Salaries UK v AUS

[xxlornaxx]

No..permanent full time job..that includes super

Edited February 24, 2015 by xxlornaxx

[Cheese please]

I work in web content management and am finding the wages over here a lot more pleasant. When I was in the UK there was a massive difference between mine and my partner's wages - he was earning over double what I was. Now we're living in Sydney, there's not such a gap - he's just on slightly more. So for him in a sales / account management role, it's not so great this side of the globe.

 

In Edinburgh, I was earning 20.5k pounds per year in 2014 - that was after taking a drop of over 5k after moving to Scotland from Leicester in 2010 (obviously I moved for love not career). In Sydney, I'm currently earning $40 per hour plus 10% super (contract role). I'm starting a permanent role for a different organisation soon and I'll be taking home similar but I'll also get a better 17% super contribution and less hours per week.

[toOZ2012]

Just out of curiosity - What do Engineers make in the UK? Primarily design engineers where there is little to no field/site work.

I am an electronics engineer. Make a bit over $100k + super + bonus. Sometimes I feel a bit bad for myself where some of my mates in trades make twice as much.

 

[start of Rant]

At one point I even looked into becoming a spakie. Apparently my degrees in electrical engineering are worthless and I've to do a 4 year apprenticeship. No recognition of prior knowledge, skills and experience to reduce the amount of time. Simply put I am qualified/eligible to design a power station but not allowed to put a wall socket or fix a distribution system. How protectionist of them.

 

I think the tradie system needs an overhaul. It should be meritocratic. It works for all other professions why wouldn't it work for trades? If I have the relevant background and am willing to take theoretical and practical exams to prove that I am "good enough" then they should let me.

[End of Rant]

[Paul1Perth]

Just out of curiosity - What do Engineers make in the UK? Primarily design engineers where there is little to no field/site work.

I am an electronics engineer. Make a bit over $100k + super + bonus. Sometimes I feel a bit bad for myself where some of my mates in trades make twice as much.

 

[start of Rant]

At one point I even looked into becoming a spakie. Apparently my degrees in electrical engineering are worthless and I've to do a 4 year apprenticeship. No recognition of prior knowledge, skills and experience to reduce the amount of time. Simply put I am qualified/eligible to design a power station but not allowed to put a wall socket or fix a distribution system. How protectionist of them.

 

I think the tradie system needs an overhaul. It should be meritocratic. It works for all other professions why wouldn't it work for trades? If I have the relevant background and am willing to take theoretical and practical exams to prove that I am "good enough" then they should let me.

[End of Rant]

 

There is a good reason why an electrical apprenticeship should take 4 years, not least of them safety. You might, as an Engineer, be able to design a power station using all the theory and tools you got in your degree. When the trades people come to build it that's when the problems get picked up and it's when you get tradies going "fine you can do it like that but it's not going to work/be safe/be maintainable etc".

 

I did an apprenticeship when I left school and went to Uni years later to do a degree. Out the two of them the apprenticeship was much harder and I learned a lot more practical things than I ever got near on a degree. You are working with guys who've done the practical work for years, know the pitfalls, shortcuts, tricks, what will and won't work in practice, not theory. At Uni you have lecturers who've probably never been near a power station and never worked as a tradie but know everything in theory, teaching other people who might never get to do much practical work.

 

I'm glad I did the degree BTW. Much prefer sitting in an office now earning my crust rather than being in overalls out in the muck and hard work. Maybe I could earn more if I worked FIFO, my son does as a sparkie at 25. When you get older the office environment is a lot nicer.

 

You are on decent money mate. Work out your hourly rate and compare it to what your sparkie mates get. My hourly rate is a lot better than my sons, I'm home all the time, have a routine that I love, don't have to have a week in a donga in the desert. Fair enough he gets every other week off so I guess that's good if you are single.

 

If you still want to be a sparkie go for it and do the 4 year apprenticeship. You will soon learn a lot of things that you never came across at Uni and realise how things really work in practice.

 

I think the Degree system needs an overhaul BTW. Especially Engineering degrees. They should be made to have a year in industry, actually working with qualified sparkies. Getting up, clocking on, working in heat and dust, in overalls, get all the tickets the sparkies have to have. It would kill some students I can tell you.

[toOZ2012]

There is a good reason why an electrical apprenticeship should take 4 years, not least of them safety. You might, as an Engineer, be able to design a power station using all the theory and tools you got in your degree. When the trades people come to build it that's when the problems get picked up and it's when you get tradies going "fine you can do it like that but it's not going to work/be safe/be maintainable etc".

 

I did an apprenticeship when I left school and went to Uni years later to do a degree. Out the two of them the apprenticeship was much harder and I learned a lot more practical things than I ever got near on a degree. You are working with guys who've done the practical work for years, know the pitfalls, shortcuts, tricks, what will and won't work in practice, not theory. At Uni you have lecturers who've probably never been near a power station and never worked as a tradie but know everything in theory, teaching other people who might never get to do much practical work.

 

I'm glad I did the degree BTW. Much prefer sitting in an office now earning my crust rather than being in overalls out in the muck and hard work. Maybe I could earn more if I worked FIFO, my son does as a sparkie at 25. When you get older the office environment is a lot nicer.

 

You are on decent money mate. Work out your hourly rate and compare it to what your sparkie mates get. My hourly rate is a lot better than my sons, I'm home all the time, have a routine that I love, don't have to have a week in a donga in the desert. Fair enough he gets every other week off so I guess that's good if you are single.

 

If you still want to be a sparkie go for it and do the 4 year apprenticeship. You will soon learn a lot of things that you never came across at Uni and realise how things really work in practice.

 

I think the Degree system needs an overhaul BTW. Especially Engineering degrees. They should be made to have a year in industry, actually working with qualified sparkies. Getting up, clocking on, working in heat and dust, in overalls, get all the tickets the sparkies have to have. It would kill some students I can tell you.

 

You make some really good points and if you reread my post you'll find that I only complained of lack of recognition for prior learning. Not just recognition of knowledge but recognition of skills and experience as well. And I also complained about lack of fast track pathways. I didn't demand a sparkie license just because I have an engineering degree and practical experience.

 

Engineers fresh out of uni or worth **** They don't know the first thing about the practical side of things. I wouldn't hire an Engineer fresh off uni to even do basic designs let alone handle complex projects. Once they have the practical experience not just about the design aspects but safety, efficiency and ethics that's where they become really useful.

 

I work with trades in manufacturing and as a good engineer I'll always take feedback from them to constantly make my designs better. A design is worth peanuts if it can't be implemented properly. When the tradies pick up problems in the design (mind you they do this from experience and or realize as they are building it) I learn from it. Just because I didn't realize it myself in the field doesn't make it less useful if I could incorporate that into my designs.

 

It's no secret that Engineers and Tradies do different things but have to agree that there is overlap in knowledge, skills and experience.

 

Agree with you on the need for practical experience for fresh engineers. Graduate programs do a good job with that. However, I don't agree they have to shadow sparkies and get all the tickets only to find out they are still not allowed to wire up an electrical socket. Also, senior engineers sign off of juniors' work.

 

Also agree with you on office environments and age and that's my only consolation. I am in my late 20's and yes, I probably have a better per hour rate than my tradie mates but I've no freedom to put in extra hours to get paid more or put in less hours to take time off. A dollar earned today is worth a lot more than a dollar earned 10 years from now.

 

Sorry for the long rant but I honestly think there should be better pathways for trades rather than on size fits all. Sure there will always be engineers who can't even strip a wire and sparkies who botch basic electrical jobs but those are edge cases that are not worth a debate.

[Petkula73]

IT jobs in Melbourne roughly comparable to London salaries.

 

Hard to compare though as the cost of living structure is different here. Public transport and petrol cost peanuts in Melbourne, but housing and groceries are ridiculous. As an example, I pay $7 a day on the train to get to and from work. My sister in law in the UK has a similar commute in to London and pays something like $10K for a season ticket. We used to pay $500 a month in petrol in the UK to commute, but here we spend $150 a month as the public transport options are better. Swings and roundabouts.

Edited February 26, 2015 by Petkula73

[Slean Wolfhead]

Wow $29.11 as a social worker in Sydney? I work as a carer in Brisbane and get $35 per hour

 

Social Worker's a bit of a misnomer, have to categorise it more i think because it's very varied.

They take on social workers/caseworkers straight from daycare working here at a junior level, no qualifications that would get you a UK social worker job. But it's a good route in.

 

Degree equivalent doing what the UK would call Social Work full-time pays between about 75k and 100k in ACT, 100K+ for management.

Not much agency work yet.

[ihanabell]

Bricklayer Sydney,I have been offered a job in Sydney as an employee .Pay is 60000 Aus dollars inc super.I am assuming that this works out at 856 dollars take home pay per week .I feel that on this wage I will struggle,any views.

[toOZ2012]

Bricklayer Sydney,I have been offered a job in Sydney as an employee .Pay is 60000 Aus dollars inc super.I am assuming that this works out at 856 dollars take home pay per week .I feel that on this wage I will struggle,any views.

 

Move to Perth mate. Last I heard there was significant shortage for brickies and pays are generally higher. Do check if that is still true.

[Ozmaniac]

Bricklayer Sydney,I have been offered a job in Sydney as an employee .Pay is 60000 Aus dollars inc super.I am assuming that this works out at 856 dollars take home pay per week .I feel that on this wage I will struggle,any views.

Super is 9.5% of your ordinary time earnings, must be paid by your employer and is not accessible until you reach retirement age unless you will be on a temporary 457 and leave Australia. You will really struggle in Sydney on that wage.

[ihanabell]

Thanks for the honest assessment,i feel that you are right and I am only too aware that there is a reason they cannot get Aussie bricklayers for that money.

[StokieDoug]

Telco Database Analyst/Programmer

UK (Reading) - £33k

AUS (Melbourne) - $117k + Bonus

 

Not planning to move back any time soon as my standard of living would plummit.

[ozpaul]

Senior Electrical Designer (Oil and Gas)

UK (Aberdeen) - £100,000

 

But i am struggling to find out if it is possible to earn this within Australia.

Really want to move to Oz but best i have seen is around

AUD$ 120,000 (£60,000)

 

Very frustrating as every other job in Oz seems to earn more!!!

Does anyone work in this sector in Australia???

Edited March 3, 2015 by ozpaul
spelling

[toOZ2012]

Senior Electrical Designer (Oil and Gas)

UK (Aberdeen) - £100,000

 

But i am struggling to find out if it is possible to earn this within Australia.

Really want to move to Oz but best i have seen is around

AUD$ 120,000 (£60,000)

 

Very frustrating as every other job in Oz seems to earn more!!!

Does anyone work in this sector in Australia???

 

$150k+ should be easy to get for a senior in Oil and Gas. If you want to stay in an office and do consultancy/design work then being Chartered sometimes helps.

[CaptainC]

Deck Officer - Ships Captain

£28,000 - £70,000 (tax free, probably no pension, 1:1 leave ration)

A$150,000 - A$280,000 (tax payable, plus pension, 1:1.153 leave ratio)

 

Marine Pilot

£40,000 - £100,000 (taxable)

A$150,000 - A$350,000 (taxable, some 1:1 fly in/fly out)

 

I'd agree with CaptainR on this mainly except that Marine Pilots can attract a more generous salary in Australia compared to the UK. Some ports in Australia are paying in excess of A$500K, especially the major capital ports such as Port Phillip (Melbourne) and Brisbane.

Some of the specialist ports for gas pay an awful lot more and one particular rumour that is going around (I've heard this from an Aussie pilot) is that one port is paying far in excess of a million dollars per year to the gas ship pilots

[ozpaul]

$150k+ should be easy to get for a senior in Oil and Gas. If you want to stay in an office and do consultancy/design work then being Chartered sometimes helps.

 

Thanks toOZ2012, where are these jobs? What companies?

I am not an Engineer just a designer.

[toOZ2012]

I'd agree with CaptainR on this mainly except that Marine Pilots can attract a more generous salary in Australia compared to the UK. Some ports in Australia are paying in excess of A$500K, especially the major capital ports such as Port Phillip (Melbourne) and Brisbane.

Some of the specialist ports for gas pay an awful lot more and one particular rumour that is going around (I've heard this from an Aussie pilot) is that one port is paying far in excess of a million dollars per year to the gas ship pilots

 

Just out of curiosity. How does one become a Marine pilot?

[toOZ2012]

Thanks toOZ2012, where are these jobs? What companies?

I am not an Engineer just a designer.

 

Sorry, ozpaul. I misunderstood your occupation. I don't know much about payscales for electrical designers but if the work scope is similar to electrical drafting then the numbers you quoted seems about right for senior roles but I could be wrong.

 

Good luck with you search.

[crackerjack]

My ex wife's husband was a loss adjuster in the UK earning 50k a year. He swapped that for the same job but now earning $87k a year. A pay cut in real terms I believe.

[CaptainC]

Just out of curiosity. How does one become a Marine pilot?

 

Generally 3 years initial training to become a ship's officer of the watch, followed by a further 3 years to obtain Chief officer certification, followed by another 3 years to gain Master's (Captain) Unlimited certification. All the while working your way up to becoming a Captain, which can take many years, or you may just get lucky and get a command fairly quickly. Then sail as Captain for X amount of years gaining a sufficient amount of Ship handling experience before becoming eligible for a marine pilot job.

 

It took me 13 years (almost to the day) from the day I started my first day at nautical college to becoming a Captain, which was three years after I sat my examinations for it.

 

Some countries (Australia included) run a Marine Pilot training scheme which takes roughly 7 years, starting from 'ab initio' (no experience) to a fully qualified Marine Pilot, however most ports will not give a top end job to one of these pilots as they lack that 'burden of command' experience which only comes from having command of your own ship.

 

That being said, there is an apparent shortage of qualified and experienced pilots in Australia and with a large number of Aussie pilots retiring in the next few years, ports are going to have to take a serious look at employing these alternative pathway candidates.

[ozpaul]

Sorry, ozpaul. I misunderstood your occupation. I don't know much about payscales for electrical designers but if the work scope is similar to electrical drafting then the numbers you quoted seems about right for senior roles but I could be wrong.

 

Good luck with you search.

 

Hi toOZ2012, my job is very similar to that of an electrical drafter. But i was wondering what companies these are if possible?

[toOZ2012]

Generally 3 years initial training to become a ship's officer of the watch, followed by a further 3 years to obtain Chief officer certification, followed by another 3 years to gain Master's (Captain) Unlimited certification. All the while working your way up to becoming a Captain, which can take many years, or you may just get lucky and get a command fairly quickly. Then sail as Captain for X amount of years gaining a sufficient amount of Ship handling experience before becoming eligible for a marine pilot job.

 

It took me 13 years (almost to the day) from the day I started my first day at nautical college to becoming a Captain, which was three years after I sat my examinations for it.

 

Some countries (Australia included) run a Marine Pilot training scheme which takes roughly 7 years, starting from 'ab initio' (no experience) to a fully qualified Marine Pilot, however most ports will not give a top end job to one of these pilots as they lack that 'burden of command' experience which only comes from having command of your own ship.

 

That being said, there is an apparent shortage of qualified and experienced pilots in Australia and with a large number of Aussie pilots retiring in the next few years, ports are going to have to take a serious look at employing these alternative pathway candidates.

 

Good that there is a light [house] at the end of that looooong tunnel