Do any well-paid jobs exist in the UK?

138k for a civil engineer ??

Op says they obtained a first so must be fairly smart... Did they not research job prospects and salaries before enrolling in their course?

I have a degree in civil engineering myslef.... used to earn around 45k in the south east but am now on a bit less up north. More money would always be great but I wouldn't be jacking it all in to doss about in a caravan!
 
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Just read the bit about not being paid enough for the job your doing and feel like you should be earning more.

That statement applies to pretty much everyone! I think private sector have it better due to more competition and salaries being higher but ask anyone who works in the public sector. You should count yourself lucky to be on £30k+

Think it comes down to your mental state of mind. If you want to earn more, go for it. Don't ja k it all in for no reason, you are the only person who can make a change to your own life.
 
Caracus2k said:
Op says they obtained a first so must be fairly smart... Did they not research job prospects and salaries before enrolling in their course?
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Unfortunately being "smart" and actually having any clue about what happens in the real world are two very different things, as the OP is demonstrating.
 
There is a shortage of Qualified civil engineers. People like me retiring, major infrastructure works like HS2 and nuclear. I get headhunted now at 65. You do need to follow a career progression and get chartered to get bigger bucks and it requires time and commitment to do it.

Otherwise become a self employed surveyor or setting out engineer this means that you will spend your life on sites, earning good money but with little real progression in the industry.
 
ttaskmaster said:
I think I've found your problem....

Firstly, you chose Civils. The UK is among THE lowest paid and the lowest paying in that general industry. As an Engineering Technician, I'm nowhere near even 30K and about 75% of the world pays more than £48k for my role.
Secondly, it sounds like you're not even Chartered... If you want to get anywhere as an actual Engineer in Civils, you want that... and then, that's just the starting point.

Secondly, just to give you an idea - In our little corner of the water industry, a senior Chartered Engineer over 55 and working 40+ hours a week, gets £42k, including London Weighting. A field-based Chartered Engineer gets £28k.

If you want the big bucks in Civils, you either become a spit-hot consultant or get a job with the works contractors. If you don't mind the variable pattern shifts, even a basic Back Boy on a survey rig earns £31k... and it'll be £34k once he gets his HGV licence.
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When you say technician do you just do CAD?

Your salaries seem very low tbh. I've worked for a couple water engineering consultancies (civil based but I'm mechanical), and you can earn significantly more than that..

Also surely the only real cost of getting chartered is time? (normally fee company will pay)
 
Wow much entitlement in the Op.

Work smarter, put the effort in and prosper or moan and wait for life for deliver in poverty. One of those is good advice.

Also, £33k isn't much to shout about but it's enough to live even in London and enough to bide your time to better prospects. Certainly better than £70 a week or whatever JSA is these days.

**** it, I'll jack it in and live in a van. Said no sane person ever.
 
None of the high earners I work with in engineering have this attitude. There's more money out there, you've just got to prove you're worth it and coming across the way you have would seem to preclude you from this. There are many people in your position and they will do better than you will at least by virtue of the fact that they'll stick with it.

Contracting, consultancy, management or running your own gig will all put you in better financial stead if you get there/do it. Tactical job hopping would help also, but only if you don't come across IRL as you have in this thread.
 
If a civil engineer with a first class degree can't earn a good net salary - who can?
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Software developers working in the same industry I do. That's who.

Junior software developers where I work earn upwards of £60k. It's not really *that* specialised, we don't even need a degree (related or otherwise).

You have to know how to write good code though, obviously.

Senior developers will earn upwards of £100k.

Contract developers and other associated roles, such as Programme Managers, could be making somewhere in the region of £800-1000 per day.
 
If everyone with an engineering degree earned 100k+, what would happen to inflation? Everything would go up and your salary would be still only afford the same number of bread loaves.
 
Mr^B said:
Software developers working in the same industry I do. That's who.

Junior software developers where I work earn upwards of £60k. It's not really *that* specialised, we don't even need a degree (related or otherwise).

You have to know how to write good code though, obviously.

Senior developers will earn upwards of £100k.

Contract developers and other associated roles, such as Programme Managers, could be making somewhere in the region of £800-1000 per day.
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£60k for a junior? That's new to me...

Senior's with good specialisations can easily earn over £100k though...

fretted said:
If everyone with an engineering degree earned 100k+, what would happen to inflation? Everything would go up and your salary would be still only afford the same number of bread loaves.
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Ummmm... engineer's in switzerland earn that much or more and inflation has been practically flat the last 5-10 years.
 
I'm 28 no degree and earn more than you do OP. Live in a 3 bed semi in the South East of England.

So yes there are decent paying jobs out there.

Wouldn't of been so blunt but the entitlement coming from you stinks.
 
balky12 said:
I'm 28 no degree and earn more than you do OP. Live in a 3 bed semi in the South East of England.

So yes there are decent paying jobs out there.

Wouldn't of been so blunt but the entitlement coming from you stinks.
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LOL you'll be earning a paltry wage since you're based in the UK; even a 20k gross yearly increase amounts to pennies/month. I'm living off the tax payer free of charge - thanks for the free beer and rent. In fact I don't intend to change that until wages increase to my satisfaction or I come up with a lucrative money making idea.

Enjoy your day of slavery tomorrow. :)
 
crinkleshoes said:
£60k for a junior? That's new to me...

Senior's with good specialisations can easily earn over £100k though...
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I believe @Mr^B works for a hedge fund so it isn't surprising. Saying that I have a friend who joined Amazon as a graduate software engineer earning just over £50k base in his first year.
 
Expelled from school @ 16, left with nothing, no GCSE's went into welding as an apprentice @ £1.30 an hour in 1997, at the same time I was building PCs so quickly jacked in welding went to college, was well into the internet started working in networks - initially for free at a local college to get some experience, got a CCNA in 2002 (I think) and went on from there,

Now I'm on exactly £100k, with about 18 years experience, working in the games industry (esports <can't say who but a load of you on here play our games so one or two guesses would probably hit the mark> )

In terms of experience, I have a CCIE and a JNCIE, also worked for Juniper networks for a while - it's just something that I love, but it took a long time to get to this point, I've had a couple of nightmares and money isn't everything - 100k is a lot, but it's not *that much* in tech... I'd get a lot more working in sales, but it's just not my bag, I love playing with lego too much.

The key to my success, was to just immerse myself in technology, write blogs, go to events, figure out ways of doing things and not be afraid to publish my ideas, once I made that jump - I discovered that the *really big* tech companies and people affiliated with them started making direct approaches, that was the big thing I learnt later on in my career.
 
crinkleshoes said:
£60k for a junior? That's new to me...
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I suspect that is more likely after at least a year or two... a brand new grad is more like 40-50k or so in a bank/fund - obviously there are bonuses too but in IT those are rather limited in comparison to the investment professionals

at a big tech firm however 60k fresh out of uni is possible (along with bonuses/stock options etc..) - thus why some banks and funds like the one the other poster works for struggle to compete with the likes of google, Facebook for say machine learning talent - the pay is as good/better and the environment/company seen as a nicer place to work... ultimately google has more money than the funds it competes with for talent too
 
captain dilbert said:
LOL you'll be earning a paltry wage since you're based in the UK; even a 20k gross yearly increase amounts to pennies/month. I'm living off the tax payer free of charge - thanks for the free beer and rent. In fact I don't intend to change that until wages increase to my satisfaction or I come up with a lucrative money making idea.

Enjoy your day of slavery tomorrow. :)
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I have to question this attitude? Makes no sense to me. You have a sense of entitlement that is almost childish (I see it in school kids every day and talk to them about how hard work = profit)

Even the snarky comments dont make sense. You claim you are worth 138k, but the attitude is horrendous! And if you are quite happy living on benefits, why the moan in the first place? Seriously starting to wonder if this is a troll thread....:confused::confused:

Treating work like slavery is true if you don't enjoy it, but there are plenty of people out there who enjoy what they do and make loads doing it! Yes there are good days and bad days but you get that no matter what!

Good luck in whatever you choose to do (waiting around / benefits / next big thing) but know that you wont get anywhere without a positive attitude.
 
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