Starting salary for a Phd with no work experience !

[tasamy]

A friend of mine has PhD in Electrical Engineering and has no work experience (around one year in his country). He spent the last ten years in algorithms (Bsc project, MSc and PhD). He is a genius math. He got some offers for $20/hour and he said no good ! :twisted:
What do you think ? :?: :?:

[gilboman]

cant do much with PHD in engineering. where did he work before? if outside of N/A and WEstern Europe, tell him to go drive a cab.

there is no point to PHD in engineering for employment purposes unless he wants to be a teaching prof.

[BadDrafter]

I think he should take whatever he can get as long as it's engineering work. As long as he lacks canadian experience, he will never become a professional engineer even with a PhD.

[el_diablo007]

I think he should take whatever he can get as long as it's engineering work. As long as he lacks canadian experience, he will never become a professional engineer even with a PhD.
QFT, 20/hr that counts as engineering experience is best at this point for him IMO.

[chickenbones]

Where is he from?

Oh and don't let his ego get in the way, he should take a relevant job for the experience.

Not a lot of places will hire a PHD with no experience and pay him big bucks.

[trusoulja2g]

Agree with above replies.
In Canada, education is useless without relevant work experience to back it up.

[alysomji]

I would suggest he get into a university or college teaching position of some sort, any way he can. If he is as bright as you say, his work will be recognized and he will gradually be given more responsibilities.

[jda]

cant do much with PHD in engineering. where did he work before? if outside of N/A and WEstern Europe, tell him to go drive a cab.

there is no point to PHD in engineering for employment purposes unless he wants to be a teaching prof.

Actually, there are demands for phd in electrical engineering.
RF IC, microwave, material science just to name a few.

As for $20/hr, that's really low, I was making more than that when I was doing my internship after my third year of studies in EE.

I would suggest him to find a PDF (Post-doctoral fellow) position at an university and do that for a couple years then he can either find a job in the related industry or become a prof. I think PDF pays at least 3K/month, and the work environment is pretty relax.

[mingming]

He got some offers for $20/hour and he said no good ! :twisted:

Wow, $20/hr is really no good. I was making $20+ within my 3rd coop work term, I was still in 2nd year!

[divx]

Wow, $20/hr is really no good. I was making $20+ within my 3rd coop work term, I was still in 2nd year!
impressive

[BigBadBoo]

I would suggest he get into a university or college teaching position of some sort, any way he can. If he is as bright as you say, his work will be recognized and he will gradually be given more responsibilities.

Yap, this is where I think he would fit best if he is good at math, and theory based 'stuff'. I seen quite a few instances of this.

[rdtx2002]

A friend of mine has PhD in Electrical Engineering and has no work experience (around one year in his country). He spent the last ten years in algorithms (Bsc project, MSc and PhD). He is a genius math. He got some offers for $20/hour and he said no good ! :twisted:
What do you think ? :?: :?:


take ANY job first.. gain the experience.. earn the big bux later..

you can't just sit there waiting for the super paying job

[Mulder and Scully]

A PhD, no work experience and from another country? I say he can drive a taxi. Canada loves to only allow highly educated individuals to immigrate here and then not recognize their credentials once they're in the country. Our lovely country brain drains other countries and then dnies these people access to the great jobs they had before.

[tasamy]

A PhD, no work experience and from another country? I say he can drive a taxi. Canada loves to only allow highly educated individuals to immigrate here and then not recognize their credentials once they're in the country. Our lovely country brain drains other countries and then dnies these people access to the great jobs they had before.
His PhD from U of Calgary and other degrees from his backhome country

[xwar]

impressive

yea that's good for a studen.

[rc51]

I think his main goal should be to get his P. Eng designation so that he can register with APEGGA or another provincial Engineering body.

The main goal shouldn't money but to gain relative and valuable experience working with other P. Eng's and getting those reports done for P. Eng status..w/o P. Eng status, I would think spending all that time getting PhD is pretty much useless.

[BadDrafter]

I think his main goal should be to get his P. Eng designation so that he can register with APEGGA or another provincial Engineering body.

The main goal shouldn't money but to gain relative and valuable experience working with other P. Eng's and getting those reports done for P. Eng status..w/o P. Eng status, I would think spending all that time getting PhD is pretty much useless.

Without applicable experience he would start as an E.I.T. even if he registered with APEGGA, but I generally agree with what you are saying.

[jda]

His PhD from U of Calgary and other degrees from his backhome country


Tell him to get a PDF position with either Dr. Jullien or Dr. Dimitrov to do stuffs like cryptography for a couple years. After that he should be able to find a job in the industry pretty easily as these two profs have pretty good connections with the industry, especially Dr. Jullien.

As for P.Eng, it's almost useless for an EE UNLESS you are in the power/control field. If you do a search for EE jobs that actually require postgraduate degrees (such as RFIC/microwave) you'll see P.Eng is rarely a requirement.

[Sonbuster]

A friend of mine has PhD in Electrical Engineering and has no work experience (around one year in his country). He spent the last ten years in algorithms (Bsc project, MSc and PhD). He is a genius math. He got some offers for $20/hour and he said no good ! :twisted:
What do you think ? :?: :?:

tell him to just stay in school and work for them. they'll pay you atleast 60G's.

[rc51]

As for P.Eng, it's almost useless for an EE UNLESS you are in the power/control field. If you do a search for EE jobs that actually require postgraduate degrees (such as RFIC/microwave) you'll see P.Eng is rarely a requirement.


I didn't think a "P.ENG" ws a postgraduate degree but a designation which allows you to work fully as a design engineer...do you not need your P.ENG status and be in good standing with the Provincial governing board to get your stamp and be able to actually stamp drawings and take on the accountability that comes with it.

[jayehs]

yea that's good for a studen.

not really.. lot of co-op students get paid $20+ / hour.

If you go to the US for coop, you'd get much more

[jda]

I didn't think a "P.ENG" ws a postgraduate degree but a designation which allows you to work fully as a design engineer...do you not need your P.ENG status and be in good standing with the Provincial governing board to get your stamp and be able to actually stamp drawings and take on the accountability that comes with it.


APEGGA likes to bug engineers to get P.Eng so they get milk more money out of you. But most of people at my company don't bother with it as we don't really stamp on anything (again, unless you are in the power/control industry, there isn't really much to stamp on, ie software, firmware, hardware, fpga, board/IC layout, don't need stamping).

Now, back to the topic. Since op's friend is good at math, he should try to teach some college math courses. A friend of mine is teaching at Mount Royal College and he was telling me the pay is > $20/hr.

[mingming]

not really.. lot of co-op students get paid $20+ / hour.

If you go to the US for coop, you'd get much more

Yeah, lots of people get 20+. My friend once got $35/hr during his 4th term working in toronto.

[ViperZ]

It's all about the experience. If he was doing PhD and doing it strictly in university without interfacing with people in the industry (i.e. sometimes even doing industry-related project), then he is stuck. If that job for $20/hr is in the industry that he likes, advice him to take it. In a couple of years, he will know people in the industry, they will know that he has PhD and experience - many doors will open.

[JohnB]

A PHD by itself isnt that useful generally as you know its in a very narrow field.

He should take the 20$ and look around. I think that works out to 40k per year, less with taxes, so its not that bad.

I hope he didnt do his degree with only the intention of making big bucks...

[ullyeus]

His primary goal should be to take a job that will give him good experiences and challenges.

Money should be a few steps down always.

[webdoctors]

WTF?! Im getting my PhD rite now in ECE, all my fellow classmates taht already graduated are making well over $80K USD (low-end), most over 6 figures. Granted I;m at Cornell, but.... come on, I got friends in Canada, same thing. He should find a job where they need someone with a PhD, having a PhD he doesnt need experience.

Good responses, look for postdoctoral positions, IBM has some that pay 6 figuers, so do some other big labs like HP, Motorola, etc.

Microsoft research another big hirer of PhD folk.

[tasamy]

Finally, he got a 40k job. Hope it will be fine for him. :|

[UrbanPoet]

Finally, he got a 40k job. Hope it will be fine for him. :|

so he ended up taking a $20/hr job?

[tasamy]

so he ended up taking a $20/hr job?

May be it is a start not end ;)

[BlackEros]

I did my undergrad in Canada, an MBA in the States and graduated with nothing but workstudy experience. I came back to Canada and could not find anything but crappy pay entry level jobs at tech support or entry level programming. I was recently offered $60K US to start to work as a Business Analyst for a US company which I happily accepted. Maybe he should try other non-Canadian options. ;)

[curtis]

You would think that someone with an MBA would know that workstudy experience alone merits very little, not to mention, it puts you in some major debt.

I did my undergrad in Canada, an MBA in the States and graduated with nothing but workstudy experience. I came back to Canada and could not find anything but crappy pay entry level jobs at tech support or entry level programming. I was recently offered $60K US to start to work as a Business Analyst for a US company which I happily accepted. Maybe he should try other non-Canadian options. ;)

[trusoulja2g]

I did my undergrad in Canada, an MBA in the States and graduated with nothing but workstudy experience. I came back to Canada and could not find anything but crappy pay entry level jobs at tech support or entry level programming. I was recently offered $60K US to start to work as a Business Analyst for a US company which I happily accepted. Maybe he should try other non-Canadian options. ;)

I have heard this type of situation numerous times. It seems that Canadian employers are more demanding of local and relevant work experience than Americans. Some people come to Canada after getting an education in the US due to immigration/visa issues, but it's easier to find employment in the US on the basis of your degree.

[ashrafur2000]

Hey the guy is a grad from calgary, so why doesn't her try it there. for sure he can get a descent job that will pay him over $20/hr. that should be a guarantee if he got his phd in canada. I mean my cousin is there and has no work experience and got a job that pays him $52,000 about a year. thats really good for a start without any work experience. His not even a phd, his only got a degree from ottawa university. Calgary is an upward moving economy and i am sure there is a position available for him. If Tim Hortons owner can afford to pay $12-$15/hr I am quite confident he will receive more for something his over qualified for. Anyway wish your freind all the best in his search.

[tasamy]

Hey the guy is a grad from calgary, so why doesn't her try it there. for sure he can get a descent job that will pay him over $20/hr. that should be a guarantee if he got his phd in canada. I mean my cousin is there and has no work experience and got a job that pays him $52,000 about a year. thats really good for a start without any work experience. His not even a phd, his only got a degree from ottawa university. Calgary is an upward moving economy and i am sure there is a position available for him. If Tim Hortons owner can afford to pay $12-$15/hr I am quite confident he will receive more for something his over qualified for. Anyway wish your freind all the best in his search.

Not all companies welcome a Phd ... Correct ? ;)