• Question: is it a well payed career

    Asked by liamsevans71 to Andrew, Hina, Ian, Kathryn, Leah-Nani, Xu on 11 Jun 2018. This question was also asked by 498spcn34, 683spcn34, 333spcn34, 749spcn34.
    • Photo: Kathryn Burrows

      Kathryn Burrows answered on 11 Jun 2018:


      Generally it is considered so. There are plenty of ways to make more money! But science graduates in general earn more than arts graduates. I have been training for 9 years and get about £30 000 a year before tax. A university professor I believe gets about £50-60 000 a year.

    • Photo: Leah-Nani Alconcel

      Leah-Nani Alconcel answered on 11 Jun 2018:


      Yes, it is. My partner (who is also educated to PhD level in the sciences) and I have a combined income of over £100k before tax.

    • Photo: Andrew Margetts-Kelly

      Andrew Margetts-Kelly answered on 11 Jun 2018:


      Science and Engineering certainly are very well paid careers.

      What’s more is that the benefits that come with jobs in the engineering sector are very good too. For example we get 40 days holiday each year, final salary pensions, and lots more than jobs in typical non-engineering firms.

      Engineering jobs are also much more flexible than “normal” jobs. I can go to work when I want, leave when I want, work from home when I want etc.

      Different fields (like electronics or chemistry for example) are all different but generally speaking your pay could be expected to look like this over your career:
      Junior Engineer: £30k – 10% more than median UK pay
      After 10years: £48k – 75% more
      Chief Engineer: £70k – 200% more

      If you want to delve into the figures this is a very good link to a salary survey from a year ago:
      https://s3-eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/centaur-wp/theengineer/prod/content/uploads/2017/06/14164613/Salary-Survey-Web2.pdf

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