Not really. Even if you are not high scholar just average can still get promote to AD or SAD level which actually pays much better in total package compared to a typical mid career engineer or manager in private sector.

I hear a lot of my friends in CS also keep complaining about how they cant be Directors or Perm Secs because they are not scholars, but reality is if they were just average in private sector, pay would have been much lower and unstable compare to what they have now.

I am also com science

my GPA is CMI, no honour

dk what I should do

AD and SAD is quite easy, tom dick and harry can, but going up requires more than just that.

Yes but SAD is paid like 130-150k all-in which is very high already. How many people in private sector actually make that much using proper gov statistic?

Only in here that everyone claim to be making big money all the time.

typical frog in the well. there are a lot of people who make >150k in their early 30s in the pte sector.

Try bargaining for higher
 

In terms of purely month salary, I believe you can bargain for higher, at least a $3500. I have a friend with third class honours getting $3500 from NCS. One second lower getting $3700 at Certis Cisco. One second upper (also borderline like yours) getting $3500 from a private security company in the East.

NCS and Certis are not good examples. They offer higher starting pay comparable to civil service but have a bad reputation of pathetic salary increase and backward culture. My first 2 years after uni was in Certis and even with above average performance, the increase was only $150 on average.

annual package is important but so is monthly salary.
it's a no brainer that if both annual package are the same, you will go for the higher basic; of course subjected to other factors such as name, location, benefits, etc

let's just compare salary

3k + aws + 4 months vb = 51k
vs
3.5k + aws + 1 months vb = 49k

i will take 3.5k anytime even though it's lower. reason being

vb is variable means sometimes could be lower and of course sometimes will be higher, do note that hr always tell you the higher end. of course if coy is not doing well, you may even forget about bonus. ok maybe not really applicable to gov sector.

most employer look at your basic for your next jump, yes they do take a look at your annual package. but if let's say ur bonus are too high and they maybe only got 1-2 months, in order to just match, they need to up a lot of your basic, not including ur expected increment. I believe most company won't be able to hire you.

alot of people? have to disagree with you. alot of people means at least 70-80% of the early 30s earning more than 150k? maybe the field you are in, maybe your friends and you are high flyer. Good for you if you happen to be one of those. but definitely not a lot of people.

I only have a few banker friends maybe earnings that amount. maybe property agent or insurance agent. ok generally all sales staff, yes earning that amount for these fields are more possible, but how many of us are doing sales?

I am early 30s and I am about 100k and to be honest I feel I am a bit over paid already as compare to my other friends who are maybe still 60k range.

Ntu nus comp sci dun bring or add much value esp in pte. Smu lagi worse...
Got job offer can arm chio liao