I'm am associate level test engineer earning less than 90k at a startup EV company in the Bay area. I am single and I'm living paycheck to paycheck. I think I'm not being paid enough and want to see what my options are to grow further. I'm open to changing fields and want to change to a better company with good work life balance. I see that Reliability/ durability engineer roles have many overlapping job responsibilities. Any suggestions? #testengineer #lucidmotors #tesla #google #apple #microsoft #amazon
Switch to the design side of Mech and get into FAAMG. TCs in the mid six figures is achievable after a few years of proving yourself.
Reliability, durability, quality, and MFG generally don’t pay a living wage in the Bay unless you’re a high IC or in Mgt
You’re barely living then
Bite the bullet, gain couple years experience, try for Mechanical Design roles at Startup preferrable in consumer electronics field. Couple there and you are in big money in FAAMG as either EPM’s or Senior PD’s.
I feel your pain... i am in same field and had put a same post out of frustration 1.5 years ago and got similar replies..message me if you want to talk.. but the key issue is field of mechanical engineering aka hardware.. with few more years of experience (7-9 years) you may reach 130-140k base pay that too by job hopping and not staying at one company too long.. but you will see stagnation beyond this as thats what the salaries are.. only way you can make more salary is to move to software areas (data science, developer ..) ..
I’m in the same boat as this person and would like to chat with both of you. I’ll message you. The thing that kills me is the number of software start ups IPOing and how many hardware/robotics start-ups in comparison? Not many. The opportunities are so much slimmer for us to break out of the set TC we can predict for our future
I used to work at your company's competitor and it does seem like hopping between the two and apple was the best way to increase comp. Although I have only heard of a few who would come back from apple. Friends who have been promoted to managers have had small pay bumps. Kind of have to get to director and above for anything significant.
The issue is that operating costs is very high in our field and profits are less so the big sharks on top eat most of the money and peanuts come to engineer level.. compare that to software where operating cost are very low and profits are very high.. so engineering makes shit ton of money.. best question to ask yourself: does money matter to you ? If yes you need to switch your field NOW and transfer to software area.. the more years you ponder upon, it will keep affecting you.. if money doesn’t matter for next 10 years for you, you can eventually reach 200k salary (director level) but by then , normal salaries for folks in software field would be 500k or higher so you will always be priced out ..
Fully agree with this. If you want more money, you need to switch to a different field. However, I would say, don't get fomo from all these software engineer salaries on blind. Look at what mechanical engineers make else where, you still are in a great position compared to them.
Maybe try moving out of the Bay Area as well? Helps with keeping more of your monthly pay.
Ya.. if immigration is not a concern, definitely moving out of bay area is a good solution..
Move somewhere cheaper. You can make 100k as an ME almost anywhere but you could cut your cost of living in half or better, and it's hard to make multiple hundred of thousands a year as an ME (possible, but very hard). It's not like SWE where you can make 300k anywhere you want tomorrow, bay area is the wrong place to live for anyone other than an SWE.
How are the TC bands at FB? Any #s you can share?
Absurdly high, at least 2 to 3x what you'll make anywhere else, Facebook is one of the rare exceptions to pay grades outside SWE. 200 to 300k minimum more if senior. But it's real hard to get, most ME at FB is contingents at least in the groups I interact with. You sort of have to be a specialist with a lucky role looking for exactly you.
Move to Miami, you can make the same salary in SF but your living expenses would be significantly lower. You could save up to 3K a month with that salary living in SF and maintaining a modest lifestyle.
Wtf are you talking about? Miami native here...Cost of living is crazy high in Miami and salary opportunities are not proportionally good. This is ridiculous advice. Only way to pull off anything like a cheap housing cost is to spend 1.5hrs+ each way commuting. If you want cheap CoL move to Tampa or St. Louis. I’d suggest staying in Bay Area and getting compensation fixed.
Help Boeing make better aircrafts
Change to software engineering.
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