PLCstarter1884
Member
I hope this is the right section to post this in. If not then please move this post to the appropriate location as it is not my intention to violate any policies of this site..
Dear friends,
It seems that prices and costs of living are continuously increasing (especially in the midwest), such as property taxes, employment taxes, and general state taxes, yet employers are lowering the prices and value of hard working engineers and PLC programmers.
The purpose of this thread is to do a modern price check of the worth of PLC Programmers and Controls Engineers and to make sure that we are all on the same page as to what our value is worth.
In the past few months, I have seen many jobs priced out out 65-80k per year (In the United States) which is not a very good salary for an Engineer with over 15 years of experience and College training. Many maintenance technicians make up to 80k-90k after just 5-10hrs of overtime a week.
To put things in perspetive, my last position was paid 90k/year salary with 10k bonus after cool ideas I would come up with on the factory floor to save money for the business. So how does the price instantly go down 20k-30k?
When I seek jobs, I currently ask for 120k salary minimum if travel is not required, and 140k minimum if travel is required. My skills include PLC programming and designing the machinery from the bottom up, including the tooling design, specing the PLC hardware, installing the hardware, and programming all software and finishing the Factory Acceptance Test and training of the end user.
I have a feeling that many employers feel that others are desperate for work during covid and they will push the chip to the lowest end of the bid. I recently found two new auto manufacturers that have over 30+ Controls Engineering positions (mainly production support and cleaning up code) for two large EV companies (if you're in automotive you'll have a very good idea of who they are). These positions are paying 65k-80k/year and are 6-8 month contracts, both which would require temporary relocation.
I know this is a touchy and private topic to many, so those who are interested in discussing can write here or send a private message if they wish. It would be good to communicate and see if we agree what our price is worth as a minimum in our industry because there is too much lowballing of prices for hard working people. The minimum wage is being increased but those in the middle class of workers see no benefit for all of their hard work.
I am also open to hearing about 1099 contractor jobs for PLC programmers or if anyone is willing to publicly (or privately message) a few good sources to find these positions because they allow more flexibility for those seeking work in Controls Engineering.
Thank you for reviewing my post and bless you all.
Dear friends,
It seems that prices and costs of living are continuously increasing (especially in the midwest), such as property taxes, employment taxes, and general state taxes, yet employers are lowering the prices and value of hard working engineers and PLC programmers.
The purpose of this thread is to do a modern price check of the worth of PLC Programmers and Controls Engineers and to make sure that we are all on the same page as to what our value is worth.
In the past few months, I have seen many jobs priced out out 65-80k per year (In the United States) which is not a very good salary for an Engineer with over 15 years of experience and College training. Many maintenance technicians make up to 80k-90k after just 5-10hrs of overtime a week.
To put things in perspetive, my last position was paid 90k/year salary with 10k bonus after cool ideas I would come up with on the factory floor to save money for the business. So how does the price instantly go down 20k-30k?
When I seek jobs, I currently ask for 120k salary minimum if travel is not required, and 140k minimum if travel is required. My skills include PLC programming and designing the machinery from the bottom up, including the tooling design, specing the PLC hardware, installing the hardware, and programming all software and finishing the Factory Acceptance Test and training of the end user.
I have a feeling that many employers feel that others are desperate for work during covid and they will push the chip to the lowest end of the bid. I recently found two new auto manufacturers that have over 30+ Controls Engineering positions (mainly production support and cleaning up code) for two large EV companies (if you're in automotive you'll have a very good idea of who they are). These positions are paying 65k-80k/year and are 6-8 month contracts, both which would require temporary relocation.
I know this is a touchy and private topic to many, so those who are interested in discussing can write here or send a private message if they wish. It would be good to communicate and see if we agree what our price is worth as a minimum in our industry because there is too much lowballing of prices for hard working people. The minimum wage is being increased but those in the middle class of workers see no benefit for all of their hard work.
I am also open to hearing about 1099 contractor jobs for PLC programmers or if anyone is willing to publicly (or privately message) a few good sources to find these positions because they allow more flexibility for those seeking work in Controls Engineering.
Thank you for reviewing my post and bless you all.