What's your idea of a good salary?

[Freegs]

Warning - graduate rant.

Having got my BSc at a top Russell group uni followed by an MSc from an even better one, a starting salary of <20k and little progression for 5 yrs+ is a sad reality. Would be very happy to be matching my age with my salary to be honest!

Seems like PH is an increasingly wealthy place. What do all these 50k, 70k earners do...finance, I.T? Someone tell me where I went wrong.

[mikees]

Freegs said:

Warning - graduate rant.

Having got my BSc at a top Russell group uni followed by an MSc from an even better one, a starting salary of <20k and little progression for 5 yrs+ is a sad reality. Would be very happy to be matching my age with my salary to be honest!

Seems like PH is an increasingly wealthy place. What do all these 50k, 70k earners do...finance, I.T? Someone tell me where I went wrong.

What do you do? Any pm skills?


Mike

[CAFEDEAD]

Freegs said:

Warning - graduate rant.

Having got my BSc at a top Russell group uni followed by an MSc from an even better one, a starting salary of <20k and little progression for 5 yrs+ is a sad reality. Would be very happy to be matching my age with my salary to be honest!

Seems like PH is an increasingly wealthy place. What do all these 50k, 70k earners do...finance, I.T? Someone tell me where I went wrong.

IT.

No MSc, starting salary <20k and six figures within 5 years. I have to work in IT though.

[DoubleSix]

CAFEDEAD said:

IT.

No MSc, starting salary <20k and six figures within 5 years. I have to work in IT though.

Aye, finance, no life for 3 years, lots of exams/weekend study. Buckets of stress etc

But if money is your goal it'll serve that purpose.

Wish I'd been an architech personally.

[Joey Ramone]

Freegs said:

Warning - graduate rant.

Having got my BSc at a top Russell group uni followed by an MSc from an even better one, a starting salary of <20k and little progression for 5 yrs+ is a sad reality. Would be very happy to be matching my age with my salary to be honest!

Seems like PH is an increasingly wealthy place. What do all these 50k, 70k earners do...finance, I.T? Someone tell me where I went wrong.

I wouldn't worry too much. I went to a VG Russell Group university, did a PhD at the same and by the age of 28 was on about 22k. But in my (former) trade, academia, you tend to grind away at the coalface initially, earning relatively little, and then capitalise on your expertise as time goes on with relatively big jumps in salary if you can supplement it with consultancy work here and there.

I've switched right over to consultancy this year so at the age of 41 I can expect 100k plus next year, although theoretically, depending how much business we bring in, it could be significantly more than that. But the field is highly precarious and I could be out of a job just like that.

I have to say that my idea of a good salary is highly skewed by what my three closest friends earn. Two are on about 150k and the other is on about 9Ok. That has a powerful influence on my appreciation of what is 'good'.

[okgo]

Freegs said:

Warning - graduate rant.

Having got my BSc at a top Russell group uni followed by an MSc from an even better one, a starting salary of <20k and little progression for 5 yrs+ is a sad reality. Would be very happy to be matching my age with my salary to be honest!

Seems like PH is an increasingly wealthy place. What do all these 50k, 70k earners do...finance, I.T? Someone tell me where I went wrong.

Flog advertising

[sleep envy]

DoubleSix said:

Wish I'd been an architech personally.

I don't and started out on that course.

Part 3 qualified at 27 means you earn fk all money.

[DoubleSix]

sleep envy said:

DoubleSix said:

Wish I'd been an architech personally.

I don't and started out on that course.

Part 3 qualified at 27 means you earn fk all money.

That was my point.

Money ain't everything.

I now wish I had an outlet for my creative side instead of juggling numbers.

[liner33]

How much do bonuses come into it ? I dont mean target/sales based ones but just a fixed bonus normally written into the contract for if the company does well.

My wife has an almost 15% bonus usually which comes in January but for the first time in 6 years the company have decided not to pay one.

Of course this kinda sucks when its out of your control ie performance, but its the companies prerogative.

Is this common in UK companies ? IE lower basic salary but higher bonus? Would you include the potential bonus when stating your annual salary ?

[STW2010]

I wouldn't, no.

[sleep envy]

DoubleSix said:

That was my point.

Money ain't everything.

I now wish I had an outlet for my creative side instead of juggling numbers.

There isn't that much creativity in being an Architect.

[STW2010]

Freegs said:

Warning - graduate rant.

Having got my BSc at a top Russell group uni followed by an MSc from an even better one, a starting salary of <20k and little progression for 5 yrs+ is a sad reality. Would be very happy to be matching my age with my salary to be honest!

Seems like PH is an increasingly wealthy place. What do all these 50k, 70k earners do...finance, I.T? Someone tell me where I went wrong.

You need to move around a bit I reckon. I'm assuming that you have remained with the same company for 5 years?

Plan a career path and then seek training to aid your progression to these levels, even if that means changing employer every year or two.

I started with my current employer 5 years ago (same field as Joey Ramone, but I'm 10 years younger). I was a post-doc, but set a target of moving up after 2 years which was when a high profile project I was working on came to an end. I was given academic status (a fellowship) by the University, which was essentially a fast-track. I then set a further 18 month target for the next progression, met all targets and completed all necessary training (a PGCert in higher education) and started pushing for this promotion. I was looking elsewhere too- I was going to reach the next level by the 18 month mark one way or another. My current employer recognised the determination and promoted me.

I've been at my current level for 2 years but recognise that progression from this level onwards takes a lot longer. I will give it a further 18 months (senior appointments start from October anyway).

My point is that I planned my progression and was prepared to change employers if needed.

[otolith]

STW2010 said:

You need to move around a bit I reckon. I'm assuming that you have remained with the same company for 5 years?

Article pretty much stating the obvious, but;

http://www.forbes.com/sites/cameronkeng/2014/06/22...

[DoubleSix]

sleep envy said:

DoubleSix said:

That was my point.

Money ain't everything.

I now wish I had an outlet for my creative side instead of juggling numbers.

There isn't that much creativity in being an Architect.

Perhaps not for some, stuck designing blocks of flats or such.

However my father was a rather successful architech and displayed considerable artistry in his work. Barely a wall in my house doesn't have some evidence of that.

But he was one of a kind.

[okgo]

@ STW - I think in many fields your last line is very key.

I've got mates who started at the same time in the same industry as I did and earn half what I do. I've always been of the opinion that I'll never let a job have any emotional attachments getting in the way of progression, and its surprising that yourself and I, if you have a similar mindset, are the minority. Many people will not take the risk of moving, or will string things out...

I joined my last place and always knew it was a 2 year affair, after 2 and a bit years I made my move, got what I wanted, all the while a good mate of mine had done 4 years at the same place and ended up making the same move, and earns slightly less now too. So he has effectively thrown 2 years away. Those two years could have been two years in his new role and moving on from there, but he sat on his hands as he got comfortable.

Clearly this depends a lot on your motivations and such. I don't think I'll be in a position to ever do what I truly love (whatever that may be) so I see work as a means to an end. When you take emotion out of it, everything becomes a lot more simple in my mind.

Edited by okgo on Tuesday 2nd December 10:33

[okgo]

DoubleSix said:

Barely a wall in my house doesn't have some evidence of that.

But he was one of a kind.

Plasterer?

[DoubleSix]

okgo said:

DoubleSix said:

Barely a wall in my house doesn't have some evidence of that.

But he was one of a kind.

Plasterer?

Sorry, thought it was obvious (because I wrote as much) that he was:

A) an architect
B) a talented artist

[Shaoxter]

okgo said:

@ STW - I think in many fields your last line is very key.

I've got mates who started at the same time in the same industry as I did and earn half what I do. I've always been of the opinion that I'll never let a job have any emotional attachments getting in the way of progression, and its surprising that yourself and I, if you have a similar mindset, are the minority. Many people will not take the risk of moving, or will string things out...

I joined my last place and always knew it was a 2 year affair, after 2 and a bit years I made my move, got what I wanted, all the while a good mate of mine had done 4 years at the same place and ended up making the same move, and earns slightly less now too. So he has effectively thrown 2 years away. Those two years could have been two years in his new role and moving on from there, but he sat on his hands as he got comfortable.

Clearly this depends a lot on your motivations and such. I don't think I'll be in a position to ever do what I truly love (whatever that may be) so I see work as a means to an end. When you take emotion out of it, everything becomes a lot more simple in my mind.

Amen to that.

I think way too many people are risk averse and stick around in a comfortable environment even though it's a dead end.

Also I don't really get the "dream job" chasing either, at the end of the day I see a job as a way of living in a nice place, buying the cars I wants and going on interesting holidays. My only dream jobs would be an F1 driver or a p0rnstar, but neither of those are happening...

Work to live, not live to work.

[otolith]

DoubleSix said:

Sorry, thought it was obvious (because I wrote as much) that he was:

A) an architect
B) a talented artist

It was obvious, also obvious that "plasterer" was a joke?

[DoubleSix]

otolith said:

DoubleSix said:

Sorry, thought it was obvious (because I wrote as much) that he was:

A) an architect
B) a talented artist

It was obvious, also obvious that "plasterer" was a joke?

Would only work as a joke if the profession was left ambiguous. As I was explicit in my first post the 'joke' didn't work. Sorry.