Graduate income

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I used to be an engineer, am in a bank now, and my observations are
1. As an engineer u r nvr worried about getting fired, but in a bank u hear about this every week
2. As an engineer, i was nvr worried i ciuldnt find a job at similar pay lvls. $3k a mth jobs could be found everywhere, relevant exp or not . Now, at a bank, if i lose my job, i cld be out for 6mths to 2yrs before i found an equivalent paying job. Or potentially look at a 30 to 50pc cut in salary if im eager to jump back into the job mkt

Pray tell, why did you switch from an engineer to a banker? And do you regret it?

When I was earning $3,000 a month, I wasn't afraid to lose my job. There were so many $3,000 a month jobs out there! If I lost my job then, next job could even pay higher.

Now, I know for sure that if I lose my job I would probably have to settle for at least 50% pay-cut. Plus, there are fewer jobs out there to rebound to. Stress level is so much higher

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I used to be an engineer, am in a bank now, and my observations are
1. As an engineer u r nvr worried about getting fired, but in a bank u hear about this every week
2. As an engineer, i was nvr worried i ciuldnt find a job at similar pay lvls. $3k a mth jobs could be found everywhere, relevant exp or not . Now, at a bank, if i lose my job, i cld be out for 6mths to 2yrs before i found an equivalent paying job. Or potentially look at a 30 to 50pc cut in salary if im eager to jump back into the job mkt

1. I think you left engineering for long time already.
Manufacturing engineer - retrenchments when factories move out or reduce production
IT engineer - replaced by FT
Civil engineer - on project basis

2. LOL. You can also find a delivery driver job within 3 days, so is delivery driver better than engineer and bank jobs?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Pray tell, why did you switch from an engineer to a banker? And do you regret it?

Left cos it was clear that there's no prospects. Was clear where i'd be in 10y (snr engr) or 20y (engr mgr) and it wasnt an inspiring path.

But at the same time, theres work life balance & theres job security. The factory can close but i know that there's a host of similar paying jobs out there for a experienced engineer. Open the classifieds and you'd literally find hundreds of engineer posts each sat.

If u are a banker and u r retrenched ? Gd luck. Nothing in classifieds. Headhunters say hiring freezes everywhere. And if u r above 45? Better start ur own business cos u r going to take forever to find a job, if u ever do.

So if u think theres no stability in engr, i tell u its all a matter of perspective.

Originally Posted by Chewbm

This thread is concerning the income earned by fresh graduates in I referenced from http://www.salary.sg/2011/graduate-e...blished-2011/:

The Dumping Grounds by Starting Pay (Gross Monthly)
1. NUS Applied Science – $2,427 ($2,800)
2. NUS Engineering Science – $2,571 ($3,000)
3. NTU Art, Design & Media – $2,600 ($3,150)
4. NTU English Literature – $2,603 ($3,050)
5. NUS Arts – $2,627 ($2,900)
6. NUS Science – $2,653 ($2,900)
7. NUS Nursing – $2,655 ($2,800)
8. NUS Project and Facilities Management – $2,657 ($2,800)
9. NUS Business Administration (Accountancy) – $2,692 ($2,600)
10. NUS Civil Engineering – $2,757 ($2,800)
11. NUS Real Estate – $2,762 ($3,000)
12. NTU Accountancy (3-yr direct Honours programme) – $2,778 ($2,775)
13. NUS Bioengineering – $2,804 ($3,000)
14. SMU Social Sciences (4-yr programme) – $2,824 ($3,200)


Are these degrees really considered dumping grounds,as even though the starting pay might be low, isit related to the future income earned by the graduates after working gaining few years of experience? Let's compare for e.g: NUS Civil Engineering – $2,757 ($2,800)
Vs
NUS Architecture – $3,445 ($3,700)
The starting pay might be lower for nus civil engineering but come a few years of experience for both, will the pay for nus civil engineering be higher than Nus architecture?

Kindly help me as I'm very stressed out from choose which degree to take, as I'm concerned in the stangancy in the income in engineering courses..

Don't go for engineering. There are no engineers in the President's Scholars for the past 3 years. You can easily be replaced by a foreigner in these jobs.