r/ChemicalEngineering • u/Ok-Poem653 • Apr 26 '23

Salary Entry level salary right after university

Hi yall, I recently landed an entry level material engineering job and received a salary offer of $63k per year. I graduate with my chemical engineering degree this May. I am wondering if this salary offer is fair or if I am underselling myself.

When I attempted a salary negotiation with the recruiter in HR, they mentioned that the salary system is based on an annual evaluation and that the company has seen an average salary increase of 10% to 12% due to inflation.

I have accepted the offer, but I would appreciate any input or insights from those with more experience in the field. Thank you in advance for your help!

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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '23

I got a $102K offer for industry, but ultimately I’ve committed to grad school. (School will pay me $50K, give me free tuition, healthcare, etc.) My friends who graduated last year got their raises and are making around $80-100K right now.

Please let me know what job you can do without a degree or training that will allow for that amount of compensation. Ideally one that won’t destroy my body in like 10 years.

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u/Elevation0 Apr 27 '23

I’m a shift supervisor for the truck maintenance department for a large transportation company. I don’t do any manual labor just verify work gets done, manage techs, and manage our yard. No degree or technical training.

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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '23

And your salary will surpass six figures after 2-3 years of work experience? You can get that job right out of highschool? Could you easily move or grow a career off of that?

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u/Elevation0 Apr 27 '23

Yeah my salary will surpass 100k after 2-3 years. You can’t get the job I’m in right after high school but if you start as a CSR most people land this supervisor position after 1-2 years. And yes it’s management so you can go anywhere with it really.

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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '23

I highly doubt you can go anywhere after managing trucks. Unfortunately after some point most major corporations require a degree to be promoted. This is especially true in the chemical industry. Most of those “low level” or “lower middle” management jobs are fine, but anything major is usually off limits.

While yeah, it’s possible to do fine without trade school or formal engineering education—the vast majority of people I’ve seen go without are still working fast food, 5 years later.

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u/Elevation0 Apr 27 '23

I only have 2 more promotions till I need a degree but the pay will put me well above 100k. As for transferability any sort of blue collar work transfers we’ll and considering the transportation and logistic industry is one of the largest in the world I don’t think anyone in my position would have to worry too much about further opportunities.

But that being said I’m definitely not arguing the importance of furthering your education. I just started college and ChemE is something that seams interesting to me(hence why I’m on this sub). I was more just shocked that the starting wages were in the 60k range I thought it would be more towards the 80k-90k range.

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u/[deleted] Apr 28 '23

I think that normally it’s in the 70-90K range. Who knows though—it also depends on your industry. Petrochem, speciality/commodity chemical, semiconductors and pharma will pay more than traditional manufacturing.