How much do fresh uni grads (electrical engineers) earn, & how much 5-10 years later?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

1) 10k in 10yrs for MOST grads: I think you are grossly misinformed.

2) There are very limited career advancement opportunities in Singapore for engineers who would prefer to stay on a technical path.

3) Managers of engineering projects need to have solid engineering experience to move up fast and to prevent being "eaten" by your clients and subordinates - the engineers.

4) I know of several cases where the FTs you mentioned are norminated for promotion simply because their bosses are also FTs from the same country.

2) Everyone will know the road of their chosen path. You cannot expect to make certain choices based on preference, and yet expect the best of both worlds in terms of monetary gains and passion.

3) This is the same for all industries, whether an engineer, a banker or even a teacher. This is just a fact of life.

4) Again, this happens everywhere.

exactly... unless you're one of the few who are truly motivated by the financial industry, if you choose to be compensated by job satisfaction, or work-life balance, or any other factor, you cannot expect to be highly paid too.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I actually think the 10k with 10years experience is definitely attainable for many graduates, regardless of field.

I think there is too much generalisation in terms of where the degree is from, etc; local degree vs. sim/mdis, or the specialisation of the degree.

I dare say that as long as a graduate is capable and determined, >10k within 10 years is a given.

Correct me if i'm mistaken.

Yup it is definitely attainable, no question about it.

What I'm trying to say is, it's something that will not happen to MOST grads. Quite simply, at today's dollar value, most companies cannot afford to have too many people earning that much..

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Yup it is definitely attainable, no question about it.

What I'm trying to say is, it's something that will not happen to MOST grads. Quite simply, at today's dollar value, most companies cannot afford to have too many people earning that much..

Depends on what kind of grad.

Most from the 3 local uni should be able to reach 10k in 10 years, anyway is just a junior level manager in most mnc.

As for other pt/pte paid grads probably uncommon since most of them tend to get stuck at local SME or non-hipo position in mnc.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Depends on what kind of grad.

Most from the 3 local uni should be able to reach 10k in 10 years, anyway is just a junior level manager in most mnc.

As for other pt/pte paid grads probably uncommon since most of them tend to get stuck at local SME or non-hipo position in mnc.

I think you are drawing references from a very limited pool of people you know within your social circles.

First of all, do you know how many % of graduates actually work in those MNC vs smaller companies? If you define MNC as those fortune 500 companies, then are you saying that most grad (>80%) works in fortune 500 companies? If your MNC refers to those with at least a few hundred millions turnover, then I don't think $10K/month is a junior manager post. Those earning $10k/month in 10 years are those doing relatively well, not very fantastic, but reasonably well. Definitely not most grad. Bear in mind that we have a lot more graduates now than maybe 20 years ago.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Depends on what kind of grad.

Most from the 3 local uni should be able to reach 10k in 10 years, anyway is just a junior level manager in most mnc.

As for other pt/pte paid grads probably uncommon since most of them tend to get stuck at local SME or non-hipo position in mnc.

Sorry to sound defensive, but I'm from SIM, and have many lecture mates in different industries joining MNCs, from Banking (Barclays, BoA) to even IT (IBM, Oracle). The private degree paper never got into our way. I've never heard of any MNCs that only hire local uni grads?

I guess in a forum environment such as this, the degree is the most easily quantifiable factor for comparison. However, in real life, other less quantifiable factors are actually the decisive factors of who get the job (etc; experience, suitability, communication skills).

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I think you are drawing references from a very limited pool of people you know within your social circles.

First of all, do you know how many % of graduates actually work in those MNC vs smaller companies? If you define MNC as those fortune 500 companies, then are you saying that most grad (>80%) works in fortune 500 companies? If your MNC refers to those with at least a few hundred millions turnover, then I don't think $10K/month is a junior manager post. Those earning $10k/month in 10 years are those doing relatively well, not very fantastic, but reasonably well. Definitely not most grad. Bear in mind that we have a lot more graduates now than maybe 20 years ago.

There have been numerous research studies backed by HR consultancies on pay and many have been quoted on this forum. They largely say what many people who share online are getting. The problem is that when people see it is higher than what they are, most get very defensive & start to rationalize by either declaring that it’s all just outlier values or claim that it’s a conspiracy by consultants to generate business.

Same thing you see with the high salaries that NUS/NTU/SMU publish about what their alumni are getting, they usually get a lot of flack by people who are not doing as well for being elitist, bias to promote their reputation etc. For me it’s very simple, my social circle, data from consultancies & my alumni all corroborate, so it makes no sense for me to doubt that somehow numbers are being fudged by multiple parties at the same time consistently.

I also have friends who’s career have tanked and done poorly pay wise, they usually start to bitch about their employer, FT, gov, colleagues during our kopi session. Although my pay is much higher than them, I lend them a listening ear and make non-committal agreements just to allow them to let off some steam as a friend. For all you know, I might become one of the “social circle” of the so called low paid crowd. Go for hard data, not hearsay, your friends could be agreeing with you or acting poor just to be empathic.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

There have been numerous research studies backed by HR consultancies on pay and many have been quoted on this forum. They largely say what many people who share online are getting. The problem is that when people see it is higher than what they are, most get very defensive & start to rationalize by either declaring that it’s all just outlier values or claim that it’s a conspiracy by consultants to generate business.

Same thing you see with the high salaries that NUS/NTU/SMU publish about what their alumni are getting, they usually get a lot of flack by people who are not doing as well for being elitist, bias to promote their reputation etc. For me it’s very simple, my social circle, data from consultancies & my alumni all corroborate, so it makes no sense for me to doubt that somehow numbers are being fudged by multiple parties at the same time consistently.

I also have friends who’s career have tanked and done poorly pay wise, they usually start to bitch about their employer, FT, gov, colleagues during our kopi session. Although my pay is much higher than them, I lend them a listening ear and make non-committal agreements just to allow them to let off some steam as a friend. For all you know, I might become one of the “social circle” of the so called low paid crowd. Go for hard data, not hearsay, your friends could be agreeing with you or acting poor just to be empathic.

Can you point us to some reliable data please?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

There have been numerous research studies backed by HR consultancies on pay and many have been quoted on this forum. They largely say what many people who share online are getting. The problem is that when people see it is higher than what they are, most get very defensive & start to rationalize by either declaring that it’s all just outlier values or claim that it’s a conspiracy by consultants to generate business.

Same thing you see with the high salaries that NUS/NTU/SMU publish about what their alumni are getting, they usually get a lot of flack by people who are not doing as well for being elitist, bias to promote their reputation etc. For me it’s very simple, my social circle, data from consultancies & my alumni all corroborate, so it makes no sense for me to doubt that somehow numbers are being fudged by multiple parties at the same time consistently.

I also have friends who’s career have tanked and done poorly pay wise, they usually start to bitch about their employer, FT, gov, colleagues during our kopi session. Although my pay is much higher than them, I lend them a listening ear and make non-committal agreements just to allow them to let off some steam as a friend. For all you know, I might become one of the “social circle” of the so called low paid crowd. Go for hard data, not hearsay, your friends could be agreeing with you or acting poor just to be empathic.

From MOM statistics, only 9% of our workforce between 35-39 years old makes more than $10k/month. However we have about 20% of the cohort who made it to local U 15 years ago. So if majority of this 20% makes more than $10K/month after 10 years, then the MOM statistics cannot be just 9%.

I concur with the above post, which at least points to some reliable data.