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Mechanical engineering

Can't find enough robot technicians/programmers, PLC programmers, industrial electricians and millwrights, tool and die. Engineering degree not needed.
I think their pay ceiling might be 30 something $ per hr. Wouldn't someone with a M. Eng make more?
 
have a look at glassdoor.com and look for companies in the area you are interested in working, specifically with engineering, PLC programming or other skillsets. That should give you a better idea, althouh take it with a grain of salt. The PEO releases average salary figures in their reports based on experience and area of expertise. Have a look around the PEO website

I'm not saying its all accurate, but as a general concencus of range its not far off, at least in the engineering work I do
 
I mop floors and make 25k.

My question was a general curiosity. I thought masters were friggin expensive and time consuming to only be hoping for an 80k salary after the dust settled. I am dismayed, for I will not be seeking masters in the custodial arts any longer.

Mine me asking what you do that makes more than that?
Sorry RockerGuy I was thinking the same thing. I know that I don't make that much, but I thought a Masters would get you more. Damn.

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I am confused a bit on why some people think a education gets them a certain salary.

What the education is supposed to do is open doors that allow you to earn up to a certain salary amount if you are competent.

I understand that my previous advice may not have sat well, but it was fairly accurate of my experience. There are many ways to get to a destination.

I got the education; it got me in the door. Then I had to prove my value over many years to get where I am now. No one asks me what my marks were or where I went to school, they just see me work, see how I help and then decide to keep me around by paying me a fair wage if I deserve it.

No miracles here. BTW I have peers that have lesser educations and they contribute on the same level and are compensated in a similar fashion for their work.

So for me it was simple;

Go to school to open a door.

Prove yourself to earn a key to that door.

All that being said; I wish I went into investment banking ;)

Good luck on your ventures and I hope you reach your goals.

Just one last piece of advice.

Always work the job one level above the one you have.


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Agree with SS as above. I got an aero eng degree but have never actually worked in engineering. Got into car sales as couldn't find a job out of school, which led to water and waste water tech sales,which led to inside sales at tunnel company, then tunnel 'eng', and now tunnel specialist ... All within 8 years. I love this industry and can't wait to see the next step. Boss told me I need more letters (PMP or PENG) to keep moving up so I'm working towards that now.

Education got me started, but experience and appreciation for the industry (and working my *** off) got me into some doors that would've never opened.
 
Can't agree more with what's already been said in this thread

Experience is King

Company just hired a guy with a master's in biomedical engineering in a junior engineering role

Not sure of exact salary but it's around 40-50K/year

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Do you already have an engineering degree? Or are you looking to do a new degree? If you're looking to do a new degree.. Have you considered investment banking?

I don't believe a finance undergraduate degree is all that difficult (I've got an accounting undergraduate) but If I could go back I'd have got into investment banking. You can make an absolute killing in that. I've got a friend making over $100 at 28.

Don't you have to get an MBA for that?

I left engineering and went into economics. My masters in econ isn't paying me **** right now.

I feel you. I could not survive first year of engineering and switched to econ. However, I had co-op and somehow went to IT/consulting field. In fourth of year undergrad I figured economics was not for me. Now I am trying to get into management consulting and project management.
 
Don't you have to get an MBA for that?



I feel you. I could not survive first year of engineering and switched to econ. However, I had co-op and somehow went to IT/consulting field. In fourth of year undergrad I figured economics was not for me. Now I am trying to get into management consulting and project management.

I left after a couple of years...I'm probably the oddball kid who left engineering to do more math.

I like anybody else in econ would love to get into management consulting. I want to build that experience while I'm still in my 20's and won't refuse to work ridiculous hours for weeks on end.
 
Anybody got a Masters in that? If so what are the job prospects like. I already got a degree that I can use to wipe my arse but looking for something that can pay 80-100k per year. What are your thoughts?

Is this *** wiping degree an engineering degree? My understanding is that a masters in engineering is not particularly helpful unless you are going for your Ph.D. or academic pursuits. The important designation is the P.Eng. And that can be attained with either a bachelors or masters in engineering. However, getting only a masters in engineering without a bachelors will make getting the P.Eng very difficult, and that is truly what employers want. Ultimately the path to moving upwards in engineering is you get the bachelors and work towards a P.Eng.

I am an engineer that works in the automotive industry for a large international manufacturer. In my company every engineer starts around 80K fresh out of school and get regular raises up to about 100K base. With OT that 80K base is typically over 100K. There is lots of OT available for engineers at my employer. Many 1st and 2nd year engineers are pulling in 100K+ with their OT and 80K base. Interns at my company make 60K if all they do is work the base 8 hours/day. If they work OT which most of them do a lot of, they regularly pull 80K+/year as an intern.

Basically, my limited personal experience would say, the masters will help you get a research/academia job, but if you want to make a career in engineering outside of academia, you need the bachelors as a starting point. An honours B.Sc. for example could allow for a masters in engineering. But outside of research, your job prospects as an engineer are not drastically increased with a masters in engineering without the bachelors.
 
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Actually a M.Eng alone will NOT lead directly to a P.Eng. The education requirement is a CEAB accredited B.Eng, or B.Sc.Eng, etc. (they have agreements with other countries, as an example a US ABET B.Eng will also work). You may be able to get there with just the M.Eng and a non-eng undergrad BUT you will be assessed a bunch of tests etc.

You can also get a P.Eng (and now a L.E.T.) from the PEO with a college technology diploma, the P.Eng will also require a bunch of tests the L.E.T. can be had directly after some years of experience and OACETT C.E.T. certification.

What it comes down to for the OP, if a company requires you to get a P.Eng to do the job (to stamp drawings or whatever) then you NEED to go the B.Eng route, skipping this step will just make your life harder. The L.E.T. will also let you do this but only within your limited license/scope and the companies at hiring time may not be all that familiar with what it is. If they do not care about licensing then your options are more open, including the college technology route.

Myself, I have a college technology diploma and I make double what you are looking for, because of experience not education... Working on a B.Tech just for kicks and to say I have a degree, but this will also not lead directly to a P.Eng (not CEAB....).
 
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Actually a M.Eng alone will not lead directly to a P.Eng.

That is exactly what I meant when I said "However, getting only a masters in engineering without a bachelors will make getting the P.Eng very difficult". It can be done with additional testing and certifications, but ultimately if a P.Eng is what you are after to increase your earning potential, the B.Eng is the the route to take. Doing a masters and getting the additional credits will take even longer than getting the B.Eng.

From my personal experience as well, you should NEVER have to pay for your M.Eng. If you do it right, your employer should pay you to get it. They pay for your education, and your salary while you are acquiring the M.Eng. I've heard more than once that if you're paying to do your own M.Eng and you're not going straight into it from a B.Eng, you did something wrong. My employer is paying me to get my P.Eng stuff done.
 
Is this *** wiping degree an engineering degree? My understanding is that a masters in engineering is not particularly helpful unless you are going for your Ph.D. or academic pursuits. The important designation is the P.Eng. And that can be attained with either a bachelors or masters in engineering. However, getting only a masters in engineering without a bachelors will make getting the P.Eng very difficult, and that is truly what employers want. Ultimately the path to moving upwards in engineering is you get the bachelors and work towards a P.Eng.

I am an engineer that works in the automotive industry for a large international manufacturer. In my company every engineer starts around 80K fresh out of school and get regular raises up to about 100K base. With OT that 80K base is typically over 100K. There is lots of OT available for engineers at my employer. Many 1st and 2nd year engineers are pulling in 100K+ with their OT and 80K base. Interns at my company make 60K if all they do is work the base 8 hours/day. If they work OT which most of them do a lot of, they regularly pull 80K+/year as an intern.

Basically, my limited personal experience would say, the masters will help you get a research/academia job, but if you want to make a career in engineering outside of academia, you need the bachelors as a starting point. An honours B.Sc. for example could allow for a masters in engineering. But outside of research, your job prospects as an engineer are not drastically increased with a masters in engineering without the bachelors.
Nope my degree is in Bio. I guess I shouldn't do that route of M. Eng unless it is demanded by my employer. I will sit out with this employer for a while.

Your employer seems reasonable
 
I'm a mech eng and I am a P.Eng. but I never bothered with the master's degree. No one I've ever dealt with gives a rat's arse how many letters you have after your name. My job requires the P.Eng. Outside of that, it's "what have you done for me lately". Practical real world experience trumps how many books you have read.

Job prospects stink for someone who is overqualified and thus demanding of a high wage. Engineering is not a high paid profession in North America, which is a pretty sad state of affairs, but it's how it is. It gets better after you have "paid your dues" for a few years by working as a relatively-low-paid mechanical designer and are eventually able to break free of working for someone else ... I'm doing okay and I have more consulting work than I can handle.

Engineers who worked their way up from the shop floor, and understand how things work and how they are made, are of greatest real world value. In my world you need to understand robots, and automation equipment, and tooling, and machining, and system controls, pneumatics, hydraulics, and such things. Don't need a master's degree for that ... but you do need to get dirty hands and get splashed with hydraulic oil or machining coolant now and again. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have it otherwise. I'm much happier dealing with real stuff while wearing jeans and hard hat and safety boots, than sitting behind a desk.

And now, back to desk work; I owe someone a quotation, and I've been procrastinating, because it's for a big job and it's split in three parts and I need to put numbers to all of them ...

Hi Brain, I'm curious to know how you got into consulting in the mech eng field? Mind sharing? How many years of experience is ideal before you can go on your own?

I'm also a mech eng and been a P.eng since 2013, overall 8 years of experience since graduating and have done product design, manufacturing eng and currently working as a plant engineer at OEM car parts supplier manufacturing.

I would love to go on my own, so looking for some helpful guidance. Thanks.
 
Hah, I just realized that the post above went unanswered. I'm currently at a job site all this week and there ain't no night life happening (with me having to get an early start tomorrow to get this job done), so I'm surfing the internet in the hotel :)

One thing just led to another. Co-op job (University of Waterloo) was with a consulting firm. It was in a field of work that I had no long-term interest in, but it was a job. Stayed with them after graduation. They rented out space in the office to another consultant ... more on this later. I had ties to someone who worked at a company which built automation equipment and that was something I had more interest in, so a couple years after graduation I took a pay cut and went there, starting out as a mechanical designer. Worked my way up, ended up being in charge of mechanical design after several years and this coincided with the company paying me to obtain my P.Eng. (see posts above, about companies paying you to do this). Meanwhile, I still had contact with the other consultant mentioned above, and with some changes in legislation, they needed an engineer, I got the call, and this coincided with the company I was working for taking on a couple of jobs that were too much for them to handle, so the handwriting was on the wall there. The company I had been working for gave me (IIRC) about 10% more for getting the P.Eng., switching employers gave me ... a lot more than that.

At a consulting company, you're on your own for developing your clients, sink or swim. It so happened that with a few contacts I already had at manufacturing plants, I developed the automotive side of things. Eventually I got fed up with working for someone else, so after careful consideration of some legalities and a fair amount of planning in advance, I bailed and joined a smaller firm and here we are. This was in the midst of the recession/depression; we survived that and now the biggest problem is how to juggle the backlog. People keep paying me to look at stuff and test things and report on what I find (and how to fix things that aren't right), so I keep doing that.

I still work with quite a few people that I had worked with back in the automation-design days. I still cross paths with some of the guys in the shop, too.
 
Anybody got a Masters in that? If so what are the job prospects like. I already got a degree that I can use to wipe my arse but looking for something that can pay 80-100k per year. What are your thoughts?

get your act together before you even ask
 
since part of the original question was how to make 80-100k , I poled my friends and family for a ball park on how they got where they are. Short story
B Sc chemical engineer, MoMac, working in oil patch on steam process 3yr ex, 120k, truck and gas card.
B Sc chemical engineer, UW, never engineered, went into sales of injection molding plastics, 30ys now, 180k+
Mech Eng, Mac, consults and audits for gov grants, 120k 15yrs ex
Mech P eng, McGill, Toronto girl that is bilingual, engineers in french, 3yrs ex 128k
Mech P eng, Queens, works for monster company Hatch, 8ys, junior guy. 88k
P eng , engineers pharma manufaturing equip and process, 9yrs, 80K

its all over the map, but all these guys work regular hrs and not in remote sites, I have other people in my circle that make more but they do a lot of field work and live in tents for weeks, or go offshore to mine sites in Bolivia and such. The P eng ticket seems to allow a lot of room to move around.
 
In consulting, I've found that most of the m. Eng and/or pads get hired by people with similar qualifications. Put an m. Eng at the top of the pile and you end up with a lot of them at that company, put a b. Eng at the top and you have very few. IME there is little/no pay difference between the two groups (they are all doing the same job for the same price, how could the pay be different?). Some employers avoid m. Ends as many are academically strong, but useless at reality.
If you have a specific employer in mind, ask them what they need, otherwise I would avoid m. Eng.
 
Oddly I've collected a few engineers in my circle of friends and I'm shocked how few have actual 'hands on ' skills. Academics vs reality is a reality
 

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