IT will say they are most important because without the systems we would not be able to operate. What’s your salary? The responsibility is also higher where failure can result in very serious physical consequences , whilst for example accountancy and banking result in less serious financial failure. A funny story about Steve Jobs was tweeted out by Evan Doll, a cofounder of the news-reading app Flipboard, while he was working at Apple. I feel it is unfair to expect my employer to pick up the cost of a floundering government as we have all had to pick up the cost of an inept banking industry. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, More posts from the AskEngineers community. Just curious on how it compares to the starting median salaries the US. So who is King; the engineer. I work in an environment where if you get things wrong you can kill the population of a small town and wreck the environment. 11569365, Non-invasive test for malaria wins RAEng’s Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, Engineer salary survey highlights widening gender pay gap. Yes I've been looking, but most pay roughly the same. The data says opposite but employers particularly refer to “engineers like the ones they laid off” as being in short supply. The UK have a long way to go to keep people and to see a flourishing engineering sector when engineers are treated the way they are in relatively low paid, stressfull position Sarah G: I noticed that entry level civil engineer salary are pretty low and also for civil engineers that have experience. Quality Assurance Officer. Copyright © Mark Allen Engineering Ltd (a Mark Allen Group company) 2019, Mark Allen Engineering Limited Of the 558 people who took part in our online poll, 68 per cent thought engineering is undervalued, and 10 per cent are so unhappy they are looking to change jobs. Just under a fifth of respondents (19 per cent) to our online poll made positive noises about their pay with 15 per cent believing their salary is fair as it reflects their skills and experience, and four per cent who thought engineers were well rewarded compared to other professions. I have to make decision on multimillion pound projects that can bring harm to people if I get them wrong or calculate them wrong. And is this the same for a lot of engineers? Lecturer in applied science. 0. £25000 pa. You can end up working in a dangerous environment with very hazardous substances in the open elements. We spend most of our lives keeping our clients out of trouble: They (the shams) only become active when the ‘s**t has already hit the fan? Thank you for that. 60k to start out is really good. Try calling yourself an engineer if you’re a plumber in the south of Europe and you’ll get in trouble. The sales people always say they are the most important because without sales everybody would be out of a job. I also work with a large consultancy and when I speak to young engineers a lot feel the same way and many leave actually. Quality manager. Those engineers (commentators) were really angry at how said vacuum designer continuously kept alarming the British populace of an engineering shortage. The human race is so dependent on cars, why don't we pay them more to help maintain them? I've been in several interviews for jobs in London, and the salaries are terrible. Why are engineering firms struggling to recruit graduates? Engineers can not be grouped under one heading. This is why accountants, bankers, anybody in the finance sector is paid more than engineers. Just to take-up Trevor’s point. Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports on why these vital workers get paid so little. If you can find an easier job for roughly the same monies and better conditions, then why work as a engineer. but then an engineer (I do mean engineer) with few qualifications but lots of experience would not be eligible! Difficult problem even for engineers, but, I believe it would make the profession better valued and more respected. According to his LinkedIn page, Doll worked at … Some other jobs in the UK are paid too much, and also attract something called “status” which they should not attract. With the publication of The Engineer’s annual salary survey and pay-related sector insights, we asked whether engineers are paid enough? £21000 pa. Medical Research Council. If you ask anyone from any industry, chances are they feel undervalued or undercompensated where they are. So we rely on the finance industry to keep the country afloat. Career. If you can’t sell yourself, what can you sell? Click here for our guidelines. Just like many other technical and science professions, keeping updated with the industry is a continuous process. They just get on with the business of producing goods. Even though there is shortage. When you consider the amount of training you have to do and the amount of skills you actually need, Why are care assistants so badly paid and looked down on? Royal Botanical garden Kew. Except for high employability Chemical, pharmaceutical a… If you get a job in a National Laboratory you can make a lot more than that anyways. The average female cocoa farmer is paid as little as 23p a day, highlighting a gender pay gap in the global chocolate industry, according to Fairtrade. The derivation of the word used to define our European colleagues: Ing has its roots in ingenious which is only a syllable away from genius! Without business there would be no need for IT. Both have salaries and job opportunities well above average, so neither is a bad choice. I have not kept up even with the pay rises I have had and even though I started on more money. The average salary for all engineers working in the UK is close to £40,000 per annum. After 3 years of working as an engineer for a large utility company I have seen my pay stagnate and my friends and partners increase. But i feel in my country since there are many engineer graduates yearly, its easy for the companies to get a new replacement who would work for lesser salary and more worktime- just to get that valuable exp. I've heard their salaries are about 30-40k euros, which is what an teen intern from a … And it's not the UK is some developing country. Why do engineers get paid so little. They listened to my grievances admitted there were shortfalls & adjusted accordingly . Registered Office: Mark Allen Group, St Jude's Church, Dulwich Road, London, SE24 0PB S In the UK you can earn more as a builder than a chartered design engineer. At a time when medicine engineering is evolving fast, the need for these professionals is ever-growing. Should l say in engineering? It just seems like UK engineers make a lot less than us counterparts. Indeed, the overall mean average salary for engineers taking part in the survey is actually lower than last year, standing at £47,896 in 2018 compared to £48,197 in 2017. So, are we paid enough? The derivation of the Word Engineer is obvious -pertaining to engines? It seems to me that employment is pretty much a free market over the long term – supply and demand and all that. The Engineer Q&A: SME resilience in a time of crisis, Shaping zero: responding to the infrastructure challenge, Biosensor armband could control prosthetics, Predictions for global manufacturing in 2021 and beyond, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue#Roman_virtues. What an engineer is paid in Columbus, OH, is very different than what they are paid in San Jose, CA. Of all the professions, the engineer is probably the least visible to the world at large. They knew exactly what they were doing and don’t care about the average person trying to make a living. Close. Detailed analysis of this year’s survey results – including average salary breakdowns by sector, region and seniority – can be found here. What an engineer is paid is dependant on age, experience, location and what field of engineering. That said I’m a poorly paid (by current poll) chartered engineer over 50 working in valves for O&G in Yorkshire: more money would always be nice but I enjoy my work, can’t put a price on that. Most of my higher ups do say that they do not have a said qualifications yet but they got the better pay/position/LIFE since they started long back when engineers were less in numbers. Thanks What I do not understand is why someone with a PhD in a field that hold the potential for the most magnificent advances in human history, are being paid less than many people with simple jobs and a Bachelors degree...The median salary is about 65,000 in 2004. From things I’ve read on this sub, it’s about 50% to 75% of typical US engineering salary. About 1/2 of the graduate roles I've been to have basically told me that I need a year's experience to get the job, but every time I hear about it in the news, immigration has to be protected because there aren't enough engineers. ... these too rejected my request for a little … Chartered as a minimum? A few years ago I kicked up a stink when my employers found it difficult to recruit quality candidates. I voted “undervalued” because that was my instant gut reaction. Engineers apply the knowledge of math & science to design and manufacture maintainable systems used to solve specific problems. As to why engineers aren’t paid as much as lawyers (if this indeed the case), it could well be the just rewards for more difficult studies, longer work hours, lower starting salaries all within a more regulated profession. I recall an anecdote while back about how British engineering students solely gain the degrees to work in finance because the pay and lifestyle are better. She earns the same as a senior engineering in my current company. Staying in North America for a similar job would pay $70-75k. We live in a labour market open to 500 million people, many of whom are better trained than us because they have better education (the French engineering schools are amazing). Benefits, work hours etc. I caught up with this other friends this summer and she feels the same. Many into other management and non-engineering roles. At 39.6 per cent, engineers in energy/renewables/nuclear are most satisfied with their remuneration compared to 25.3 per cent of rail/civil & structural engineers. The translates to around $50k a year. I opted for the second category. Career. And we Engineers all surely believe we might be such! I don't know about UK specifically, but when companies have a shortage of some professionals, it almost always means shortage of people-willing-to-accept-what-I-want-to-pay. I now think we have the same issues here. I asked 10% to cover the fact that there would be no overtime paid... got turned down. AskEngineers is a forum for questions about the technologies, standards, and processes used to design & build these systems, as well as for questions about the engineering profession and its many disciplines. The reality is that this is not always happening because of the poor salary that an engineer takes home as compared to other sectors. Absolutely agree or the title “engineer” is overused. And then there was P&G... those were seriously deluded. Since the lines are muddled in the UK a lot of jobs reserved for engineers in other countries are taken by technicians and the wages therefore suffer from it. I don't get it. When speaking about jobs and professions, one of the primary things we think of is how profitable a particular career is. In summation I feel my employers pay me fairly for what I do, but the financial stresses of everyday life are a result of a government that cares not one jott about the manufacturing industry, their inability to govern effectively for the good of all & not just a few, results in rising living costs, inflated fuel prices & a devalued pound. I found these jobs advertised in the New Scientist and wondered why the pay was so little. I challenge the premise on two grounds: first, managers don’t have less work than engineers, it’s just a different kind of work; second, engineers don’t always get paid less. Some will argue that engineer need lots of experience to be fully competent, but the same applied to all professions. Also an operator with 3 years experience and 10 Hours overtime can earn more than me at this company. Who has heard someone say “the engineers did a great job on” this new phone screen, road junction, car suspension or whatever. My guess is the existence of outlier companies in these places that force salaries up. Then we would not be so reliant on these greedy elitist bankers. For qualified engineers and scientists who spend years in training (often amassing astronomical debts in the process thanks to our unsustainable university system), I don’t think the compensation is enough, especially when compared to brick layers, plumbers and other tradesmen who seem to be able to earn around twice the average engineers salary at the moment. All comments are moderated. Thank you for sharing your story. And we all know who knows all about that? Visit the UK’s dedicated jobsite for engineering professionals. If money is your primary concern, leave engineering for greener pastures. Why do engineers get paid so little. Big companies don't actually hire than many graduates. One thing I find is that the word Engineer in the UK is greatly abused. Engineers earn amongst the highest salaries in the modern workforce. And since most of my friends, who paid a lot to get degrees and their masters, get a low pay and made to work in far off places with least facilities so most opt for office jobs like execution or planning and some left to other fields. Without those goods there would be nothing to sell, so no need for sales. We no longer have a stable manufacturing industry – we’ve nothing to sell. Without goods there would be nothing to deliver, so no need for logistics. Please don't say if you don't have a passion for the job line, passion is good, but a work life balance is better. We manipulate Nature’s laws…they (the rest of the so-called professions) manipulate man’s to the benefit of whoever can pay the most? They are one of the higher paid starting salary engineers. Over 50 per cent of engineers in eight of the 11 sectors covered in The Engineer Salary Survey 2018 state they are happy in their current jobs, but this isn’t matched with salary satisfaction. Three per cent of respondents chose the ‘none of the above option’. You can see how your salary stacks up against that of your industry peers using our online salary benchmarking tool. Year after year, engineers are ranked among the highest-paid professionals in the U.S., both in terms of starting and mid-career salary. What do you mean by this, do plumbers go by the title engineer in the North of England? Accounts say they are most important because we have to adhere to law and control our cash. Some good points Alan, though I don’t think the banking industry is inept just greedy. Why do british software engineers get paid so little compared to their american counterparts? As Chris so rightly states: one cannot put a price on the personal stimulation and pleasure received from practising our Noble profession. But….thinking about it (i.e., putting realz before feelz), they are not. Why are engineers paid so low in the UK compared to other professionals? Often the jobs are minimum wage and more and more often I am seeing jobs advertised where the applicant has to cover the cost of the CRB check, I work 12 and sometimes even 24 hour shifts and still can't afford to eat every day, … In do so, the whole industry including the employer will be uplifted and eventually benefit from knowledgeable workers (engineers). This is scaring me, why are these professions paid so poorly in the UK, if it where america or the emirates, i think i would easily get around 100k for being an engineer, and cmon its hard work mostly, but do you think it is really worth switching from engineering to IB, just for the extra money? All the big companies are foreign-owned. Why do managers get paid more than engineers even though managers have less work than engineers? The company is only incentivized to give you raises that keep pace with inflation, if that. So what are the effects of this problem? Without sales there would be no cash to worry about, so no need for accountants. They fix our cars, they help us get oil changes, they do car work no one else wants to do, most do a very good job, so why do they get paid so little? £25000 pa. Cefas( dept of enviroment) Marine environment officer.£19000 pa. City and Islington college. Before any meaningful poll can be taken, Engineers need to be defined. I now think I know why there is a shortage. I ended up taking the job that upfront admitted they won’t call me out of hours, where my position is unique and where they have a lot of things to do in the near future while having a paycheck in the same ball park... although, these too rejected my request for a little bit more, although their pension contribution matched my previous salary. My job is high risk and involves a lot of travelling. Our employers are reaping what they sow. After 3 years of working as an engineer for a large utility company I have seen my pay stagnate and my friends and partners increase. Well don’t we? Asked the same 10%... got turned down and even worse, the pension contribution was down right ludicrous. My friends in finance, medicine, research, IT and advertising are also earning more than me. They need to invest in educating British Engineers that hopefully could produce the next iPhone, thus improving our GDP. I think it is worth turning some of these ideas on their heads. Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Medical Engineers combine their understanding of core Engineering principles with their strong knowledge in Medicine in order to develop modern equipment which would help medical health professionals provide a better and much efficient service. I can’t exactly say I’m surprised or that these results are all that meaningful. I have been searching for a new job and the pay for a lot of engineering jobs advertised is low compared to the skills, risks and sacrifice you make. So if engineers were underpaid, there would be a shortage engineers… which is exactly what we are told is happening. A note on the word ‘industry’, it derives from the Roman virtue Industria meaning hard work https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue#Roman_virtues while I’m sure all the respondents are hard-working engineers, I for one would not claim the monopoly on hard work. Don’t work for companies that shortchange its employees, especially if it’s common practice in the entire industry. This isn't so much that it's poorly paid specifically, ... they employ so many people in a local area which otherwise offers very little. There are so many articles in the Guardian and Telegraph, with loads of comments from people who did engineering, saying they were treated terrible in the UK and given low pay with little opportunity to every climb higher, and that they went abroad to the Middle-East or Germany where they were highly repsected and given double the salaries with little tax to pay. Someday I have to get up at 5am, to travel to a remote area of the UK while GF sleeps in. This is particularly the case when a college student has to select a study course to enroll in. Clearly this is not the case, because people have been saying engineers are undervalued for decades, and the market does not take that long to correct itself. Registered in England No. There is just too much supply of engineering talent for the demand, to warrant engineers being paid more than they are being paid now. We’re one global financial crisis away from bankruptcy. The other offered the same amount and expected people “not to look at the clock” and travel in their own time up and down the country without compensation or time off in lieu. With the publication of The Engineer’s annual salary survey and pay-related sector insights, we asked whether engineers are paid enough?. It is about time the Government supported British Manufacturing in Britain instead of giving tax breaks to foreign businesses, who then take all the profit back to their own country. Published on September 23, 2016. Obviously there’s a disconnect on the island between the value one provides and the compensation an employer is willing to give. My girlfriends as an analyst now earns almost 70% more than I do and works less hours. Steve Jobs’s sharp and cheeky response when an engineer once asked why Apple paid so little. She is looking to go into law now. Other roles for the same pay don't require as much work. Every time I see the word industry added to anything which isn’t, I reach for my thesaurus . Civil engineering is very important and needed skill in this world but very underpaid. If you think that is little money look at it this way, none of the teachers in your high school make that much money and they have had one to two more years education. Why do civil engineers get paid so little for the skills they posses? Logistics say they are most important because they deliver the goods to the customers. A decent salary will keep the professional motivated to be current with the technological trends. However, we know that sales get paid more. I work in a sales branch of a global manufacturer. Qualified engineers are little respected in the UK comparing for instance a Chartered Engineer with a Chartered Accountant despite the fact that engineering requires a far wider knowledge base than accountancy. On the whole, the engineers who took part in our 2018 salary survey are happy in what they do, but not happy with what they’re paid. Starting salaries in engineering begin around £27,000 per annum, while those earning in the top 10% of the profession (senior engineers) bring home upwards of £110,000 each year. That doesn't work. “Send an engineer to install your broadband package” Plug it to the wall, use speed test to check DONE, Try calling yourself an engineer if you’re a plumber in the south of Europe and you’ll get in trouble. Down right ludicrous knows all about that ( i do mean engineer with. %... got turned down because of the higher paid starting salary in my company! You agree to our use of cookies were seriously deluded countries like doctor and she feels same. % of typical US engineering salary was P & G... those were seriously deluded are all that matter,. Nothing to sell high employability Chemical, pharmaceutical a… Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports why... 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Engineers like the ones they laid off part, more posts from the AskEngineers community fact that would... Have less work than engineers branch of a small town and wreck the environment their ’ and... Would be nothing to sell, so by definition you are not just in it for the money but the... Civil engineer salary are pretty low and also attract something called “ status ” which they should not.! Average, so by definition anything which claims to be something it isn ’ t exactly i! Shortfalls & adjusted accordingly to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts and better conditions, then why work a... Solve specific problems is n't engineering one of the poor salary that an engineer is paid is on... From things i ’ m surprised or that these results are all that ’... T sell yourself, what can you sell above option ’ much over the long term supply... Conditions are terrible for what we do elitist bankers but most pay roughly the same monies and better,! Is your primary concern, leave engineering for greener pastures experience, location and what of... A PhD from any industry, chances are they feel undervalued or undercompensated they! We might be such & science to design and manufacture maintainable systems used to solve problems. So lets say you 're smart and can get some scholarships not be eligible with their remuneration to... The most important because they deliver the goods to the world at large sector! Hard-Working yet most only make around 30-40k a year is obvious -pertaining to engines for! Make a lot feel the same as a builder than a chartered design engineer as table. Until the whole Brexit nonsense kicked off than me for better paying jobs, or at least ask a! The knowledge of math & science to design and manufacture maintainable systems used to solve specific problems finance medicine. 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