Starting Salaries for Graduate Engineers

[ComputerEngineer]

So it's been a few years since the last similarly titled forum post, started this account anonymously for it.

What are the computer / electronic engineering fresh graduates making out there these days? I'm finishing up my degree and on the job hunt. Considering doing my Masters and wondering how that could change things up. Excited to hear your guys' stories.

Doesn't have to be only computer / electronic engineering, feel free to post whatever you do/did.

Regards,
Anon

 

[AntennaMan]

Don't expect too much.

I have a Masters in Computer/Electronic Engineering. When I started working back in 2012, I joined a smallish company, but I started with R100K less than some other guys that studied with me that joined some of the parastatals. My increases at the smaller company was double digits every year, until I left them. At a smaller company you'll work your arse off. Not bad if you want to gain experience quickly, but it;s impossible to keep going like that indefinitely.

Just over a year ago a moved to a larger company. I got a big bump in salary initially, but yearly increases aren't as big (around CPI). The pace however is a bit slower.

So it really comes down to what are you prepared to do? Big companies you might start higher, but increases will be lower, while small companies it might be reversed. Also look at future growth opportunities in the company.

If you want possibly big bucks with loads of leave and good working hours, you can always sell your soul and go work for one of the banks. They all are always on the lookout for graduate engineers.

 

[Maverick154]

Don't expect too much.

You say he must not expect much but you give no starting amount. How does this help the OP? Also, what if your "not much" and his are two different values?

Anyways, when I started in 2011 the company I joined offered me 20k per month and then I had some benefits such as a petrol card, travel allowance, medical and pension. From what I could gather at that time it was pretty much the normal. I have my BEng (Computer Engineering). Later when we were looking for more people at that company they chose fresh grads over masters students since they said the guys with masters degrees were way more full of nonsense and less teachable than someone who did not have one.

To be honest, from what I have seen and heard at a few places is that a masters does not mean much to many places, there are some that look at it differently but mostly they do not care. Most places generally look for something that you have on paper so they can tick the box and then they go on to see if you will be a good fit in the company and also if you have experience, a degree means a lot less in this country than in others. Mostly just a foot in the door.

So yeah, I am not sure if this minimum has changed yet but that is my experience. Oh and add 5 years working experience to that I have seen guys getting 35k to 42k per month.

To add further to this, if you can, go into mobile development, so Android and iOS together. There are so many people looking for this skill set and so few that have it in this country. I get people contacting me about twice a month asking to move to another company because of mobile experience. I started at my first company doing embedded development (Microchip and C/C++) and then got some Android skills there and when I moved I went fully into embedded Android development.

Hope it helps.

 

[AntennaMan]

You say he must not expect much but you give no starting amount. How does this help the OP? Also, what if your "not much" and his are two different values?

Anyways, when I started in 2011 the company I joined offered me 20k per month and then I had some benefits such as a petrol card, travel allowance, medical and pension. From what I could gather at that time it was pretty much the normal. I have my BEng (Computer Engineering). Later when we were looking for more people at that company they chose fresh grads over masters students since they said the guys with masters degrees were way more full of nonsense and less teachable than someone who did not have one.

To be honest, from what I have seen and heard at a few places is that a masters does not mean much to many places, there are some that look at it differently but mostly they do not care. Most places generally look for something that you have on paper so they can tick the box and then they go on to see if you will be a good fit in the company and also if you have experience, a degree means a lot less in this country than in others. Mostly just a foot in the door.

So yeah, I am not sure if this minimum has changed yet but that is my experience. Oh and add 5 years working experience to that I have seen guys getting 35k to 42k per month.

To add further to this, if you can, go into mobile development, so Android and iOS together. There are so many people looking for this skill set and so few that have it in this country. I get people contacting me about twice a month asking to move to another company because of mobile experience. I started at my first company doing embedded development (Microchip and C/C++) and then got some Android skills there and when I moved I went fully into embedded Android development.

Hope it helps.

I specifically did not want to mention my starting salary as it was so long ago that it won't be a valid indicator anymore. But I started slightly lower than the norm back then.

Regarding the Masters, yes it does not always help. Some of my friends that started working directly after completing their B.Eng earn more than me. What I can say is that my Masters directly helped me get my first job as it is a very specialised field and graduate engineers don't learn nearly enough about that subject field (see my username).

So it really depends on the OP's interest and future career plans. In my case I took a lower paying job, but I gained massive amounts of experience in various fields because I had to.

 

[F1ve_Claw]

Depends where you live, the company you end up at, and all those other good things in life. I have a friend who started at R8k a month straight out of varsity in 2014 and another at R20k in the same year, with the exact same degree. Both of these are in Durban, and of the guys I have met since have yet to see any JHB salary be as low as R8k. From this I deduce that the parastatals pay better than smaller companies, and location makes a difference!

 

[ComputerEngineer]

You say he must not expect much but you give no starting amount. How does this help the OP? Also, what if your "not much" and his are two different values?

Anyways, when I started in 2011 the company I joined offered me 20k per month and then I had some benefits such as a petrol card, travel allowance, medical and pension. From what I could gather at that time it was pretty much the normal. I have my BEng (Computer Engineering). Later when we were looking for more people at that company they chose fresh grads over masters students since they said the guys with masters degrees were way more full of nonsense and less teachable than someone who did not have one.

To be honest, from what I have seen and heard at a few places is that a masters does not mean much to many places, there are some that look at it differently but mostly they do not care. Most places generally look for something that you have on paper so they can tick the box and then they go on to see if you will be a good fit in the company and also if you have experience, a degree means a lot less in this country than in others. Mostly just a foot in the door.

So yeah, I am not sure if this minimum has changed yet but that is my experience. Oh and add 5 years working experience to that I have seen guys getting 35k to 42k per month.

To add further to this, if you can, go into mobile development, so Android and iOS together. There are so many people looking for this skill set and so few that have it in this country. I get people contacting me about twice a month asking to move to another company because of mobile experience. I started at my first company doing embedded development (Microchip and C/C++) and then got some Android skills there and when I moved I went fully into embedded Android development.

Hope it helps.

I've been offered a position in a software role at a company with what looks like good growth potential (they are still relatively small), they are involved in quite a bit of mobile (iOS / android) development. I've been offered in the region of 310k CTC, It seems to be well over what most people are getting offered out the door.

 

[nakedpeanut]

Thats very good for a grad, ours are likely 250 ish..

I've been offered a position in a software role at a company with what looks like good growth potential (they are still relatively small), they are involved in quite a bit of mobile (iOS / android) development. I've been offered in the region of 310k CTC, It seems to be well over what most people are getting offered out the door.

 

[ComputerEngineer]

Don't expect too much.

I have a Masters in Computer/Electronic Engineering. When I started working back in 2012, I joined a smallish company, but I started with R100K less than some other guys that studied with me that joined some of the parastatals. My increases at the smaller company was double digits every year, until I left them. At a smaller company you'll work your arse off. Not bad if you want to gain experience quickly, but it;s impossible to keep going like that indefinitely.

Just over a year ago a moved to a larger company. I got a big bump in salary initially, but yearly increases aren't as big (around CPI). The pace however is a bit slower.

So it really comes down to what are you prepared to do? Big companies you might start higher, but increases will be lower, while small companies it might be reversed. Also look at future growth opportunities in the company.

If you want possibly big bucks with loads of leave and good working hours, you can always sell your soul and go work for one of the banks. They all are always on the lookout for graduate engineers.

Thanks for your insight, I've actually been looking at the banks... I'm perhaps more interested in finance than most people my age, but I don't know if I'd be able to really push it all the way to actually working there..

Thats very good for a grad, ours are likely 250 ish..

Thanks! Yeah that's what I've come to learn after speaking to people in my course as well as people already working in industry, at one huge defense group things seem to start at 250k. Outside of that, my friend has only heard of one case (at a different company) where someone was getting 280k and that was the highest he had heard. Some people have told me that in general, software roles place you in a 15k - 25k pm bracket and engineering roles place you in 25k - 35k pm which I find a bit hard to believe since I've never heard anyone getting more than 25k pm yet apart from chemical engineers - most positions involving purer engineering work seem to actually be a bit lower (like in the 18k region) at least that's what I have found.

 

[hawker]

Probably around R24k/m

 

[adam88]

I have a Mechanical Engineering Degree.

My first job offer was R 6,000, straight out of Uni. The lady laughed when I said I want R 15,000.

I am currently working but I have received calls from a few recruiters offering anything between R 12,000 to R 20,000.

 

[Maverick154]

I have a Mechanical Engineering Degree.

My first job offer was R 6,000, straight out of Uni. The lady laughed when I said I want R 15,000.

I am currently working but I have received calls from a few recruiters offering anything between R 12,000 to R 20,000.

Degree from where and how many years have you been working? That starting salary seems stupidly low.

 

[Cicero]

In 2008 I started on R15k/m, fresh out and knowing jack ****. BSc Electronic Eng.

Give that the old annual CPI until 2016 and you're looking at R22-24k/m. Or, R264k to R288k. This was at a huge company, NASDAQ listed etc.

On the flip side, my mate joined a small company with 5 guys, at R20k/m at the same time. That'll work out at R29-32k/m.

All Durban based btw.

 

[SteveO]

I started on R180k PA when I left Uni in 2009, at the time that was about as good as it got. I reckon R280k PA would be a similar equivalent in 2016.

If you go into a massive corporate you need to show your worth. I have had 2 massive increases plus yearly performance based increases which were always >7%. First big one was 45%, which was to counter another offer. Second one was 30% when I simply told them I was actively looking around.

Moral, show your worth, and you should get rewarded. If they are not going to reward you, leave.

 

[Pavan]

Started at R250k CTC in 2008. BSc Electronic Engineering. Everyone of my friends from engineering who landed their first job in Jhb, at decently sized companies, were between R200k-R320k then.