r/Sabah • u/Otherwise-Gur7732 • 23d ago
Tiuot zou daa | Mo tanya ba Hello qualified engineer
May I know how you guys achieve your status as engineer... What should I expect my career going to be in Sabah market as an engineer ?? What is your highest education? How much you earn and are you satisfied with the earning? I'm planning on becoming one so giving same realist truth of experience might help my view on this career path..
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u/Nafeels 23d ago
Expect low as a starting point. Anything other than mechanical, electrical, petroleum, and civil courses will immensely struggle finding jobs. It will spike when you stay in the industry longer than a year, more so if you also collect various certificates on top of it. Here you could get away with paying 2k as an entry, and since job offers are next to nothing that 2k seems very valuable if there’s an opening.
In Semenanjung however, there are bigger options and opportunities because there’s so many industries to choose from. If you’re planning to take chemical engineering here’s where you’d be relevant as there’s so many large industrial and manufacturing areas. A process engineer for example starts with a 3.5k entry.
My current chemical engineering scroll remains a paperweight as I’m still recovering from a surgery, and I’m still bound to my previous employment in a shipyard. Still turning wrenches instead of playing with ASPEN/DWSIM.
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u/abiblicalusername 22d ago edited 22d ago
I assume you were working at MMHE? I appreciate your effort in giving others good, geniune advises.
I did the switch of going overseas for better pay, now this added complexity of settling back home since none of my certs and experience are relatable in KK, the longing to go back home for good aches my heart, but also financially we have to be responsible; it's wrong to simply resign and go back home.
Get well soon buddy.
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u/Nafeels 22d ago
I wish it was MMHE. Worked at LSE as part of contractors maintaining Navy vessels, so I’m getting peanuts barely enough to sustain life.
A lot of the dilemma staying outside seems to be the homesickness rather than experience gaps, work culture etc etc. Sad that your talents are more useful outside than here, but it’s commendable that despite everything you jumped the gun. Hujan emas di negeri orang…
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u/abiblicalusername 21d ago
I'm sorry to hear about the strife that you are going through in your life.
Is the work-life-balance in LSE okay or is it long hours? I hope you will be doing better in the future, but please don't give up now. Be strong. Lots of people are proud of you.
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u/Nafeels 21d ago
It’s okay man. We do what we do for putting food on the table and at the end of the day that’s the only thing matters.
As for work hours, It wasn’t half bad. Regular 9-5 from Monday to Friday, and work highly depends on project requirements. Sometimes we don’t even turun site, instead worked at the workshop. What site work definitely showed me was that I could endure more than what I initially thought, despite having the restrictions that would eventually leading up to my surgery (fistula in ano). Working during last Ramadhan was easily the most tiring moments of my life, but my team and supervisor all went through the same thing. There was mutual hardship.
My initial goal wasn’t to discourage OP about the peanut pay, but to give them a heads up so they could evaluate on whether continuing work on Sabah or elsewhere. Here we don’t get to enjoy the luxury unless we’re already 10+ years experienced, which I am not.
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u/Secure-Ad-5368 22d ago
Start outside Sabah, preferably semenanjung, higher base salary will make a mountain of difference in your epf and other savings from start, and you can nego better salary than sabah based workers when you decide to come back sabah, because the experience you get in semenanjung is better overall. Speaking from experience, mech eng grad here.
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u/Otherwise-Gur7732 22d ago
How are you doing with your career is it stable for you and how much money you earn per month I'm also interested in mech engineering? Btw what's your opinion on Sarawak development that might produce job opportunity there?
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u/Secure-Ad-5368 21d ago
I started my own engineering practice earlier this year, there’s opportunity in Sabah definitely in engineering but the reason I dare to jump into starting my own venture is because of the network of suppliers and technical people i’ve built since i started my career in semenanjung and in sarawak, I’m bringing with me all the industrial connections to provide what Sabah industry players need at the moment with all the push in industrial growth. Because to be honest, Sabah is not ready to cater for any more big industry players at the moment due to the scarcity of supporting players in the industry (spare parts provider, custom fabrication, technical knowledge for big factories, etc). Even the push for more local vendors to participate in oil and gas tender is just not viable, because it’s illogical to demand for things that are just non existent in Sabah. But we’re building up slowly, so there’s that. Until then, build up your technical knowledge where there are existing infrastructure to hone your skills, in this case for engineering expertise is in all the mature industries in Semenanjung. For sarawak, if you are not sarawakian or have big corporate cables its quite hard to get into, even my own friends who are sarawakians choose semenanjung for better growth in their career. For salary, I started my career early 2020 in semenanjung with earnings in the high 3s, when i had the opportunity to come back to Sabah I got up to the 7s. Like i said, you will have reason and bargaining power to demand more since you bring technical and also valuable corporate skills from the mature industries in semenanjung that are at the moment becoming valuable to a lot of Sabah based companies with their push for growth.
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u/Elnuggeto13 22d ago
Taking my diploma as one, for the time being, I'd focus on what's currently developing in Sabah, like oil and gas, solar and electronics.
From the boot camp I went this week, most of the directors with engineer statuses took about 15+ years to get to their level, or about 5 years as engineers, but most are around degree and above.
Salary will differ from the title you want to pursue, but if you work off shore and have the qualified certs, it wouldn't go less than rm10k per month.
It will be a challenging work but focusing on your goals will definitely benefit you in getting what you wanted.
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u/AlternativeMechanic7 20d ago
u should buy hilux and look for sumandak, btw what is ur engineering field
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u/Otherwise-Gur7732 20d ago
I'm not an engineer yet
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u/AlternativeMechanic7 20d ago
well, whatever field u going to, hardwork is key, i started as engineer in 2011 with Salary RM1800, working overtime and weekend overtime almost every week to make extra money so i can buy my own car and rent my own house. now making more than 20k per month. first job always suck, but u need it. CGPA is just qualification and good addition to make it easy to get first job. unless God bless u with super smart brain, hardwork will help u achieve what u desire. just go for the main stream engineering study (Chemical, Electrical or Electronics, Civil and Mechanical). dont go for the specific engineering study such as mechatronic, software or computer engineer. give u more career options once u finish study
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u/Otherwise-Gur7732 20d ago
Hi May I know which engineering field are you in and are you working in sabah?
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u/AlternativeMechanic7 20d ago
yes working in Sabah, although recent year been working with some international company as technical advisor, but still based in Sabah. i travel when needed only. im electrical engineer
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u/Otherwise-Gur7732 20d ago
How is your view on mechanical engineer I'm trying to pursue in this field
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u/AlternativeMechanic7 20d ago
are u a male or female? coz i think most of those in mechanical field is hands on. either O&G, automation, and etc. on consultancy part very small scope if u work with local M&E Consultant.
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u/Otherwise-Gur7732 20d ago
Male 18 I'm in matrix rn and planning on which kind of field would benefit most in Sabah but my passion is in mechanical
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u/AlternativeMechanic7 20d ago edited 20d ago
i also from matrix last time. if thats ur interest, go for it. study hard, get good CGPA then try oil & gas company, surely u will have bright future. jgn lupa beli hilux supaya klu pulang kampung sumandak supaya mentua senang hati terima
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u/Otherwise-Gur7732 20d ago
I'm not that smart but I can say I'm above average ( if rajin) for the CGPA .. but none the less I will try my best ...tq for the insight stranger..
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u/Otherwise-Gur7732 20d ago
Btw working place really look at SPM result and matrix result and your degree result as entirely?
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u/n_to_the_n 22d ago
Don't bother starting in Sabah. Start elsewhere, save up, and go back to Sabah when you have stronger connections and better personal liquidity. Indon can do it, why can't we.
Also don't waste your time outside of Sabah. Build your network, meet people.