Engineering Inc. - November/December 2007 - 27

the field. Some students use their engineering degrees as a stepping stone into other professions. Large consulting firms, for example, value engineering students’ technical and analytical background, so the companies often recruit them to work as management consultants for Fortune 500 companies, says Scott Braley, principal of Braley Consulting & Training, an Atlanta-based consulting firm for engineering companies. Braley says some engineers even become lawyers or work their way up to become senior executives in technology or industrial companies. Students also must decide between jobs in the private or public sector, which draw from the same pool of candidates. Both offer competitive salaries. Private firms can sometimes offer larger starting salaries than some public agencies, but there are some cases where the reverse is true, Dreyer-Hadley says. Psomas, for example, can generally offer more than county agencies, but the California Department of Transportation can outbid her company, she says. New engineering graduates weigh the advantages of both sectors. On the public side, they see that they can usually get more vacation time and draw a pension, which allows them to opt out of Social Security. Recent graduates often have college loans to pay off, so the extra salary they get from not having to pay into Social Security could make a big difference, Dreyer-Hadley says. In the public sector, new graduates can get promoted more quickly, but they generally hit an early ceiling because of a logjam of people above them. Many people who work for the government often stay until retirement, so it’s harder for younger staffers to reach the top levels of management. Companies can give employees more in-house training opportunities, more flexibility and variety in their job duties and, in the long run, more opportunities for career advancement, DreyerHadley explains. In the public sector, people might be pigeonholed into doing one task, while private-sector employees have more freedom to work on different tasks and make full use of their skills, she says. Private companies also offer a larger variety of retirement packages, including 401(k) and Employee Stock Ownership Plans. A Brighter Future? Base Salaries Of Engineers Civil Engineer Base Salary 1 year: $47,663 10 years: $65,471 20 years: $77,256 Structural Engineer Base Salary 1 year: $47,106 11 years: $66,627 22 years: $78,224 Electrical Engineer Base Salary 1 year: $55,980 10 years: $78,734 20 years: $95,269 Mechanical Engineer Base Salary Despite hiring challenges, industry executives say, it’s not all doom and gloom for engineering firms. More youngsters from Generation Y are reaching college and graduating, which eventually should ease the workforce crunch, says Psomas’ Dreyer-Hadley. What’s more, Generation Y is larger than Generation X, which means a larger supply of young graduates is beginning to enter the workforce. Colleges also reportedly are doing a better job of recruiting international students into the engineering field, she adds. Though finding qualified engineers can be challenging, many engineering firms say it helps to develop open and lasting relationships with colleges and universities. Even with the market as competitive as it is, staying in touch with the academic community is one way to keep the pipeline of potential job candidates open. Mulkey Engineers & Consultants, which employs 205 people, sends cookies to engineering students at North Carolina State University during test time. At Psomas, some engineers teach at local colleges, which helps the recruiting effort. Many engineering firms also send job postings to college engineering departments, attend on-campus job fairs and offer internships to students. 1 year: $53,751 9 years: $73,531 18 years: $88,237 Industrial Engineer Base Salary 1 year: $52,769 11 years: $71,408 22 years: $83,120 Chemical Engineer Base Salary 1 year: $59,229 10 years: $75,837 20 years: $89,487 Nuclear Engineer Base Salary 1 year: $58,884 10 years: $85,458 20 years: $103,055 Biomedical Engineer Base Salary 1 year: $51,217 10 years: $70,925 20 years: $85,216 Aeronautical Engineer Base Salary 1 year: $53,219 10 years: $75,642 20 years: $90,837 Source: Economic Research Institute November / December 2007 eNGINeerING INc. 27
Engineering Inc. - November/December 2007

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