How to earn more money in Mechanical Engineering field?

Feb 20, 2021 131 Comments

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

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TOP 131 Comments
  • Uber
    cmpr

    Go to company page Uber

    cmpr
    Change to software engineering.
    Feb 20, 2021 3
  • New
    IFOf86

    New

    IFOf86
    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.
    Feb 20, 2021 15
    • Apple
      NpFk54

      Go to company page Apple

      NpFk54
      Wow additional 100k in overtime? Well done! How much are you working a week!? Also, are you SWE?
      Absolutely true that folks see their tc drop significantly on promos to 3. I see many ict4s making 270-300ish. Lower in Rel jobs.
      Doesn’t seem fair comparison to L3 at google working lesser hours though.
      Mar 6, 2021
    • Intel
      bikemonkey

      Go to company page Intel

      bikemonkey
      Design hvac. My bro has done it for years. Salary 100k-150k in portland
      Mar 11, 2021
  • Ingersoll Cutting Tools
    a.r.k

    Ingersoll Cutting Tools

    PRE
    Berkshire Communities
    a.r.k
    Hi i am a mechanical design engineer living in illinois and i am in the same situation and i have asked blind members the same about two months ago and all i got was change to IT side and that is what i am doing now taking trainings so that i can move. A lot of my friends are in IT believe me its half the headache and double the money. Plus if you are a US citizen you can land you first job around six figure salary. I would recommended you to change to IT as well as this is the best time to do it since a lot of companies are working from home you will get good learning experience and not the in office pressure.
    If you stay in mechanical the most you can make per year in your life is 150k that too by job hopping and different techniques. Where as in IT you make that same amount in about three four years.
    Feb 22, 2021 7
    • Dassault Falcon Jet / Eng
      razdaz

      Dassault Falcon Jet Eng

      PRE
      Honeywell FM&T
      BIO
      5years BS Mechanical Engineer in Aerospace. NYC area.
      razdaz
      This is the struggle my friend @riso4ever
      Feb 22, 2021
    • Hey @a.r.k, did you convert to IT from Mech on F1/ H1B?
      Feb 25, 2021
  • 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 ..) ..
    Feb 20, 2021 2
    • Google
      beta_beast

      Go to company page Google

      beta_beast
      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
      Feb 22, 2021
    • New
      buAv20

      New

      buAv20
      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.
      Feb 22, 2021
  • 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.
    Feb 21, 2021 9
    • New
      IFOf86

      New

      IFOf86
      @Uber, what type of Mech were you doing at Uber? Is this related to self-driving or something else?
      Mar 1, 2021
    • Uber
      ewesirnaam

      Go to company page Uber

      ewesirnaam
      Self driving and air transport (ATG, Elevate) paid similarly. Bikes/scooters (Jump) was 5% to 10% lower.
      Mar 2, 2021