I found switching jobs every 2-3 years early in career can increase your pay scale considerably vs settling for the small annual increases that barely cover cost of living at the same company unless there is internal promotion opportunity. Otherwise, staying at the same job for long-term may reduce your marketability potential elsewhere.
Or you could refuse to 'settle' for small increases. Point out what inflation is at currently and tell them you want several percentage points over that. Before your annual salary review...go on some interviews and maybe try have an job offer or two in the bag, so that you can tell your current employer that if your raise is not substantial you will leave...and not be bluffing. Don't tell current employer you have other offers, or how much the offer is for. Just give them a non-negotiable figure that's higher than your highest job offer. If you get it great, if not, leave and at least you're still getting a raise ;-)
Heck I worked for a Korean Auto Manufacturing company. I didn’t get a raise for 4 years. They offered $2500 bonuses instead. It was a slap in the face.
Dude! All this time and only now am I finding out you were an Electrical Engineer! You do realise there’s a massive community of people on YT studying, myself included (not for a job). You could really help (and make some more YT bank) people with all that knowledge. Having said that, I should probably ask if you already have a channel dedicated to it lol.
1000% agree with this method of increasing your pay in the engineering field. I graduated with my Mechanical engineering degree in 2018 and the only significant bumps Ive gotten are with switching companies, just be CAREFUL to not switch too many companies too quickly as they will start to question your resume. ALSO WHY DON'T ENGINEERS HAVE UNIONS?! WE ARE SMART ENOUGH TO CREATE THEM BUT FOR SOME REASON WE DON'T COME TOGETHER AS A COMMUNITY
Are engineers required to have excellent communication skills? I'm inarticulate n slightly indigent n slow at formulating sentences. This is holding me back
the union question depends on which country you live and work in. Most European countries have strong unions - includeing unions that are specifc for engineers (broad) or specific branch of engineering (Electrical Union which includes any and all workers that work with electricity/energy) You will take a raw pay cut if you work in europe, at the same time all the stuff you might worry and think about in the US (social security, healthcare, insurance etc) comes in from your taxes mostly. To be filthy rich in EU is not easy, to be above median or high middle class is not that hard if you are wanted. Big exceptions is if your career is more globaly applicable - which most engineers in fact are.
Because it’s the same as other fields. Why would a top tier 1% engineer want to make the same as everyone else. I’m all for unions, but they are not a quick fix to a compensation issue. In the trades most union workers will only make journeymen rate even though they may outperform most other journeymen at their company.
I am sure,@@BeatTheBush , this vid is a public service. Years ago I’d thought it’d be good to have a website where folks put in their education, years in the field, and salary. I’m sure it exists. I do transistor level mixed-signal design. You’d be a fun -cubicle neighbor- , normal neighbor? Offices don’t exist yet
as a fellow Asian and NA ee grad, I love listening to other engineers talk trash about Finance people 😂 they are most conniving type of planners, as in they are trained to only think about short term gains.
Wow, I'm having a similar situation to what has been mentioned at around 11:21 of this video. I have no idea how to properly explain to my manager that I can't show my skills or get more work done because I they give me this other thing to do which is a full time job in itself and this thing is not even included in the performance review at the end of the year! This video is very helpful!
Engineer dont make money anymore as they used to the only engineer thst makes sense when it comes to pay is software engineer and is not even a practical engineer like a base knowledge Software engineer are not real engineer they're better version of us because you actually solve problems on the daily basis, it requires more skill than knowledge of a useless degree All other engineers for higher pay you would need most times masters and go to college again Do this master to go there do the other to go there but with software just more skill
@@skydivenext yep, software developers can code a ton and the only costs involved are related to the computers or servers their code runs on. Engineers make products that need circuit boards, chips, enclosures, motors, sensors, etc., all costing a lot of money especially on a big scale. So that may explain why they get paid less. But this guy in the video was making 65k in 2005 adjusted to inflation is close to 95k as shown in the video, and many of my friends and myself are 65-75k entry level engineers in 2024. That's so crazy. Plus, you have to still put in long hours and sacrifice a lot for these low paying jobs.
I have a MSEE from one of the top state universities too. Unfortunately, I work in the Fab and there are not many jobs. You are right about the raise. It is no good if I stay in the same company. I used to spend too much money on useless things. Now, I save money as much as possible and invest in the market. I hope I will join you soon to retire comfortably. BTW, I wish I had computer science degree. I love programming and FAANG pays much better than MSEE.
Agreed. The only way to get a good pay bump is to jump ship. My current company is hemorrhaging engineers daily. SO many people are leaving, including myself. It feels good
Thanks for sharing all of this information. We are the same generation as I graduated in 2003 Bachelor's degree. I just got a job as an electrical engineer for Pickering nuclear power plant in Ontario CA. After finishing mine over 19 years of designing nuclear power plant experience in China. I think it's lucky to get a salary of over CAD$ 8k per month. 😂
So refreshing to see this. Nowadays when you look up engineering advice it’s mostly “software engineering” this and that, some mechanical here and there but rarely electrical engineering
I graduated in 2020 during the the start of the pandemonic, and now after 1.5 years trying to find a job is so hard, since i don't have much experience ; the most funny thing is that even interns required some experienced from pervious internship SMH
I didn't jump around....stupidly stayed with the same co for 22 years! Fortunately I was able to promote myself to Sr Relaxation Mgr last yr due to going all in on $TSLA
You are definitely right, the only way to get real raises is to switch jobs. On the other side, you don’t want to switch job too much so people think you jump around all the time. I started my first job as an architect at 40k, after 10yrs I’m finally at 6 figures. Thanks to recent hot job market.
Hi, My take is that changing job once every two years is the best approach as per my perspective. It allows one to learn the different organisation's culture and new things. WTK
Very genuine summary and advice. It brought back my memories of starting up 46K in San Fran like 10 years ago. The couple raises I got from moving to other companies saved me from poverty. Another point if helpful (but really depends on industries) - stay in the same job for at least 1-2 years before moving on. Otherwise it's easy to get a raise in cash by jumping around, but not necessarily helpful to growth in title or career.
I Houston, Tx I never made it pass 90k with my engineering degree. I live comfortably but never extravagant. I was able to pay off my house but never accumulated enough to venture into anything else. Got laid off last couple months and it’s hard from where I use to be to finding something similar to salary. I just think in big cities, they usually don’t pay well as they can find similar talents with someone cheaper
Salaries are lower there than in Bay Area indeed. But if you're over here, salary to housing prices is lower than in Tx. I actually think the bigger the city, the more you get paid to compensate for cost of living. You have to go compete for it.
What's impressive is that you made a huge fortune with your investments, from what you earned as an electrical engineer. Getting more pay is not as important as what you do with it. Electrical engineering is a very challenging field. It kills me every time i think about how low we are paid, when compared to say fund managers on wall street. I know someone personally, and I tell you, you don't want to know those pay numbers :(.
I’ve been studying it in my spare time and for everything you have to learn and retain you guys are woefully underpaid, add on the actual job itself and they’re taking advantage of a lot of you.
@@InimitaPaul You bet we are. My personal opinion is that pure mathematicians are the smartest of the lot, and get paid diddly squat, unless of course, they go to wall-street and become a quant PM. Many do that, so do many electrical engineers (like Bob Mercer of Rentech fame).
@@BeatTheBush I tell you man ... no kid born in the US, and who is smart enough to crack through EE subjects, would ever bother entering STEM fields. They head straight to wallstreet, make enough to retire early, and then, go on to do whatever they do after that. It's the smartest thing to do given that even a marriage contract can't do apart your pre-marital assets. You have it for life, unless of course, you blow it all off in some stupid trade like the way Bill Hwang did :).
@@abhijitharakali Yeah but then you would have to work on Wall Street and I can’t think of anything I would hate more. I like my electrical engineering salary. And engineering is suuuuuper easy compared to my previous career where I made about 1/5 the money. I used to be a professional musician and that was the hardest thing you can imagine, plus I was poor. Now I can afford nice musical gear, work remotely, and I enjoy what I do (lately has been a lot of SCADA design and some controls stuff. Also a lot of hardware in the loop (CHIL)- the power system simulation part of it.). The work can be hard sometimes when we are near a deadline, but for the most part it’s stress-free and really interesting and fun. Also, your concept of getting paid “diddly squat” is funny to me, because of the different perspective I’m coming from. I’ve never seen a homeless mathematician (just ones who LOOK homeless! :) )
That was a fun pay journey to hear about. My company has a set pay scale for my position. The scale does increase depending on what's going on in the industry. From the bottom of the scale to the top is a difference of 124% so it more than doubles
Thanks for breaking it all down and explaining your salary! I’m an electrical engineering student and was wondering what the salary would look like down the road
Great advice, I've found if you broach the subject of expecting more than a 3% raise a few weeks before the review process is finalized you have a good chance of getting a bigger raise. There's definitely a cap on how much they'll give you unless you have offers from other companies.
This is true and is a good tip if you job is demanding like his, but normal people who have regular jobs, changing jobs every 2-3 yrs may raise a red flag in hr’s perception. Also kind of makes your resume look like you have patterns for not staying at one place more than a couple of yrs.
Definitely can relate to feeling desperate. I graduated a few years ago in a different field than yours making barely above minimum wage in the Bay at around $22 and jumped to $115k five months later
thanks for the vid of your experiences. i can feel your experiences as they happen in many industries. Because your now in a better position you dont need the aggravation , and can just relax without all that , it just doesnt give you inner peace working in these companies
Your salary journey was very insightful, as to see how other careers do compare to yours. My brother graduated as a food scientist in 2020 and as a recent graduate with no experience couldn't find a job for over 6 months, he applied every day for jobs, when he finally landed a job he only got paid $20 an hr. He's been there at this job for little over 6months and even though he keeps applying to jobs , noone calls him back because they are asking for experience of 2 to 3 years minimum. So, he feels stuck where my stepson makes $21 an hr working for FedEx. 🤦♀️ it's just funny to me.
I got most of my jobs through connections so he might want to ask people he knows. 2nd tip is to seriously consider pay for professional resume services. If you go from $40k/year to $80k/year, a few hundred is well worth the investment.
After graduation it is normal to be paid close to minimum wages. He has to hang in there for 2 years, learn as much as he can and after that he could 2x his wages in another company. The reason most graduates might earn as much as school leavers is that from a production pov they might be as productive if not less as someone who has been with the company for a few years. Then the curve changes with experience. He shouldn't feel stuck in his first 5 months if he is working in his field and learning
I went to college and still have a ton of debt and make $62k a year. My husband got an Union job as an Elevator Mechanic and makes $170k. My brother is in the electrician union and makes $140k. My husband’s brother is in the plumber’s union and makes $120k. It kills me every week when I see his paystub when I work so many more hours.
@@vchafab It’s the correct degree you have to choose. I always tell people in highschool, choose a STEM degree and you won’t have any problem landing jobs. Or learn a skilled trade that humanity can’t go without.
What's your take on getting a masters as an EE straight from college? Is it worth it if the company is paying for it? or Is it better to get the experience from just working?
I did computer engineering and MS in Computer science. I worked with a lot of EEs in my first few years. For almost all cases, your company will pay for a masters to be competitive and raise up talent. Sometimes they require you to work there for a few years in exchange for this. It's a pretty good way to go, just don't take too many classes. I just did one at a time.
@@Verschiedenes why would you say that? Everyone I know with a MS in computer science or electrical engineering gets head hunters calling and messaging every day. There's certainly no negative stigma. If they are not employable it's likely due to other reasons. E.g. soft skills... not personable or a team player etc.
@@KyleLuce I agree. I’m surprised to hear someone say they had any difficulty finding a job with a MS in EE. I got my MS in EE and never even had to go to a job interview. I just had companies fighting over me. For reference, I got my MS in Milwaukee WI, and there is a lot of industry there so you get a lot of connections. Most professors are people who worked in industry for most of their careers and so they just help you get a job. Actually they even try to not let companies snatch you away because they want you to do research on their team while you are still a student. But once you graduate, you get snatched, for sure. And my specialization was in power electronics and power systems and some controls, in case you’re wondering. And I am a US citizen. Non-citizens always have a harder time finding a job, but I don’t think a master’s degree would hurt them! I don’t think I know any non US person with just a bachelor’s. Most of them have pHd. (PHd? Phd? phD? which is it?)
Would you say this logic and strategy is useful for any field ? I’m wondering if I can apply it to the field of nursing or if it’s strictly tied to electrical engineering?
I think my strategy is great for tech. I'm not sure if it's portable to nursing. Employers in general lags behind in pay until you switch so interview a few times a year to get an offer or two.
Not so much in nursing. Nurses are either unionized or in a tier for payscale based off of experience. Shitty but it’s the truth, a horrible nurse with 10yrs experience will always make more than the critical thinking new grad. This is of course assuming they are in the same organization.
i'm a senior engineer myself and my salary is pretty stagnant the last 2 years. I'm at 120 but I am thinking long term. My cousin who is 8 years younger is a firefighter prob makes 50-60k. In 10 years, he will be making 6 figures easily with a pension fund building. I don't think I am ready for an architect role. Ageism is a thing I worry about in IT.
In firefighting, you have to risk your life though. Have you handed them an offer letter higher than your current pay? I bet that will get you a raise really quick.
As a person who never has nor likely ever will pay for college I’ve never felt so uncomfortable reading a comment section. I’m also an electrician paid 60k/yr….it’s very hard on my body, long hours, unwanted travel……it’s almost fascinating how high in sky you are from here…
Sorry for wasting your time 17 years old thinking of electrical engineering or electrician in Texas Can I ask are you in a union and what’s is your position? My passion is in installing stuff for people and businesses not designing but you make it sound like hell Any insight?
Employers will absolutely love you if you are both an electrician and electrical engineer. They will just hug you and say "please don't ever leave me." You will also do well in school because you already have a lot of understanding of electrical systems. And if it makes you feel any better, I was just a musician and got my EE master's degree from age 35 to 38. I got so many job offers, I didn't even have to go to a job interview! I just picked the job I wanted (which wasn't even the highest paying one.) And, I made a lot more money starting out than my fellow graduates because I think that potential employers respected my actual life experience, so my age worked for me and not against me.
Something to think about. Usually when people stay at a job they were preparing to quit only because they've been offered more money they last with that job for less than 12 months. Whatever was going on you were undervalued and it wasn't good. There is a good chance they're just preparing to replace you
Thanks for sharing. I'll list my salaries too. And good for you guys, you all did better than me. I lost hope and faith and gave up after 15 years of job hunting while unemployed, and still unemployed today. I guess not everyone can get a job in their chosen field. I wonder what the true statistics are. Graduated in 1994 with an EE degree, couldn't get EE job interviews but I was able to find two jobs, first a maintenance job and after that an electronic technician bench repair job. I don't remember the exact wages, something like $8-9 an hour and $11-12 an hour. It took me four years, to finally get hired as an EE in 1998 designing electrical power transformers, for $32K. But it was more like assembly line work just plugging in numbers in a spreadsheet. (No electronics just wires wrapped around iron cores). Their business slowed and 3 1/2 years later in 2001 I was laid off, with a salary of 40K. Never could get an interview after this so my degree and short career just rotted away. Employers for manufacturing jobs told me I'm overqualified and employers for engineering jobs told me I'm underqualified for EE and electronic technician jobs.
Wow your salary journey has been so different than mine. What field of EE where you in? Consulting engineering doesn't pay nearly as much. I started at 40k in 2008 as an EE.
I tend to pick up anything I need to do. Microcontroller programming, RF antenna matching, perl scripts w/mysql, analog design, prototyping, schematic capture/board design, matlab simulations, etc.
Hello sir. Great video. Kindly tell how are things in the electrical power engineering ? Am I just working towards a dead end or does it have any good carreer opportunities either good pay in the USA. Looking forward to your reply. Thank you so much
Hey BTB, I saw in the comments that you worked with microcontroller programming and in one of the tables you showed, it looks like you worked in consumer electronics for quite some time. Do you have any tips/advice for developing skills to become better at writing firmware and such? I'm not an EE major...I've been working an embedded software engineer for about 8 months now and my background is really more on the programming side.
I think understanding each hardware module in detail is the secret to using it well. Also, power down modes for battery saving and using interrupts in short loops.
The unneeded stress to get a pay increase of 20% 20k/ 40K? Getting too old for that. Leverage your net worth and earn that amount in dividend. Let the returns 3X your regular income. Meditate and do anything your heart desires.
I'm a hard worker with good grades finishing my 3rd year of Electrical Engineering at Canadian uni with co-op program. I am on the fence about masters since I'd rather just work and buff up my resume instead, I also hear some companies will pay for your masters, any advice?
I switched around, f/w, RF, analog, system... For f/w the fastest track would be to do an actual complex project yourself as a learning platform. Spend some time learning coding style as they don't teach you that in school usually.
GoodMorning sir from Philippines here , I really need your advice for me what career path to choice I recently passed the EE board exam . Hope you notice this .
I started with that. It took me 6 years after that to complete my Electrical Engineering Technology degree. During that time I was more focused on getting a job that had “engineering” in the job description than I was with school. During that time I hopped around between jobs while soaking up as much game as possible from the work. I now work as an Electrical Engineer and a Senior Product Engineer. I would advise getting as much working experience as you can while getting your 4 year degee. Companies hate fresh grads with no experience…
heyy im attending UCLA for my third year for EE! I am going to keep my GPA above 3.5 to guarantee masters program at UCLA. Thanks for helping pave the road!
This is a very valuable video, thank you for making this! I have a question: if I apply for other jobs right and somehow get an offer that's higher than what i currently make, aren't there consequences to showing my manager this and nudging them for a raise? Now, they would know that I'm looking for other jobs so wouldn't I be the first to get fired/laid off, especially if I'm not a top performer?
Sir , I'm 17 years old , I want to become a Electrical Engineer , So choose Electrical Engineering as BTech student. There are number of questions that I wanted to ask you... Could you find time to answer my questions... The Questions : 1. Is it necessary to complete Phd to become a researcher ? 2. Is Coding necessary for Electrical Engineer. If it is , what programming languages are important ?
1. Research pays little, PhD is usually needed if you want to research in an acdemic environment. 2. If you do power electronics, little programming is needed but programming comes in handy for say automating tasks like testing. Popular languages for EE are: Python, C, less so assembly these days unless you are doing low level embedded.
@BeatTheBush LOL, wut? I got to switch jobs!... I started exactly the same year as you with the same MSEE degree at $62K per year. The difference.. I stayed 6 yrs at the first company, In my second company now about 10yrs, I make way less than you. Great Video!
@@BeatTheBush More hours and over time time in a half or double time in construction or as a factory worker is pretty motivating when you get paid hourly though.
Unless he got an apprenticeship it had to have cost plenty. But with apprenticeship many are underpaid for years so unless the conditions are right surviving till the end is almost impossible.
College is very hard work. Grad school is even harder. I enjoyed my major and so it was not a struggle. Working first 3 jobs was great but it eventually turned more into just paperwork.
I have a project I was wondering if I can get your help on. Trying to make a 60v cordless microwave and need to know if its possible and if so can you help me figure out how. Thank u
I used to work for NASA. I drove the lunch wagon onto the pad. They fired me because everytime I'd drive up I'd yell out "LUNCH!". The guys at the top of the gantry would rush down thinking I said "LAUNCH".
Great video. In general I would never recommend anyone take a "matching" offer from an existing employer to keep someone from leaving. Once you accept, now there's an expectation for you to over-perform and work tons of hours. It never works out in my experience and in talking to many of my peers.
I found switching jobs every 2-3 years early in career can increase your pay scale considerably vs settling for the small annual increases that barely cover cost of living at the same company unless there is internal promotion opportunity. Otherwise, staying at the same job for long-term may reduce your marketability potential elsewhere.
Or you could refuse to 'settle' for small increases. Point out what inflation is at currently and tell them you want several percentage points over that. Before your annual salary review...go on some interviews and maybe try have an job offer or two in the bag, so that you can tell your current employer that if your raise is not substantial you will leave...and not be bluffing.
Don't tell current employer you have other offers, or how much the offer is for. Just give them a non-negotiable figure that's higher than your highest job offer. If you get it great, if not, leave and at least you're still getting a raise ;-)
I subscribed to you in my first year of Uni and now I'm graduating as an electrical engineer lmao.
Wow cool! Congrats!
Good luck! 👍
So did you get a job
In what University are you studying at ?
Thanks for being transparent. This is why I’m subscribed. :)
Thanks for the sub!
Heck I worked for a Korean Auto Manufacturing company. I didn’t get a raise for 4 years. They offered $2500 bonuses instead. It was a slap in the face.
love this type of content and agree with everything you said here after working as process engineer for 10 years
Capitalism after all is trying to maximize profits for them, not for you.
Dude! All this time and only now am I finding out you were an Electrical Engineer! You do realise there’s a massive community of people on YT studying, myself included (not for a job). You could really help (and make some more YT bank) people with all that knowledge. Having said that, I should probably ask if you already have a channel dedicated to it lol.
I do not have much teaching EE content. I might be very rusty but I have thought about it.
I have some EE career related content but the cpm is not very good so the ROI on EE videos is not worth the effort.
@@RelearnMath no one cares about EEs. Software engineering is what the algorithm has blessed. Unfortunately.
1000% agree with this method of increasing your pay in the engineering field. I graduated with my Mechanical engineering degree in 2018 and the only significant bumps Ive gotten are with switching companies, just be CAREFUL to not switch too many companies too quickly as they will start to question your resume. ALSO WHY DON'T ENGINEERS HAVE UNIONS?! WE ARE SMART ENOUGH TO CREATE THEM BUT FOR SOME REASON WE DON'T COME TOGETHER AS A COMMUNITY
Because most engineers are a bit antisocial lol. Including myself ha ha.
Are engineers required to have excellent communication skills?
I'm inarticulate n slightly indigent n slow at formulating sentences. This is holding me back
because unions have their own drawbacks and generally speaking are for people who want to get more for doing the bare minimum
the union question depends on which country you live and work in.
Most European countries have strong unions - includeing unions that are specifc for engineers (broad) or specific branch of engineering (Electrical Union which includes any and all workers that work with electricity/energy)
You will take a raw pay cut if you work in europe, at the same time all the stuff you might worry and think about in the US (social security, healthcare, insurance etc) comes in from your taxes mostly.
To be filthy rich in EU is not easy, to be above median or high middle class is not that hard if you are wanted. Big exceptions is if your career is more globaly applicable - which most engineers in fact are.
Because it’s the same as other fields. Why would a top tier 1% engineer want to make the same as everyone else. I’m all for unions, but they are not a quick fix to a compensation issue. In the trades most union workers will only make journeymen rate even though they may outperform most other journeymen at their company.
We need you to share some pro tips on how to get promoted from Jr. Relaxation Engineer to Sr. Relaxation Engineer.
LOL XD. I guess I was that for the past two years.
I believe the “taboo” is so everyone thinks they’re overpaid & isn’t aggressive about compensation - the way execs are.
Maybe some engineers will be like, wut! BTB got paid so and so, I need to switch jobs!
@@BeatTheBush haha I feel that. I started at 40k. 10 years later still not at 100k
I am sure,@@BeatTheBush , this vid is a public service. Years ago I’d thought it’d be good to have a website where folks put in their education, years in the field, and salary. I’m sure it exists. I do transistor level mixed-signal design. You’d be a fun -cubicle neighbor- , normal neighbor? Offices don’t exist yet
@@alexdasliebe5391I'm thinking of switching to IC and mixed signal design too, however i feel that the pay is not comparable to the stress you handle
as a fellow Asian and NA ee grad, I love listening to other engineers talk trash about Finance people 😂 they are most conniving type of planners, as in they are trained to only think about short term gains.
Exactly, all financ majors are scummy
not sure if its just the lighting, but you're looking much healthier/well-rested these days BTB...hope all is well!
Yes! Thank you!
Wow, I'm having a similar situation to what has been mentioned at around 11:21 of this video. I have no idea how to properly explain to my manager that I can't show my skills or get more work done because I they give me this other thing to do which is a full time job in itself and this thing is not even included in the performance review at the end of the year! This video is very helpful!
Wow I’m making what he did in 2005 in 2024 as an entry level engineer…
Economy is bad
Engineer dont make money anymore as they used to the only engineer thst makes sense when it comes to pay is software engineer and is not even a practical engineer like a base knowledge
Software engineer are not real engineer they're better version of us because you actually solve problems on the daily basis, it requires more skill than knowledge of a useless degree
All other engineers for higher pay you would need most times masters and go to college again
Do this master to go there do the other to go there but with software just more skill
@@skydivenext yep, software developers can code a ton and the only costs involved are related to the computers or servers their code runs on. Engineers make products that need circuit boards, chips, enclosures, motors, sensors, etc., all costing a lot of money especially on a big scale. So that may explain why they get paid less.
But this guy in the video was making 65k in 2005 adjusted to inflation is close to 95k as shown in the video, and many of my friends and myself are 65-75k entry level engineers in 2024. That's so crazy. Plus, you have to still put in long hours and sacrifice a lot for these low paying jobs.
He just showed you the market takes % cuts depending on whatever is going on with politics & interest rates.
The video I've been waiting for!!
=D
I have a MSEE from one of the top state universities too. Unfortunately, I work in the Fab and there are not many jobs.
You are right about the raise. It is no good if I stay in the same company.
I used to spend too much money on useless things. Now, I save money as much as possible and invest in the market.
I hope I will join you soon to retire comfortably.
BTW, I wish I had computer science degree. I love programming and FAANG pays much better than MSEE.
so how is it going?
Agreed. The only way to get a good pay bump is to jump ship. My current company is hemorrhaging engineers daily. SO many people are leaving, including myself. It feels good
This is very insightful, quality content as always.
Thanks for sharing all of this information. We are the same generation as I graduated in 2003 Bachelor's degree.
I just got a job as an electrical engineer for Pickering nuclear power plant in Ontario CA. After finishing mine over 19 years of designing nuclear power plant experience in China. I think it's lucky to get a salary of over CAD$ 8k per month. 😂
Hey there, are u still with Pickering nuclear power plant ?
@@Bytekin101 No, my offer expired just because the site clearance had taken too much period.
@@bryanz5904 oh okay, hope you are still working in the field though?
@@Bytekin101 ye, for sure✌
So refreshing to see this. Nowadays when you look up engineering advice it’s mostly “software engineering” this and that, some mechanical here and there but rarely electrical engineering
Bro is EE worth? it I have kind of attraction to electrical engineering, But I fear
Nice I have a bachelors in EE, 3.5 years of experience, second job after school making 100k in AZ, started at 69k
For AZ, that might be very good. Have to factor in the location too.
can you name your current company?
I graduated in 2020 during the the start of the pandemonic, and now after 1.5 years trying to find a job is so hard, since i don't have much experience ; the most funny thing is that even interns required some experienced from pervious internship SMH
Great video recapping your journey with great info.
Thanks!
Really depends on the market, city (location), year and what you actually do: residential, utilities, mining, etc. But thanks for the numbers!
I didn't jump around....stupidly stayed with the same co for 22 years! Fortunately I was able to promote myself to Sr Relaxation Mgr last yr due to going all in on $TSLA
OOOOh... bold move and it paid off!
Thanks for your encouragement
You are definitely right, the only way to get real raises is to switch jobs. On the other side, you don’t want to switch job too much so people think you jump around all the time. I started my first job as an architect at 40k, after 10yrs I’m finally at 6 figures. Thanks to recent hot job market.
Or you could just bluff your way to get increases by showing your boss offer letters.
@@BeatTheBush haha, I tried, no firm will provide written letters until you agree to the offer verbally, nowadays.
Very informative
Glad you think so!
Hi,
My take is that changing job once every two years is the best approach as per my perspective. It allows one to learn the different organisation's culture and new things.
WTK
I been so interested in the kind of field work hopefully things turn out alright for me wish me luck 🙏
Started on USD 100k in 2014, now earning USD 85k. Consistent pay rises, but home currency depreciation!!!
This is exactly what I do and advise other engineers to do as well.
Is there an e-mail I can reach out to you. I have a MSEE and planning to get PE soon. Thanks
Thx for your information
Very genuine summary and advice. It brought back my memories of starting up 46K in San Fran like 10 years ago. The couple raises I got from moving to other companies saved me from poverty. Another point if helpful (but really depends on industries) - stay in the same job for at least 1-2 years before moving on. Otherwise it's easy to get a raise in cash by jumping around, but not necessarily helpful to growth in title or career.
Yup. Jumping around is how it is in tech.
I Houston, Tx I never made it pass 90k with my engineering degree. I live comfortably but never extravagant. I was able to pay off my house but never accumulated enough to venture into anything else. Got laid off last couple months and it’s hard from where I use to be to finding something similar to salary. I just think in big cities, they usually don’t pay well as they can find similar talents with someone cheaper
Salaries are lower there than in Bay Area indeed. But if you're over here, salary to housing prices is lower than in Tx.
I actually think the bigger the city, the more you get paid to compensate for cost of living. You have to go compete for it.
That’s a LOT more than I thought engineers make.
Engineers usually have a high front end salary. I.e. salary is very high just out of college.
Remember this is also in CA. Higher cost of living.
Pro tip: always negotiate your salary denominated in Bitcoin to hedge inflation.
I really wish I had the time to go back to school and pursue this career to better my family
Great video!
Thanks!
This was a good video!
What's impressive is that you made a huge fortune with your investments, from what you earned as an electrical engineer. Getting more pay is not as important as what you do with it.
Electrical engineering is a very challenging field. It kills me every time i think about how low we are paid, when compared to say fund managers on wall street. I know someone personally, and I tell you, you don't want to know those pay numbers :(.
I’ve been studying it in my spare time and for everything you have to learn and retain you guys are woefully underpaid, add on the actual job itself and they’re taking advantage of a lot of you.
Lol... fund managers? 300k? 1.5M/year??? Apparently, they eat $100 steaks for a 'quick' lunch.
@@InimitaPaul You bet we are. My personal opinion is that pure mathematicians are the smartest of the lot, and get paid diddly squat, unless of course, they go to wall-street and become a quant PM. Many do that, so do many electrical engineers (like Bob Mercer of Rentech fame).
@@BeatTheBush I tell you man ... no kid born in the US, and who is smart enough to crack through EE subjects, would ever bother entering STEM fields. They head straight to wallstreet, make enough to retire early, and then, go on to do whatever they do after that. It's the smartest thing to do given that even a marriage contract can't do apart your pre-marital assets. You have it for life, unless of course, you blow it all off in some stupid trade like the way Bill Hwang did :).
@@abhijitharakali Yeah but then you would have to work on Wall Street and I can’t think of anything I would hate more. I like my electrical engineering salary. And engineering is suuuuuper easy compared to my previous career where I made about 1/5 the money. I used to be a professional musician and that was the hardest thing you can imagine, plus I was poor. Now I can afford nice musical gear, work remotely, and I enjoy what I do (lately has been a lot of SCADA design and some controls stuff. Also a lot of hardware in the loop (CHIL)- the power system simulation part of it.). The work can be hard sometimes when we are near a deadline, but for the most part it’s stress-free and really interesting and fun.
Also, your concept of getting paid “diddly squat” is funny to me, because of the different perspective I’m coming from. I’ve never seen a homeless mathematician (just ones who LOOK homeless! :) )
thank you so much
That was a fun pay journey to hear about.
My company has a set pay scale for my position. The scale does increase depending on what's going on in the industry. From the bottom of the scale to the top is a difference of 124% so it more than doubles
It's good that have something defined.
Mechanical engineer here !
Nice!
Thanks for breaking it all down and explaining your salary! I’m an electrical engineering student and was wondering what the salary would look like down the road
Great advice, I've found if you broach the subject of expecting more than a 3% raise a few weeks before the review process is finalized you have a good chance of getting a bigger raise. There's definitely a cap on how much they'll give you unless you have offers from other companies.
This is true and is a good tip if you job is demanding like his, but normal people who have regular jobs, changing jobs every 2-3 yrs may raise a red flag in hr’s perception. Also kind of makes your resume look like you have patterns for not staying at one place more than a couple of yrs.
Definitely can relate to feeling desperate. I graduated a few years ago in a different field than yours making barely above minimum wage in the Bay at around $22 and jumped to $115k five months later
Wow damn
That's really good
What field
@@Gabriel-xw2zp non tech role in tech
This was well done, very interesting.
Thank you!
thanks for the vid of your experiences. i can feel your experiences as they happen in many industries. Because your now in a better position you dont need the aggravation , and can just relax without all that , it just doesnt give you inner peace working in these companies
Once you go self-employed, you'll never want to go back. =D
Your salary journey was very insightful, as to see how other careers do compare to yours. My brother graduated as a food scientist in 2020 and as a recent graduate with no experience couldn't find a job for over 6 months, he applied every day for jobs, when he finally landed a job he only got paid $20 an hr. He's been there at this job for little over 6months and even though he keeps applying to jobs , noone calls him back because they are asking for experience of 2 to 3 years minimum. So, he feels stuck where my stepson makes $21 an hr working for FedEx. 🤦♀️ it's just funny to me.
I got most of my jobs through connections so he might want to ask people he knows. 2nd tip is to seriously consider pay for professional resume services. If you go from $40k/year to $80k/year, a few hundred is well worth the investment.
After graduation it is normal to be paid close to minimum wages. He has to hang in there for 2 years, learn as much as he can and after that he could 2x his wages in another company. The reason most graduates might earn as much as school leavers is that from a production pov they might be as productive if not less as someone who has been with the company for a few years. Then the curve changes with experience. He shouldn't feel stuck in his first 5 months if he is working in his field and learning
I went to college and still have a ton of debt and make $62k a year. My husband got an Union job as an Elevator Mechanic and makes $170k. My brother is in the electrician union and makes $140k. My husband’s brother is in the plumber’s union and makes $120k. It kills me every week when I see his paystub when I work so many more hours.
@@vchafab It’s the correct degree you have to choose. I always tell people in highschool, choose a STEM degree and you won’t have any problem landing jobs. Or learn a skilled trade that humanity can’t go without.
@@vchafab if they weren't unionized they would make less. They are overpaid compared to market.
What's your take on getting a masters as an EE straight from college? Is it worth it if the company is paying for it? or Is it better to get the experience from just working?
I did computer engineering and MS in Computer science. I worked with a lot of EEs in my first few years. For almost all cases, your company will pay for a masters to be competitive and raise up talent. Sometimes they require you to work there for a few years in exchange for this.
It's a pretty good way to go, just don't take too many classes. I just did one at a time.
Please don't do that. I have a bunch of buddies who actually did that. And then it's even harder to get a job than only with a Bachelor degree
@@Verschiedenes why would you say that? Everyone I know with a MS in computer science or electrical engineering gets head hunters calling and messaging every day.
There's certainly no negative stigma. If they are not employable it's likely due to other reasons. E.g. soft skills... not personable or a team player etc.
@@KyleLuce I agree. I’m surprised to hear someone say they had any difficulty finding a job with a MS in EE. I got my MS in EE and never even had to go to a job interview. I just had companies fighting over me.
For reference, I got my MS in Milwaukee WI, and there is a lot of industry there so you get a lot of connections. Most professors are people who worked in industry for most of their careers and so they just help you get a job. Actually they even try to not let companies snatch you away because they want you to do research on their team while you are still a student. But once you graduate, you get snatched, for sure.
And my specialization was in power electronics and power systems and some controls, in case you’re wondering. And I am a US citizen. Non-citizens always have a harder time finding a job, but I don’t think a master’s degree would hurt them! I don’t think I know any non US person with just a bachelor’s. Most of them have pHd. (PHd? Phd? phD? which is it?)
Would you say this logic and strategy is useful for any field ? I’m wondering if I can apply it to the field of nursing or if it’s strictly tied to electrical engineering?
I think my strategy is great for tech. I'm not sure if it's portable to nursing. Employers in general lags behind in pay until you switch so interview a few times a year to get an offer or two.
Not so much in nursing. Nurses are either unionized or in a tier for payscale based off of experience. Shitty but it’s the truth, a horrible nurse with 10yrs experience will always make more than the critical thinking new grad. This is of course assuming they are in the same organization.
Most people who quit leave because of a manager.
I did too.
My manager changed jobs and then that's when it went down hill.
@@BeatTheBush
I RE’d because of a manager.
I quit during my annual review when they notified me I was not getting a raise. It was great.
i'm a senior engineer myself and my salary is pretty stagnant the last 2 years. I'm at 120 but I am thinking long term. My cousin who is 8 years younger is a firefighter prob makes 50-60k. In 10 years, he will be making 6 figures easily with a pension fund building. I don't think I am ready for an architect role. Ageism is a thing I worry about in IT.
In firefighting, you have to risk your life though. Have you handed them an offer letter higher than your current pay? I bet that will get you a raise really quick.
Location?
As a person who never has nor likely ever will pay for college I’ve never felt so uncomfortable reading a comment section. I’m also an electrician paid 60k/yr….it’s very hard on my body, long hours, unwanted travel……it’s almost fascinating how high in sky you are from here…
Sorry for wasting your time
17 years old thinking of electrical engineering or electrician in Texas
Can I ask are you in a union and what’s is your position?
My passion is in installing stuff for people and businesses not designing but you make it sound like hell
Any insight?
I'm 25 yrs old and I'm an electrician would it be to late to start studying for an electrical engineering degree while I'm working as electrician
You'll probably blend in enough and not look too much older. Engineering degree will probably earn more.
Employers will absolutely love you if you are both an electrician and electrical engineer. They will just hug you and say "please don't ever leave me." You will also do well in school because you already have a lot of understanding of electrical systems. And if it makes you feel any better, I was just a musician and got my EE master's degree from age 35 to 38. I got so many job offers, I didn't even have to go to a job interview! I just picked the job I wanted (which wasn't even the highest paying one.) And, I made a lot more money starting out than my fellow graduates because I think that potential employers respected my actual life experience, so my age worked for me and not against me.
i bet your smart as hell!!. not easy to get masters in EE. EE are already smart before they become EE.
Naw. I've encountered many people smarter during my career. Sometimes mind blowingly smart, almost genius level.
When switch companies for higher pay. How often until it becomes suspicious or even a red flag?
Something to think about. Usually when people stay at a job they were preparing to quit only because they've been offered more money they last with that job for less than 12 months. Whatever was going on you were undervalued and it wasn't good. There is a good chance they're just preparing to replace you
Good thing I fired them first! lol.
Thanks for sharing. I'll list my salaries too. And good for you guys, you all did better than me. I lost hope and faith and gave up after 15 years of job hunting while unemployed, and still unemployed today. I guess not everyone can get a job in their chosen field. I wonder what the true statistics are.
Graduated in 1994 with an EE degree, couldn't get EE job interviews but I was able to find two jobs, first a maintenance job and after that an electronic technician bench repair job. I don't remember the exact wages, something like $8-9 an hour and $11-12 an hour. It took me four years, to finally get hired as an EE in 1998 designing electrical power transformers, for $32K. But it was more like assembly line work just plugging in numbers in a spreadsheet. (No electronics just wires wrapped around iron cores). Their business slowed and 3 1/2 years later in 2001 I was laid off, with a salary of 40K. Never could get an interview after this so my degree and short career just rotted away. Employers for manufacturing jobs told me I'm overqualified and employers for engineering jobs told me I'm underqualified for EE and electronic technician jobs.
Same happened to me get your cdl a you'll make 6 figures in 2 yrs
Wow your salary journey has been so different than mine. What field of EE where you in? Consulting engineering doesn't pay nearly as much. I started at 40k in 2008 as an EE.
I tend to pick up anything I need to do. Microcontroller programming, RF antenna matching, perl scripts w/mysql, analog design, prototyping, schematic capture/board design, matlab simulations, etc.
He lives in Nor Cal though so the salaries there are the highest in the nation.
I remember started out making 54k and was pretty happy and then thought I had made it when I hit 6 figures.
You need 150k today to feel like 'six-figures' 10 years ago.
@@BeatTheBush Yeah. Even in the Bay, 150k feels average.
Which country are you from ?
Hello sir. Great video. Kindly tell how are things in the electrical power engineering ? Am I just working towards a dead end or does it have any good carreer opportunities either good pay in the USA.
Looking forward to your reply. Thank you so much
how did it turn out to be?
I’m living in South Australia. Can you suggest me business idea in electrical. I have done my graduation as an electrical engineer
1:18 "Company: Bum" Lol!
Sr. Relaxation Engineer lol
I love it!
Hey BTB, I saw in the comments that you worked with microcontroller programming and in one of the tables you showed, it looks like you worked in consumer electronics for quite some time. Do you have any tips/advice for developing skills to become better at writing firmware and such? I'm not an EE major...I've been working an embedded software engineer for about 8 months now and my background is really more on the programming side.
I think understanding each hardware module in detail is the secret to using it well. Also, power down modes for battery saving and using interrupts in short loops.
The unneeded stress to get a pay increase of 20% 20k/ 40K? Getting too old for that. Leverage your net worth and earn that amount in dividend. Let the returns 3X your regular income. Meditate and do anything your heart desires.
How have your dividends been treating you now? Learned anything?
I'm a hard worker with good grades finishing my 3rd year of Electrical Engineering at Canadian uni with co-op program. I am on the fence about masters since I'd rather just work and buff up my resume instead, I also hear some companies will pay for your masters, any advice?
Depends on the sub field you end up working in. I always wanted to only do a master because it's really great return on the time you spend getting it.
What type of Electrical Engineer were you? Any advice if I want to become a Firmware Engineer or Embedded Systems Engineer?
I switched around, f/w, RF, analog, system... For f/w the fastest track would be to do an actual complex project yourself as a learning platform. Spend some time learning coding style as they don't teach you that in school usually.
@@BeatTheBush Thank you! For firmware is C primarily used or C++?
GoodMorning sir from Philippines here , I really need your advice for me what career path to choice I recently passed the EE board exam . Hope you notice this .
did you find your career path?
Why work at Amazon or some other place money?
You might be referring to my warehouse stint. It's for the experience.
@@BeatTheBushOkay fair enough. I was wondering.
Do you think a electrical engineering technician associate degree is worth pursuing?
I started with that. It took me 6 years after that to complete my Electrical Engineering Technology degree. During that time I was more focused on getting a job that had “engineering” in the job description than I was with school. During that time I hopped around between jobs while soaking up as much game as possible from the work. I now work as an Electrical Engineer and a Senior Product Engineer. I would advise getting as much working experience as you can while getting your 4 year degee. Companies hate fresh grads with no experience…
Back at the crib
=D
Pls hw do you make all these companies know you
heyy im attending UCLA for my third year for EE! I am going to keep my GPA above 3.5 to guarantee masters program at UCLA. Thanks for helping pave the road!
thx
how tf did bro get senior engineer title basically right out of college... teach me your ways
This is a very valuable video, thank you for making this! I have a question: if I apply for other jobs right and somehow get an offer that's higher than what i currently make, aren't there consequences to showing my manager this and nudging them for a raise? Now, they would know that I'm looking for other jobs so wouldn't I be the first to get fired/laid off, especially if I'm not a top performer?
You don't bluff them. You will switch jobs if they do not give you a raise. Sometimes, they may want to let you go to the next one.
balla shot calla 20 inch rims onthe impala! lol
Lol. I have no such car!
interesting. it seems like quite a low hourly rate, i just got a rough estimate by dividing the salary by 50 hours/week.
I usually divide by 2000. Knock off three zeros and divide by two.
Thanks for sharing. It would also be interesting to know how many hours you worked per week.
Almost all jobs were 40 hours a week.
@@BeatTheBush cool! I thought you might have been expected to work longer hours.
I just try to do bare minimum and accept the inflation raise lol.
You wonder why. Maybe they do not appreciate you enough or the work isn't meaningful enough?
If you're happy with coasting and will not get PIPed, all the more power to you and the mental sanity that comes with it
Sir , I'm 17 years old , I want to become a Electrical Engineer , So choose Electrical Engineering as BTech student.
There are number of questions that I wanted to ask you... Could you find time to answer my questions...
The Questions :
1. Is it necessary to complete Phd to become a researcher ?
2. Is Coding necessary for Electrical Engineer. If it is , what programming languages are important ?
1. Research pays little, PhD is usually needed if you want to research in an acdemic environment.
2. If you do power electronics, little programming is needed but programming comes in handy for say automating tasks like testing. Popular languages for EE are: Python, C, less so assembly these days unless you are doing low level embedded.
@@BeatTheBush Thank You so much , Sir . For finding time to answer my questions , now I got a Clarity...☺️👍
@BeatTheBush LOL, wut? I got to switch jobs!... I started exactly the same year as you with the same MSEE degree at $62K per year. The difference.. I stayed 6 yrs at the first company, In my second company now about 10yrs, I make way less than you. Great Video!
Yes... get a competing offer and then decide.
Are these all jobs in a large capital city though?
Yes. I worked in silicon valley.
how often to switch jobs?
In tech, 2-3 years for first few jobs.
At my current job, the company doesn't care about you, they won't give you a raise, they'll just let you go to the new job.
Do getting more hours at a job per week count as a rasie?
No. And if its salary, it's a pay decrease per hour.
@@BeatTheBush More hours and over time time in a half or double time in construction or as a factory worker is pretty motivating when you get paid hourly though.
Did you ever feel like an imposter in some of your jobs? Can you do a video on how you prepared for interviews etc?
Ahhh the imposter syndrome. I have a story with that one I might have to put in a video. Interview prep video, noted.
@@BeatTheBush Thanks BTB!
How much did you spend on school?
Unless he got an apprenticeship it had to have cost plenty. But with apprenticeship many are underpaid for years so unless the conditions are right surviving till the end is almost impossible.
$20k undergrad, $40k graduate. I had financial aid.
@@BeatTheBush that was with housing? Or only school tuition?
@@BeatTheBush what college for undergrad n masters
bro was college hard work? - like did you struggle , and can you fail... did you enjoy it ? then did you enjoy working?
College is very hard work. Grad school is even harder. I enjoyed my major and so it was not a struggle. Working first 3 jobs was great but it eventually turned more into just paperwork.
Definitely do NOT ask for a pay match from your current employer. They will look to replace you quickly.
I suppose I never did stay long after accepting a match/raise at the current place.
Haha he knows Graham respects guys in STEM careers
I have a project I was wondering if I can get your help on. Trying to make a 60v cordless microwave and need to know if its possible and if so can you help me figure out how. Thank u
why didn't you work for Facebook or apple
Too much commute!
I used to work for NASA. I drove the lunch wagon onto the pad. They fired me because everytime I'd drive up I'd yell out "LUNCH!". The guys at the top of the gantry would rush down thinking I said "LAUNCH".
LOL! Ehhh yeah.. that might be a dangerous thing.
😂😂😂😭😭😭😭
I remember my math teacher pushing the students to think about being a engineer as a career
A good idea. I think math teachers do around 50-60k/year?
@@BeatTheBush
In Florida yeah. Math was not my strong suit! I closed that door pretty quickly LOL.
Great video. In general I would never recommend anyone take a "matching" offer from an existing employer to keep someone from leaving. Once you accept, now there's an expectation for you to over-perform and work tons of hours. It never works out in my experience and in talking to many of my peers.