So what's the actual salary?
I've heard about many people, some on this forum included, who say that recently graduated engineers in the UK get shit pay. I have a hard time believing this as my girlfriend who studies pharmacy says it's not unusual to see a ?40k+ pay after a handful of years. Surely an engineer would get as much? In Norway as a graduate you can easily start with close to 400.000 kroner which is about ~?40k, altho the level of pay is obviously a lot higher. It's actually almost the opposite here, cos pretty much every phamarcy is owned by a big company so I can only imagine the salary will never be that amazing.
The UK is such a big engineering industry aswell (atleast compared to Norway), so..... why?
(untidy post but whatever)
seems pharmacy is more valued than engineering in the UK then.
Im a recent engineering graduate (I have come back to uni to do a PhD because of the shitty jobs market). But when I started my grad scheme the going rate for new starters was anywhere from 20-26k depending on job and what grade of degree you got (ie BEng or MEng and usually dependant on class too i.e. a 1st class, a 2nd class upper, 2nd lower or 3rd class degree).
Now where I was we started on 24k were promised ?1000 a year increase for the 2 grad years (didnt happen) and after I enquired about what future career I might have there I found out that typical progression and salaries are thus:
27k for your first graduate position after the grad scheme and then you steadily work your way up over years ( and I mean years here... there are 30, nearly 40 somethings who started out on the grad scheme and are still working as engineers and not yet reached a position of management or expert) and the standard payrise per year is 3%, 5% if you've been absolutely outstanding (almost impossible to get, especially in todays climate). So yeah its very possible to be approaching your mid life crisis point and still be earning sub 40k doing proper engineering in this country. By proper I mean designing the very machines that keep this country and every other country in lights, kettles, tv's and heating 24/7/365 (Im talking power stations and steam turbines).
That is pretty much standard fare across a lot of engineering jobs in the UK. If you get into say Shell or BP then I think their grads start on 30 or more, but thats the oil industry for you!!!. There are obviously some higher paid positions, usually on the management or project leadership side where you might get anywhere between 50 and 70k (you need a wealth of experience for this, and that means your going to be an old man). Some management or supervisory jobs could be 45-65k ish. There are high paying engineering jobs of course, but unlike the city and its financial sector, high pay is the exception not the rule.
The UK does have some genuinely good engineering companies, but to be honest I think a succession of governments has basically ignored engineering and manufacturing in this country for a long time.... dazzled no doubt by the inflated profit and loss books of the city. Its kicking them in the arse now because the only real way to generate wealth is to make things. Adding value to raw materials. This is why Germany rode the storm so well, 45% of their GDP (dont quote me, i just heard it) is from making valuable items for export. I dont think the UK has much left in the way of british owned engineering bar small consultancies and F1.
IMEchE are partly to blame as well. Theyre supposed to be banging the drum for engineering here and they dont.... no protected status, very little benefit to chartership with them, in short its difficult to keep paying my subs to them because I fail to see what they actually do for my chosen career. Also on the blame list... engineers themselves. Lots of them just dont have the attitude that they are worth more, lots of them just accept their lot and so long as they are kept busy with interesting things they keep quiet. Most of us engineers need to engineer a spine and really negotiate our selves more money and make ourselves look more valuable. We also need to move around more... the only way you can guarrantee higher salaries is if you move around regularly, but a lot of engineers again stay in the same job for eons because its safe.
By contrast I spoke to a guy who started out as an engineer but now works in the city. He said he works less hours, in a cushy office, making up numbers and makes 4-5x the money. He said he will never leave that no matter how boring because that job gives him and his new family a very sure footing. so there you go, slow paced city job earning 150k a year for doing no real work.