re: Annual Raise, Exceeds Expectations, Engineer

I think it depends on the company you work for and their distinctions between engineer I, II, III, senior, principal, etc.

To answer your question though, I’m an engineer ii by my company’s matrix, although I had achieved the title “senior engineer” at my previous plant which was a much bigger chemical company. The next level up for me at my current company is “senior engineer.”

My company (several plants) does I, II, senior, principal, fellow

Have you hit the 8% bonus every year?

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I don't know anything about that career but that seems awfully low pay for that field. No? It's good money but if you had me guess, I was thinking 200-250k range.

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Im with you. I know controls engineers with no actual engineering degree making close to that 10 years ago working 40 hours a week. 130k is a nice salary but I would have expected more for a PE with 10 years of experience.

If you don’t mind me asking, what is your typical work week, not including any after hours phone calls?

I've worked for large chemical companies in the south for almost 30 years. ChE. PE. I've been very successful and have had many different roles, from an individual contributor in highly technical positions to plant management.

The most significant raises I have gotten were due to wage compression or moving to a different company for growth. What your employers are doing is managing the expectations of individuals by giving them a little more some years and a little less other years. Actual performance affects raises very little in my experience.

If your company hasn't adjusted raises due to inflation, they will give you a greater-than-average raise, telling you how wonderful you are doing when they've just been given a little more of a salary budget due to inflation.

When I read your expectations on raises, it makes me a little sad for you. It comes off as you being pleased to get a 5% raise. I suggest changing jobs when you're in this situation so you can get what the market is paying. Otherwise, they'll pay you as little as possible to keep you on if you're meeting the bar.

It’s wild that a professional degreed engineer with 10 years earn so little.

I guess what I envisioned when I was young thinking of engineers and how a single income could a raise a family in a nice house with a stay at home wife and fully funded retirement.

Ehhh. Not so on that salary these days.

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It’s wild that a professional degreed engineer with 10 years earn so little. I guess what I envisioned when I was young thinking of engineers and how a single income could a raise a family in a nice house with a stay at home wife and fully funded retirement. Ehhh. Not so on that salary these days.

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Some of ya’ll need to really get a reality check on true salaries. Op is also getting a 8% bonus which puts him at $142k. How much do you guys think engineers make? Again, we are talking actual engineers and not management or executives.

If you asked the avg professional with a 4 year degree if they’d be happy making $142k in 10 years after college they’d likely say absolutely yes.

I realize he is a chem E and some of them in certain industries are paid extremely well.

Most of the better/ smarter engineers find this out early and move into management where they get larger bumps. There’s not many guys that are just like an engineer III that have say 25 years of experience and make say $160k. Unless you are talking like a government position where they are just on cruise control.

ETA: my buddy is a GS15 on Eglin AFB which has probably as many engineers as any government location with his masters in EE, his salary range is like $120k-145k. He has between 10-15 years of experience. Given this is a GS position and he has turned down private sector jobs as he wants to put in his 20. But thats just an example that OP’s not abnormally low by any means.

What’s an MSL?

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EE with PE

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hard to find... you want a job?