Engineering Career Advice - 7 years in..
Discussion
Hi, hoping there might be some on here who are able to offer an opinion..
I’m a mechanical engineer in the shipbuilding industry with 6.5 years of graduate level experience and I’m looking for a bit of advice on my present situation so apologies for the long post. I’ve moved around a bit so I’ll briefly summarise my experience to give some background:
- 2 year graduate programme with Babcock, Devonport Dockyard. Included a 6 month production management placement seconded to Rosyth on Aircraft Carrier Programme.
- HR put blocker on taking a permanent role in Rosyth so took a 12 month temp staff contract as a Production Controller instead.
- Joined BAE Systems as a Shock engineer on submarine project. £3k pay cut but needed full time employment after leaving Babcock. Stayed in this role just over 2 years and did a mixture of analysis and project work.
- Internal move about 1 year ago to the Mechanical Engineering team responsible for cooling system design.
- I intend to submit a chartership application this year with IMechE. (I have BEng Aero Engineering)
The general concerns I now have are as follows…
- I effectively started on the same salary as a direct entry graduate when I moved to BAE 3 years ago, despite having had 3 years prior experience. My first 3 years were largely spent in operations roles or graduate placements so they weren’t directly relevant to the Shock engineer role I applied for.
- After 3 years with BAE I find I’m now earning the same as those with 3-4 years post uni experience, when I have approaching 7. Moving to a new (internal) role again last year has meant another learning curve so if anything I feel further away from the skill level of those with 6-7 years in the same department.
And my queries about what to do about them…
- Should I be pushing for a higher pay grade that is more in line with others who have similar time served? What is that first 3 years experience actually worth? I feel slightly short changed that my pay today doesn’t reflect that.
- What does the job market think of people like me? Well rounded engineer or Jack-of-All Trades and master of none? I’ve effectively had 3 or 4 different roles across 3 different sites in Operations, Project and Engineering. I’ve been in my current job 1 year, and my previous roles were each approx. 2 years in length so not been job hopping every 6 months..
- What would my job prospects be as contractor? Is it better to have a wide range experience to call upon providing I’m not going for niche analysis jobs?
- I do feel slightly envious of those who have settled into a role straight from uni and progressed quite far in the time that I have been moving around, but then the cards didn’t quite fall my way at the start..
I’m a mechanical engineer in the shipbuilding industry with 6.5 years of graduate level experience and I’m looking for a bit of advice on my present situation so apologies for the long post. I’ve moved around a bit so I’ll briefly summarise my experience to give some background:
- 2 year graduate programme with Babcock, Devonport Dockyard. Included a 6 month production management placement seconded to Rosyth on Aircraft Carrier Programme.
- HR put blocker on taking a permanent role in Rosyth so took a 12 month temp staff contract as a Production Controller instead.
- Joined BAE Systems as a Shock engineer on submarine project. £3k pay cut but needed full time employment after leaving Babcock. Stayed in this role just over 2 years and did a mixture of analysis and project work.
- Internal move about 1 year ago to the Mechanical Engineering team responsible for cooling system design.
- I intend to submit a chartership application this year with IMechE. (I have BEng Aero Engineering)
The general concerns I now have are as follows…
- I effectively started on the same salary as a direct entry graduate when I moved to BAE 3 years ago, despite having had 3 years prior experience. My first 3 years were largely spent in operations roles or graduate placements so they weren’t directly relevant to the Shock engineer role I applied for.
- After 3 years with BAE I find I’m now earning the same as those with 3-4 years post uni experience, when I have approaching 7. Moving to a new (internal) role again last year has meant another learning curve so if anything I feel further away from the skill level of those with 6-7 years in the same department.
And my queries about what to do about them…
- Should I be pushing for a higher pay grade that is more in line with others who have similar time served? What is that first 3 years experience actually worth? I feel slightly short changed that my pay today doesn’t reflect that.
- What does the job market think of people like me? Well rounded engineer or Jack-of-All Trades and master of none? I’ve effectively had 3 or 4 different roles across 3 different sites in Operations, Project and Engineering. I’ve been in my current job 1 year, and my previous roles were each approx. 2 years in length so not been job hopping every 6 months..
- What would my job prospects be as contractor? Is it better to have a wide range experience to call upon providing I’m not going for niche analysis jobs?
- I do feel slightly envious of those who have settled into a role straight from uni and progressed quite far in the time that I have been moving around, but then the cards didn’t quite fall my way at the start..
Forget the contracting angle...HMRC has stuffed that way of working.
My view (different field) is go out to the market and see what you can get ££ wise if that is what your after. I'm sure there are plenty of companies where you can work on short term projects...this will give you those general skills which are great for opening up the job market to you.
Your always learning doesn't matter if you had 10yrs in, just need to command the salary on what you have done so far and its the new stuff tech/ways of working that gets you the next jump/increase. Sort of works for a lot of fields
My view (different field) is go out to the market and see what you can get ££ wise if that is what your after. I'm sure there are plenty of companies where you can work on short term projects...this will give you those general skills which are great for opening up the job market to you.
Your always learning doesn't matter if you had 10yrs in, just need to command the salary on what you have done so far and its the new stuff tech/ways of working that gets you the next jump/increase. Sort of works for a lot of fields
AndrewO said:
Forget the contracting angle...HMRC has stuffed that way of working.
My view (different field) is go out to the market and see what you can get ££ wise if that is what your after. I'm sure there are plenty of companies where you can work on short term projects...this will give you those general skills which are great for opening up the job market to you.
Your always learning doesn't matter if you had 10yrs in, just need to command the salary on what you have done so far and its the new stuff tech/ways of working that gets you the next jump/increase. Sort of works for a lot of fields
Wouldn't be so fast to pooh pooh that. Sounds like OP is on modest salary. What's a contractor in his industry earn? Could be 3x modest paid perm who's trapped in a 2% raise cycle. You'd have to look at the market rates and see if you back yourself to get contract roles... My view (different field) is go out to the market and see what you can get ££ wise if that is what your after. I'm sure there are plenty of companies where you can work on short term projects...this will give you those general skills which are great for opening up the job market to you.
Your always learning doesn't matter if you had 10yrs in, just need to command the salary on what you have done so far and its the new stuff tech/ways of working that gets you the next jump/increase. Sort of works for a lot of fields
If you are motivated by salary, look into marine surveying, working for a consultant or directly for an insurance broker. A friend does this, working on the hull/structural side. He describes it as specialised loss adjusting; earns around £25k a month.
Nb - drop the envy, you can’t change your lot. Work out what drives you and work towards doing more of that. Sod everyone else, play your own game. Took me until mid 30s to work that out...
If you master something, money will follow (caveat - we’re still engineers, it’s all relative!)
Nb - drop the envy, you can’t change your lot. Work out what drives you and work towards doing more of that. Sod everyone else, play your own game. Took me until mid 30s to work that out...
If you master something, money will follow (caveat - we’re still engineers, it’s all relative!)
Edited by shirt on Saturday 15th February 14:54
It's not that I'm primarily motivated by salary, it's just a nagging feeling that my early career hasn't been recognised as valuable experience and reflected in my pay packet. Adjusting for inflation I'm earning no more than I was over 4 years ago.
I'm on £38k and most contractors in my office are on £50 and hour for doing essentially the same job so I'd be more than happy to go PAYE on those rates..
I'm just curious what my 6-7 years are worth on the job market versus someone with 3-4.. Perhaps there's only one way to find out!
I'm on £38k and most contractors in my office are on £50 and hour for doing essentially the same job so I'd be more than happy to go PAYE on those rates..
I'm just curious what my 6-7 years are worth on the job market versus someone with 3-4.. Perhaps there's only one way to find out!
It seems to me you are under selling yourself, and could be at least a few k more per year....I work at one of the sites you mentioned above. I have 12 years in the industry from the ground up, apprentice but have just been awarded a BEng. Now on 39k, but i have chosen to stay in my current section due to the earning potential with minimal responsibility, with a bit of overtime and shift I'm headed for 55k. I'd be hard pressed to earn over 50k without taking a rediculous amount of stress and pressure, to me it is just not worth it.
superhans88 said:
I'm just curious what my 6-7 years are worth on the job market versus someone with 3-4.. Perhaps there's only one way to find out!
Depends on various factors. You mentioned sideways movements in your career to date which so someone with 7yrs in a specific area would be more knowledgeable and therefore command a higher salary than you if the role is in that specific area. Therefore your current worth is wholly dependent on the role and the kind of skill set the hiring manager is looking for. There is only one way to find out yes, that’s a good attitude as it can’t hurt to look around. I’d also suggest seeking out a mentor, perhaps at work or via the institute. I found this extremely helpful when figuring out where I wanted to be and how to get there.
Jakg said:
CubanPete said:
I'm in a different engineering role, but £38k on six years experience sounds good to me.
I would agree, except for everyone on PH is on six figs.Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff