How much does an engineer make in the U.S.?

**Rene "Zendokan" Gysenbergs** · Posted On: 11/18/2012 1:57pm

Hello all,

I need some help determing for a good friend of mine, the salary of an engineer in the U.S.?

- Engineer in Electronics, option Informatics and Communication Technology.
- worked in Sales (halftime domestic, halftime overseas).
- 6 year experience

So basically, her job is
- to find new prospects in overseas markets
- sell them a high tech piece of machinery
- get all the paperwork finished (customs, transport, billing)
- oversee contacts with third parties in case the machinery has to be build into a production line
- supervise testruns at the customer
- supervise the build-up and dry run of a newcomplete production line where the machine has been build into
- first line technical support for technical customer questions.

So with the above information, can anyone make a realistic guess what her salary would be?
And how it gets broken-down? Mostly I read about 5-figure or 6-figure salaries in the U.S., but is this netto or bruto? How much are the taxes? Does it include extra-legal salary (end-of-year bonus, etc...).

The salary policy in Belgium is complete different from the U.S., so I can't compare a Belgian salary to an U.S. salary.

Thank you in advance,
Zendo

**slamdunc** · Posted On: 11/18/2012 2:10pm

There are many variables involved. Does she have a graduate (masters or doctorate) degree and any specializations? Is her degree in electrical engineering, electronics or marketing? The market here also dictates salary; where is just as important as what.

A first year electronics specialist working for public utilities can bring down anywhere between $30 to $80 per hour (60k to 160k annually), depending on location and the company.

Maybe goodlun can add some insight; I left the field in 1990 to travel and see the world.

This may help.

http://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-...-engineers.htm

**Rene "Zendokan" Gysenbergs** · Posted On: 11/18/2012 2:36pm

Originally Posted by slamdunc

There are many variables involved. Does she have a graduate (masters or doctorate) degree and any specializations? Is her degree in electrical engineering, electronics or marketing? The market here also dictates salary; where is just as important as what.

A first year electronics specialist working for public utilities can bring down anywhere between $30 to $80 per hour (60k to 160k annually), depending on location and the company.

Maybe goodlun can add some insight; I left the field in 1990 to travel and see the world.

This may help.

http://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-...-engineers.htm

Her official title is: Industrial Engineer in Electronics with a specialisation in ICT.
The "Industrial Engineer" could be described as a "Master of Arts in Engineering"

The job would be selling and supervising the transport and installation of an American product to Mainland China companies.
The product would be a fully automated and computer controlled industrial machine, like a food sorting unit that scans vegetables on a conveyor with a camera and than thriugh an algoritme sorts them on size and quality (so quit a specialized market).

**St_Max_Faustus** · Posted On: 11/18/2012 2:44pm

Enterance level is about $50K then anyting extra is down to experience, level of eductaion etc.

Also the requirements for professional acreditation are different in the US to Europe & would be worth checking out before applying for jobs in the US.

**Cake of Doom** · Posted On: 11/18/2012 2:48pm

Is she a design engineer or a sales engineer? Engineers are picky about their titles so narrowing this down could help you get a more accurate figure.

**Rene "Zendokan" Gysenbergs** · Posted On: 11/18/2012 2:58pm

Originally Posted by Cake of Doom

Is she a design engineer or a sales engineer? Engineers are picky about their titles so narrowing this down could help you get a more accurate figure.

From the link that slamdunc gave, I would say that her job experience of the last 6 years would be "Sales Engineer".

Here in Belgium we have "Industrial Engineers" (4 years of College), "Civil Engineers" (5 years of University) and "Business Engineers" (two programs: 4 years of College or 5 years of University).

She's an Industrial Engineer, which would be a "Design Engineer", but she has worked all her professional career as a "Sales Engineer".

**Cake of Doom** · Posted On: 11/18/2012 3:05pm

Got this from bureau of labour stats http://www.bls.gov/ooh/sales/mobile/sales-engineers.htm being on my mobile I can't give it a proper look but I hope it's relevant for your friends situation. It doesn't look to far off what a design engineer could expect.

**goodlun** · Posted On: 11/18/2012 4:13pm

It is really hard to say, a lot of factors come into play.

The best bet is for him to find the specific job he is applying for and look up on indeed.com and salary.com to find the closest matching title and job description and enter in the zip code.

Engineering Saleris run from as low as 52K a year (this is on the really low end but in this economy), I would suspect with his experience and degree he is probably looking at between 65-75k if he can get an offer as this is typical Engineer 1 range. However its not so much what he can make as an Engineer 1, once he has some real experience than 6 figures on up is very possible.