So I’ve been working at a mid-size structural engineering company that specializes in composite structures for two and a half years now. I started at the same time I began my MS which I earned in December. When I started, I was paid $17/hr which is way below what I should have, but I wasn’t too upset because I was had a good scholarship and made some extra grading HW and papers for uni.
My manager is okay, he’s competent and I don’t really have any complaints about him. But, to be perfectly honest, I am the most technically proficient person at the company right now, the only one able to perform FEA, I have the most experience working with concrete, and I’ve built several software applications that save the company and everyone SO much time.
Recently, the guy who started the company left for a real estate developer. I worked with him a lot because we were both really into the mechanics and science of the job and would do things like develop design procedures, technically evaluate new structural systems we might want to use, and reviewing the design standard for the material we used (it’s new so there isn’t the same wealth of experiential information available as for steel). Anyway, a few months before that, the previous head of engineering left. So we went from having 3 PE’s in high paying positions to only 1, but I’m still getting paid $17.00/hr.
I’m applying for new jobs elsewhere and I’ve already been offered a position with about twice the pay which I turned down (didn’t want to work there for that much). Im pretty confident I’ll get a good one soon enough, but I’m still frustrated by it.
Im going to password protect those software applications so they can’t be used before I leave.