Really that bad for engineers? - Page 56 - Salary.sg Forums
Salary.sg Forums  

Go Back   Salary.sg Forums > The Salary.sg Discussion Forums: > Income and Jobs

Income and Jobs Discuss jobs, career options and of course salaries




Really that bad for engineers?

Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #551 (permalink)  
Old 15-04-2012, 06:40 PM
Unregistered
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I disagree with Richard.

One can always cultivate passion. Finance, banking and sales are also forms of engineering (depends on how you look at them ).

All things equal, you will make more money in an industry where you work closer to the money. You may be the best engineer but you will earn less than the average banker (just look at salary info released when they pegged ministers' pay to the top earners in 6 professions). So why not boost your chances by simply getting into the right industry at the start?

Someone gave a good example above - if you are basking music, no matter how passionate or good you are, you are highly likely to have mediocre earning power.

Not everyone can be the top earning engineer, but if you work hard you get a good shot at being an average banker or bank ops employee. And you will be better off than working as an engineer.

Reply With Quote
  #552 (permalink)  
Old 15-04-2012, 07:13 PM
Unregistered
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Seriously, someone like Richard is rather rare. Possibly more than 2 decades of product development in BMW automobile, claim to know so much with many good contacts. He should start an automobile company in Singapore and hire Singapore engineers who are passionate in this field to do R&D. Open a small plant to do prototype testing, with the mass production to be done in factory in malaysia or indonesia.

Who knows, singapore will have it's own automobile brand, just like malaysia have their proton. In this way Singaporean engineers can get to do hardcore engineering as well.

Reply With Quote
  #553 (permalink)  
Old 16-04-2012, 03:28 PM
Unregistered
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
Seriously, someone like Richard is rather rare. Possibly more than 2 decades of product development in BMW automobile, claim to know so much with many good contacts. He should start an automobile company in Singapore and hire Singapore engineers who are passionate in this field to do R&D. Open a small plant to do prototype testing, with the mass production to be done in factory in malaysia or indonesia.

Who knows, singapore will have it's own automobile brand, just like malaysia have their proton. In this way Singaporean engineers can get to do hardcore engineering as well.
If we talk about outliers like Richard, we might as well encourage Singaporeans to be actors or Singers and tell them that they need to venture out of Singapore to Hollywood/taiwan/China so that they can be a star and earn their millions.

Reply With Quote
  #554 (permalink)  
Old 16-04-2012, 03:46 PM
Unregistered
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
If we talk about outliers like Richard, we might as well encourage Singaporeans to be actors or Singers and tell them that they need to venture out of Singapore to Hollywood/taiwan/China so that they can be a star and earn their millions.
I think being an engineer now has lost the prestige of yesteryear. Most engineers have to be contented with a 5-7k salary when they are in their mid 30s. They used to be the top 5 professions but now their pay is the average pay of a graduate in mid 30s.
Reply With Quote
  #555 (permalink)  
Old 16-04-2012, 03:48 PM
Unregistered
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
If we talk about outliers like Richard, we might as well encourage Singaporeans to be actors or Singers and tell them that they need to venture out of Singapore to Hollywood/taiwan/China so that they can be a star and earn their millions.
Yes, an okay actor can earn half a million in Hollywood appearing in B-rated dramas and doing endorsements for less well-known products.
Reply With Quote
  #556 (permalink)  
Old 16-04-2012, 04:36 PM
Unregistered
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
I think being an engineer now has lost the prestige of yesteryear. Most engineers have to be contented with a 5-7k salary when they are in their mid 30s. They used to be the top 5 professions but now their pay is the average pay of a graduate in mid 30s.
Worse thing is once hit mid 30s, lucky ones career & pay stagnate, unlucky ones get busted.
Reply With Quote

  #557 (permalink)  
Old 16-04-2012, 04:58 PM
Unregistered
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
Worse thing is once hit mid 30s, lucky ones career & pay stagnate, unlucky ones get busted.
Many engineers have a second career driving taxis. Some make 4k a month and are quite proud of it.
Reply With Quote
  #558 (permalink)  
Old 16-04-2012, 05:02 PM
Unregistered
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
Many engineers have a second career driving taxis. Some make 4k a month and are quite proud of it.
Not true lah. Those are outliers too.
Reply With Quote
  #559 (permalink)  
Old 17-04-2012, 11:57 PM
Unregistered
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Just take life sciences as a more realistic example.

About a decade ago, all the brightest students had only 1 thing in mind - to study life sciences and work in the billion dollar industry headed by Philip Yeo and funded by the government.

Now, just look at the empty buildings around one-north, the tiny budget allocated to A*star, Philip Yeo's new career, and the thundering silence on the great life sciences experiment in Singapore.

I think there are still one or two very PASSIONATE life sciences scientists here. Once in a while they'll announce some "breakthroughs" in the papers, but most of the passionate life science graduates are working in totally unrelated fields or peddling medical stuff to neighbourhood GPs and at best restructured hospitals, while their business graduate counterparts enjoy the good life making good money working in banking and finance.

You wanna be passionate, you better be passionate in the right field!
Reply With Quote
  #560 (permalink)  
Old 18-04-2012, 12:31 AM
Unregistered
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I study engineering, was very passionate in aerospace, worked as lowly paid engineer. Happened that i am also very passionate about fine things in life - German built cars and piano, landed property with a nice garden, swiss watches
To achieve these, I left and join IB - now enjoying riding Mercs, playing Schimmel grand, and relaxing over a beer in my garden. I believe all these would not be possible working as engineer, well at least not in singapore.
Uncle Richard advice is only applicable if the engineer is based in Germany or in US - let be realistic, and dont romanticize the notion of engineer being well appreciated and paid in singapore
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Tags
banking, engineering, finance

« Previous Thread | Next Thread »
Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
For chemists & chemical engineers chemist Education and Personal Growth 1 30-08-2010 12:12 AM
Engineers - considering CFA or Financial Engineering? Salary.sg Education and Personal Growth 27 27-09-2009 09:30 AM

» 30 Recent Threads
HTX (Home Team Science and... ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
685 Replies, 342,795 Views
Civil Svc/ Statboard - Typical... ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
6,102 Replies, 3,714,033 Views
Career as Teacher ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
10,570 Replies, 6,553,061 Views
Local bank BO pay
2 Replies, 100 Views
ST Electronics ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
3,734 Replies, 1,528,066 Views
UOB Management Associate Program ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
1,388 Replies, 768,962 Views
Lawyer Salary ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
20,969 Replies, 10,281,909 Views
Q: Big4 - Yearly salary increment ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
15,048 Replies, 4,937,941 Views
MINDEF DXO (All FAQ on it) ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
5,805 Replies, 4,626,389 Views
GovTech ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
5,065 Replies, 2,135,496 Views
MAS for Mid Career Professionals ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
1,774 Replies, 1,030,445 Views
Civil Service Performance Bonus ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
5,290 Replies, 4,703,672 Views
Roles in accenture singapore ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
7,263 Replies, 2,291,842 Views
NUS (National University of... ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
315 Replies, 315,096 Views
ITE Polytechnic Scheme ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
302 Replies, 362,281 Views
Aon Centre for Innovation and...
9 Replies, 6,051 Views
CSA (Cyber Security Agency) ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
904 Replies, 500,304 Views
IMDA (under MCI) ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
1,254 Replies, 605,390 Views
Compare civil service salary ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
16,314 Replies, 12,397,567 Views
Standard Chartered International... ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
476 Replies, 262,764 Views
DSTA (under Mindef) ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
1,435 Replies, 1,362,884 Views
Ex-MOE Teachers ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
403 Replies, 485,889 Views
Engineer Pay ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
664 Replies, 454,359 Views
Cybersecurity/Info security career ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
501 Replies, 264,302 Views
LTA (Land Transport Authority) ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
651 Replies, 376,956 Views
OCBC Graduate Talent Programme... ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
1,165 Replies, 640,945 Views
DBS ACE Programme ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
119 Replies, 76,960 Views
How is life as a doctor in... ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
7,233 Replies, 3,376,317 Views
Work culture in IHiS ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
717 Replies, 535,533 Views
SIA AO grades ( 1 2 3... Last Page)
127 Replies, 101,731 Views
Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.2



All times are GMT +8. The time now is 03:15 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.5
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Content Relevant URLs by vBSEO 3.3.2