Your future’s so bright, you gotta wear shades

Ok, it’s true. I went to high school and college in the 1980’s when the song, Future’s so Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades, by Timbuk 3, was popular. I have to admit I've used this phrase a few times over the years. After all, I received my engineering degree and I was able to write my own ticket for success, right? I ended up in the automation industry because I thought it was cool. And it was. Plus, I was making decent money.

The automation industry probably offers one of the most interesting engineering opportunities available today. It may not be as glamorous as IT or the Internet. It is hard work with long hours. But hey, we’re engineers. We didn’t become an engineer because we knew it was going to be easy. We wanted the challenge! The question is…why don’t automation/control engineers get paid more?

That’s a loaded question with a lot of possible answers. Automation engineering is an unknown profession. Very few people in the “outside” world know about it. Very few colleges offer degree programs or courses in it. Most of us have received our automation/control engineer titles from years of field experience.

There’s been a lot of doom and gloom over the past years. It’s no secret that a lot of manufacturing jobs have moved overseas, including automation engineering jobs. As a result, engineers are leaving the industry, either by force or by choice. A large percentage of engineers will also be retiring in the next decade. But I believe there is a bright side to all this.

Remember from your economics courses that very simple law of supply and demand. There are still a large number of automation engineering jobs in this country. What’s going to happen when all those engineers actually do retire and there are fewer of you out there? The supply will be low and the demand will be high. You will be able to command a much higher, well-deserved salary. It’s already happening.

According to Alan Carty, Founder and CEO of automationtechies, our recruiting and contract staffing organization, it’s a buyer’s market for candidates. The recruiting business is busy, with more open positions than ever before. There are also fewer candidates in the market. As a result, candidates are finding themselves with multiple offers. For the first time, in a long time, candidates can shop around for the best offer. Carty also says that many offers now are coming with signing bonuses. In addition, many employers are finding that they have to relocate candidates and are offering relocation bonuses.

Alan Carty offers some advice to employers who may be having a hard time hiring or retaining talented engineers. “Look at the market conditions and make sure you offer competitive salaries,” says Carty. “If an employee has been with your company for a long time, cost-of-living raises alone may not be enough to keep them. In many cases, candidates can get a significant salary boost by joining another company.”

On that note, we are featuring Jim Pinto’s latest article called Employee Compensation Styles. Jim insists that in today’s business environment, pay must be performance based.

With all this talk about layoffs and jobs moving overseas, you must remember the facts. Those older facilities in North America still need optimizing to stay competitive. Those newer factories overseas still need automation engineers. And even though the Asian countries are graduating engineers left and right, they are not automation/control engineers. Your experience is valuable to a lot of companies, both here and abroad. Look for opportunities, both inside your company and out. Find ways to improve your own company’s efficiencies and sell it to management.

The future is bright. Put on your shades! Coming soon – our 2007 salary survey results!

Enjoy the rest of this eNews!

Rick Zabel
Vice President, Publisher