The Main Advantages, Disadvantages, and Salaries of Engineers

In this article, we will talk about the main advantages, disadvantages, and salaries of engineers.

Hey, guys! I’m Alex, a UK Chartered Engineer, European Engineer, and also a certified career coach for engineers.

Let’s start right away with the advantages that I would highlight based on my 17+ years of experience working in different countries, at sea, in the desert, in swamps, and in forests, in temperatures ranging from -50 to +50 degrees Celsius.

Engineering Is Always in Demand

The first advantage is that engineering is always in demand. The engineering profession is on the list of jobs that will never be fully replaced by artificial intelligence. Engineers will most likely use AI in their work, but AI will not completely replace all engineering jobs.

Everything you see around you was created by engineers: houses, bridges, roads, cars, phones, gadgets, everything. There are hundreds of different engineering professions in various industries, so everyone can find their place in this field.

Your Expertise Grows Over the Years

Another big advantage is that your expertise grows over the years. This means that every year, you become more experienced and more in demand. Even when you are 60 or 70 years old, you can still find work as a consultant.

This is different from athletes, for example. Take football players. While they are actively playing, they are needed, they are in demand, and they earn money. But as soon as they get injured, their career can suddenly end, and they have to start over. Many football players retire at 25-30 years old, and very few continue until 35-40. And what happens next? Again, they have to start their life from scratch, because as football players they are no longer needed, and they must find a new career.

Some may argue that footballers can earn millions of dollars and never work again, look at Ronaldo or Messi. But look at the statistics: less than 0.1% of all footballers in the world earn millions per year, while over 90% earn less than a good engineer, especially an expatriate engineer.

And after retirement at 30 years old, their salary becomes zero, while an engineer at 30 is just starting to grow. For example, at 31, I moved with my family to Saudi Arabia, where I earned about six times more than the average footballer in Spain. And my value as a specialist continues to grow until retirement.

Interesting Tasks

Another advantage is interesting tasks. Unfortunately, this does not apply to all engineering jobs and not in all countries. Sometimes, you may sit in an office doing boring administrative work for little pay. But you can also work in top research centers of leading global companies and earn a great salary.

It all depends on you, just like in football or any other industry. Engineers can invent things, develop new technologies, register patents, and contribute to the world’s progress.

Salary and Its Stability

The next advantage, which can also be a disadvantage for some people, is salary and its stability. If you work in a developed country, for a top company, and hold a good position, you can earn a stable, high salary, 10,000, 20,000, or even 30,000 dollars per month.

But you can also work in less developed countries, in poor companies, and earn only a few hundred dollars a month. Again, everything depends on you.

Limited Income

The first disadvantage is limited income. A footballer, for example, might earn $30,000 per year today, $100,000 next year, and $10 million the year after. There are many such cases in football.

I recently read about a 20-year-old Uzbek player, Abdukodir Khusanov, whose market value increased to 12 million euros in just one year, while his previous salary was only 100,000 euros per year. This kind of financial growth never happens to engineers. Earning millions of dollars per year is just a dream for most engineers.

However, some engineers have managed to earn millions, such as many employees of NVIDIA. Because in America, big companies often give employees stock options, and as NVIDIA’s stock price skyrocketed over the past few years, many employees became millionaires. So engineers should take note of which companies they should work for.

High Risks

The next disadvantage is the high risks in many engineering jobs. This is especially true in construction, which has the highest accident and fatality rates.

I was poisoned by hydrogen sulfide while working on platforms in the Persian Gulf, and it was a terrible experience. In general, I think working at sea is one of the hardest jobs, both physically and mentally. The same goes for rotational workers in the Arctic and in the desert, those jobs are extremely tough.

High Responsibility

Another disadvantage is the high level of responsibility, which is often not reflected in the salary. You’ve probably seen news about disasters, when a building collapses, a bridge falls, or a plane crashes. Often, these incidents happen due to engineering mistakes.

But engineers’ salaries do not always match the level of responsibility they carry, which sometimes involves the lives of thousands of people.

Slow Career Growth

The next disadvantage is slow career growth. It’s rare to see an engineer become a manager just 2-3 years after graduation, unless they are the boss’s son, especially in large companies with thousands of employees.

Engineering has its own structure, and despite 5-6 years of university education, you still need many years of work experience to become a good specialist in your field. That’s why experience is the most valuable thing for an engineer.

You spend 10-15 years of your life just to become an average engineer, which isn’t the best option when compared to many other modern career opportunities.

At the same time, I always tell young people to think carefully before choosing this path, because engineering requires a serious investment of time, not only at university, but often starting from school and continuing through college, certifications, and years of real practice. A good teacher can inspire interest in technical subjects early on, but after that it is your discipline and consistency that determine how fast your skills grow and how strong your future employment prospects will be. This is especially true in demanding fields like mechanical, electrical, or civil engineering, where responsibility is high and deep technical competence is built gradually, not overnight.

She completed the ASO course in three months and immediately found a remote job as a junior ASO specialist with a salary of 1,500 dollars per month. After six months, she was promoted to a specialist position and got a raise to 2,000 dollars per month. And 1.5 years later, she was hired by a well-known company as a team leader in ASO, earning 5,000 dollars per month.

Engineers can only dream of that kind of career growth.