I bet this is one of the reasons why our parents are urging us to jump on the engineering bandwagon — despite the fact that the industry has been labelled as a ‘dead-end career’. Ouch.
A recent graduate employment survey has unearthed some intriguing results. 6,188 NUS graduates were surveyed and from the looks of it, the dentistry, law, medicine and of course, engineering fields are winning — in terms of salaries, that is.
Here’s the gist of it:
A no-brainer
It certainly looks like our engineering graduates are enjoying greater job prospects. That said, the high employment rates and salaries come as no surprise. If you recall, it was widely reported that there’s a decline of the engineering profession. To meet the urgent demand of engineers, the Public Service Division (PSD) has increased the salary and “injected more variety into the work”, in hopes of attracting new talent and retaining current ones.
Back on November 2015, Channel News Asia also reported that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) is reaching out to engineers to address Singapore’s transport issues, and most recently, the government is looking to hire over 1000 engineers.
Also read: If You’ve Been Jobless For 6 Months, This Free Programme Could Be Your Saviour
Food for thought, here’s a passage from a blog post about the state of Singapore’s engineering field. This was back on 2012. Take a minute to digest the info below and look over the survey results again. It might change your perspective.
“Becoming an engineer often isn’t considered an attractive proposition in Singapore. Even graduates with engineering degrees seek out careers in a “prestigious” industry as their first choice.” — Derrick Ko, Co-founder of Skinny Labs
Will our engineering sector turn for the better? I guess only time will tell.
Ready for the world?
I don’t want to sound presumptuous, but the high employment rates and salaries do not necessarily equate to a ticket to a good life.
At the end of the day, one must factor in their satisfaction, progression and personal development. Look at it this way: the take-home pay is the sundae, and the career contentment is the cherry on top.
If you are looking for career progressions or advancement, the government has various programmes and initiatives in place under the SkillsFuture programme, such as Individual Learning Portfolio (ILP), Education and Career Guidance (ECG), P-Max and many more.