Why is everyone quitting their Engineering jobs | Great Resignation
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- Опубліковано 10 чер 2024
- Go to brilliant.org/MatPicardal/ for 20% off an annual premium subscription today for the first 200 subscribers! Why are engineers quitting their civil engineering and tech jobs? What can companies and employees do about it?
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📗 Chapters 📗
0:00 Intro
0:38 Why are engineers quitting their jobs?
1:15 What does this mean?
2:47 What can we do about it?
2:56 Pay & engineering salary
4:21 Meaningful work
6:24 Stress, work-life balance, and burnout
8:30 Career advancement
10:04 Schedule flexibility
10:51 Toxic work environment
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Mat Picardal is a structural project manager at DCI Engineers. This video and this channel does not necessarily reflect the opinion nor beliefs of DCI Engineers. All thoughts expressed are purely his own observations and experiences.
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#civilengineering #softwareengineering #greatresignation
Why did you change jobs or what made you want to quit?
I am a civil student in India and was confused regarding the software.I am confused to choose between Etabs,tekla and stadpro if you can guide me that will be helpful.
And I am considering to learn online like from udemy...
Waris Ahmed
It all depends on what the company uses
Smith I am a student and wants to learn for future...
Long hours and no work life balance , I feel as if being at a desk for 8 hours a day everyday kinda robs you of your life …
Low pay. High liability.
Guy who leaves at 5pm is smart, be that guy.
Plan better for your projects and deadlines! I love how companies make promises to the clients at the expense of their employees! If you time it properly there is no need for longer hours. If it constantly requires long hours, regardless of who is working on the project, it means someone is creating unrealistic deadlines!
Civil Engineers need to stop accepting $15/hr internships and $60k/yr full time jobs and drive the market floor up!!!
That's what i'm talkin about!
International students would take whatever they are offered. They are desperate.
@@bzq3386 do you blame them? They'll still get paid more than what they would back on their home countries
@@bzq3386 Because in some markets, employers avoid international students because of the potential chances they might need a visa sponsorship, also some employers might discriminate against them, leaving international students disparate for work, and they are usually the last hired, even if they are better than their local/US citizen counterparts. FYI
Rest of world: 4 or 5 weeks minimum pto. North America: 0 to 2 weeks.
Also North america...why are people burning out, unhappy, unhealthy, and not travelling or seeing their families enough?
22 years as a Manufacturing/Mechanical engineer. Was a Senior engineer managing people and projects nationwide and assisting internationally within my company. I was only making 5% more than my employees with 1 year of experience. Looked for other work in town and can't even make the $160,000 to buy an average priced (450,000) house. So, I quite my job 2 years ago and am becoming an Electrician. NO stress, NO micromanaging, NO full days of meetings, No burnout.
Honestly, I got a degree in the top 98% of the hardest degrees to achieve and paid in the lower 25% of professional pay. So good luck American companies.
This kind of thing also often happens in my country (Indonesia).
- low salary (average $2500 - $5000)
- project demands that are above self-ability
- too much working time
_ toxic works environment
Some of my friends have even turned to being traders or farmers instead of becoming engineers
I got my first M.E. Job after Graduating at Detroit Mercy. Applied to thousands of jobs and finally got one they paid $16/HR and they wanted me to work 7 AM - 6 PM, the President and Director kept shit talking me behind my back, because I didn't 't know what DVP&R was out of college and yelled at me for asking how to operate a table saw for the first time. The Director fired me saying "I really wanted someone who would go beyond the call of duty, someone with a passion to go the extra mile, someone with extra ambition, give me your badge." Went Back to School for 6 Months, took the DAT, got into Dental School and not looking back. The Dental Community is very friendly, welcoming, pays good, provides flexible hours, and the classes were easier.
I quit and went back to get my masters because of lack of meaningful work. don't treat me like a tech when I'm an engineer.
Engineering is not a high paying job. Not in Canada at least. 60k in 1960s was our starting salary, fast forward 60+ years our starting salary is 62k. Every other profession caught up and beat us. We also get treated like garbage and we are scape goats.
Amen
Exactly
ON the Point📌
Constantly understaffed, which causes a lot of stress and unpaid overtime. Low pay. Depressing atmosphere.
Thanks for this video, Mat! Definitely an eye-opener for engineers so they and their employers could realize their worth. But also a non-biased POV that helps employees pick companies and bosses that can actually help them succeed and treat them right. Love your videos as always!
Couldn't agree more Matt! As an engineer myself I had to take almost a year off to revaluate if I really wanted to continue down the engineering path. After the break I rediscovered my love for the career and haven't looked back since. My Tip: Know your worth!
what does that mean? someone appreciates you like crazy anotherone does not care.
I am an engineer myself. I also teach engineering and I used to ask my students why they chose engineering and I will say 90% said they chose engineering because it pays “well”. If you measure job satisfaction based on worth (assuming that’s what you are referring) you will be always finding yourself reevaluating your career path/choices (it’s is like convincing yourself to be with someone when you know you are not meant for each other ) . My tip ; Find something you really love and stick to it trust me if you follow your true calling you won’t have the need to reevaluate anything (this is just my humble opinion )
Engineers solve problems that are mathematical in nature and are expected to provide multiple options that need to look elegant, shall be used to assess time and cost, for various options using different materials. An engineered design is still an interim product that of course has no means of course-correction during execution. This means the engineered solution has meet many targets from the beginning. An engineering mistake can be pin-pointed to the wrong assumptions or omissions, that is why a PE or SE licensure is required to give an assurance of public safety and credibility. Hence an engineer has many targets to achieve - aesthetics, financial viability, accountability, and credibility.
Among the non-engineering tasks, say project management, that involve so called decision making between say only two outcomes (for simplicity), the teams do not run both outcomes to the ground, but collectively decide upon what they think is a better outcome. The decision makers go along with one path and have the ability to constantly course-correct and improvise, often learning from bad experience to make better decision the next time. The tricky part is - what may appear to be a lesson learnt in one instance is not a universal truth and even the outcomes can be either a favorable or unfavorable from the decision. There is never a really an awesome decision or a terrible decision, but a more optimal solution. Even though there is a much wider team to deal with those scenarios, there is never a bad decision to hold someone enough responsible, while in comparison to bad engineering. I think this is less risky, more satisfying, and for a better compensation. At the end if things go well, people celebrate together, if not they at least built a social network and cherish the good times. Engineers are rarely called for these celebratory moments, let alone allowed to advertise themselves during construction.
For building plant operations I can say that engineers are essentially flying a plane although it is stationary. So to the outside housekeeping management or even general management they see you in thought or monitoring systems (Much of our work is like mental gymnastics constant analysis of critical systems and troubleshooting) To the outsider your doing nothing so they demand you fix the light out above the stapler guys desk cause that's more important then figuring out why the safety relief valve is going off to the boiler system that could completely level the place.
That last point about life being to short to stay in an unhappy environment was golden, and it applies to all aspects of your life!
companies already know what they have to do to avoid employees from quitting..... if they don't do it, it's because they don't care.... it seems that it's more profitable for them to hire newbies that work for much less money.... theres not much to do about it
I studied engineering to do what I love, but I ended in a nightmare where I am doing boring unimaginative crap work because engineering job market sucks I cannot even tell you where to start
I think the job market sucks no matter what field right now
@@josephcassano6296
I wish we were just winging. But my bro called today he applied to Tesla, but he was not brown osing enough.
@@rock801 Start your own business in a place like australia or canada or new zealand. You'll do much better, much less competition.
@@josephcassano6296
I do not monitor the rest, so I cannot tell, but I would concur with you opinion.
@@lawrencemayne1906
Whst kind of business and what kind of customers do I have there?
I am an EIT with MSc in structural engineering and I am scheduling my PE exam in March. I work for a small firm up North Ohio. I have been working for the company for almost 3 years and I am paid $58k a year, which I honestly feel I am underpaid. I know someone who just graduated and got a job for 75k in the same area, so that hit me hard. Something I learned about small firms is if the company decided to stay small and not growing, that will have a negative impact on their employees and no one gets a raise. It is not just money though, all the other factors you mentioned are really important.
A hard truth for civil/structural though is that its normally the lowest paid of all the engineering fields. Generally on the order of ~$10k/yr less than electrical or mechanical. And that's just from my specific knowledge, but I've seen a fair number of surveys that corroborate that.
Leave that firm the minute you get your PE you are undervalued there. It is about the money especially when you start to think about buying a home and having a family all that passion BS they feed will go out the window then.
I got less than 53k with masters in Southern California when I started…something is definitely wrong with the engineers pay in this country
There are definitely underpaying you . You should do some research or your Salary Value to see your market worth ! I'm sure its more than 58K per year.
Wow, that’s awful. I do work in utilities and my salary was 80k starting and I’m willing to bet I don’t have half the stress structural engineers have. Civil engineering salaries are a scam 🤣
Doing structural engineering (design) for about 5years. I am on the verge of changing careers. It is so sad that I used to love and be passionate about structural engineering and now, I just don’t care… either I am depressed or burnt out. I dont know what to do
Bro, I also had the same issue few months back. (Was working in India in a reputed firm)
Now, I am giving it a shot again in another country as changing my career didn't go well.
@@gjv9753 hey man! I really wish the best of luck and wishing you the best.
@@Applehamzzi thanks mate.
same, leaving the industry and not looking back
Man Im working in a contracting company as site engineer for a couple of months, however i hate it with a passion.. pushing labors screaming at old people is eating me alive and i feel i should be in the structural design section since it was my passion since university days.. what should i do??
A well paid engineer requires years of experience while another person gets the same salary in tech field during their first year.
I think thats the problem with engineering, high level of experience and knowledge required while most are underpaid, may be replaceable by AI in future years.
Love you Mat! Your content is really good and helpful to me.
hearing this made me gain more knowledge in dealing with this kind of things. especially me as a student who finds a job as a structural 2D drafter
Engineering sux!! Low pay, little appreciation, high-risk, toxic offices. 😄
The reasons that you've described on similar for almost every industry and job under the sun. Unfortunately, there will never be such a thing as a perfect job.
For me it is simple, engineering is kind of boring, But mostly difficult. I did get myself through the degree, but then you actually have to work as an engineer. And I am just not good at it. So I moved over to sales more. I like it but wish I had skipped the engineering degree altogether. I have just learned that degrees are pretty pointless even engineering degrees, most jobs do not actually require them once you get in.
So if you could redo everything (which I cant) I would have chosen some much easier 1-2 year vocational school. There are some pretty good once out there in sales, marketing, programming, CAD etc. Sure the "prestige" might not be the same, but I really do not care about that since the actual jobs you get are paid the same etc.
Engineering is nice but the politics and demands that come with any company you work for is idiocracy !
I quit the engineering industry a few years back because In California the wages suck and most are bad companies!
What did you transition to
@@joseh7612 Network Admin
what engineering are you? I live in california too. The cost of living sucks here.
@@jimmyvila4443 What is that? Is the pay better and did you go back to school?
in France, in the 80's Lots of Universities Closed the Civil Engineering Faculty
because there's No Market for the Degree
I did this and am in kenya the jobs are scarce
It's oddly difficult becoming a real engineer(4-5 year degree base , hectic advanced mathematic base usually, I find electrical engineering the most intriguing ). After you reach that level , you don't want to sit behind a desk. You want to change the world. You don't want to take shit from some MBA loser, irritating clients and all that.
Yes. And when did we start calling computer programmers/developers, “engineers”. 😂
@CarrieV9 No disrespect, but I think programming is only 1% of electrical engineering. But we only master 1% of coding type thing. So no judgement.
At first I thought I wanted to be a Structural Engineer, I worked for a company for about 1 year and I hated it. On the engineering design side you will most times be underpaid because MOST people that are not Engineers do not see the value in your work vs time.. with that being said I ended up working for a GC afterwards and its so much better, Salary, work life balance, actually leaving the office and getting out to sites. My advice to to think about the day to day life as an Engineer before you dive in head first, most times its not as glamourous as you may think, but if it works for you then go after it!
@Actually Zack General contractor. And to counter the comment above, your work life balance will almost always be worse working for one, and getting out on site is definitely a personal preference. The pay will likely be better, but whether that makes up for the long saturdays, being on site for 18 months straights, and working in all weather conditions, is up to you.
I’m feeling more reassured changing my major now
In Germany, Stuttgart, the number of civil engineering students decreased from 200 in 2020 to 120 in 2021.. The next era is not for engineers unfortunately.
I would not advise people to go into engineering if they want to have a career.
@@rock801 why?
@@rock801 why
@@rock801 engineering is a career. Elaborate??
wtf in entire germany theres only 200 civil engineers, is this real???
My aunt quit her engineering job due to the pay being kinda low. Benefits were iffy and all employers were to get their own health insurance. She was making less than most of the teachers in our school county. She now works for a business consulting agency making good pay and not using her engineering degree most of the time. Plenty of engineering jobs in the area but companies are really seeking supervisors. DMV area of the U.S.
An engineering job that pays less than a teacher??
I'd suggest she'd move out
@@talkhtw55 She quit already and works a good paying job that doesn’t use her degree. We have a lot of engineering jobs in our area but they are mostly seeking supervisors.
One word. PMP. Another word. MBA. I loved engineering when I worked for engineers. Then development became a joke, because they put people in charge (friends of the boss) who had no idea what they were doing, but had a management certification. That ruined American Engineering and made Boeing the joke it is today...
I just quit EE.
You nailed all the points!
Go back, us the skills to become an engineer entrepreneur
I made the switch from Mechanical Engineering to Tech a few years ago, and it was the best decision of my life. Personally hated working in warehouses/plants in the middle of nowhere
Tell more
Can I talk to you about your journey?
Actually what’s happening isn’t “quitting engineering” they’re finding new jobs in the same field. During 2020, the pay scale shifted upward big time but CEOs thought they would keep the old employees without giving a raise and started hiring new employees at a much higher rate. So obviously everyone left and went to a new company to get the new pay rate.
That is pretty funny, this Friday is my last day at work as an engineer for my old company. Still going to continue engineering though ;)
I also documented the revenue I brought the company to leverage a raise. The company reply was, “a raise would set you above your peers, to give you a raise we would have to give everyone else one too”
Lol that’s the modern liberal bullshit that goes on today. You work harder than others and put a better output up and yet same treatment. Nonetheless, how do you like your career in engineering? I’m a 1st year student.
People are fed up working for stiff idiots, on a low salary, with no further prospects in the career. Engineering/manufacturing companies are the problem! They spend plenty of time blaming the quality of graduates/employees etc etc etc… companies never hold themselves accountable for failings!
I am also in the structural field and a few of the reasons mentioned have been weighing on my mind over the past few years. Lack of meaningful work, toxic work environment, pay and burnout were major factors in my moving away from engineering. Love engineering and don't want to give it up completely so studying architecture now in hopes of approaching the same industry from a different point of view.
how can u do architecture after structural engineering in my country they don"t allow that I did civil engineer but later realized Im more interested in architectural aspects of design than structural
@@pranishvajarinkar8145 Hi, i am doing an undergraduate degree in architecture. So starting from the bottom again. Hoping to leverage my knowledge as ab engineer and understanding of structures to move up quickly in the architecture space.
sorry but i dont get how it isn't meaningful, perhaps your reasons for structural are different than mine but your building infrastructure!! what can be more meaningful and fulfilling than that contribution?
There wasn't enough technical work to go around and my coworkers were too insecure to share/teach specialized knowledge. I was learning nothing, so I quit. Best decision ever, more pay, I have a mentor and a better job title.
I'm a Mechanical Engineer. I think the trick is to work for small companies. Make yourself valuable and show them how you improve the team. In small teams, you often become the expert in a significant percentage of the engineer departments' work after a small amount of time. Then make sure they know what you expect from them. I'm on $60k with salary prospects looking up even in 2023. I'm 27.
Hey James, I'm a first year ME student from Ireland and was wondering if your job consists of much hands on work
@Seamus Walsh hi, I mean it depends what you mean by hands on work. If you're talking about fabrication I would say it's less likely you'd be doing that (I don't). But if you're talking about being in a workshop reviewing parts you've had made or assembling components together to check fitment or using testing equipment to verify dimensions or other mechanical properties I'd say yes.
It depends if you go for a more design focused ME job or just a generic ME job. The former will likely have less hands on work.
@@jameshayes2022 Thanks alot for replying. Would there be any jobs for MEs that have the option of doing CNC work like milling.
@Seamus Walsh tbh those kind of jobs would be quite rare in my opinion. MEs tend to be on the design/manufacturing support side of things. If you would prefer to do that kind of stuff, I'd say do a college course in something like that. But, I'd speak to your course tutor for some advice. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that some companies have MEs working on prototypes like that. MEs tend to have far less physical fabrication skills as uni courses tend to focus on technical and academic skills.
@@jameshayes2022 oh okay, thanks James👍
sorry, but between sales and engineers? company would value sales department more. engineers always have to put in extra time into the job but most of the time, it doesnt get recognize, as the longer time we take to finish the job, the lesser profit it will be for the company. so anyone planning to go engineering, better get some real life advice from engineers. also dont even get me started with the low pay
True
✔
One thing I've noticed post covid is that engineering jobs are more "many-hats" positions. I keep seeing mechanical/quality engineer; process/ facilities engineer; or my fav quality/production/facilities/process/ maintenance/janitorial engineer.
While I look through these many-hats gigs, I keep thinking so which one is it?
I am done with "many hats" positions. Whenever the job responsibility lines are blurred, it can lead to frustration and chaos.
Engineer unite !
I just got my honours degree in chemical engineering and have been working as a metallurgist for 6 month now. The work is soo boring and repetitive. My problem is it was very hard for me to get a job hence I did my honors and ended up settling for a metallurgy job. Even til this day I keep getting rejection letters from chemical engineering related companies even though I have a 4.0 GPA and graduated with cumlaude in both my degree and honors. Now I’m thinking of saving up money then go back to school for a computer science degree since it looks like life is greener on that side. I feel like I can quickly get the degree but im really failing to make a decision. My biggest fear is that I’ll be stuck in metallurgy. What would you do if you were in my situation
Fake your resume
The hours is why I left my high paying job. The solution would have been for the company to have shifts rather than have people work their normal full day, have an emergency pop up (which frequently occurred) and have them work until the next morning when the day shift came back to take over. Other similar companies did have shift work to eliminate the problem.
Guys, should I quit the company? I am a fresh grad eng that currently working for 11 months with entry level pay for a company that having bad and toxic working environment (ie: have to bring own laptop for work, as they dont want to be caught for using pirated software; spoiled aircon; non-ergonomic chair; manager speaking rude). Also, if you off work at normal working hours despite your task of that day had been cleared, manager will still request u to stay back to discuss the next task, and if you question the manager why not just discuss tmw morning, the manager will say he as a manager also can overwork why u as a fresh grad unable to work overtime, considering that u already working overtime for past 2 weeks to get certain task done. Not to said when you having ongoing task that is impossible to finish within one day. Of course, not to say the manager will also request you to work on weekend for him while still notice you that will getting warning letter if you were not competent in term of his perception on you....
hey mat i want to study master on structural engineering in uk do you have any advice which university is good for study in uk or any universty in Europe ,thanks for your suggestion
I suggest not choosing the UK. Other countries in Europe have a much stronger curriculum (Netherlands, Germany even France). UK is good for the name, if that's what you are after, but in my experience not as good as other places (very superficial and rushed degrees)
I am structural engineer in one of the most admired companies in structural engineering. It's been three years and now I hate my job because company only wants you deliver the work at time and not expect any raise .i have many friends who are earning hell lot more than me . I want switch to tech .
For me its low pay, none meaningful work, no flexibility, no growth or prospect for growth as well.
Would you say this could be an opportunity for entry-level engineers from another countries to get a job un USA? I'm about to graduate as a Civil Engineer here in México, and the state it's pretty disappointing, a lack of opportunities for entry-level engineers, and the few ones are around 500-700 USD/month, that's why I'd really try very hard to get a sponsorship from a company in USA, I know it's very very hard, but I'd really try it.
Once you've gained a fair amount of experience, start your own contracting company and charge bozo managers and executives 5x as much for the same work.
Damn. The market shifted and now no one can find jobs
has this gotten better?
Please make a video about A Structural Engineer's LinkedIn profile.
Engineering can be challenging. I always ask young people. What are you an expert at? Many just give me a blank stare. Find something you like to do, as you age it will get easier to the point you will be bored. I've been writing embedded code and at 62 it's simply boring to me now. But you will want to retire (hopefully early) someday. Know your worth is a good way of looing at it. Most contractors I work with are charging high dollars and delivery entry level code.
DUDE, im this close to become a leathersmith
One word. Just love what you do. Money 💰 will be pouring.
Engineering is having a great recession!
I rly like structural engineering but the overall pay and the work life balance just doesn't make sense anymore. I'm thinking of changing my career now
All good, it’s a great career if you find fulfillment in designing and engineering buildings. If that doesn’t matter there are other careers that are better at pay.
@@MatPicardal I do find fulfillment in it, but in the country where I reside the construction industry is very backwards and opportunities just aren't there yk. I'm still doing my masters in Civil and thinking of taking additional courses in data science
I am a retired structural (architectural) engineer. I have worked for a few different firms and the one thing I could not stand was having a non-engineer boss. I suffered that plight at 2 firms. The loser bosses were usually bean counter types who have absolutely no appreciation for what's involved in engineering and the time it takes to do a good job. They impose impossible budgets and schedules that can not be achieved. No matter what you do, they are never satisfied. At least at my other jobs I had engineer bosses and the situation was always better, but not great. I am in sympathy with all the comments regarding lack of respect for work-life balance. I retired a little early without all of the financial backing I should have had because I wanted as much time to myself and family as I could get before I died. Nobody on his deathbed ever said "I wish I had spent more time at the office".
I decided to get out of the BS. I teach now and yes I make less but I do my engineering when I have 3 months of free time.
This didn’t turn out well cause jobs are a battle to get
Toxic indeed! How to change careers? Not so easy. I quit my PE electrical engr career.
"great resignation"
If everyone becomes rich through cypto, then who would do all the Engineering stuff?
The engineers should have studied biology and worked in the great outdoors.
I am a engineer and I am not quitting my engineering job lol so is not “everyone” lol I love your videos by the way ..
Because working for a boss is just bullshit.
Hello. Our species is parasiting on itself unknowingly. Investing is coordinated extraction measuring. It appears the species did everything backwards.
Great advice on career advancement! Thank you 🙏 for putting the work to produce this video.
the most important thing is missing in this video, give some example that shows what you mean when you dish out advise, do not toss out fortune cookie crap wisdom.
cause they pay shit
exploiters turn and burn - exploiters want to slaves to leave in 5 to 10 yrs
exploiters DO NOT care about the slave wants.
Hello ! I don't know why ur posting négative vidéos in my view everyone had his own expérience and u shouldn't make people scare of choosing a matter they like ND discover it ، ty ND good Luck
He isn't making people scared of anything. What is happening in engineering is a real thing and deserves to be discussed. There is a set of people that are growing dissatisfied with the industry. That is just a fact.
@@SMSBJM1981 I couldn’t agree more with you. It is a serious matter
@@SMSBJM1981 every job has it's problèmes WE Can't not just judge it from one side for me it dépends on many things (country/expérience/ur passion ...) As a student in civil engineering ND with my all respect i'll Never agree with that it's Disappointed.
@@nouhaelkhamsa9317 civil engineering is an underrated and underpaid profession. This is a fact.
@@nouhaelkhamsa9317 You will get to understand reality with time.