I managed a team of more than 120 staff. I am slowly replacing most of my FT managers with Singaporeans. I am not anti FT. I still keep the good ones. But most of them just cannot make it. For every FT manager that leave, I replace him/her with Singaporean.

Just doing my bit for my fellow countrymen...

Thanks for doing your part. But there are just too many FT hiring managers out there who look after their own kind.

If this were a fb comment you get my thumbs up. :D

can i pass you my CV in case i get the chop one day ? :-))
i am true blue Singaporean, able to sing majula singapura and watch every game at jalan basar when the kittens play...

fresh grad with general degree here.. you have entry level position?

I am reaching 35 this year and have a 2nd upper honors degree from a UK university where I studied part-time and achieved through distance learning. I also have various IT network professional certificates which I renewed every 3 years at my own expenses. And I am still studying for some part-time courses and looking for more IT courses to enhance my knowledge also at my own expenses.

Have been working in a financial company (US MNC) as an engineer for the past 12 years and was promoted only twice. I was given the responsibilty and authority to approve all telecom charges and ordering of IT equipments. I was also managing the facilites in the office as well as regional networks and core servers across Asia pacific including design, configure, manage, troubleshoot, support etc. Weekend works are common and standby of 24hours for emergency is required without extra compensation.

With all my responsibilities and commitments, my annual salary including AWS is only 60k+ with no bonuses or allowances. I feel that I am way underpaid considering the job responsibilities and experiences that I have.

My question is, for my job responsibilities and experiences, how much should my salary be to be consider as on par with those who got same responsibilities as me?

Move away from pure engineering....to get better paid
 

I'm one of the more fortunate ones who saw early on that staying in a purely engineering job does not pay....especially when you see Bankers, Doctors and Lawyers around you earning at much higher income levels.

Although I stayed in pure engineering for 5-6 yrs and actually got my PE, at the same time I took another non-engineering masters degree and then joined property developers before joining a very specialised firm of consultants. Now I am self-employed providing consultancy. There is definitely risk associated with being a self employed consultant but the rewards off-sets the risk.

My 2 cents of advise for engineers who can still make the move....go into management or niched / specialised area related to engineering or work for highly specialised equipment vendors or go into other professions. With an engineering degree one can go into most fields or have it supplemented with a management degree. One has to be take that leap of faith.

Agree. I worked as an engineer for 4 years and then went into business development for oil and gas engineering services. Took a MBA. I am now managing a business unit covering most parts of Asia Pacific.

Why not switch jobs to find out? The recent Hay's survey will also provide a reference point. I feel that there is an expiration date for the term "underpaid". No one owes you or me an obligation to increase our salary, so over time if you feel your company isn't paying you the market rate, it is really up to you to raise it with them or to seek alternative employment. If I were you I would consider hiring a recruiter to help. My sister is working in a foreign bank and she was recently head hunted. Didn't make the move in the end because her company counteroffered. Instant pay raise of 20%. If your work is valued by the market you might want to consider this via recruiters. Mark yourself to the market.

In 1990s, government massively expanded nus/ntu engineering places, ST wrote glory reports of S$5k pay of young semiconductor grads with OT. They lured many 3As students into engineering. Today, many of these engineering grads are no longer in engineering line. Many became taxi drivers, property agents, insurance agents, MLN marketers.

In early 2000s, government said life sci is the next big thing. You know what happen now that mr yeo said these grads are only qualified to wash test tubes without phd.

every decade has its share of fools - i m one of them,hahaha