Readers Share Their Experiences
The electronics industry offers workers innovative and cutting-edge opportunities, yet with rapidly changing technology comes the demand to keep up with new information and trends. Most readers who responded to EE’s Salary Survey said they must continuously sharpen their work skills to remain competitive in the job market, get salary increases, and maintain job security.
But first, here are some statistics about the readers who completed our annual salary survey. The salaries ranged from $19,000 to $180,000 a year. The overall median salary was $60,000.
Higher education brought the median salary up to $74,000 for those with master’s degrees and $84,000 for respondents with doctorates (see “Education” below). Coincidentally, these figures are nearly identical to the information gleaned from last year’s salary survey.
Technical School $53,000 Associates Degree $50,100 BSEE $59,000 Other BS $54,000 BA $54,600 MSEE $72,000 MBA $70,000 Other Masters $74,000 PhD $84,000
Job functions represented the gamut in the electronics industry, from calibration, design/development engineering, and research to field service and corporate management. For a rundown on the median salaries for the 12 job functions included in the survey, see “Job Function” below.
Calibration $65,000 Component Engineering/Evaluation $67,700 Corporate Management $65,100 Design/Development Engineering $62,500 Engineering/Lab Support $54,100 Field Service $60,000 Incoming Inspection/Test $47,500 Manufacturing/Production Engineering $54,500 Production Test $64,150 QC/QA/Reliability/Product Assurance $54,400 R&D/Scientific $60,500 Standards $56,500
Education and the Competitive Edge
“Technology moves so fast, if you skip a year or two of continuing education or attending trade shows or seminars, you are out of the business,” said James Chu, an engineering manager for Intermec Technologies in Cedar Rapids, IA. “A lot of people get laid off because they are behind in technology. If you want job security and a good salary, you must keep up with new information,” he said.
Intermec Technologies, a manufacturer of hand-held data communications products with annual sales of $2 billion last year, requires employees to participate in 40 hours of continuing education every year. “It can be continuing education classes, seminars, trade shows, or group studies,” Mr. Chu said.
“At our facility in Cedar Rapids, which employees about 500 people, we conduct group studies during the lunch hour or after work. We may go through a textbook chapter by chapter, bring in a speaker, or have a demonstration. It gives employs a chance to share information, and it motivates everyone,” he said.
Of the 278 EE readers who responded to the salary survey, 88% said they attend seminars and training programs. A total of 52% of the respondents said they participate in continuing education programs.
“The job market is very competitive. It was a challenge just to get my job. To keep it, I try to better myself every day by staying current in my particular field,” said Thanh Phan, a 42-year-old quality assurance engineer with Mitsubishi Consumer Electronics of America in Braselton, GA.
Mr. Phan attends seminars or training programs an average of three times a year. “We use many different types of computers in our products, so I have to keep up with the latest technology,” he said.
Mr. Phan, who has been in the electronics industry for 10 years, said his job security and salary increases have been a direct result of his diligence for remaining current with the latest computer products. He expects up to a 7% pay raise for 1999.
According to the our salary survey, 70% of the respondents who attend seminars or training programs said they expect a salary increase of up to 7% in 1999. And, 71% of those surveyed who participate in continuing education also expect a raise of up to 7% this year.
“It’s hard for us to know exactly where the future in electronics is going because it keeps changing. You keep reading, you keep studying, yet it changes so much,” said Ross DuClair, an telecommunications engineer at Chancellor Media. The media company has 434 radio stations across the country, and Dr. DuClair is the assistant chief engineer for a four-station radio complex in Sacramento, CA.
“In my field, the challenge is to do more with less, so I must remain current on any new digital technology,” Dr. DuClair said. With a Ph.D. in telecommunications and 20 years in the electronics industry, Dr. DuClair continues to participate in continuing education, seminars, and training programs. “When we converted our radio complex from analog to digital, I had to get more training to accomplish that project,” he said.
Dr. DuClair recently was approached by management to take on a project that involved using high-powered transmitters. “I felt that I was not qualified to work with that technology, but I really wanted to do the project. So I negotiated with management for a smaller raise in salary in exchange for paid schooling to prepare me for the project,” he said.
When Dr. DuClair was looking for an engineer to work at his facility, he used the same idea in his recruitment. “There was a particular candidate that I wanted to take the job, but she was not completely qualified and was being offered a good salary for a job at another company. I negotiated a lower salary than the other job she was offered, but with paid schooling to get her certifications. She went for the opportunity of more training and still is employed with us today,” he said.
Dr. DuClair expects a 5% to 7% salary increase in 1999 and credits his raise in compensation to his willingness to learn new technologies. Wilson Tran, a design engineer with Boeing North America in Canoga Park, CA, not only links salary increase, but also job security with participating in continuing education and attending trade shows and seminars. “I feel I have job security because I continuously update my knowledge of the aerospace industry,” Mr. Tran said.
In this year’s salary survey, 85% of the respondents who participate in continuing education are secure in their present job. A total of 86% of those surveyed who regularly attend trade shows and seminars also said they feel secure in their current position.
Mr. Tran, who has worked for Boeing for 10 years, supervises engineering teams of anywhere from to 20 to 400 people, depending on the project. “There is a lot of technical information that keeps changing very quickly. So we find our solutions by reading technical books, studying as a team, taking advice from technical vendors, and attending seminars and trade shows,” Mr. Tran said. He admitted the good projects and higher salaries most often are given to the people who are updated on the cutting-edge aerospace trends and who have a higher level of education.
The owner of Optical Physics, Richard Hutchin, was willing to hire Cristobal Ramon as an optical engineer even though he lacked experience and knowledge of the latest optics technology. “I had a hard time getting a job because I had just graduated with a bachelor’s degree in optical engineering and had no experience,” he said. Mr. Ramon was hired on the promise that he would get more education. “My goal is to get a master’s degree in optics and mathematics,” he said.
“Education level and the fact that I wasn’t current on the latest technology in optics had a real effect on my ability to get a job,” Mr. Ramon said. “I am fortunate to have an employer willing to invest in my continuing education so I can be a more capable employee,” he said. Mr. Ramon received a salary increase in his first year at Optical Physics and expects a 2% to 4% salary increase in 1999, his second year at the Calabasas, CA, facility.
For Ron Kendig, it is not so much the level of education that brings in the salary increase or job security but the ability to keep up with the ever-changing technology of his customers’ products. “As an applications engineer, I have stayed up with all the new technical information about what my customers are doing so I am able to service them,” Mr. Kendig said.
A 21-year veteran of the electronics industry, Mr. Kendig works for Analogy in Victor, NY, a company with $28 million in annual sales for 1998. The company creates software for design simulation and analysis for ICs to large systems. “I try to get to at least one or two trade shows a year as a visitor so I can see my customers’ new product lines,” Mr. Kendig said. “I also take training courses from local engineering societies or attend one-day seminars or product training meetings,” he said.
However, Mr. Kendig said some of his most valuable information comes from tours of his customers’ facilities. “My job is to help customers use our products to find their own solutions, and plant tours can be very insightful to my understanding of their products,” he said. “There is no such thing as an eternal job, but I feel I can maintain job security and a good salary if I stay on the cutting-edge of technology so I can help my customers design new products.”
The Impact of the Internet
The most valuable tools for acquiring information about his customers’ products, according to Mr. Kendig, are his company’s intranet and the internet. “I have been using e-mail since the early 1980s when I worked at Hewlett-Packard, and now I am constantly hooked up to our intranet or the internet while I am at work,” he said. Mr. Kendig uses the company intranet for file transfers and customer data-base access and the internet for business surfing, prospecting customers, and obtaining product information.
Mr. Ramon, the Optical Physics engineer, said he logs on every day to optics.org to get information on companies developing optical products he needs for the aerospace projects his company is working on. “I can contact a product vendor much faster through the internet and even get a quote for the product if I need it,” said Mr. Ramon.
According to the salary survey data, 98% of those who responded said they had access to the internet. A total of 68% log on to the internet at work for one to five hours a week, and 22% said they use the internet on the job for six to 10 hours a week. Most of the readers surveyed use the internet for e-mail, accessing product information, and researching technical information.
Melvin Young, a supplier quality manager at Teledyne Controls in Los Angeles, has been in the electronics industry for 27 years. The company, which had $90 million in annual sales last year, manufactures avionics equipment. “I don’t use the internet very much, but it really is useful when we need to access information on government product specifications,” Mr. Young said. “The time saved through the internet, compared to how we got that information in the past, is very valuable,” he said.
Mr. Chu of Intermec Technologies said the internet is an important source for keeping updated on the latest information on the mobile computing and wireless communications industry. “It is amazing how much information you can get from the internet and so much faster,” said Mr. Chu, who has been in the electronics industry for 36 years. “Now I can go to a trade publication’s web site to get many articles on a particular subject.”
About 10 hours a week is the amount of time Mr. Phan of Mitsubishi Consumer Electronics spends surfing the internet. “I usually am looking for product and technical information so I can stay current in the field of computer technology,” Phan said.
Dr. DuClair of Chancellor Media said he wants to be ready for buying the latest equipment when the budgets are in place. “All my research for new purchases, whether it is application notes or production information, is through the internet. Within an hour, I can find what I am looking for and get a price quote,” he said.
“The internet is a wonderful tool for learning about the cutting-edge technology for your field. There is so much out there, and it is so easy to get,” Dr. DuClair continued. “It is the rare engineer that doesn’t have the passion to learn more. But the frustrating part is what you learn now most likely won’t be current two years from now.”
Optical Physics’ Mr. Ramon agreed about the speed of changing technology. “The world moves extremely fast. But this country has the best training facilities in the world for people working in the technical industries,” he said. “You just have to be willing to go after it.”
Salary isn’t the number-one priority for Mr. Kendig of Analogy. He receives job satisfaction in his desire to learn and be challenged. “You have to have a good attitude about work. It’s not just there for earning money. You have to want to contribute, and the only way to contribute is to continuously educate yourself,” he said.
Where you live and work also play an important role in what you make. Our salary survey shows that readers who responded from the Pacific coast were the highest paid, with a median salary of $69,150. This represents only a slight decrease from last year when the Pacific region again was the highest paid with a median salary of $70,950. To round out this year’s geographic comparison, the map above shows the median salary in the regions of the U.S.
All contents © 2004 Nelson Publishing, Inc.
April 1999