I work at a medium sized company in Houston working in transportation. I've been out of school for 5 yrs and have my PE. I'm not unhappy but I was just curious if I am being compensated fairly. Please give me a fair salary of what you make or what you would give to an employee with similar background. Thanks.

have you checked indeed.com?

they will list salary ranges for a given position in a given city. based on my last two positions, it has been very accurate.

Thanks Wes.

i know one civil, 4 years exp 2 land devp 2 O&G

no PE yet, making 80-90K

Go to ASCE's salary survey online. They have break downs for what your responsibilities are and what certification you have for each area of the country. It's free to look at if you do their survey.

http://survey.asce.org/pls/srastdp/survey_frontend.ParticipatePage

I think it is pretty unfair to ask others what they make but not willing to start your thread with your salary range.

5 yr PE in transportation could be anywhere from 60K-80k. If you are doing bridge design, which would be more structural engineering I've seen 80k+.

[This message has been edited by Jack Klompus (edited 7/20/2010 2:35p).]

I was going through a box of my Dad's old stuff a while back. I found a letter he had written to formally accept an engineering position at Black & Veatch. The salary was $1,000 per month. I think it was dated 1968. What is that in today's $$$$ ?

~$3,500/month maybe assuming 3% inflation?

http://careercenter.tamu.edu/guides/reports/SalarySurvey/2010/Spring/SalarySurveyResults_Spring_2010_generated_07-07-2010.html?


Here is what the recent grads are making.

Average pay is $55K. With 5 years experience and a PE I would say average might be 65-75K?

ouch...wouldn't want to be in the field

I started in transportation 4 years ago in the mid 50's. There was a PE with 8 years experience who started right when I started who made 78 and there was a PM there with 20 years exp who was making 92. But that was 4 years ago. The regional manager was making 300k because he brought in jobs.

I switched to the O/G sector after a couples of years and that gave my salary a nice bump.

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I switched to the O/G sector after a couples of years and that gave my salary a nice bump.

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Is it a very hard transition? I figure O/G has nothing in common with Trans.

The oil and gas business is always looking for good engineers. There are a lot more opportunities for civils in O/G then just doing offshore platforms. Transportation does not have much to do with what I am doing now directly, but just the general engineering knowledge I gained gave me an advantage. I knew how to read construction drawings and specs, I knew how to tell a drafter they were doing it wrong and I knew a little about construction methods and the steps of a project. The rest I just worked hard and learned. In no time I think I was more skilled than most of the younger mechanicals and other disciplines that I worked with.

I think it is much easier for a younger engineer to switch. If I would have worked three or four more years in transportation, I probably would not have been able to or willing to make the switch.

Any opportunities in your current company for a young engineer?

Do they move you to places in the middle east? Or are you at a more permanent location?

I actually just switched firms so I do not know if they are still hiring. I work for a consulting firm based in houston so I do not know what it is like at one of the majors. The company I just left was looking for a pipeline engineer in abu dhabi. There is a good amount of nat gas work in the states and the offshore stuff was picking up before the spill happened. Exxon is about to award a job offshore in canada that is going to need alot of people. Word on the street is kbr won it.

What are the hours like switching to O&G? Is there alot of travel/field work? I'm just two years out of college, but I'm interested in a switch.

It all depends on what you do and where you are. My hours are the same when I worked for a civil consulting engineer, only now I work on oil and gas projects instead of transportation.

There were some older guys that I worked with that had spent some time abroad. One just got done with 3 years in Trinidad. Another had spent alot of time in Angola and is going to Kuwait now. There is a good amount of work in Africa now if you are willing to go over there.

I know many who are asked to go do short stints oversees. Maybe I am just lucky to be working on only projects here in the states. If you want to work in in Pittsburg you could probably get a job with a consultant wanting to get people up there for the shale gas.

What kind of transportation, HWY?

In this market, 58K. 4 years ago (same resume) 65-70K.

We/I just hired an EIT with 4+ years (all with one firm) who will sit for his PE in the fall and brought him in high 50's. We do utility, local transportation and municipal site development (schools, etc).

The TAMU salary survey seems high!
I am guessing some of those kids took O&G jobs.
Who pays a Civil 87K starting out.....not any companies I know in my field.

[This message has been edited by BBDP (edited 7/23/2010 2:50p).]

Get used to that. People lie on this board repeatedly about what they make. No WAY anyone in their right minds would pay a child 6 figures but on this board most people have roomies that get offers that high.

It is all garbage. The numbers you know are the numbers that are out there. I make over $200,000 but I have a full time job as well as my own business. I work like a dog.

The starting salary might be way high but I don't think the average is. 55K is pretty common starting salary for Civils.

Civil engineers should also keep the electric generation and transmission industry in mind when looking for jobs. When I graduated in 2007 i don't think there were any TDSP's or consulting firms being represented at the career fair. The last time I looked there were a few large TDSP's (Oncor, LCRA, Centerpoint) and even some energy consultants at the engineering career fair.

Most companies should pay their young engineers more because from my experience they do most of the work most of the senior engineers just sit there and wait for someone to ask them a question. Companies should realize why young engineers move around alot because they don't appreciate the work they do.

I agree with fc drifter. I know a couple transmission consultants were there, i took a job with one and it has been great and it is something I would have never thought about before visiting with them.

As for the above post, that's part of being an entry level engineer. You do a lot ofthe grunt work. I know I put in a lot more hours than my senior mgmt butthey have already put in their time that's just part of it. I also get recognized for the effort I put in though. It doesn't come in the form of salary or bonuses but they acknowledge it and it will get you much farther in your career thanwhining about allthe work u have to do when you are the new guy

I have worked in the commercial construction, offshore and now energy transmission.

From experience I can tell you the energy transmission side is very competitive in pay vs. oil and gas.

It is also more stable. I would love to go back and design high rise buildings but you have to take what you can get at this point. I'm not complaining about my job too much at this point.

designing high rise buildings is overrated.

lol, true but it did help me see a lot of different things and opened the door to other industries.

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The salary was $1,000 per month. I think it was dated 1968. What is that in today's $$$$ ?

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~$3,500/month maybe assuming 3% inflation?

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Double that and you're close.

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$1.00 in 1968 had the same buying power as $6.37 in 2010.

Annual inflation over this period was 4.51%.

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