Evaluating if a salary is fair for a EE position

Sounds hopeful. If the work is cool and you're learning stuff, you might stick around for a while even if the pay is mediocre. There's a world of stuff you don't learn in school, including things like assembly practices, pcb layout, documentation, project procedures, marketing issues, dirty tricks, that you'll profit from learning.

I'd say that $60K isn't horrible for one year out of school with a BSEE. But expect steady progress, certainly above 4% per year, as you learn this stuff.

One serious question: how much money are you making for them? I expect a design engineer to design about a million dollars worth of product (in the sense of longerm sales of same) per man-year of work.

John

=A0 =A0 =A0 ...Jim Thompson

How would you seek out a situation like that?

Well the company is pretty small - well under 100 people. On my project I am the only EE, so my contributions are pretty visible.

-Michael

Jim, I think you are about 4 years ahead of me (class of '67 SDSU) and I made the SECOND highest salary out of my class when the aerospace industry in San Diego was going absolutely insane. Exactly $9k/year or $4.32 an hour. But like you, I had worked in the industry since freshman high school and actually had ... gasp ... microwave radar experience from my 4 years at the airlines.

But oh, boy, is the learning curve steep when you stop fixin' them and start designin' them. I still remember standing in pure amazement when an old timer showed me how to dent-tune aluminum waveguide.

And, unlike your view of leftist weenies, I had my own company and was off to the races by the time I hit 30 and was part of the obscene green weenie movement. {;-)

Jim

That is not what he said. Don't be such a Blogg.

1. I'm MIT Class of '62... about to have my 17th Birthday ;-)

I was never "employed" prior to college... I just hung out in my Dad's TV repair shop and built all kinds of "stuff" ;-)

I was 33 when I started Analog Innovations

...Jim Thompson

I think he did in so many words. I am all too familiar with totally inexperienced people with questionable abilities aggressively negotiating salary and work conditions when the reality is they bring absolutely *nothing* to the table, it's hilarious. I 'm not saying the OP is this way, but his post reminded me of that somewhat.

Dolby? IF you could get a job there, turnover is VERY low, you would find the benefits are far above standard, the facilities are top notch and the pay is commensurate with living in SF.

Even nicer, they still mfg their own product. Ray Dolby decreed that many years ago and they still have 2 mfg facilities (Brisbane, CA & Wooten, UK). Some of the nicest mfg facilities I have ever been in.

Old timers in the bay area will remember Rolm in the 80's, Dolby is better.

I do gambling on salary negotiation. I try not to smile at the shocked expressions I sometimes get. :) A well paid designer is a happy designer and a happy designer is a productive designer! :)

The more job opportunities there are, the more you can jack up your salary without care to loosing the job.

Employer objective: Pay as little as possible. Employee objective: Get as much pay as possible.

Keep in mind Joe Schmuck garbageman made money while you were in University. You have catching up to do!

If you're a wet noodle, you'll end up with a noodle salary.

Tip. Check how many BMW's are in the parking lot :P

D from BC British Columbia Canada.

All that proves is there's a lot of wannabees there... overly extended credit and no cash ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Michael:

I almost am afraid to mention this, but ...

Keep in mind if your R&D picks up and goes to India, China, Maylaysa, etc., they can quickly train/employ engineers whose wages probably begin at $3.00 USD a DAY and up to $10.00 a day! (and, NO benefits) (you might want to keep an eye on your company/corp activities--if they are already moving in this direction, make plans to protect yourself)

Still, I would always keep a salary in mind which I am willing to work for and stick to it--even if it forces me to move on and look at the NEXT job in line ... I would not want to be used as a vehicle which depresses others wages, and, in the end, my own.

Warm regards, JS

Somehow I've met a lot of people who used to work for Dolby.

John

I'm sure it's more than what I'm making. 50+ hours per week and I get zero pay. That did change this year though, now I'm making sub-poverty level pay. However, I'm banking on our venture being a sucess.

Depends on your ability, experience, geographic area, ... If you're fresh out of college, didn't have much electronics experience before college, and didn't work as a technician during your summer holidays; you'll need 5+ years before you come up to speed. College courses don't prepare you for real work.

EDN recently did a salary survey.

Lots of data here -

Why would you expect that any positive result would be yours while you wouldn't refund your pay for a negative result? The world doesn't work that way. You'd better be bringing in several times what you're paid (you know, lights, heat, management,...).

ng

y of

Beware though, a lot of places teach bad habits.

I'd say it's pretty low, for the Boston area. I know a couple of=20 freshly minted engineers making considerably more, living in much=20 cheaper areas. =20

--=20 Keith

Studies show that that's not true. Raises only increase the "happiness factor" for a short while. Either you're happy or you're not. Of course there is a limit (I.e. starving isn't fun).

The boss can't say "no", without firing you?

It's really not that simple. Employers have a huge incentive to limit turnover. Your training was expensive and others would like to have what you know.

That is a point that many miss.

DO wet noodles know how to design?

Dunno, a lot of the top engineers where I worked drove clunkers. They had more interesting things to do with money.

A lot of people did that in the '90s. Few made it to the payoff though. Loads were stuck with options that were worthless by the time they matured.

He's the only EE. That can be a good thing, or not so. Evidently he's good enough that he can keep the boat afloat by himself.

I always made more than those salary surveys. If you want to figure out your worth, go job hunting.

On a sunny day (Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:17:37 -0500) it happened krw wrote in :

You are right Keith. That reminded me of those CEOs that get hired, get options, bonusses, and then leave with a 1 million dollar golden handshake after making a