Underpaid
 

I came to Sg in 2005 as a 25 year old software developer with 2 years experience.
Salary - $4500.
6 months later my company lost the project and i was lucky to get another job within a week.
Salary - $5000 (contract job - no aws or bonus)
Fast fwd to 2012 (6.5 years) and still with the same company and my salary is only $6400.(Still no aws or bonus)
Finally left in 2012 and joined in a global bank in the technology department with 8.5 years exp at AVP level.
Salary $7500.
Fast fwd to 2015. 10 years since I came to SG. 35 years old and 12 years of working experience.
Salary $8690 (really irritating that they could not bump it by $10 to at least make it a round figure) My luck with bonuses continues and despite 3 year ends, my bosses haven't given me a bonus till date.
When i came to SG I may have been slightly overpaid for my level of experience but I feel that I'd been unlucky in the 6.5 years that i was a contractor with very minimal salary increases and no bonus to atleast soften the blow of the paltry increments.
If my salary were higher when i left that contract job I could have got near to my current salary 3 years ago itself.
I feel that i should be earning around $12000 now to match my years of experience. Perhaps its time to jump now before i get left even further behind. I don't know how the market is for my area of expertise but if i would need at least a 25% hike to reach a 5 figure salary. Anything less than 10k and i would be miserable at the new job also.

you are not under paid.

i started work at age 25 with $3k, now age 33 still with the same company only getting mid-4k.....

If you are underpaid, then please find a word to describe my situation!

Indeed you are not underpaid. I grad and joined the workforce in 2005, same as you and started at $2800. Now after 10 years I am nowhere near $8690. My advice, be thankful of what you have, otherwise just leave.

NS for Sinkies! Jobs and sinkie women for FTs!

I'm 46, only earning $4.7k pm (annual pay/12) If you're underpaid, then what am I? Be grateful you have a job here. You could be a Greek with no job or an African who is dying from lack of food, nutrition & medical care. It is all about perspective in life. As long as you live a humble life, you can live well.

Here are tips for you

1. Rent a small one bedroom condo in the OCR. You can rent it for less than $3k only.
2. Don't drive, take public transport
3. Don't drink, smoke and party
4. Eat at hawker centres
5. Don't go for expensive holidays, just go for cheap regional holidays

There are families with kids who can live well with just $4k pm of household income.

It seems like life is tough for you here in Singapore. You are miserable at your job. It might be best if you returned to your home country and give up your job to the many Singaporeans here. They would take your current job for 7k.

Hard Truths to keep Singapore going. Drawing 8690 and still unhappy. Those drawing 5k should be depressed.

What qualifications do you have? What achievements have you made? Why do you think you should be earning $12k with 12 years of working experience?
From 2012 to 2015, you have average $400 increment which is around 5.2% average increment per year. I do not think that is low increment. Furthermore, you receive a pay jump of > $1000 to your current job.
What more do you want?

I also started work in Singapore 10 years ago (26 years old). My situation is a bit better than yours. (Sorry if my English is bad)

I was lucky to be send to Singapore to be manager to manage employees with the salary of $8500 to $9800

Slowly I was head hunt (during 2010) to move another company offering me $12590 with accommodation (a condo).

I stayed there for 2 years and move to another company which gives me the salary of $14200.

dont know whether you trying to ******** here or something. 2010 financial crisis, where got company offering you such a good package. Dont lie!

was wondering why so many people like big cannon fairy de sia

tell u something la. if u not happy with your pay. dont worry about taking a step backwards to move forwards.

I used to earn $4.5k gross after 2 years since i grad from sim-uol. the working hours like **** and the industry is basically monopolized by this company so the skills are not portable or useful if u want to change job in the future.

I quit my job last yr and was jobless for 8 months (advise you dont do this though, try to get a new job before quit lol) before I took on a contract position which pays me only $2.8k, can convert to perm after a year or so. but what's important is that firstly I don't drag my feet to work every morning and I also want to penetrate this current industry.

alot of ppl here who are underpaid are still young. don't fear changing industries and so called going back to square one. in 20-30 years down the road, the 2-3 years you so called wasted in your first job is insignificant.

Why did you tell interviewer abt leaving without a job? Was he or she skeptical?

What you guys earn has nothing to do with whether the $8690-guy is underpaid or not. You guys probably have different roles working in different industries.

Would a dish washer with 10 years of experience tell a doctor with 10 years of exp that the latter's pay of $4000 is not underpaid bcos it is higher than the former's pay?

I happen to be in the industry and that guy is very well paid in SG. This is not Silicon Valley where you join Facebook or Google and draw 100k salaries as a fresh grad. Don't forget US has a higher tax rate.

A software developer from India with the same experience would take this 8.7k job without blinking. He might even accept 8k.

He is overpaid, no doubt about it.