Salary Question

Hello, one of my colleagues recently sent me a link to a newly released salary survey. I just read through document and found that my salary was well outside (lower) the range presented in the document. I am located on the West Coast and involved in desgining products for the military. Any insight from others involved in miltary electronics on the West Coast or anywhere else? If these numbers are consistent with what others are seeing then it may be time that I explore new options.

For reference the article/survey can be found here: http://electronicdesign.com/salarysurvey

Suggested Base Salary: $109,937

Thank you in advance

Ok well, I too worked for a company that does both mil & commercial. The deal with the military is that the management overhead is more in terms of cost as Engineering is, that's dictated by the contracts principally. The contractors always try to outbid by coming in lower, which means the have to find a way to hold down wages.

Companies in military would not survive the commercial environment simply because of the management structure, dictated by the government. They have to count every last dime spent on everything, that level of detail cost money. Literally for every design Engineer there is an accountant/manager to tally up the cost.

Yes if you want more pay get out of mil stuff, especially knowing that the US is spending less & less on military each year.

I will say although you get the very best electronics engineering training and experience you will get anywhere, so you must consider that experience a big plus in terms of your marketing skills.

Just my experience.

Just from the title of that survey you should note - top end base. I wish I was in the top salary base. What you need to find - is the salary statistics for your area. Usually the state employment office has those statistics available to you. That would be more meaningful. Each area of the country - world has its own economic factors. Things you need to look at besides salary is cost of living. For example: Where I live my home cost $100k - 75 miles away my home would be worth about $200K . Why the difference - it is because where I live the employment opportunites are somewhat depressed. So if I was to move I should expect to double my salary to maintain standard of living. I live in New York. If I was to move to the City of NY then I would expect to triple my salary just to maintain my current life style. So you need to analyze all the details just not your salary itself.

If you look at just your salary - you may lose instead of moving ahead. If you want one of those top end bases I would suggest getting a gov't job.

Excellent points made by both of you. Thank you very much for your replies and quick response. I need to figure out several things outside of just the base salary before making any quick decisions after seeing a few numbers in a survey.

Thanks again