Average salaries in Singapore

[LeeGirlGib]

Just wondering... Does anyone know what a Theoretical Physicist with a PhD (German) and no experience in the financial side should be expecting for a salary from MNC banks? Thinking of risk analysis and joining at associate entry level. Will they turn you down if you are over qualified? I only know the pay range in germany which is about 65K Euro (~S$125K). Will they try to match the take home pay?

Thanks!

[Mike_Naylor]

The single most frequently asked question on SingaporeExpats: is my salary/offer good enough?

Here is the best quick answer:
http://www.kellyservices.com.sg/res/con ... uide06.pdf

As even more generic rules of thumb, the average middle-class skilled professional in Singapore makes around S$3000-3500 per month. An expat with a special skill set and/or experience should generally expect to make more, while entry level positions pay less. Due to the laws of supply and demand, perceived prestige and, yes, racism, Caucasians tend to get paid comparatively more, while Indians and Filipinos tend to get paid comparatively less.

I can't agree with the racism bit. It's basic supply/demand economics.

I worked in University recruiting for years. Trying to tempt foreign students to the Uni I worked at.

I can state, categorically, that degrees really aren't all of the same quality. The top dogs are UK/USA - everywhere else, it's no guarentee that their qualification is of the same standard.

Again, Indian, Phillipino, Malaysian degrees, in regard to University recruitment will be ranked nowhere near UK and USA degrees. In fact, neither will Chinese or Japanese degrees.

Going even further, a LOT of Indian degrees ( no matter the subject) will be so compartively poor in standard, that they actually won't be worth much more than a USA/UK High School certificate.

We had Indian people applying for medical degrees - get this - there medical degree they already had from India wasn't even enough to qualify them for the course!

If you have a poor schooling system, the standards of university degrees are lower. It's just a fact. The more money the government pumps into schools, the harder degree courses are. As they are starting at a higher point.

I guarentee that employers rank a countries degree, just as ahighly as university recruiter does.

if they get a guy with a US accountancy degree, and a guy with a Phillipino one, the US one's head and shoulders a harder course.

The US applicant will have better qualifications. And get more money. That's it.

And really, the biggest companies in any field - I guarentee that they are based in either the UK, mainland europe or US.

So you have better degrees, and experience with bigger companies.

You know. It's unfortunate. But caucasian people having more educationoppurtunities, and having a better business background, with bigger companies - it's not racism.

You know, if I have an Oxford Degree, and worked for IBM for 10 years, are you saying that I won;t get paid more than a guy with a Bangalore University, with 10 years working for a regional IT company?

[Mike_Naylor]

Just wondering... Does anyone know what a Theoretical Physicist with a PhD (German) and no experience in the financial side should be expecting for a salary from MNC banks? Thinking of risk analysis and joining at associate entry level. Will they turn you down if you are over qualified? I only know the pay range in germany which is about 65K Euro (~S$125K). Will they try to match the take home pay?

Thanks!

If you think you are just going to walk into a high paying, junior banking role like that, just because you have a PhD in physics, I think you need to wake up.

I work with 5 or 6 people with Physics PhDs in my field. I'm sure they'd quit their £25k a year jobs tomorrow, if they could actually just get a £60k a year role with a bank.

My boss was a nuclear physicist at Culham Reactor for 10 years. She earns little more than £30k a year.

Sorry, it's a big university lecturer myth that they tell you, that people with physics degrees/phds are sought after like that.

If you joined a bank, straight after graduation, you could mayb expect a junior role, and earn about £25k a year. You may be earning the money you speak of after maybe 5 years experience.

Sorry, again, there are lots of people in every country on the planet with physics PhDs.

Maybe 1% of them get the oppurtunity you're talking about.

You won't walk into a £65k a year banking job, unless you have vast experience in the field.

Best case scenario, starting at the bottom, and being happy with about £25k

[ksl]

Mike _Naylor is quite right in my opinion!

Though i have censored my own post, becasue It was very long and more of a story of my own life! Thanks to Mr Baron

[sundaymorningstaple]

[singjob321]

Hi Guys,

I have been reading this forum for the last two days and think the community here is the best to help me out.

Given below are some details about myself,

Nationality : Indian
Profession: Digital Media/ Search marketing, More than 7 yrs of expereince, presently employed with one of the leading Digital media agency of the world in a Managerial Position. Have experience of managing major global clients (really big ones) Search marketing campaign. Salary : 7 lac / pa

I am in words with another global digital agency for their Singapore operations for the position of a departmental head / senior manager role.

I am married, my wife does not work, no kids.

What do you think should be a good salary that would offer a decent lifestyle ( no drinks, no smoke) and some savings ?

your thoughts are highly appreciated..

[Dannny]

Guys... i've moved to singapore after studying and working for 4-5 yrs in UK
in marketing

I've been applying for jobs for the past 2 weeks. I've been told by the locals to go the international plaza where dozens of recruitments agents got their offices. I got shocked when I went there; coz none of them accepted my CV and said we do only for locals. Few of them r well known international recruitment companies. only a couple of them asked me to send a soft copy to their email add.

Guys wht do u think abt the current job market for foreigners?

[Blackbird]

I'm a French Java/.NET software engineer, with almost 6 years of professional exp.
Let's imagine I have the opportunity to work as contractor for a big client (bank and such). Could you tell me the price I could charge per day if my main tasks are architecture, tech. design, and programming? Some realistic figure please.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Up to 5K/mo. No perks. Or they will get somebody from Asia to do the same job for less than that. That's provided they don't a already have a lot of Polytechnic Diploma holders here would can/would also do the job for 2,500/mo. Realistically speaking.

Course I can blow smoke as well. You can look for 7K month plus full expat package including housing, schooling & Car.

[jpatokal]

Up to 5K/mo. No perks. Or they will get somebody from Asia to do the same job for less than that. That's provided they don't a already have a lot of Polytechnic Diploma holders here would can/would also do the job for 2,500/mo. Realistically speaking.

No, a bank's not going to trust a $2,500/mo guy for software architecture... but neither will they hire a $10,000 consultant unless he's got domain expertise in what they need.

Java/.NET engineers are a dime a dozen. What sets you apart from the crowd?

[Blackbird]

Thanks for the feedback.
I'm thinking about going independent. In that case, what matters isn't the monthly salary, but the gross amount that the client pays for each day I work for him. Do you have an idea?
What sets me apart from the crowd? I work 3 times faster than an Indian, *and* 3 times better. I'm serious: I've worked as technical project manager on an offshore project: the Indian IT company was certified CMMI-5. But in practice, the developers I was working with were all freshers. I could almost have done by myself all what the 6-man team did, in the same amount of time!

[sundaymorningstaple]

You are going to have a problem. Do a search for entrepass on this board to see what would be required under the newest rulings.

[Blackbird]

I'm aware that the EntrePass isn't anymore the best solution for ppl who wish to go independent. There is another other alternative, that jpatokal suggested to me.
Not talking about myself in particular, I'd say that an average rate for an average Java/.NET developer would be around S$600-700/day...

[Gammaa]

I know nothing about computers so I could be irrelevant.
However, wouldn’t there be an existing established network of service computer contractors that banks [or other big corporate bodies] keep entrusting upon for all their needs, as a measure of security?
So would you, if given permission to be a new contractor, be able to penetrate a new market without ‘buddy’ references?

[calicruisin]

Hi all, I am a Malaysian working in the US (graduated here and have been working for 6 years..not quite 30yo yet) at a director(Senior VP) level in an international investment bank. I have requested for a transfer to Singapore but am not sure what the average salary of a director level person in an investment bank is in Spore. Ive seen many postings about IT. I think the bank might try to offer me a "local"(no disrespect) pay based on the fact that I'm Malaysian and that its pretty much going home for me.

Right now I'm pulling about USD200K pretax. Any information would help. Thanks