the last time you heard of a work accident in a bank or media agency? Every now and then the news will announce fire or other accidents at so-and-so factory premise, with so many dead and so many injured. Rarely will an accident happen in a trading floor.

Even if engineering pays, the dirty and hazardous work environment associated with engineering puts off students from taking up this interesting discipline. Such is the situation globally, as people are getting discerning and wise. Parents and friends are knowledgeable and most would advise them not to pursue a course of study in engineering. Maybe Financial Engineering or Software Engineering but not traditional engineering.

If you are already in engineering, please do not get discouraged. Just follow the safety procedures and protect yourselves - if there's none, bring up to your management. The government through the WSH Act is coming down hard on errant supervisors or owners of the premises. I rest my case.

Careerwork, I m not working in the construction industry. But common sense tells me that you do not get one PE to endorse a multi million project like Nicol Highway etc. I think all the talk about PE getting paid peanuts for the responsibilities they have to undertake is overplayed. In every line, the higher you climb, the more responsibilities you ll need to shoulder. Eventually, you've got to understand that in any well established organization (pls take note that I am talking about well established MNCs. Not shoddy SME firms), systems shd be in place to manage work and responsibility. The way you talk about how things work in the engineering industry is overly simplistic. If the likelihood of getting fired or jailed because of industrial accidents is really that high, I m sure there won't be so many people who are still willing to risk their freedoms to work as engineers or managers. I m not sure if you are aware of how the energy in your house comes about. Or the petrol that you use to run your vehicles. Or the fuel that you use to cook your food. No offence to people working in the banking industry. But there are also many brilliant people working in the oil and gas industry to ensure that all the above daily needs I've mentioned are being met. Are these people not smart enough to realise it if an engineering career is really that bad? Well. True it may be that money is an important factor to consider in one's career choice. But I would like you to pause a while and think outside the monetary factor. Can the world or Singapore survive if there are no engineers? Just because a profession pays the most, does it mean that everyone has to flock to that profession? Other than the supply and demand theory, I think that by pursuing a career that one is passionate or good at is not only a display of honesty to what you want, but also a contribution to what our society needs. Other than the money you bring home at the end of the month, I guess the other question you should be asking yourself is what have you contributed to this society or the growth of the economy.
Cheers.

In a nutshell, I mean PE does not deserve the remuneration as compare with their heavy responsiblity. Could be due to the local system or the demand and supply curve. You are right. The society cannot go without engineers. Engineers are valuable and should demand a better status as compared to doctors and lawyers. I am afraid over here still not. You pay an engineer well and the engineer will put their heart and soul into the work. Just like in a construction contract, if the tender sum is low due to undercut and competition, the works will be substandard. Will a cardologist conduct an operation with 50 % chances and paid only few thousand dollars ? I am afraid not. Artist and singer also have the passion but if the pay is low, sooner or later the passion will die as they need to earn a living.

Frens,
This post is really impressive and informative. Actually i used to work as system administrator in my country and now in singapore as IT help desk personnel. If somehow i managed to get myself system administrator post looking after servers like ASP,Apache, Windows 2003, IIS,FTP, Astesrisk, LAN/WAN troubleshooting. How much will i be paid for these kind of job ? Currently in my post i m getting paid very less but still i have to satisfy myself.... I hope you guys will help me to correct direction....

In Singapore, if you are a graduate and can speak good english, regardless of nationality, forget about working if your employer pays you less than S$2.4K a month. To me, that is the very minimum. But if you ask me what is the average nowadays, it's probably in the range of 2.8K to 3.6K. I think if foreign immigrants start to demand higher pay from employers instead of agreeing to any ridiculous pay offered by the employers, they will be more welcomed by the locals.

I have been working for 4 years as a software engineer, earning 55k p.a., confirmed considered low band of earners.

IMO, It is true that engineers are underpaid and not highly regarded in singapore compared to US.
We also had to put in the long hours, suffer stress etc. It is only those top few engineers that are highly paid.

Now I am considering 2 OPTIONS:
1. bear with it for another few years to head into project management
(now that i'm a team leader)

2.take up financial engineering to head into finance industry.

I am sure I am not the only one in this situation. Would greatly appreciate if anyone can offer advice/comments?

For option 2: If I cannot afford a financial engineering degree, what other options to be in the quant area?

Hi engineer,
For option 1, I am not sure if PM pays well in Sg. I am sure it is overseas, at least in Australia.

For option 2, if you only have an bachelor's degree you will need at least a MFE, or you can go do a PhD in a numerate discipline. It means you will have to spend $$. One thing though: Given the current problems that are caused by hard-to-account for losses in exotic derivatives, I am not sure if quant or FE will be as hot as it is in the future. A significant amount of hedge funds have collapsed, and hedge funds is one area where a lot of quants go to. Also, quant is most employable in US and UK, however, they are the suffering lot right now. e.g. Lehman just lost 2.8 billion, so I don't think they are gonna hire anytime soon although they are one of the few banks that likes quants.

But if you are really interested in FE then go for it.

Hope that helps.

engineer, here's a 3rd option: strive to improve yourself as much as you can in your field (what is it--.NET? Java?). Educate yourself on financial matters. Find out more about derivatives, equities, fixed income, commodities, etc. Then apply for IT position in investment banks.

There are many in Singapore, take your pick. Lehman Brothers, Credit Suisse, Barclays Capital, Merrill Lynch--it's all good. Position yourself to get closer and closer to the front office. If you have the ability and drive to get there, 70, 90, or even 100k is not that far ahead, especially with the bonus (although this year the bonus won't be as good...).

The "technical to PM" route is soooooo local companies, and I think it's rather retarded. The brains and thought patterns of a good software engineer is different from those of a good PM. Why do they keep making decision to lose a good software engineer and replace him with a lousy newbie PM?

Thanks AI C & HowCome for the comments.

Howcome, can I ask if the prospects of PM in sg is poor?

From IT position in banks to front office , is it possible ? What kind of possible front-office positions?

From my limited knowledge, IT is a supporting role in banks. For IT, they have the technical team (many FT experts), the business analyst (bridge between users & technical team). Of course the infrastructure IT areas as well.

Many thanks for the commments.