Compare civil service salary

anybody knows what is the rough merit increment for mx13, mx12, mx11 for the different performance grades?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

is DSTA that bad?? what are the bad things in DSTA? other than those scholar will promote faster.

currently my private sector company GLC pay me sux, start work in third quarter 2007, with pro-rated AI in 2008, pay freeze in 2009, 2010 annual increment 2.7% only, even a promotion to senior engineer in merely 4% increment only. Sometimes even cny have to be on-call or work..-_-". Holiday dun feel like holiday, weekend dun feel like weekend, very poor work life balance.

my current pay minus my starting pay is abt $490 after 3.5 years exp in this GLC.

It is not bad at all.
Scholars may have a higher potential but it's sure as hell non-scholars don't always get promoted slower.

Err... even if you don't get promoted in DSTA, you would have gotten far more than $490 increment after 3.5 years in an engineering role.

Hi guys, care to share your view? For a fresh engineering deg grad with 2nd lower hons, which will be a better choice? 25 YO now.

a) 3.3k DSTA engineer or b) 2.6k shipyard engineer?

Pros:
a) Better work life balance (5 days vs 7days), slightly more comfortable job, job security.
b) V.good bonus payouts (>7mths) , definitely learn much more technical knowledge. Possibility of expanding into better paying jobs like in oil/petrochemical industry.

Fears:
a) will be stuck after 5 years and salary capped below 5k. Difficult to join in private sector as skill-sets might be irrelevant.
b) huge competition especially from foreigners (i have a lot of classmates who are getting better grades and asking for even lower pay)

Right now i am leaning towards a) as the +$700 a mth will really help in repaying my tuition fee loan (18k balance @ 4.75% int so will take me ~ 8 mths to clear it). Appreciate any advice. Thanks.

[chnrxn]

I hope you don't find this irrelevant ... if you have other interests that you think has potential to develop into a profitable sideline, you may find that a better work-life balance may be beneficial.

Personally, shipyard in Tuas? Not for me. 7 month bonus? Only good if you are at the top drawing >$10k? If this is the K- company, insiders have told me it's not a good environment.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi guys, care to share your view? For a fresh engineering deg grad with 2nd lower hons, which will be a better choice? 25 YO now.

a) 3.3k DSTA engineer or b) 2.6k shipyard engineer?

Pros:
a) Better work life balance (5 days vs 7days), slightly more comfortable job, job security.
b) V.good bonus payouts (>7mths) , definitely learn much more technical knowledge. Possibility of expanding into better paying jobs like in oil/petrochemical industry.

Fears:
a) will be stuck after 5 years and salary capped below 5k. Difficult to join in private sector as skill-sets might be irrelevant.
b) huge competition especially from foreigners (i have a lot of classmates who are getting better grades and asking for even lower pay)

Right now i am leaning towards a) as the +$700 a mth will really help in repaying my tuition fee loan (18k balance @ 4.75% int so will take me ~ 8 mths to clear it). Appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Originally Posted by chnrxn

I hope you don't find this irrelevant ... if you have other interests that you think has potential to develop into a profitable sideline, you may find that a better work-life balance may be beneficial.

Personally, shipyard in Tuas? Not for me. 7 month bonus? Only good if you are at the top drawing >$10k? If this is the K- company, insiders have told me it's not a good environment.

Hi chnrxn, thanks for your comment. hahaha i dont really have sideline income or anything..this is the S-company, K-company is paying $100 more but the transportation to tuas daily is a big turn-off for me too (more then 2 hours a day).

2.5 yrs in civil service. first job.

gross 5.1k/mth. 26y/o. Male.

[miwashi]

what kind of long-term skills relevant to the real world do you aim to gain at these places? That should be a major decision factor for the future.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi guys, care to share your view? For a fresh engineering deg grad with 2nd lower hons, which will be a better choice? 25 YO now.

a) 3.3k DSTA engineer or b) 2.6k shipyard engineer?

Pros:
a) Better work life balance (5 days vs 7days), slightly more comfortable job, job security.
b) V.good bonus payouts (>7mths) , definitely learn much more technical knowledge. Possibility of expanding into better paying jobs like in oil/petrochemical industry.

Fears:
a) will be stuck after 5 years and salary capped below 5k. Difficult to join in private sector as skill-sets might be irrelevant.
b) huge competition especially from foreigners (i have a lot of classmates who are getting better grades and asking for even lower pay)

Right now i am leaning towards a) as the +$700 a mth will really help in repaying my tuition fee loan (18k balance @ 4.75% int so will take me ~ 8 mths to clear it). Appreciate any advice. Thanks.

In 2007 DSTA offer 2nd lower = $3280, in 2011 it is increased to $3300????
if i were you, i would prefer a work-life balance working environment.

Originally Posted by miwashi

what kind of long-term skills relevant to the real world do you aim to gain at these places? That should be a major decision factor for the future.

Hmm...i will think that a shipyard allows hands-on for a wider variety of different engineering process like production or design with exposure to different working methods and managing different ppl etc while the dsta engineer will be more of commercial side and limited to mostly defense solutions? Still pretty unsure as to what i want to do in the future as i have zero shipyard experience as well. I have friends with negative views on both sectors which further adds to my dilemma...

As for the pay, they only mentioned they can definitely match my asking price (3.3k as i have read from previous posts) so i assumed the rate is the same...on hindsight, maybe i should have asked for a higher sum to better gauge their present payscale...

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi guys, care to share your view? For a fresh engineering deg grad with 2nd lower hons, which will be a better choice? 25 YO now.

a) 3.3k DSTA engineer or b) 2.6k shipyard engineer?

Pros:
a) Better work life balance (5 days vs 7days), slightly more comfortable job, job security.
b) V.good bonus payouts (>7mths) , definitely learn much more technical knowledge. Possibility of expanding into better paying jobs like in oil/petrochemical industry.

Fears:
a) will be stuck after 5 years and salary capped below 5k. Difficult to join in private sector as skill-sets might be irrelevant.
b) huge competition especially from foreigners (i have a lot of classmates who are getting better grades and asking for even lower pay)

Right now i am leaning towards a) as the +$700 a mth will really help in repaying my tuition fee loan (18k balance @ 4.75% int so will take me ~ 8 mths to clear it). Appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Absolutely would care to share.

1) Short work days and work week (9-hour day, 5-day week) may not always apply in DSTA, especially if you deal with software.


2) Not true that your skills will be irrelevant. In each industry, there will always be some skills that are generic and can be ported across to another company.

It is up to the individual to look after his own as well as his company's interests. That is, while you are deciding on/ fulfilling your business objectives, bear in mind you need to develop yourself professionally. There will be ways to do that.


3) I'm afraid it may be the case that your base salary could indeed be <5K after 5 years given you'll be starting at 3.3K.
I am of the opinion that the base is important, but some companies (your second company) look at the total annual compensation. So, the other pay components come into play. And in DSTA, the other components are decent.

By the way, 3.3K for 2nd lower... Has this been stagnant for close to 2 years? Or even decreased?

In DSTA, most will not be filthy rich.
But they will not let you starve.