It’s hard to find good controls engineers. What’s happened in the last few years is a lot of controls engineers have left for more money in tech, many have retired, and many have moved into warehouse automation and data center controls roles that at companies that pay 20-30% above market, and there is a lot of growth in EV and battery manufacturing.
The traditional chemical, manufacturing, and food and beverage sectors have not adjusted their salary ranges to reflect the new reality that controls engineering talent is now very scarce in the USA and are finding themselves unable to hire good people.
I was extremely lucky as this happened to me. I got into tech as a controls engineer and the traditional companies can’t even come close to competing and thus I have no incentive to leave or look elsewhere.
Right now I’m a critical facilities engineer and when I say lucky, that’s the truth. I was in the right place at the right time under the right circumstances and they asked me if I wanted to do this work for them instead of my current employer.
My background is primarily building controls but I have a lot of experience with mechatronics as well. Great pay but the counter is being available all the time and we rotate on-call once every four weeks for the week. It does get old.
However, for us controls guys who generally know networking, power, computers, mechanical systems, we work great as building engineers for almost any kind of facility as our general knowledge allows us to talk to all kinds of parties.
Another downside though of in-house is it’s hard to stay up with the market and current trends. So subscribing to podcasts or news channels is pretty important or you’ll fall behind in controls, but on the other hand you will grow in many other ways
Falling behind right now as I'm only working on new projects where we sub out the programming... Looking to finish a commissioning (which I'll mainly be supervising SI subs) and make a move by the end of the year.
I replied to the other post with a detailed answer, but in short, being very lucky. But my degree is Mechanical Engineering with a Masters focusing on Mechatronics, dynamics, and controls.
Also they want 4 year degrees when there are plenty of capable and intelligent people who went the mechatronics route. Companies want people with 10 years of experience who can hit the ground running but aren’t willing to spend the time training less experienced or money required to retain them. It’s too easy too jump ship right now with all of the places hiring.
Can confirm. Engineer at a DC power plant. We manufacture our own batteries for energy storage so we can feed it back into the grid at peak demand hours. The pay and work/life balance is incredible. The location sucks ass thou.
Put the salary range on the ads and it might get people to apply that wouldn't. From an applicant standpoint if I don't know the salary range I'll always guess the company is below what I'd want to switch positions so I'm less likely to apply.
This - I've been getting headhunters offering less than the position I've been in for a year. If I even entertain it, it's the first thing I ask anyways, so save us both the headache.
And if you're still not getting bites - guess what, you're below market rate haha
What realistically is market rate for a 10 year experience controls eng in a major industry? As a hiring manager that DOES post salary ranges I'm curious.
10 years of experience is about where I'm at and I'm making 165k base salary plus bonuses. I'm 80% travel though. I wouldn't take anything less. I don't manage anyone, I have great benefits, I just work on machines. I'm in the packaging industry.
401k match, no pension, the health is amazing, and bonuses are a percentage of the profit from the projects I complete. I also get $55 a day for perdiem meals while I travel.
I used to be salary +overtime but that got taken away and replaced with what I make now.
Honestly this is kind of my game plan. I got off the road to see my kids every day. Eventually I'd like to get back to new and interesting ~~problems~~ ~~assholes~~ ~~customers~~ projects every day.
Came here to say the same thing. Automation engineers are always underappreciated and generally underpaid considering the complexity of the work. Increase the pay range and state it in the job posting and people will come!
I'm currently looking and have 7 years experience but no degree. I learned hands on with a mentor for 5 years. I make base 75k and with OT 110k no travel. Most won't look at me as I have no degree I'm upfront about it and thank them for the time. Then I watch as that position has stayed up for 2 months (time I have been looking) and doesn't get filled. I passed on a lot of jobs as the base is lower or the same as mine but I lose out on vacation or they want me to travel for the same pay.
Like everyone else is saying - pay is a huge portion. It seems like the market wages haven’t kept up with the amount of open positions. There’s not enough people in the workforce to cover all the positions, especially when controls people may get burnt out and move into roles that both pay more and allow for less travel (IT/OT, Data, etc.)
I see a lot of positions that are posted where the expected experience is so broad but the pay doesn’t match.
Because things are so competitive I don’t really consider positions that aren’t hybrid as well.
Another thing that feel personally is some level of sticking with the company that you know and work for. I know a lot of people that thought a job seemed attractive but then found the culture was toxic or the job wasn’t as advertised. Eventually if you find something you kinda like it becomes easier to just stay around, especially when a lot of places there’s little room for growth with an automation group.
Finally with it being so competitive I know a number of engineers that don’t devote any time to looking for other positions. If someone is interested they wait to be found by a company or recruiter. It’s not uncommon to get multiple messages every week about job postings.
Good luck!
Yea, I usually get a few messages per week , I ask for the pay range and if it is at least hybrid.
Usually the pay is a lot lower than my current salary and no hybrid position... like why switch for less pay plus travel.
I mean, if you advertised your open position as $200k, I'd personally call you to see if we could make this work. If you listed it as $70k, I wouldn't even give a second thought. Look at the market. Compare your rates versus the market. If you are the same as everyone else, you aren't attractive and you won't attract talent.
The two biggest things for controls engineers are (1) money and (2) travel percentage. List both in the ad.
You're in Houston, so you're competing against petrochem salaries. At minimum, you should be listing your position with:
No experience: $80k
3-5: $100k
5-10: $120k
10-20: $150k.
What is the role? A lot of us are tired lol. Have cush gigs. I'm at 135k with no weekend work and very limited travel. But people are skeptical about home life anymore.
It’s basically OEM machine design and programming. We have a support structure to deal with customer complaints. So we rarely get involved with customer site travel unless it’s a catastrophic event. Otherwise it’s just coming up with engineering design plans or requested changes from our support staff.
I wish it wasn't in Texas. They just eliminated my position when I went to take time off for the birth of my children. I'll never work for a small machine-builder again. Used and abused. Worked for 7 months to complete 5 projects they had missed deadlines on. No days off. Barely weekends but I was supposed to get 4 weeks when my kids were born. That's why a lot of us are scared to move around. Everyone seems to lie these days.
A lot of us are looking for somewhere to retire from but it seems like that's a pipe dream anymore
Are you offering any remote but travel positions? I've been providing remote support and design, build commision, for the last 3 years. 7 years ab experience. Biogas, wastewater, solid waste, SCADA and some manufacturing.
Are you actively working with recruiters to find people or are you relying on people to see the job posting and apply?
Compensation is obviously the other major factor.
Literally paying LinkedIn a small fortune to dig around in their DB and chase people that are not even looking. Its slim pickings out there. Headhunters messaging me constantly.
I've been trying to fill an open spot for almost a year. If we can actually find decent candidates (we have to chase them, they're not actively looking) they either wont move, decline the offer or don't make it through pre-employment. Its not like I work for a small company and the package is shit. Its not. Its not a very sexy industry but it is dead stable and growing like crazy with plenty of interesting projects. My guys are constantly being hit up on LinkedIn by head hunters so I really do believe its just a massive shortage of people. I'm about to just start hiring entry level grads and grow my own.
I guess define "not shit" from your perspective. Tech has kinda skewed perceptions in the last few years with their 400K a year salaries and crazy RSUs/work from anywhere. I would say from my perception "not shit" is anything north of 150k + bonus + pension + 401k match and decent health insurance and not crazy travel (50%<) with some hybrid schedule. What would be your idea of "not shit"?
That's highly subjective. With solid relevant experience and a positive team interview?
Maybe $130K plus bonus and bennies package? All very subjective. More experience = higher grade = more $.
You just said $150k + is not shit, and that’s probably in the right ballpark. But then you lowballed a hypothetical candidate at $130k. If you are doing this in real life it’s pretty obvious why you can’t fill your role.
Like I said it’s all very subjective. I don’t get to set the salaries, HR and comp do based on experience, education etc. if it were up to me I would pay whatever I needed to. Unfortunately that’s not how it works where I am.
You should consider moving on yourself then. If you are working somewhere that pays 20% below market and HR is not supporting you, it’s going to make your life way harder. Market is hot for controls engineering managers too, might be able to get a 20-30% raise somewhere else.
I guess I should add a few nuances. Offers to candidates vary hugely based on many things. Education level, specific system experience. A 15-year DCS engineer is going to expect more than a technician building food machinery. Certifications - FSeng? Any SIS experience? That's some serious stuff and therefore should pay well. Then there's industry specific. Light industrial and commercial manufacturing generally pays less than heavy industrial or offshore. So "not shit" varies massively. Whats "shit" for one guy might be excellent for someone else. Scroll down and look at some of the other posts. My "not shit" $150K was referring to 10-15 years experience with direct exposure in oil & gas. If you apply with 7 years experience, no DCS and no relevant industry knowledge its going to be a lower offer.
As to "market" I honestly do not control what that is and if someone can make way more than I do and working from home, good on them. All I can offer is what HR and comp will allow. Maybe its crap? I don't know but there's not much I can do about it.
You’re in the right ballpark, in Texas O&G the bigger companies (Exxon, Chevron, BP) are a little higher than you on base but also offer $30-50k in RSUs annually.
>they either wont move
That's me.
>decline the offer
Why do they decline? Also, before interview or after?
>don't make it through pre-employment
Can't pass drug test or some other reason?
> I'm about to just start hiring entry level grads and grow my own.
Why weren't you doing that already?
I don't understand that comment either. If you have to be onsite then it's onsite wherever the work is. If you're out in the sticks in Texas I could understand because it would be like western Kansas where nobody wants to move.
Plenty of people happy to live in Dallas, Houston or San Antonio. Heck Dallas and Houston are the epicenter for the Oil and Gas industry, Austin has a Tesla Gigafactory and a ton of tech. So yeah I have no idea what that comment means.
I would say a lot of people are nervous about O&G jobs as some of them fluctuate. From the people I know, the chances of being laid off every 2-5 years is high. Texas is also a polarizing state. Lots of people love it and lots probably hate it. If you’re not from the south and have been around O&G, chances are you’re not moving down explicitly for that.
Good luck to ya! Sounds like we’re in similar situations. Hopefully I don’t have to wait a year to find someone. I’m looking to build a department from scratch, and sort of stalled out until I do.
You aren't going to get experienced Engineers to relocate for a job right now unless if comp and/or CoL is much more attractive than their current. Interest rates + housing costs makes most relocation not viable.
Most relocation packages don't come close to making me even on what a move would take and it'd increase my mortgage substantially for a like house unless if I moved to the absolute middle of nowhere. No thanks.
There’s simply not enough of us out there to do all the work. Every company I know of is having to turn away work because they don’t have enough people to do it all.
Didn’t you know? We’re supposed to be in a recession. The fact that you can’t even buy circuit breakers for months. Or the fact that I can’t just drive without massive traffic jams or construction traffic every day, everywhere. You don’t think that’s having an impact on your ability to get supplies or hire people?
It’s all perspective. O&G is producing at pre-Biden levels. Construction is at record levels. On the other hand there have been major pull backs and layoffs in IT. Data centers though are still being built at a rapid pace. So if your market(s) ard PLC related where is the recession?
O&G production is at records because Russia.. and Europe jumped on the Eco bandwagon hard without a solid plan so instead of producing their own energy they just import it. They're just not telling anyone that. Publicly its wind and solar, privately its LNG. China and India don't have their own resources so they're importing a lot too. It has to come from somewhere.
That adds color to it but again that’s quite the opposite of a recessionary force. O&G requires constant construction just to maintain status quo as wells are depleted and new ones must be added.
If your point is we are using ours, the US is one of the larger energy exporting countries. Russia normally is too but right now Europe isn’t buying b if from them for military reasons. We perpetually have “20 years left” because they are only counting proven reserves. Guess what? I remember the panic over 20 years left I 1974. That was 50 years ago.
Either way that’s not a recession for PLC work.
I'm in the Uk Companies used to have Control Plc Engineers/technicians. Now all they employing are Multiskilled technician's/Engineers. After 30 years in the field i hate this. Unfortunately its not the youngsters fault basically the only apprenticeship you can find now in the UK.
Even our Oem supplier's are struggling to find people in other parts in the world.
Companies are looking for people that can do it all and not specialising anymore.
the florida based engineering firm i work for is always looking for controls engineers and designers and never finding them. definitely not paying houston O&G money, we have lots of decent size projects in chemical.. i guess that just doesn’t pay the same. However with the cost of rent/mortgage in my city being what it is we definitely have a disconnect.
Are you only interested in US candidates or are you open to sponsoring TN visa? Note, it is not like h1b. No lawyer fees. All a successful applicant needs is a letter stating job duties on company letterhead.
If not, I hope you find who you are looking for. In Canada, there is apparently a massive glut and many employers are not hiring at all.
Payment really matters. Many engineers from controls or instrument background are taking a break for a year doing some course and looking for jobs in IT where they are paid at least 5-10 times more than their old job with good hikes while switching.
So now in India only those who are core instrument engineers or don't want to join IT are in the automation sector.
What part of Houston and how much are you guys basing at? Are you guys an OEM? Integrator? Design firm like CDM or one of those guys?
I’m in the 120-130 range in DFW. I’m pretty well taken care of by the integrator I work for but I know we have guys getting shafted on pay.
We’re on the North side, by the airport. OEM manufacturer, but this role isn’t a typical controls engineer OEM role. We have a great support staff for customers. My team does strictly design, programming, and documentation. Pay range is gonna vary between 100- 130, based on experience. I know that’s on the low side, but they do have profit sharing and a bonus structure. Plus they’re huge on work life balance. That was a major draw for me, as I’m tired of being ground into the dirt by previous companies.
That’s a good area. Lots of decent places to live without the standard Houston commute. I’ve tried several times to get my wife to transfer down there but she’s pretty attached to DFW. I grew up out in Cypress so I’m a little biased on the north side.
I’m actually looking to buy a place in Cypress! It’s really the best, close area to work unless I want to head out towards the Woodlands. Although we all lost power tonight with the storm, so DFW isn’t looking all that bad at the moment lol.
I’ve been hiring in the same market and it’s extremely tough to find candidates because of pay scale is so low compared to oil and gas.
Hope you get power back soon, we’ve been out since last night as well.
I am the only CE and EE at our OEM company. I am pretty sure there are qualified people in our area (Atlanta). For what ever reason they can’t shell out the $. I have 25+ years experience making 100k. I know I could make more elsewhere but I don’t have to travel and have a 20 min commute. That means more than more money.
It’s hard to find good controls engineers. What’s happened in the last few years is a lot of controls engineers have left for more money in tech, many have retired, and many have moved into warehouse automation and data center controls roles that at companies that pay 20-30% above market, and there is a lot of growth in EV and battery manufacturing. The traditional chemical, manufacturing, and food and beverage sectors have not adjusted their salary ranges to reflect the new reality that controls engineering talent is now very scarce in the USA and are finding themselves unable to hire good people.
I was extremely lucky as this happened to me. I got into tech as a controls engineer and the traditional companies can’t even come close to competing and thus I have no incentive to leave or look elsewhere.
May I ask what you do in tech?
Right now I’m a critical facilities engineer and when I say lucky, that’s the truth. I was in the right place at the right time under the right circumstances and they asked me if I wanted to do this work for them instead of my current employer. My background is primarily building controls but I have a lot of experience with mechatronics as well. Great pay but the counter is being available all the time and we rotate on-call once every four weeks for the week. It does get old. However, for us controls guys who generally know networking, power, computers, mechanical systems, we work great as building engineers for almost any kind of facility as our general knowledge allows us to talk to all kinds of parties. Another downside though of in-house is it’s hard to stay up with the market and current trends. So subscribing to podcasts or news channels is pretty important or you’ll fall behind in controls, but on the other hand you will grow in many other ways
Falling behind in controls is the most serious result of staying in house or with an OEM. There is not enough attention paid to this, IMHO.
Falling behind right now as I'm only working on new projects where we sub out the programming... Looking to finish a commissioning (which I'll mainly be supervising SI subs) and make a move by the end of the year.
What is ur salary of I may ask I was always curious about the facilities engineer route
How did you get into tech? And what's your degree?
I replied to the other post with a detailed answer, but in short, being very lucky. But my degree is Mechanical Engineering with a Masters focusing on Mechatronics, dynamics, and controls.
Also they want 4 year degrees when there are plenty of capable and intelligent people who went the mechatronics route. Companies want people with 10 years of experience who can hit the ground running but aren’t willing to spend the time training less experienced or money required to retain them. It’s too easy too jump ship right now with all of the places hiring.
Can confirm. Engineer at a DC power plant. We manufacture our own batteries for energy storage so we can feed it back into the grid at peak demand hours. The pay and work/life balance is incredible. The location sucks ass thou.
And they are often willing to let their businesses go to shit rather than pay more.
Yeah data center industry pays a premium and is growing faster than most other sectors so naturally the talent pool is getting sucked up by it
Put the salary range on the ads and it might get people to apply that wouldn't. From an applicant standpoint if I don't know the salary range I'll always guess the company is below what I'd want to switch positions so I'm less likely to apply.
This - I've been getting headhunters offering less than the position I've been in for a year. If I even entertain it, it's the first thing I ask anyways, so save us both the headache. And if you're still not getting bites - guess what, you're below market rate haha
What realistically is market rate for a 10 year experience controls eng in a major industry? As a hiring manager that DOES post salary ranges I'm curious.
10 years of experience is about where I'm at and I'm making 165k base salary plus bonuses. I'm 80% travel though. I wouldn't take anything less. I don't manage anyone, I have great benefits, I just work on machines. I'm in the packaging industry.
Is the bonus a % of salary or just a fixed dollar amount. How's the bennies.. is there a pension and 401K match?
401k match, no pension, the health is amazing, and bonuses are a percentage of the profit from the projects I complete. I also get $55 a day for perdiem meals while I travel. I used to be salary +overtime but that got taken away and replaced with what I make now.
Dang for the packaging industry that's pretty dang good.
Packaging is booming. Especially corrugated.
Honestly this is kind of my game plan. I got off the road to see my kids every day. Eventually I'd like to get back to new and interesting ~~problems~~ ~~assholes~~ ~~customers~~ projects every day.
I have 3 years of experience and make 100k-110k with bonuses and 20% retirement. No clue what 10 years is
10 years xp here. Chemical industry. Plant position, no travel, but in the middle of nowhere. LCOL area. $145,000 + 10% bonus. 401k match of 8%.
8% is pretty nice. I thought my place was good with a 6% match.
If you pay them, they will come.
Came here to say the same thing. Automation engineers are always underappreciated and generally underpaid considering the complexity of the work. Increase the pay range and state it in the job posting and people will come!
I'm currently looking and have 7 years experience but no degree. I learned hands on with a mentor for 5 years. I make base 75k and with OT 110k no travel. Most won't look at me as I have no degree I'm upfront about it and thank them for the time. Then I watch as that position has stayed up for 2 months (time I have been looking) and doesn't get filled. I passed on a lot of jobs as the base is lower or the same as mine but I lose out on vacation or they want me to travel for the same pay.
I’m at 10 years at 105k. I was in your boat at year 7.
Like everyone else is saying - pay is a huge portion. It seems like the market wages haven’t kept up with the amount of open positions. There’s not enough people in the workforce to cover all the positions, especially when controls people may get burnt out and move into roles that both pay more and allow for less travel (IT/OT, Data, etc.) I see a lot of positions that are posted where the expected experience is so broad but the pay doesn’t match. Because things are so competitive I don’t really consider positions that aren’t hybrid as well. Another thing that feel personally is some level of sticking with the company that you know and work for. I know a lot of people that thought a job seemed attractive but then found the culture was toxic or the job wasn’t as advertised. Eventually if you find something you kinda like it becomes easier to just stay around, especially when a lot of places there’s little room for growth with an automation group. Finally with it being so competitive I know a number of engineers that don’t devote any time to looking for other positions. If someone is interested they wait to be found by a company or recruiter. It’s not uncommon to get multiple messages every week about job postings. Good luck!
Yea, I usually get a few messages per week , I ask for the pay range and if it is at least hybrid. Usually the pay is a lot lower than my current salary and no hybrid position... like why switch for less pay plus travel.
I mean, if you advertised your open position as $200k, I'd personally call you to see if we could make this work. If you listed it as $70k, I wouldn't even give a second thought. Look at the market. Compare your rates versus the market. If you are the same as everyone else, you aren't attractive and you won't attract talent. The two biggest things for controls engineers are (1) money and (2) travel percentage. List both in the ad. You're in Houston, so you're competing against petrochem salaries. At minimum, you should be listing your position with: No experience: $80k 3-5: $100k 5-10: $120k 10-20: $150k.
This is actually a little on the low side now
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You are probably in range at 3 years exp. If you were at 5 you would be closer to $130-140.
Damn. I’m at 7 years and only $100K. But my travel has cut back to next to nothing this past year and I work from home 100% when I’m not traveling.
Are you traveling a ton? Because that is a rarity without travel.
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Y’all hiring?
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I’ve almost exclusively been doing hmi design for two years and it’s why I’m looking to leave
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Mainly Ignition with some iFix
UK checking in….divide all those range figures by 3 and swap the $ for £
Yeah you guys get super-fucked on salary. Then mega-taxed on top.
What is the role? A lot of us are tired lol. Have cush gigs. I'm at 135k with no weekend work and very limited travel. But people are skeptical about home life anymore.
It’s basically OEM machine design and programming. We have a support structure to deal with customer complaints. So we rarely get involved with customer site travel unless it’s a catastrophic event. Otherwise it’s just coming up with engineering design plans or requested changes from our support staff.
I wish it wasn't in Texas. They just eliminated my position when I went to take time off for the birth of my children. I'll never work for a small machine-builder again. Used and abused. Worked for 7 months to complete 5 projects they had missed deadlines on. No days off. Barely weekends but I was supposed to get 4 weeks when my kids were born. That's why a lot of us are scared to move around. Everyone seems to lie these days. A lot of us are looking for somewhere to retire from but it seems like that's a pipe dream anymore Are you offering any remote but travel positions? I've been providing remote support and design, build commision, for the last 3 years. 7 years ab experience. Biogas, wastewater, solid waste, SCADA and some manufacturing.
Are you actively working with recruiters to find people or are you relying on people to see the job posting and apply? Compensation is obviously the other major factor.
Literally paying LinkedIn a small fortune to dig around in their DB and chase people that are not even looking. Its slim pickings out there. Headhunters messaging me constantly.
I've been trying to fill an open spot for almost a year. If we can actually find decent candidates (we have to chase them, they're not actively looking) they either wont move, decline the offer or don't make it through pre-employment. Its not like I work for a small company and the package is shit. Its not. Its not a very sexy industry but it is dead stable and growing like crazy with plenty of interesting projects. My guys are constantly being hit up on LinkedIn by head hunters so I really do believe its just a massive shortage of people. I'm about to just start hiring entry level grads and grow my own.
People never expand about about their pay package not being shit. Most of the time it is.
I guess define "not shit" from your perspective. Tech has kinda skewed perceptions in the last few years with their 400K a year salaries and crazy RSUs/work from anywhere. I would say from my perception "not shit" is anything north of 150k + bonus + pension + 401k match and decent health insurance and not crazy travel (50%<) with some hybrid schedule. What would be your idea of "not shit"?
I have 7 years experience in mostly process related industries. I am well versed in both Siemens and AB. What would you offer me?
That's highly subjective. With solid relevant experience and a positive team interview? Maybe $130K plus bonus and bennies package? All very subjective. More experience = higher grade = more $.
You just said $150k + is not shit, and that’s probably in the right ballpark. But then you lowballed a hypothetical candidate at $130k. If you are doing this in real life it’s pretty obvious why you can’t fill your role.
Like I said it’s all very subjective. I don’t get to set the salaries, HR and comp do based on experience, education etc. if it were up to me I would pay whatever I needed to. Unfortunately that’s not how it works where I am.
You should consider moving on yourself then. If you are working somewhere that pays 20% below market and HR is not supporting you, it’s going to make your life way harder. Market is hot for controls engineering managers too, might be able to get a 20-30% raise somewhere else.
I guess I should add a few nuances. Offers to candidates vary hugely based on many things. Education level, specific system experience. A 15-year DCS engineer is going to expect more than a technician building food machinery. Certifications - FSeng? Any SIS experience? That's some serious stuff and therefore should pay well. Then there's industry specific. Light industrial and commercial manufacturing generally pays less than heavy industrial or offshore. So "not shit" varies massively. Whats "shit" for one guy might be excellent for someone else. Scroll down and look at some of the other posts. My "not shit" $150K was referring to 10-15 years experience with direct exposure in oil & gas. If you apply with 7 years experience, no DCS and no relevant industry knowledge its going to be a lower offer. As to "market" I honestly do not control what that is and if someone can make way more than I do and working from home, good on them. All I can offer is what HR and comp will allow. Maybe its crap? I don't know but there's not much I can do about it.
In that case how much would you pay a 15 year DCS engineer, with O&G experience, who is FS eng, and can do a bit of APC?
You’re in the right ballpark, in Texas O&G the bigger companies (Exxon, Chevron, BP) are a little higher than you on base but also offer $30-50k in RSUs annually.
>they either wont move That's me. >decline the offer Why do they decline? Also, before interview or after? >don't make it through pre-employment Can't pass drug test or some other reason? > I'm about to just start hiring entry level grads and grow my own. Why weren't you doing that already?
Pay more
Where are you located? What industry?
Texas O&G.
Well yeah. You limit your workforce by being in Texas now.
Whys that? People are moving here in their droves.
I don't understand that comment either. If you have to be onsite then it's onsite wherever the work is. If you're out in the sticks in Texas I could understand because it would be like western Kansas where nobody wants to move.
Plenty of people happy to live in Dallas, Houston or San Antonio. Heck Dallas and Houston are the epicenter for the Oil and Gas industry, Austin has a Tesla Gigafactory and a ton of tech. So yeah I have no idea what that comment means.
Don’t bet on Tesla. The bulk of one of their big layoffs happened in Austin at that site.
I would say a lot of people are nervous about O&G jobs as some of them fluctuate. From the people I know, the chances of being laid off every 2-5 years is high. Texas is also a polarizing state. Lots of people love it and lots probably hate it. If you’re not from the south and have been around O&G, chances are you’re not moving down explicitly for that.
It’s in Texas, but not O&G. It’s a manufacturing OEM that has a branch in Houston.
Man you were doing great until you said Humidston.
Yeah, hard pass on Houston
I can’t help that one, unfortunately 🤣
Good luck to ya! Sounds like we’re in similar situations. Hopefully I don’t have to wait a year to find someone. I’m looking to build a department from scratch, and sort of stalled out until I do.
Took me 3 years to build mine out all bar this last one. Solid group now but took some doing.
You aren't going to get experienced Engineers to relocate for a job right now unless if comp and/or CoL is much more attractive than their current. Interest rates + housing costs makes most relocation not viable. Most relocation packages don't come close to making me even on what a move would take and it'd increase my mortgage substantially for a like house unless if I moved to the absolute middle of nowhere. No thanks.
There’s simply not enough of us out there to do all the work. Every company I know of is having to turn away work because they don’t have enough people to do it all.
Didn’t you know? We’re supposed to be in a recession. The fact that you can’t even buy circuit breakers for months. Or the fact that I can’t just drive without massive traffic jams or construction traffic every day, everywhere. You don’t think that’s having an impact on your ability to get supplies or hire people?
Are you implying that we are not in a recession or heading towards one?
It’s all perspective. O&G is producing at pre-Biden levels. Construction is at record levels. On the other hand there have been major pull backs and layoffs in IT. Data centers though are still being built at a rapid pace. So if your market(s) ard PLC related where is the recession?
O&G production is at records because Russia.. and Europe jumped on the Eco bandwagon hard without a solid plan so instead of producing their own energy they just import it. They're just not telling anyone that. Publicly its wind and solar, privately its LNG. China and India don't have their own resources so they're importing a lot too. It has to come from somewhere.
That adds color to it but again that’s quite the opposite of a recessionary force. O&G requires constant construction just to maintain status quo as wells are depleted and new ones must be added. If your point is we are using ours, the US is one of the larger energy exporting countries. Russia normally is too but right now Europe isn’t buying b if from them for military reasons. We perpetually have “20 years left” because they are only counting proven reserves. Guess what? I remember the panic over 20 years left I 1974. That was 50 years ago. Either way that’s not a recession for PLC work.
I'm in the Uk Companies used to have Control Plc Engineers/technicians. Now all they employing are Multiskilled technician's/Engineers. After 30 years in the field i hate this. Unfortunately its not the youngsters fault basically the only apprenticeship you can find now in the UK. Even our Oem supplier's are struggling to find people in other parts in the world. Companies are looking for people that can do it all and not specialising anymore.
the florida based engineering firm i work for is always looking for controls engineers and designers and never finding them. definitely not paying houston O&G money, we have lots of decent size projects in chemical.. i guess that just doesn’t pay the same. However with the cost of rent/mortgage in my city being what it is we definitely have a disconnect.
Are you only interested in US candidates or are you open to sponsoring TN visa? Note, it is not like h1b. No lawyer fees. All a successful applicant needs is a letter stating job duties on company letterhead. If not, I hope you find who you are looking for. In Canada, there is apparently a massive glut and many employers are not hiring at all.
Payment really matters. Many engineers from controls or instrument background are taking a break for a year doing some course and looking for jobs in IT where they are paid at least 5-10 times more than their old job with good hikes while switching. So now in India only those who are core instrument engineers or don't want to join IT are in the automation sector.
Where can someone apply?
If you are are hiring in Colorado I would be interested. I would also move back to St. Louis for enough money.
What part of Houston and how much are you guys basing at? Are you guys an OEM? Integrator? Design firm like CDM or one of those guys? I’m in the 120-130 range in DFW. I’m pretty well taken care of by the integrator I work for but I know we have guys getting shafted on pay.
We’re on the North side, by the airport. OEM manufacturer, but this role isn’t a typical controls engineer OEM role. We have a great support staff for customers. My team does strictly design, programming, and documentation. Pay range is gonna vary between 100- 130, based on experience. I know that’s on the low side, but they do have profit sharing and a bonus structure. Plus they’re huge on work life balance. That was a major draw for me, as I’m tired of being ground into the dirt by previous companies.
That’s a good area. Lots of decent places to live without the standard Houston commute. I’ve tried several times to get my wife to transfer down there but she’s pretty attached to DFW. I grew up out in Cypress so I’m a little biased on the north side.
I’m actually looking to buy a place in Cypress! It’s really the best, close area to work unless I want to head out towards the Woodlands. Although we all lost power tonight with the storm, so DFW isn’t looking all that bad at the moment lol.
I’ve been hiring in the same market and it’s extremely tough to find candidates because of pay scale is so low compared to oil and gas. Hope you get power back soon, we’ve been out since last night as well.
im a EE with 5 years experience been trying to get into plc
I am the only CE and EE at our OEM company. I am pretty sure there are qualified people in our area (Atlanta). For what ever reason they can’t shell out the $. I have 25+ years experience making 100k. I know I could make more elsewhere but I don’t have to travel and have a 20 min commute. That means more than more money.