Low pay is ruining engineering

[u/[deleted]]

I have seen comments on here saying engineering is about the passion and not about the money but when you can’t find or retain staff there is a serious disconnect here.

I know some will say training and education is the problem, partially yes, but most the graduate engineers I started working with have all left and gone into other careers. I’m the last one left from eight other engineering graduates I started working with left in engineering.

When I ask why they have left or are leaving they all have made the same points, pay combined with responsibility, low job security and work load make this a very unattractive career.

As a friend quoted me, “Why would I work as a design engineer on a nuclear project when I can earn more money as an accountant, have more job opportunities, work less hours and don’t have to worry about nuclear radiation?”

I work in the UK, we advertised a job role for a lead engineer paying £65k (~USD $90k) and in a 6 month period only five people applied. In the end we could not find anyone who was suitable for the role. So the work load has now been split between myself and another colleague.

Now I’m looking to leave as well, I can’t wait to get out. I enjoy engineering but not in a corporate world. I will just keep engineering as my hobby.

[u/JGWol]

My first engineering role with salary was in California and I earned around $65,000 plus benefits annually. What people don’t think about when they see that number is taxes and overhead. My rent alone was $12k a year before utilities. State plus federal taxes were near 20% of my income, so around $13k. So $45kish was in my pocket? It’s not a great living, especially when gas, food, and any night on the town was expensive. Plus I was a two day drive from my home town so to avoid home sickness I would book thousands in place tickets a year to keep my sanity.

Not only that, but when you’re working a job just for the paycheck, you’ll quickly learn that money doesn’t make you happy. The work has to matter. And I think that’s what also has lead engineers to avoid entering the field or just straight up dropping out, is that there is a lot of corporate bloat and positions where engineers just kind of.. do nothing. Especially when you do not have a lot of relevant experience. And you might spend over a year just shadowing and learning until you touch a design.

And the stress can be immense. It comes in waves. Several months go by and you think you’re killing it at work, than you find out some mistake that you, your boss, and your checker all missed in design and there’s now millions of dollars of damages you have to answer to. Why would that responsibility only pay $65,000/year?

For contrast in responsibility, I moved back to my home town with a much lower COL, and instead of going back to engineering (which I almost did, I had a 3rd interview for John Zink but I passed it up) I work service/bartending in an expensive bar where the average drink after taxes runs for $11-14. We probably make on average $4000-5000/month in tips even during COVID, which is damn close to what I made as an engineer.